I am very interested in reloading for my weapons. I would like to load for everything I have eventually but I will start with my pistol calibers, 9mm luger and .45acp. I will work into .30/06, 7 x 57 and .223 rem eventually. I am wondering what press would be 'best' all around for accuracy, ease of use and without selling myself short on speed. I have read on most of the popular presses and the Forester Co-ax has great reviews but it sounds like its not for the volume that I will want to reload. I currently shoot a lot and would suspect I will shoot more with reloads

I would start with recommending a book or two on reloading to get familiar with the process and some equipment. the ABC's of Reloading is good but a little magazinish, The complete Handloader is goo but out of print. It is available used on Amazon.

One of the best things to do is find someone who reloads and is willing to show you the ropes. Conventinal wisdom is to start on a single stage press, if you are loading pistol cartridges this gets old quick leading to a progressive press. I you get a single stage kit like some of the kits mentioned in several threads here it is a good start. Even for high volume pistol loading on a progressive press, a single stage is good to have for things like pulling bullets or working up a load. I had thought that going straight to a progressive would be good but experience has shown the need for a single stage press.

In figureing the costs of reloading it's around 12 to 1400 rifle rounds to break even if your goal is to save money. You can get better ammo handloading than by buying factory since you can tailor it to your gun. Or you may just be able to increase the volume of 9 and .45 you can shoot. Either way it is a rewarding venture.

My progressive is a Lee Loadmaster. Currently my rifle ammo is from a Redding T-7. I have been satisfied by both products and the ammo. I still have my Rock Chucker that I now use to pull bullets and some loading. Three presses mounted. Other opinions will vary of course. I would recommend a good single stage to start and a good progressive to follow it up. Depending on how much of each rifle you shoot you may find that you make .223 on the progessive and .30-06 on the singles stage.

I started reloading 45acp for a semi-auto Thompson machine gun clone on a single stage press. I could empty the 30 round stick magazine in 10 seconds. But it took forever to reload those same 30 empty cases.

And that's the conumdrum; the need for speed loading pistol ammo and precision when loading for your rifle.

I solved that problem by buying the older version of this Dillon. It is a manually operated single stage, sort of like a turret press, but the cases move rather than the dies.

You can learn all the basics on it and then upgrade to full progressive once you master them and your budget allows.

The Dillon posted by onefunzr2 is a great place to start for pistol & rifle. When loading bottle neck rounds like yours, you must have a case gauge or Comparator , to check your full length sizing of the brass, so as not to push the shoulder back to far. http://www.brownells.com/.aspx...pace_and_Maximum_COL

I would learn the process on a single stage, then get a progressive once you get your feet wet, and have a better idea of what features you would want in a progressive. You will always have need of a single stage press, particularly for low-volume specialty loads, load development, etc.

Hornady, Dillon and RCBS make excellent progressive presses. Some people use them and get pretty amazing accuracy out of them, but they are not just cranking the rounds through in one pass either.

My preference is the Hornady LNL AP, especially if you are going to reload rifle, unless you want to spend >3X the price, then get a Dillon 1050. The AP has better PM and flexibility for rifle cartridge reloading.

If you purchase the progressive at the same time as the single stage, you can use the powder measure from a Hornady or RCBS progressive press separately while learning on your single stage. Just get a separate powder measure stand and you're in business.

Andy

They're all good as long as you stick with a known brand. Check out your local gun shops, often they'll have some used eq on hand. I bought a used RCBS Jr press over 40 years ago. A few years ago, I gave it to a young lad that was just getting started. It was still making good ammo. I have hands on experience with RCBS and Lee and wouldn't hesitate to reccommend either one, regardless of what the "mine cost more so's its got to be better" crowd will say.
I totally agree that you should start out learning with a single stage press. That's all I've ever used. I've never loaded for a pistol but I have loaded for Pdog shoots where a large volume of ammo is needed and I still got it done with a single. I'm interested in how good I can make ammo, not how fast.

Welcome to the forum and welcome to reloading. Thanks for asking our advice.

Learn the process first. Get the "ABCs of Reloading". Then you will have an idea of the process, the terminology and begin to understand what your choices in equipment are.

Until you get that book here is a little reading list I have put together.

Go get a large mug of coffee, tea, hot chocolate, whatever you keep on hand when you read and think and read through these.

The "sticky" thread at the top of TheFiringLine's reloading forum is good, entitled, "For the New Reloader: Equipment Basics -- READ THIS FIRST "
http://thefiringline.com/forum...wthread.php?t=230171

The "sticky" thread at the top of TheHighRoad.com's reloading forum is good, entitled, "For the New Reloader: Thinking about Reloading; Equipment Basics -- READ THIS FIRST"
http://www.thehighroad.org//showthread.php?t=238214

"Budget Beginning bench you will never outgrow for the novice handloader". This was informed by my recent (July 2010) repopulation of my loading bench. It is what I would have done 35 years ago if I had known then what I know now.
http://rugerforum.net/reloadin...vice-handloader.html

Thread entitled "Newby needs help."
http://thefiringline.com/forum...wthread.php?t=430391
My post 11 is entitled "Here's my reloading setup, which I think you might want to model" November 21, 2010)
My post 13 is "10 Advices for the novice handloader" November 21, 2010)

The first draft of my "10 Advices..." is on page 2 of this thread, about halfway down.
http://www.rugerforum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=13543

Minimalist minimal (the seventh post down)
http://www.rugerforum.com/phpB...ewtopic.php?t=107332

or if the links do not work, paste these into your browser

thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=230171

thehighroad.org//showthread.php?t=238214

rugerforum.net/reloading/29385-budget-beginning-bench-you-will-never-outgrow-novice-handloader.html

thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=430391

rugerforum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=13543

Minimalist minimal (the seventh post down)
rugerforum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=107332

Good luck. Always wear eye protection, especially when working with primers and don't pinch your fingers in your press. Be safe. Always, all ways.

Lost Sheep

RCBS and Hornady are both awsome componets but I switched to mostly Hornady today. The question you have to ask yourself today is how serious you plan on getting because you might as well start aquiring the best componets now rather than replacing it as you go.

Not all componetry is created equal, for example; Hornady makes the worst tricler but the redding #5 is one of the best, The RCBS 1010 scale is the best beam scale, etc...

I appreciate all of the info and opinions, I will order a book tonight. I was wondering where are RCBS products made, I read somewhere they are Chinese?

The 1st chapter in the Speer reloading manuels is a very good source for learning the "how to's."

I started about 25 years ago with that book, a set of dies, a caliber, a Lee case length tool and a Lee anniversary reloading kit.

I still think it was a great way to get started and I still to this day use a few things that came in the kit. It'll get you up and going. The start up cost is low and if you decide it's not for you, you won't be out too much money. You can upgrade the tools as time goes by. When you do upgrade the tools, you can do it a piece at a time. The Lee stuff isn't the best but you can load very good ammo with it.

Terry

To me casting bullets goes hand in hand especially with pistol reloading. Get a Lyman reloading manual. It gives both info and data for cast bullets. Casting your own is not rocket science as some would have you believe. I also agree get a single stage press and I'm partial to RCBS. Even single stage there is enough that can go wrong even for experienced reloaders.

I would get started by buying one or more of the complete reloading handbooks.....Like a load manual from Hornady, Lyman, Speer, or Nosler. They have a good discussion of the process and pitfalls in the first third of the books.....

IMO, your situation would be well suited to starting on a manual-indexed turret type press. Lee makes cheap ones, Redding makes a nice one.....Dillion could fill the bill as well although they have other issues that detract.

The point is, a simple turret press would allow you to set up multiple dies and increase your speed with an automatic powder measure if you wish down the road, which would greatly increase volume. I have had gread success with the Lee Double Disk Pro powder measure used this way....

The guys who say a single stage will always be useful are right on--but a turret press will still be useful in that way but provide more volume and convienience when you work up to it.

Cheers,

Dan

Wow! This is my first time using a forum of any sort and I must say, its great. Keep sending the words my way, I am looking at every thing. Last night I found a copy of The Complete Handloader for $10.61 on Amazon.

I thing I may have left somewhat important information out of my original post. I have been loading 12guage shotshells for 5 years with success. I have used handloads for rabbit, grouse, turkey and clays, all different recipes. I even read on buckshot loading and have a recipe for 8 pellet buffered double-ot that shoots a nice tight pattern for 35 cents a round.

I do all this on my MEC 600. No matter if its 5 shells for a new load test or an ice-cream bucket of clay loads I still separate some of the steps. De-prime/re-size the base of the whole bucket then re-prime. Finally I finish loading each shell individually. During the whole process there is only ever one shell in the press.

This being said I can see the convenience factor of a turret/progressive. The bad experience of keeping all the stages filled with a shell was what prompted me to stick with the one-at-a-time method.

Maybe I have answered my own question, a single stage with a bushing system. I probably won't be shooting a thousand rounds a week, I have .22's for that. I can see shooting a thousand a month, once I get a good look at the process. Making my own lead is something I can see down the road too.

I found a great lead on used equipment from a co-worker whose father recently passed(RIP). I have no details because he is one of those guys that doesn't pay any attention to things. When I get my eyes on this stuff I am sure I will have more questions.

If this changes your opinion don't hesitate to tell me. Does anyone know what country RCBS stuff is made in?

quote:

IMO, your situation would be well suited to starting on a manual-indexed turret type press. Lee makes cheap ones, Redding makes a nice one.....Dillion could fill the bill as well although they have other issues that detract.

Dan, I have to point out that both of Lee's Turrets are Auto-indexing (with the option of turning the auto-indxing off) and no other manufacturer's turrets auto-index.

Dillon does not make a turret, to my knowledge. All their presses are progressives.

This (auto-index) feature means that it is very easy (on Lee's) to process cases in a straight-through process, very similar to a progressive (as opposed to batch). This saves a lot of time involved in the repeated removing/insertion of cases as when processed in a batch mode.

But unlike progressives, the turret only does one operation at a time, which I like because it is easier to keep track of what is happening.

My main point is that a manually indexed turret used in batch mode is not a lot faster than a single stage (maybe 50-60 per hour), and a manually indexed turret in straight-through mode might be 75-120 per hour because your off hand will be doing all those manual movements of the turret head. An autoindexing turret press can do 120 to 200 rounds per hour, and do it very safely because you are still only doing one operation at a time. (My second time with my Lee Classic turret, I turned out 100 rounds in 47 minutes, including filling the primer device from the primer box.)

Lost Sheep

I believe RCBS makes their own stuff in the U.S.A. I understand that they did buy their cast press bodies from China for a while, with the finish work done in the U.S., but then switched back to totally in-country because of quality issues with the imported castings.

I have not verified these facts.

RCBS balance bean scales (like most others, too) are made by Ohaus. Their electronic stuff is anybody's guess and their small tools (chamfer tool etc.) I have no knowledge of.

I suggest you email RCBS.

Lost Sheep

When I was in the getting ready to buy process I read someplace??? that most turret presses become nothing more than a place where dies are stored. So I never considered a turret and this was before any progressive that I know of had come along. From these forums I read that several do use their turret and make a complete round at a time which eliminates removing the case for each step. This also eliminates the chance to do things that I like to do. For example, I deprime and size and like to clean the primer pocket and tumble the brass to remove the sizing lube. I then measure case length (after it has been sized). You can't do these things without removing it from the press. Some may say not necessary to do them---but I feel better about it doing it that way.
You mentioned possibly making cast bullets in future. By all means get a Lyman Reloading Manual. They have a standard manual that includes both jacketed and cast bullet data and they have a Cast bullet Manual. Get the standard since you are doing jacketed. The manual gives information about reloading and information about casting. Lyman being a maker of cast equipment is one of the few Manuals that has data for both cast and jacketed. Brings up another point--you can't have too many manuals and cross reference them.
Regardless of where RCBS is made, you can't beat their customer service. If you find a good buy on used--go for it. If buying new, my books RCBS is hard to beat. I started with and still use an old relic looking Belding & Mull powder measure. It is slower than most but I have yet to find a powder it wont meter very accurately.

Carpetman1, this is interesting. I could see measuring case length becoming very important with the rifles. If I buy new I am looking at the Lee Classic Press because the cast is tapped so I can run their bushings or Hornadys bushings. Also the press is made in Wisconsin, where I am from, apparently I like the cold its -25 F with the wind.

Metallic cartridge reloading may not be totally different than shotshell reloading, but it is in many respects. The biggest being that you begin with the 'starting' load in pistol or rifle and 'work up' the powder charge in increments. You never do that with shotshells...you load these EXACTLY according to the loadbook's recipe. I'd even wager that most Mec users don't own a scale to weigh powder or shot; they just pick the appropriate bushing from Mec's list and hope for the best. The only metallic reloaders who don't use a scale are the 1% that shoot lower powered loads where powder is measured by volume with one of Lee's little yellow scoops.

Always remember that going from shotshell to metallic reloading is a big increase in power. ~12K psi for shotshells, versus up to ~65K psi for cartridges. Read and understand the basic procedures before you ever place your first brass case in the press, whichever brand you end up buying.

jungajay39--I'm not following you on the tap and bushings. Years ago presses were standardized so that presses accept all other brands of dies. My RCBS Rockchucker does have a bushing that can be removed and a larger set of threads are exposed. Back in the 70's I thought maybe this was so it would accept shotgun dies?? I wrote RCBS and received an answer from Fred Hunnington himself. Fred was the founder of RCBS. He had designed a press to swage 22 rimfire hulls into bullets. He shot a lot of rock chucks so his company Rock Chuck Bullet Swage (RCBS) was formed. Anyways he said that it would be possible to make shotgun dies---went on to say it would really not be practical. If it cost him $15 to make they would be $45 by the time the customer got them and for that amount a shotgun setup could be purchased(in those days was true) and it would be faster and better. He said the upper hole had to be larger to provide access for the reamer to ream the lower portion and then the bushing was used to make it proper size. Interestingly I am pretty sure that RCBS does in fact make shotgun dies now to do what I inquired about. You are correct that rifle brass does need trimming from time to time. I don't recall ever trimming pistol brass. If I understand what you might be saying about the bushings--that would be a non factor as to which brand you select. Wisconsin--I guess a Green Bay fan? They done good--I'm Cowboys fan and what can I say--Jerry Jones still their owner so I realy don't expect any change in near future.

You should start with the bottleneck rifle calibers first,both the 9mm and 45 are a little more difficult to reload properly.

Carpetman1, the tap on the Lee Classic and some others are tapped for 1 1/2 x 12 and have a bushing sizing it to 7/8 x 14 for the standard dies. The idea being Lee and Hornady have 1/4 turn bushing you install the dies into for faster changing and supposedly no readjustments. It sounds like a benefit to me, maybe I am wrong and its unnecessary. It sounds from what your saying that a RCBS would be able to use the same setup.

jb - Thank You for the recommendation, I have not heard this before. It won't hurt my feelings any, the recoil of my rifles is something that I enjoy. Besides its the most expensive to purchase and I have the least amount of it on hand.

jungajay--I'm not familar with the bushing system you mentioned, so I'd not have a clue. Can't really feature in my mind how it would work.

carpetman1 - Here are links to the bushing systems I am talking about. I would be curious to what anyone has to say about them, worth while? worth-less? OH, I am wrong about the threading your press needs to be tapped with to utilize the bushings it is 1 1/4 x 12.

Lee Bushings

Hornady Lock N Load

junngajay39---I still don't know? It does say the Hornady loknload can be used on a Rockchucker press.