Which reloader to buy? Rifle - handgun

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fariaguard

Inactive
Experienced shooter but have never loaded my own. The progressives proved to be a seductive mistress but I don't need to load 500 rounds per hour.

As a newbie the progressives are intimidating any many seem to always have problems with indexing or this or that. Most seem to have an issue with something.

The single stage users seem to be the happiest people on the planet. Simple with not much to go wrong.

Enter the turret press. I reallllllly like the Redding T7 turret press and the online users seem to be happy. Reviews look great. 50-100 rounds per hour depending on who is commenting. Any thoughts? Thanks.
 
Take a look at the Ponsness-Warren Metallic 2. It is a turret that lets you have more control of rounds being loaded than other turrets. The priming system is funky and takes a bit of getting used to, but you can easily load off the press if you want.

Here is mine with a Quick-Measure attached. Currently setup for .44mag.

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If you do considerable shooting with rifle and handgun, consider getting, budget permitting, both a single stage and turret (or progressive rather than turret). The single stage is hassle free as you point out and recommended for most rifle calibers over a progressive press. On the other hand, once getting tuned into a progressive, it can hardly be beaten for handgun reloading. I guess the turret would then fall in between for both usages. So it now comes down to which one or ones to get. Everyone will be pleased to make a recommendation. I would suggest the Dillon 550B for a progressive. For a single stage, recommend bypassing an aluminum frame for one with a cast iron frame. My guess is that all turret presses have the cast iron frame. Selecting equipment is not usually an easy choice.
 
Welcome to the forum. Thanks for asking our advice.

fariaguard said:
Enter the turret press. I reallllllly like the Redding T7 turret press and the online users seem to be happy. Reviews look great. 50-100 rounds per hour depending on who is commenting. Any thoughts? Thanks.
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Turret is an excellent choice. It can operate exactly as a single stage press and batch processing or as a semi-progressive by rotating the turret head between operations and operating in continuous mode. By the way, the Lee Turret is the only turret on the market that advances the turret head automatically (saving hand motions) if you want. This speeds things up considerably.

About speed. Some people count the time they spend replenishing powder, primers, etc in their claims of output. So, actual output may vary.

Myself, I loaded 100 rounds of .357 Magnum in 47 minutes, including refilling the primer feed tray and powder supply and boxing and labeling the finished product in ammo boxes. I have never sat down and done 8 hours at a stretch, but 800 rounds is doable (leaving room for bathroom breaks and a meal/snacks.

condor bravo said:
My guess is that all turret presses have the cast iron frame. Selecting equipment is not usually an easy choice.
Click to expand...

The Lee Deluxe Turret has an aluminum frame. The (superior) Lee Classic Turret has a csst iron base and steel uprights. And other advantages over the Deluxe.

Lost Sheep
 
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Tell us something about yourself

Steep yourself in the lore of reloading. Think through the process. Read some manuals (Almost all loading manuals have their early chapters devoted to describing the process). ABC's of Reloading has no loading recipes, but is REALLY GOOD. Check one out at your local library or buy one (about $17 from Amazon, or any good gun store that carries reloading supplies). Lyman's manual is very good, too.

If you tell us something about yourself and your shooting habits, we can better answer your questions.

How much do you shoot? Of rifle, pistol, shotgun? What calibers/gauges?
What quantities of each casliber do you shoot

How long have you been shooting?
What part of the country do you live in?
How much room tdo you have for reloading?
Do you expect to leave your loading gear set up all the time or will you put it away after each loading session?
What kind of budget do you have?
What are your shooting goals (ultimate long-range accuracy, saving money, becoming independent of your retailers,, etc)

What kind of experience (both shooting and life) do you have? Are you mechanically inclined; have a big workshop where you could leave your stuff set up; limited in workspace; have grandkids or other small children around? You get the idea.

You can get started reloading for $35-40, but with the most primitive (but effective) equipment you can imagine (The Lee Load-All). It uses a mallet to drive the process and is slow. Or you can spend $2 or $3 thousand. You can get a first-class setup of well under $500, starting with a $300-400 kit and adding a few peripherals not included in the kit. Very careful shopping and judicious purchase of used gear could set you up for as little as $100-$200. A little luck and a LOT of care.

If you start slowly with just the extremely minimal necessities and only buy what you really need, you can put together your own kit (better than any off-the-shelf, pre-packaged kit), but you will have put a lot of thought into it (which actually is a good thing, but will tire your brain and take time, measured in both hours spent in research and measured in weeks/months in experimenting with the loading process, and shopping).

Minimal necessities and no-brainers (assuming you skip the Load-All option)
1) A press. (choosing one will be a big hurdle, though. Progressive, Turret or single-stage is only the first debate. I recommend single-stage. You will never regret having a good single-stage)
2) Dies absolute necessity. Get Tungsten-carbide. Tool steel requires lubrication, which adds steps to the process and only saves $10, but costs you to buy a lube pad and lube.
3) Something to mount the press on unless you use one of the few hand presses available, but don't. A mounted press is much more convenient. (a 2x6 will do, clamped to a handy table or workbench-I use a Stanley folding workbench, similar to the Black & Decker, but in the past used an end table-properly padded with newspaper or towel, of course)
4) A loading block (piece of wood or plastic with 50 holes in it to keep one box of brass organized) I use two, moving brass from one to the other as they progress through the process. No mix-ups.
5) A scale to weigh powder charges, bullets, etc.
6) Some way to dispense powder. I use the Lee scoops ($12) over the powder dispensers ($50 to $sky's the limit). I find them equally as accurate and only about twice as slow.
Consumables: Powder, Primers and bullets. You selection will depend on what kind of shooting you intend.

Summary:

Read ABC's of reloading first (if you can't find one, almost any reloading manual will do because the first few chapters are usually devoted to describing the steps, but different writing styles and emphasis vary widely, so read more than one.)

Read the "Sticky" thread in this forum.

Come back and tell us something about yourself and your style(s) of shooting.

Good luck, I am looking forward to your next post.

Lost Sheep
 
I think anyone starting out should always begin this endeavor with a single stage press. It forces you to touch those cases several times through the process, which give you a chance to really learn and feel whats occurring. You'll also catch mistakes a lot easier, and will catch brass that may be on the way out, etc. I started 25 years ago on a Rock Chucker and have never upgraded my press! Even if you did move to a progressive later on, you'll never regret having that single stage at the bench.
 
MJ, I agree 100%. A good single stage is the best way to start out and to learn the basics. I still have my Pacific Multi Power "O" type single stage I purchased about 1975 or so. Only yesterday I placed an order for the Lee Classic turret, and some accessories. This will supplement the single stage and be used only for pistol loading.

Purchase the book recommended and read it first then make your decision.

Have a blessed day.
 
Although suggested earlier, for a first press I wouldn't get a "boutique" branded press. I'd stick with Dillon, RCBS, Hornady, Lee, etc.

If you opt for a brand that isn't commonly sold at local stores or the most common websites, parts and support will be harder to come by.
 
OP, reloading doesn't save money, it just allows you to shoot more rounds for the same dollars spent if you consider what you would otherwise do with leisure time. If you make $200 an hour, don't reload. The equipment lasts forever, but you have consumables, bullets, brass, primers, powder, and will need a tumbler for cleaning brass, scale, and calipers. Price breaks come from buying in bulk, 25,000 bullets at a time, 50,000 primers, 40 lbs of powder, etx. 95% of competition shooters use Dillon progressives, from the top of the line 1050 with case feeder and bullet feeder, about $2,700 and can run 1,800 rounds an hour, to the Square Deal at $372 and runs about 300 rounds an hour. There is no reason not to start with a progressive, but it's tons easier if you know someone with the same press to set it up. For pistol and rifle the Dillon 550 manual indexer is the ticket. The advantage to a turret, especially the T7, is that it's a 7 holer versus typical 4 holers. So for a 3 die pistol set, decap/size, seat, prime, and powder thru bell hopper, you still have 3 holes left, you can add a swager die for mil crimp brass, powder drop check and LED inspection light. The downside is its a manual primer operation, ie, versus progressives, which are auto primed, and the indexing on the T7 goes back and forth. I have a 30 year old 550, an even older Rock Chucker, and a 15 year old Square Deal. Dillon has free lifetime parts replacement and complete rebuild policy, even if you didn't buy the original press.

image37165.jpg
 
The big time savings for me with the lee classic cast turret is not handling the brass as much.

When I load pistol, I'll leave the index rod in, the brass gets handled twice. Once in the shellholder, once out as a finished round.

When I load rifle I split the steps up and do brass prep as a step, and loading of prepped brass as another step.

Bass prep, I'll lube a case with my left hand and put it in the shellholder, deprime, then size.
I remove brass with my right hand and trim, chamfer,deburr, brush neck, invert the case remove primer crimp, brush primer pocket, then put in a bin. I'm only handling it twice, and it takes less than 20 seconds, thanks to the trimmer and case prep center.

Loading prepped brass I handle it twice, once in the shellholder, once out as a completed round.

While I can use the turret in batch mode, just like a single stage, there would be more handling of brass for me.

But I like the flexibility it offers me to use it in batch, or sequential process manual advance, or auto index modes, as well as quick, and easy caliber swaps.

The turrets all have their dies setup in them.

It all depends on what makes a better workflow for you to do.
That's what it ended up for me.

I load 5 pistol calibers and 6 rifle calibers on it.

For volume loading, progressive as you get a loaded round out each time you pull the lever,
But multiple operations are happening at once.

I'll have them setup in my pistol calibers.
 
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Still waiting for OP's answers to Lost Sheep. Without that information answers may be way off IMHO. Progressive presses can also be used as single stage presses if you feel the need to reduce it to simple functions so you can watch each stage. With that said I am not endorsing a progressive press I just don't want to see them dismissed early either.
 
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Fariaguard.. I'm in the same boat. I have begun the homework on choosing to reload or not. I was dead set on starting out on a Rock Chucker, but after seeing the Dillon 550, I'm starting to lean towards that as my first go. Maybe a mistake and frowned upon by many.

I love the idea of a single press, but two to three months down the road I believe I will get tired of all the additional handling of rounds. I will continue to monitor this thread, for I love it as it's answering my own questions.. :-)
 
wilkerr1, I've been using a Rockchucker for 25+ years I think it comes down to the amount of rounds your going to load, either way what ever you get use to will be fine. I enjoy reloading as much as shooting.
 
Rifle: Forster Co-Ax (or Lee Challenger with die bushings—the rest aren't any better than the Lee and none are as nice as the Co-Ax)
Pistol: Depends on quantity needed.
1) Lee Challenger
2) Hornady L-N-L AP (if you don't need a case collator)
3) Dillon 1050 and be done with it.
 
I truly enjoy my 550. Yesterday, I went out and shot some 45lc. I came back in and wiped down the cases. Went to the press abd in under 10 min, they were reloaded and back on the shelf. Not so quick to do on a single. I have a single stage and mostly I use it for rifle case prep (sizing and depriming).

Recently I bought bl550. Im using it for my odd calibers.
 
The 'start on a single stage press' is good advice BUT if you read the directions and take things step by step I think the average joe can start out with a progressive press just fine.

It would be incredibly great if new reloaders could find a mentor to show them how to set up their system. I could have benefitted greatly.

Disclaimer: I started out with a real basic set up and a single stage press and used it for years and years until a progressive press kind of fell into my lap. I was totally awestruck by how much ammo (mostly .45 ACP) I could turn out in so little time.

Kind of strange I did NOT know much about reloading until fairly recently. I had tunnel vision, I found something that worked and never much changed or looked for something better. (This is NOT the way to go.)

Only recently have I looked at turret presses. I know think a turret press would have saved me a *lot* of time and effort in my younger days and I probably never would have thought I needed a progressive later on.

I am really, really impressed with the Redding T7 turret press. (About $270)
http://ads.midwayusa.com/product/58...pf_ci_google&gclid=COu4kovNscoCFQgGaQodqxMNFw
 
Simple with not much to go wrong with progressives either. Once you're set up. However, speed isn't really necessary unless you're competitive in one if the hand gun shooting games. Speed on a single stage press comes with technique anyway.
Look at any beginner's kit and a Lyman manual. It's just more versatile. Oh and don't forget that you will need a solid work bench.
 
Before dismissing a progressive, keep in mind that everyone with one started out the same way, not knowing what problems might develop but eventually becoming the master over the machine rather than the other way around. Yes there is some learning curve but not that much of an obstacle or time consuming and it will not be long until you wouldn't want to be without it and pleased that you made the right choice (especially regarding handgun reloading but get that single stage for most rifle reloading).
 
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