Hi, I'm new to this forum. I am here in search of knowledge I'll give you a little background on myself. I'm looking to find the best set up for loading the most accurate rifle ammo possable. What I'm looking to do is load 308 for accuracy. I plan to shoot out to 1000 yards eventually and I want the best possable 308 load I can create. I will be shooting out of a 26 inch barrel Remington 700VS LH. Plus I also want to reload pistol ammo later on down the line. But the pistol ammo will be for practice, not for accuracy. I will be loading the pistol ammo for quantity. I was thinking about getting a single stage press to start for the accurate 308 ammo, with the abillity to upgrade to a progressive later on for the pistol ammo.

I just recently became interested in reloading. I have done a little research on the subject as well as started reading some books. I am reading the basic reloaders guide right now.

My question is this....Which press is considered the best in terms of loading the most accurate rile ammo? Is there one that is considered better then the rest? What do the benchrest shooters use?

RCBS Rockchucker Press, has a lifetime warranty and they stand behind it for ever. Thier dies are also good, if you want to spend more money then Wilson dies are very good. Have shot 600 yard target and used RCBS dies and had no problem. You should use Lapau Brass for the best accuracy. Primers are all about alike, but in benchrest try Federals they seem to be the pick. Powder is a open question but AA2520 works well in a .308. Match bullets are good, but again you should try custom make match bullets. God Luck!

I'll probably get flamed by the Dillon and arbor-press guys, but since you're a beginner, I think you'd be happy with a Lee Turret press for at least the first year, maybe much longer. For sure that press will produce ammo that's more accurate than your gun/range technique for at least the first year of serious long range shooting.

One reason I suggest the Lee Turret is that the auto-advance feature can be easily deactivated and the press operates just like a single-stage, but with the advantage of having ALL your dies for that caliber already mounted, adjusted and available simply by rotating the turret. Then to crank out pistol ammo, you simply put the auto-index rod back in, change the die plate to one holding your pistol dies, change the shellholder on the ram and you'll quickly be ready to crank out pistol plinking ammo. For pistol ammo, you can use a Lee auto powder measure that mounts right atop a powder-drop die. The Lee Turret set up for pisto ammo this way may not be quite as fast as a full-blown Dillon progressive, but I found it considerably easier to understand and adjust.

As your .308 groups shrink, if you want to buy a high-dollar press for your rifle ammo, you can leave the Lee Turret set up strictly for cranking out pistol fodder.

I'm quite pleased to see that you're reading some reloading books BEFORE you buy your press. I tell beginners that if they can't afford at least 2-3 of the top-shelf reloading manuals, then they can't afford to buy their setup yet. And I recommend that beginners read through the instructional sections of at least a couple of manuals 2-3 times before they even think about buying powder or bullets.

Also, you're smart enough to have found this forum, and folks here are more than happy to help you avoid any serious problems or mistakes. Welcome.

I have loaded all of my pistol and rifle rounds on a single stage press for 50 years. This has not been a big problem for the pistol rounds as I don't shoot that many and when I do I aim each shot.

I have a friend that has his loading room set up with 11 presses. I have seen another loading room with more counting shotgun stuff. So just start with the best press and look at progressives later after you master the techniques.

I suggest the RCBS Rockchucker kit and RCBS, Redding or Forster dies.

For long range ammo in the .308. Turn all necks, weigh each case to 1.0 grs, load Sierra Matchkings and use Varget or IMR 4064 powder, Might as well use bench rest primers also.

Look for a long range match within driving distance. The fastest way to learn is to copy someone else. There is nothing wrong with this. Many of these matches have the "F" class now and this means you can shoot from a rest. These matches are very popular. The NRA lists matches in the Rifleman.

Embalmer Check out this company www.sinclairintl.com For the ultimate in accuracy these people have the proper equipment. Try the Wilson hand dies. Good luck.

Embalmer,
Welcome to the club. Handloading is a lot of fun and you can get into it as deep as you want. One thing you'll discover is that each rifle is an individual. Like most individuals, some of them can get pretty far out. You have alredy been given excellent advise concerning the RCBS Rockchuck press and Sinclair Int. One suggestion I'd like to make is to always buy the very best equipment. If you cannot afford it, save for it until you can. This is by far the least expensive way to go in the long run.
This is just my opinion, but I developed it the hard way. Lee is garbage. In the standard dies, RCBS and Redding are the best dies available and I now lean a little towards Redding. In the competition type dies, Redding is the way to go. I've found primers can have a big effect on accuracy. I use CCI BR #2 primers for everything now. The only way I know of to determine which one will work the best in your rifle is to try them all. If someone suggest a primer brand it's because they've had good luck with them. Powder is a very complex subject. Wolfe publishing in Prescott,Az. offers a book called Propellant Profiles. It goes into just about every powder available. I've changed to Hodgdon powder. They brought a new Extreme technology in their extruded powders. This powder is insensitive to temperature changes. Varget has given excellent results in my .308 and .22-250.
There are many very knowledgeable people on this site that will be glad to help in any way they can. Keep in touch and let us know how it goes. Good luck.

Welcome
One thing I've learned in reloading is you get exactly what you pay for. I don't expect Sightron, Tasco scopes to perform as well Leopold or Zeiss. The Redding dies are the best I've used, I've got file drawers with Lyman, RCBS, and Bonanza dies in the calibers that I use and work with the Redding.
I started reloading with a Dunbar two station press, looked like a crude CH press. Then I used a RCBS single station for a while. Then I bought a Bonanza Co-Ax and have used nothing else for rifle ammo, since.
For pistols I use Dillions.
Jim

Thanks KLN, that is one of my regular shooting msg boards I frequent. I'm on that one daily.

Reload, the RCBS rockchucker comes up alot when this a new guy starting out asks the question asked about where to begin. I've been looking into the Wilson dies and Forster dies. I will be using Lapua brass. From everyone I talk to the Lapua seems to be the best there is in most peoples eyes.

N E 450 No.2, Alot of people have directed me towards Sinclair. I think I'll be buying a majority of my reloading stuff there. Thanks for the tip.

BigBob, the tip on always buying the best or waiting until you can afford to...This is my plan I'm just trying to figure out what "The Best" is. That seems to be a difficult answer to obtain I will be using the CCI BR #2 primers. These seem to be the primer of choice.

arkypete, I have been looking into the Co-Ax. How do you like yours? Alot of people have touted this press as the best for accuracy on rifle cartriges. So this is one I am seriously considering along with the highly recomended rockchucker.

Thanks everyone for all of your help. I'm still serching and researching. I wish there was a clear cut leader in the industry. One that is considered the Mercedes of Loading presses. But unfortunaltely this does not seem to be the case.

Anyone know what is considered the baseline for presses amoung the benchrest crowd? I would assume that a majority of them all use the same press. With the BR guys it seems to work that way. Once one finds something that works the best they all lean towards that product. So what do they use? Anoyone know?

I know I do not want to start out with a progressive set up. But would I be better suited to a turret type press as opposed to a single stage single turret press like the Co-Ax?

Single stage press RCBS Rock-Chucker or any of the upper end Lymanns or Hornady's.

If you want a press that is fully upgradeable to a progessvive go with the Dillion AT -500,will load as accurate as the above single stages and can be upgraded to the RL-550,and load all rifle and pistol ammo.The single stages for the most part even with add on's to make them a progessvive can't handle both.

two maybe three years ago I forget, I began reloading as I had an interest in big bores. I bought a RCBS rockchucker kit and it is working great it loads great ammo and has all the basics to get started. I use RCBS dies mostly, I also own one set of lee dies & 1 set of CH4 dies which are very very good IMHO. Buy good stuff and it will last for ever, I am only just starting to consider a progressive now for my volume stuff, so start with a rock chucker and use that for a couple of years and then decide if you need a progressive.

I have (and have used) Lee, RCBS, and dillon presses, and it all depends what you want to do. The Lee turret presses are good as mentioned, you can set your dies up once and forget about them. The RCBS is hell for strong, and the dillon is just about the easiest way to load a whole bunch of ammo in a short time, with an amazing warrenty. Starting out, mixed calibers, rifles and pistols, I'd probably go with the Lee. FWIW - Dan

I have one Co-Ax that I use for all my rifle calibers. I use a handful of Dillons for my pistol calibers.
When I finish setting up my reloading shed I'll buy a second Co-Ax so that I can have one press for rimless calibers and one for rimmed. I think the C0o-Ax is the best made press.
Jim

As you get into this, you're going to find that you are sort of directing your attention in the wrong direction. Case and bullet prep and sorting is a heckuva a lot more important than what press you have, or, normally what dies you use. There is not that large a difference in price and I would suggest that you consider a Redding turret press instead of a Rockchucker. Nothing at all wrong with the industry leader, but it is very nice to be able to keep loading, without having to change dies out. And you can have 2 calibers set up at one time.

If you have the time, look for used equipment, such as on ebay or in the classified here or on other forums. Most of this stuff is bullet proof and can be purchased used at a substantial savings.

For a long time, the lee hand loader kits produced record-setting ammo, and they didn't even use a press. Just a hammer.

Like gatogordo said, the press itself is probably only a small factor. In my mind, the most important piece of equipment is the powder drop. If I move to a new one I'm probably going with the redding.

Or I can do like the IHMSA guys and just scoop the empty brass through a bucket of loose powder, and smash it down when I seat the bullet

Basically I will only be loading the 308 for accuracy. That is the reason I want to get into handloading. I will eventually load pistol calibers but that could be a Long time down the road, a year or two, I do not shoot my hand guns as often as I'll be shooting the rifle. If I even load for pistols at all. I can get the loads so damn cheap from a local loader anyway that it might not even be worth it to me to load pistol ammo. I value my time a little more then a few dollars spent here and there. And I doubt I will ever be shooting enough pistol ammo to warrent a progressive set up. Although I would like the ability to upgrade to one if I so choose to in the future.