How to suck the fun out of reloading, Buy a Progressive Press!

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It's all about the challenge. The challenge, I tell you. Single stage presses are no challenge. One pull of the handle, one step accomplished on one piece of brass. Doing 5 separate steps at the same time on 5 separate pieces of brass (or more, if you're GWS) on a progressive without stepping in something or hurting yourself, now THAT's a challenge you can sink your teeth into.
 
Not being mechanically inclined , always preferring the simple to the complicated , I started loading in 1968 with a Lee whack-a-mole , after learning the basics on it I advanced to a Pacific Super Deluxe single stage C....after 48 years with the Pacific I picked up a Lyman A-A turret ...Now for me that's about as advanced in loading machines as I care to go .
A progressive would just suck all the joy of reloading out of me.
Gary
 
The reason for going a AP is either time restraints or you can not keep up with your demand. For me the demand required me to spend all my spare time reloading. When it's like this is not fun, its more like work. And the fact all the strokes inflamed my tennis elbow. So doing less strokes was a winner for me.
 
And the fact all the strokes inflamed my tennis elbow. So doing less strokes was a winner for me.
Click to expand...

Same with me. When it becomes painful, there is no fun in it. Tendinitis for me. I was reloading 9mm, .327, .357, 41 mag and all my rifle loads on a Rockchucker, spending hours and hours every night on the press. It was like trying to pump up a semi tire with a bicycle tire pump.
I could never get it done.
Now I fill up a pretzel jar full in a couple hours and I'm good to go shooting for a while.
Life is good. Thank you Hornady!
pretzel jars.jpg
The small jars hold about 400 and the larger jar hold around 600. Heavy plastic and good lid. What's not to like.
Just make sure you wash them out good before using.
 
rodregier said:
The big "secret" when setting up a progressive press is to just put a single cartridge case
thru the successive stations until you get the press setup sorted out :)
Click to expand...

The problem with doing this is that once you start filling all the stations things are going to change. Seating depth, amount of crimp, possibly even powder drop.
 
Rule3, did you consider making two passes for a bit?
I think the press is sensitive and detecting your emotions and is afraid for it's life:)
You did give someone the hand sledge right?

You and it will get there, it's a new relationship and I'm told they take time to blossom.
Once you are going and cranking out rounds you will be a happy camper.

When I first got mine I did have a couple fleeting thoughts of oh :cuss: I wasted my money, now I really like it.

I never did buy a primer tube filler, I like to hand prime off press but stabbing them with the tube is a pain and slow, I think if you are going to use the tubes and prime on press one of the tube filler things would be really handy.
 
Last edited:
tightgroup tiger said:
Now I fill up a pretzel jar full in a couple hours and I'm good to go shooting for a while.
Life is good. Thank you Hornady!

The small jars hold about 400 and the larger jar hold around 600. Heavy plastic and good lid. What's not to like.
Just make sure you wash them out good before using.
Click to expand...

Looks like the peanut jars I use for my empties.
I use a lot of Berry's in the 250ct plastic box and have found that when stacked 2 high standing up those boxes will hold 128 45acp.
 
alfsauve said:
Rule: Reloading will not save you money. It will however allow you to shoot a more for the same dollars.
Corollary: A progressive press does not save you time. It will however allow you to expend more ammunition in a given time frame.

So if time and money are not an object ;)
Click to expand...

And remember, if you are not spending Time, Money or Both, it won't count as a Hobby... ;)
 
When I first started reloading, using a "Texan" C press, I would go out and shoot in order to have empty cases to reload. Reloading was over half the fun of the hobby.

As years passed, and I began to shoot more and more, reloading began to be more of a chore than a hobby. Hours spent at the loading bench were hours that I could have been on the range.

Today, if I could afford it, I would have a Dillon 1050 with bullet feeder set up for each calibre.
 
Last week I shot 2 guns in a local steel league. The week before 2 guns major steel challenge match, the week before 2 guns in a local steel league, the week before that steel challenge...… This week I needed enough ammo to shoot 2 guns in a falling steel match. Oh, by the way, I work full time, have a home to take care of, a wife and a few other interests (volunteer firefighter for one) that eat up time.

My point? My static steel load is different than my falling steel, ICORE and USPSA load. I found myself at the beginning of the week almost out of ammo that makes power factor and had in effect (1) after work evening to make some up. I thought it best to have 1000 rounds and had realistically one evening to produce it. Had it not been for a progressive press I would not have had ammo to shoot the match, I was/am on staff (ROing Friday and again on Sunday) so I shot Thursday afternoon with staff. Took a half day off work to shoot the staff squad.

Some might say poor planning on my part. OK. Since the first week of April my center fire ammo consumption has been on the order of 1500 rounds/month. I like to handload ammo but I also like to shoot. Actually I think I rather shoot than reload but it's degrees of like.

We do what we enjoy. If you enjoy taking the slow boat, good for you. This is as mentioned a hobby and as such there are many ways to enjoy the hobby. BTW the only squib I ever loaded was on a single stage press.
 
Saturday update

Progress, Made it though 50 rounds with NO issues. I tweaked the RIGHT pawl a smidgen counter (anti) clockwise, about a 1/8 to 1/4. Seems to have solved the indexing issue which only was once and a while.
I did switch from Win to Wolf LPP (Pre Obuma Era) forgot how hard those are to seat! Need to get another lever with more torque.

The KDS squared UFO light is worth the money, I like it:)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Question on the primer pick up tube. Does the last primer always stick in there and need to be pushed in with the primer dowel or similar, I don't like pushing on the anvil.?? Tapping and banging doesn't do it. Does the nylon tip loosen up after use??

Also does that primer weight follower supposed to act as a lock out when out of primers. It goes in the primer slide hole.??
 
Rule3 said:
Saturday update

Progress, Made it though 50 rounds with NO issues. I tweaked the RIGHT pawl a smidgen counter (anti) clockwise, about a 1/8 to 1/4. Seems to have solved the indexing issue which only was once and a while.
I did switch from Win to Wolf LPP (Pre Obuma Era) forgot how hard those are to seat! Need to get another lever with more torque.

The KDS squared UFO light is worth the money, I like it:)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Question on the primer pick up tube. Does the last primer always stick in there and need to be pushed in with the primer dowel or similar, I don't like pushing on the anvil.?? Tapping and banging doesn't do it. Does the nylon tip loosen up after use??

Also does that primer weight follower supposed to act as a lock out when out of primers. It goes in the primer slide hole.??
Click to expand...

I have that light it's great
 
thomas15 said:
Last week I shot 2 guns in a local steel league. The week before 2 guns major steel challenge match, the week before 2 guns in a local steel league, the week before that steel challenge...… This week I needed enough ammo to shoot 2 guns in a falling steel match. Oh, by the way, I work full time, have a home to take care of, a wife and a few other interests (volunteer firefighter for one) that eat up time.

My point? My static steel load is different than my falling steel, ICORE and USPSA load. I found myself at the beginning of the week almost out of ammo that makes power factor and had in effect (1) after work evening to make some up. I thought it best to have 1000 rounds and had realistically one evening to produce it. Had it not been for a progressive press I would not have had ammo to shoot the match, I was/am on staff (ROing Friday and again on Sunday) so I shot Thursday afternoon with staff. Took a half day off work to shoot the staff squad.

Some might say poor planning on my part. OK. Since the first week of April my center fire ammo consumption has been on the order of 1500 rounds/month. I like to handload ammo but I also like to shoot. Actually I think I rather shoot than reload but it's degrees of like.

We do what we enjoy. If you enjoy taking the slow boat, good for you. This is as mentioned a hobby and as such there are many ways to enjoy the hobby. BTW the only squib I ever loaded was on a single stage press.
Click to expand...

We understand but now some of are old and reload every night. Only need between 200 and 500 rounds a week.
 
The last primer needs to be GENTLY pushed in with something like a cut off Q-Tip.

I load in batches of 2,000, so I fill 20 primer pick up tubes before starting. (Too cheap to buy a primer filler:p)
 
Question on the primer pick up tube. Does the last primer always stick in there and need to be pushed in with the primer dowel or similar, I don't like pushing on the anvil.?? Tapping and banging doesn't do it. Does the nylon tip loosen up after use??
Click to expand...

The last one always sticks in there. When I'm done with a reloading session I'll fill them back up so they are ready for the next session. I just leave them in my ready box so when I go to reload again that's not the first thing I'm faced with.
It's the only dreary part of my regiment, filling those tubes.

So I will fill them afterwards or in my off time so they are ready to go when I want to load.
I have five tubes and fill them all five.
Frankford Arsenal makes a gizmo that will fill them for you without cramping up your hands but they put a primer in the tube upside down once in a while. I'm not comfortable pushing an upside down primer back out of a case with something that looks like a firing pin.
 
Rule3 said:
Saturday update
Question on the primer pick up tube. Does the last primer always stick in there and need to be pushed in with the primer dowel or similar, I don't like pushing on the anvil.?? Tapping and banging doesn't do it. Does the nylon tip loosen up after use??

Also does that primer weight follower supposed to act as a lock out when out of primers. It goes in the primer slide hole.??
Click to expand...

Yes on pushing that last primer into the pickup tube. I have two, short brass dowels the exact (or close to) diameter for LP and SP primers and use it to push the last primer in. Because of their size they don't push on the anvil but on the edges of the cup.

Yes, the weighted follower acts as a hold-open device. At one time I had a micro switch positioned such that if the primer arm was back all the way it turned on a light to let me know the follower was holding open the arm. Only beef with this is the end gets a little chewed up and will sometimes hold-open the arm when there's one more primer left.
 
Rule3 said:
Question on the primer pick up tube. Does the last primer always stick in there and need to be pushed in with the primer dowel or similar, I don't like pushing on the anvil.?? Tapping and banging doesn't do it. Does the nylon tip loosen up after use??

Also does that primer weight follower supposed to act as a lock out when out of primers. It goes in the primer slide hole.??
Click to expand...

On most that I've used the last primer will stick in the pickup tubes. Use most any thing to push it out, will not hurt. Requires impact from the other direction to set off. I use a set of plastic tweezers to push them out. Depending on who's pickup tube your using, most do not loosen up. I have the Hornady ones in which I used a set of Number bits and opened them up a little by hand. Still plenty of force to hold them, but much easier to push in. If Dillon don't touch the ends. The over flashing of the plastic pieces is what hold the primers. On RCBS theirs are very similar to Hornady.
 
Not that I'm the measure of all things but I find it convenient to have more than 1 pick up tube. Here is a situation where Dillon is the best quality, easiest to use and the lowest cost, a three-in-one trifecta. I have RCBS, Hornady and Dillon pick up tubes and use them all but the Dillon are the ones I reach for first. All of them leave a primer in the tip, I use a small dowel to push it in.
 
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