I would like to tap into the vast knowledge base. I recently joined the local gun club that has both outdoor and indoor ranges. I plan on shooting thousands of rounds per year and will begin reloading for the first time. Let me set the parameters of my needs. I have a .357 with more than 1000 pieces of brass from recreational shooting and deer hunting. Will be buying a 480 ruger for hunting. A semi of some sort let's say a .45 for practical both indoor and outdoor. The club also has a 40+bore league so I might get a .416 Rigby for that and also future dream trips to Alaska and Africa if they ever materialize. So........ Where do I begin? Are there progressive presses that will handle 9mm up to 480 ? How about a press to reload the Rigby? Is there a progressive press for both handgun and rifle cartridges? I don't feel it necessary to have a progressive for my 30-06 and 416 just wondering. How about other components. Dies, scales, tumblers..... I plan on them getting a huge amount of use hopefully for many decades, God willing, so I want the TOP OF THE LINE for each component. Thanks for spending the time to list them.

You may want to do a search since this has been covered a million times.

When I started reloading, an old hand told me to start out with a single stage press. They cost less, you will probably need one at some point, and they are better to learn on than a progressive. Also, I don't know of any progressive that will handle cartridges of the .416 length.

I bought an RCBS Master Reloading kit along with a brass tumbler, impact bullet puller, caliper, micrometer, and some other accessories. I have been reloading for a long time and have never purchased a progressive press.

Also, knowledge is far more important than equipment. Buy books, ask people at the range, etc.

Ryan

I started with the Lee kit, it was cheap, and I learned the basics. I have since upgraded to a Redding BR powder measure, and a Forester Co-ax press. I highly recomend the co-ax, it is the most accurate single stage press, and die changes are very fast.

A progressive would be nice for volumes of pistol rounds, but I'd suggest starting with the single stage press, you'll need it anyhow for rifles. One thing about a progressive, it cranks out good ammo just as bad as it cranks out bad. I've generally found my screwups within a few rounds of using a single stage.

As far as dies, I'd recomend the lee dies in 357, they've worked well for thousands of rounds of 38 sp, 357 mag and 357 max. For the 480, go with the Hornady 4 die set. If you have any questions on the 480, drop a line, or check out my favorite loads post.

If I were to build a top of the line set up, starting from scratch, it would be the co-ax press, Redding BR measure, or Harrels, Ohaus scale, RCBS hand primer, and Redding dies.

I have a RCBS Rockchucker kit. I called Dillon and the 550 RL progressive does have clearance for the 416 Rigby.

I have a Dillon progressive press for handgun ammo reloading, top shelf equipment backed by a no BS warranty...don't work Dillion will fix it for free/no questions asked, period! My output varies from 250 to 400 round per hour. Stuff like 45ACP, 9x19, 40 S&W, etc,.

I use a Redding single stage for bottle neck rifle cases, I've worn out my first RCBS Rockchucker press some 10 years past.

In general I see most people who want to be good shots will burn up hundreds of rounds of handgun ammo during a practice session as compared to a day at the range with say a 30-06, 100 shots is indeed a big day. 375 H&H, I'm good for 20 rounds from the bench.

The point is, reloading for a pistol/revolver is not on the same scale as reloading for typical rifle use.

The input is great so far. It's giving me a start point for the research. Progressive for the 416 Rigby...Yikes! Unless I load it down a few notches, a single stage would be enough. Also if I really want to achieve high accuracy with my 30-06 or other rifle, I would be hand measuring each load. I can see myself shooting 300+ rounds of pistol ammo each week where accuracy won't matter as much but too much time in the basement will...... Please keep the advice coming. Each component if you were starting fresh. Thanks

Lee presses are a good inexspensive way to start out. They do flex on big heavy crimped rounds. If you can afford it go with the rcbs or similar iron press. It will last a life time +++. The Lee powder measure leaves much to be desired. On a budget lee will work fine. That's what I did and it got me started just fine. I have sold that old lee stuff to a newby reloader. Made him pretty happy as all he paid was a song. Good luck.

The big RCBS pro 2000 progressive should be able to handle 22h to 416 rigby. I am thinking about getting on of these. And, CH4D makes a progressive that can handle the same.
http://www.rcbs.com/equipmentframe.html

A lot of good info above. Progressive for pistol, and single stage for rifle.Dillon is excelent, but there are a lot of Lee's out there, as are RCBS and Hornady.A good alternative to progressive for rifle is turret.But to me, the most important thing is the powder measurement, regardless of the press.

Buy a Dillon 550B. You can use it as a progressive or a single stage and it will make match quality ammo either way. It will load both rifle and handgun ammo. Dillon equipment comes with a life time no questions asked warranty. The 550B can load the .416 Rigby, Weatherby, Jeffries and the .416 Remington Magnum.

Thank you to all those that replied. I was hoping for a few more responses. Maybe if I post topics on specific components, I'll get a few more.... Thanks again.

I began reloading for a centerfire (7mm-08) in the mid 80s before any of my shooting friends did, and thus had no "word of mouth" experience to go on. Before I bought any reloading gear, I bought Lyman's reloading manual and read it from stem to stern several times. It pretty much covers how to go about reloading the brass case, and has loads using bullets from multiple vendors. I began with, and still have, a Lee press, RCBS dies, Lee hand primer, RCBS beam scale, RCBS manual powder dispenser and powder trickler, Lyman analog micrometer, Lyman case trimmer, and unknown neck and primer pocket deburring tools. The only thing I have added since then are more dies and Pact's Digital Powder Dispenser Scale (gift from my girlfriend). I first started reloading for 7mm-08 because there was only one factory load available when it came out (plus it was much cheaper), and I have added 22-250, 30-06, 7.62x54R, 9.3x62 and 40 S&W. And as far as advice goes, I don't think there is a better source out there than this forum...

Metoo,

I am relativily new to reloading and I bought a RCBS kit a couple of years ago and it reloads all my rifles from my .22 hornet through to my .585 Nyati.

Only now after 2 or 3 years am I considering adding my first progressive which will be a Dillon.

Get the RCBS kit and start reloading. It pretty much has everything you will need for the minute.

The reason that I wanted top of the line equipment is that I always develop a bond with my sporting equipment. They become old friends that I can't part with. Still have my 35 year old fishing rod and tackle box...... and every rod since.... I want reloading equipment that I can grow into as I become more accomplished.... otherwise I'll have a bench crowded with starter equipment..... can't get rid of it because there may be a future use..... Although with three kids, maybe I need three sets of everything......

METOO,
You can't go wrong with an RCBS Rockchucker or a Bonanza Co-Ax. If you lube it regularly and take care of it you couldn't possibly wear one out in a lifetime. Jim

glad to hear you want to take the plunge into reloading.lots of good info above. i would add tho the best way to learn the in and outs of this fun task is to have a mentor with experience and patience teach you how to do tasks and why. i have 2 c type presses on my loading bench. 1 is a lee and one is an old bair press. i find that 2 presses are all i need to make ammo about as quickly as anything. i reload .357 .38 spl and 9mm.i love lee speed dies carbide ones. some people frown on lee dies but as far as conveince you cant beat em. all the adjustments are made by finger loosining lock rings and they dont move once their set. got a .357 .38 speed die an ordered another die body with rings from lee and i was set. one press resizes the other removes primers and flares the case mouth. then after cases are charged with powder you just seat an crimp the bullet. i shoot my home cast 150gr swc so i had to get a custom bullet seater from lee the original seater messed up the flat nose on the slugs.one press seats the bullet the other crimps it they work great that way.most important thing is to stay alert and have fun. good shootin to ya.

a .357 can be your best friend....

Make it simple, you need both. For competition you need a progressive (plenty of good advice above). It's generally set on a config that doesn't change and you can crank all night long (playing Pink Floyd's "Money", which sounds like the press )

But for hunting rounds or load work up, it's best to have a single stage. Why? You don't generally make more than 20-50 or so and configuring and reconfiguring a progressive eats up all the time "saved".

That's if you already have your load worked up. If you don't, you'll waste more time with the progressive tweaking powder and bullet seating making up 5 round test series. Time wise, it's a wash or worse. With the single stage, when working up loads, you can generally be more precise, too. Then you get into hand-priming, etc...

Looks like the Dillon 550B is the benchmark progressive. Now to decide on the single stage. I started another thread for input from owners of Forster and Corbin presses. I would like to have an electronic scale but haven't found one in any of the kits. Any other ideas on high end equipment including the electronic scales? Thanks

METOO,
I`ve got both electronic and beam scales and prefer the beam scale for my loading.
The electronic (Pact)works great for finding unknown wgts such as weighting bullets, cases, ect, but the beam scale is faster to set up and seems to be just as fast to use when loading a set powder charge.
I do admit to useing the Pact when working up a load as I don`t have to reset the weight for each .5 gr or so I`m raising my charge.