Like the guy in the post below me, I am looking to buy a press. I am a novice reloader and don't understand all the presses. The only press I've ever used is the Dillon 550, and someone was there to guide me through. I see the Redding Turret, the Ultramag, the Forster co-ax, Rockchucker, etc., and I don't understand why someone would want a turret or co-ax, or whatever, instead of a progressive ("automatic") press such as the Dillon, etc. I'm not trying to sell anyone on the Dillon; I really do not understand. Is it for more precision, or what? I can' believe it's strength. That's a lot of extra work over the progressives,from what I see, and the progressive seem to be strong enough. A friend hs been loading .300 Win Mag on his Dillon for years and hasn't broken anything yet. My friends reload everything, including the big mags on their Dillons. Before someone tells me to "Go buy a Dillon, then", I want them to make sure that I realize there must be a reason for these other type, and I'm just trying to learn
Thanks for any help you can be..

DZR - The issue is not strength. The Dillon 550 which you have a little experience is strong enough for most loading tasks.

The problem here is you said you were a "Newbie" to reloading. With a progressive press the loader has to be aware of a lot of things going on at once or you can crank out as much defective ammunition as good.

Plus a progressive is rather tedious to set up in the first place. And because of the additional problems setting up the press, they aren't very flexible, i.e. conducive to experimintation. Most new reloaders enjoy experimenting and generally SHOULD experiment with many loads. Again...extra trouble on a progressive.

If you have a good many different caliber firearms, changing from one to the other can get to be a real pain unless you can afford to buy the additional heads.

I'm not badmouthing progressive presses, especially Dillon. I've got two of them. But still the majority of my loading always ends up getting done on my old RCBS Rockchucker.

The advantages of the single stage press are just the flip side of the progressive. They aren't as fast to crank out bullets, but they are lots faster and easier to set up or change things with.

The first question you need to answer for yourself is what cartridges and how much are you going to reload. Obviously it doesn't make any sense to go to the trouble and expense for a progressive if you only shoot 200 rds a year.

Guys who actually benefit from progressives are big volume shooters.

Hope I've said something that helps.

Howdy,
Well you can make it easy on yourself and buy their AT500. Will operate as a single stage as long as you want,then you can easily upgrade it to the 550B configuration. While you need quite a bit more that just a press I feel you can do a whole lot worse than a Dillon.
The main reasons people feel a reloader should start with a single stage press are many and varied. Learning patiently how to reload a cartridge from empty fired cases to fresh ammo is not rocket science,however there are wrong things that can happen that will make a dedicated effort the only safe way. That means different things to every reloader but I try to make my time on the Dillon or my old Lyman undistracted allotments for the job. Just as you cannot cook by turning on the gas and walking away,coming back in a while with a frypan and setting it on the flame,then sometime later set a steak on,ect,ect,ect and expect the best meals to settle on your plate. You should determine if you have time to reload carefully and complete the steps required before walking away. It is way to easy to forget where you might have left off,,,what powder was that???? Did I finish resizing all those ? Many examples are available...and I plead guilty myself to treating it lightly lately but starting out it is best to follow the steps in a known manual carefully. That all said I should have made it clear that more than one manual is a wise investment. I can claim freebies from IMR,Hodgdon or Accurate free for the asking,but I have bought dozens for the varied outlook from the experts. Hmm guess I had more to contribute than I thought. 45nut

dzrtram, the single stage press has been around for a long time, they're still here, and probably always will be. The only thing I can think of that is older are hand tools.(Lyman 310 tool for example)

The turret press is a compromise; faster than a single stage, yet slower than a progressive. With a moving head that accepts all the pressure exerted by the ram it is probably the weakest design.

The progressive press, to my knowledge, is the newest of the lot. They're the fastest of the three, but not all are designed well. They will crank out a large volume of ammunition quickly. The Dillon is the best of the bunch.

As for accuracy, all will do a good job with good dies. The cheap ones will wear faster, and induce irregularities, like run-out, that the better presses won't. Also, the better presses are easier to use, work smoother, and allow for a variety of calibres.

[ 08-01-2003, 06:00: Message edited by: packrat ]