Progressive press

C

canineshooter

New member
I have had a single stage RCBS Rock Chucker for 30 years. Looking at a progressive.
I don't load more than a thousand or so rounds a year. I looked at RCBS progressives and don't want to spend that much. Lee and Lyman are priced much cheaper. Not sure about the quality. No pistol reloading. .223, 22-250, 308. Pretty standard cartridges.
Any thoughts? Opinions?
 
My buddy picked up a hornady progressive I ended up using more than he does and I wasnt super impressed with any percieved notion of things going much faster.

For a thousand rounds a year, especially if you're loading multiple types of ammo, I wouldnt spend the extra money.

The fiddling around, setting the powder measure correctly and making sure you didnt miss a step with each handle pull is a bit of a headache. I would guess that switching powder, cartridges and primer system takes around 30 minutes. So how much can you get done in thirty minutes with your current system and how often are you going to be switching the progressive to different ammo types?

To benefit from a progressive you're going to need to load a lot of ammo, and preferably a lot of the same ammo.
 
I load way more than 1000 rounds a year for sure but I dont load near as much as I used to. I am still using the same Rock Chucker that I bought new in 1973 ($43 back then). I never found the need for a progressive all that much. Back in the the early '80's when I was shooting IHMSA matches every weekend in Texas I shot a lot and reloaded a lot and will admit that a nice progressive would have been good to have but I did fine without it. All these years later there is something comforting about cranking the handle on that old press. I sure do wish that I worked just as good now as I did 47 years ago.
 
I havent used the automatic powder measures that are out there but plenty around here have.

If I was in your position and i wanted to speed things up or upgrade the loading room a bit, I would look into an auto powder measure and a second single stage press. Two presses and two dies right there with a machine measuring powder for you.... I think that would be slick and bit more economic and flexible.
 
The one big issue I see with the progressive presses is the powder measure. I have tried and tried to use a manual powder measure to speed things up. I have a couple of chargemasters that work perfect but I looked into using a manual powder drop(both hornady and rcbs) and could never get them to match the accuracy of the chargemasters. I don't load a lot of ammo, and have set up my chargemasters to run a bit quicker so the manual powder drops sit in a drawer. It would be nice to load casings and crank the lever for an hour to come up with 1000k rounds, but I will stick with the single stage.
 
I’m with Rustydust. One thing I do is choose powders that meter well and grab 6-8 rifle cases at a time held in a row and charge them with my Redding micrometer charger. Fifty .223 cases go pretty fast. I also bought an adapter part so I could attach my cordless drill to my Forster case trimmer. I often sort brass, measure length or hand prime in batches of 50-100 while watching TV or movies. The Lyman multi station power brass processor is a Godsend for processing military range pick up brass.
 
I have a Redding T-7 turret press that i love. Seems i have an extra 5 or so turrets full of set up reloading dies ready to go also.

It is very comfortable to use.

It definitely speeds things up. Not a ton. But it does
 
I've gone to a LEE Cast Classic turret press with the four hole turrets. I have 9 turrets set up with multiple cartridge on each. The dies are always setup where they are needed and just have to swap in the turret I'm working with. I just bought another LEE 4 hole turret press and set up a second loading station on the bench so can be loading two different cartridges at the same time, each station has two powder measures a scale and a complete set of brass prep tools. The second LEE is a little smaller but uses the same turrets as the cast classic and was only $89. at Amazon.

I have another lyman turrets set up with multiple LEE Quick Trims so there is no set up to trim multiple cartridges just spin the turret to the case your going to trim and the nice thing is the 223 QT will trim 20 Practical, 223 and 6x45 so there is three in just one QT. I leave a Wilson set up for 204 R and can trim 204, 22-204, 6mm-204 and 25-204 without any adjustments. You can find old trimmers at flea markets cheap enough for cartridges that Wilson doesn't make shell holders for and I have one set up just for 6.5x58R Sauer and another for 22 Savage Highpower.

I've moved my big single stage to another bench just for case forming and don't load on it any longer
 
I've run progressives for 50 years, starting with the Star. I now have the Hornady LnL. I do 200 to 300 rounds an hour depending on the caliber.

One can be real fast with progressives, if you add the case & bullet feeders - like anywhere from 800 to 1,000 rounds an hour - if no hicups - a can of air sitting next to you prevents a lot of potential hicups, if used in a timely manner.

All this does cost a little money, as you need several primer feeders and a couple powder measures. Like others have mentioned, if you need to change out powder measure internals for rifle vs pistol it eats up some time. I have 2 Hornady powder measures with the adjustable micrometer powder insert for that reason and a slew of plates, primer tubes etc.

I know of no powder measure that throws dead nuts with stick powders or varget. My Hornady's throw dead nuts with ball powders, Vihtavuori powder and a few others.

If you feel you have the need, go progressive but go with quality. If you don't feel the need, then a Turret or single stage will do just find. Nothing complicated about any of them.

Nice to have a spare station on a progressive or turret, as you can add various dies to suit your fancy. When I load 223/308/30-06 for various rifles - in station one I have the FL sizer, station 2 is the Redding body die, station 3 is the powder measure, station 4 is the redding micro adjustable seating die, station 5 is the redding taper crimp die. Unless you're shooting a tight neck chamber, my ammo will cycle and go bang every time.
 
I've had a Dillon 550B since the early ninties, and love it. It'll do ~500 rds an hour, once you're set up, in 223/9mm, etc., w/ properly selected (non-big grain as noted above) powders, and even with those powders for non-max loads w/ some crunching in the powder measures. Loads are plenty accurate enough for me. Load over 120 cal's in one loader. IF you're going progressive, I'd say Dillon all the way - their no BS warranrty is just that - run over it with your pickup truck, and you get a new press. Customer service people reload on their equipment, and are trained to know what they're talking about. Had a stuck case once, called them, and they talked me thru it, AND sent me a new sizer die! That was above and beyond. And I use my 550B for single stage loading at times too when I just want a few known hunting loads for deer season, etc., (rather than only setting it up to rock out 1000 rounds), or even working up new loads. A recent Co-ax purchase will prob stop using it as a semi-progressive now....lol.

That said, a basic 550B purchase will cost hundreds to get set up - I never did get more than one powder measure, etc as I would just reset for each load, then load a bunch, etc. I dont match shoot, and have tons of components, so it was not an issue for me. I see good equipment purchases as a lifetime investment in this case. At a 1000 rds a year or so total, you may not want to go there. A good single stage will do that over the course several evenings, and give you quality "me" time....lol. Dillon does offer a BL550 (not RL550) now - the basic 550 without all the bells and add-on's, and you can add the powder measure, etc later. Much cheaper to start, and gives some of the progressive advantages for larger loading jobs. I have no experience w/ the other loader companies progressives, so I'll reserve comment there, but understand some of them are working well. Any of them have "extras" beyond what you're used to for a single stage to be used (shell plates, buttons, adapters, etc.), so I would look into those costs, uses, etc. also. Used Dillon has the same warranties, and can come much cheaper, and still serve a lifetime for anyone. I've seen half-priced, used Dillon set-up's in classifieds, etc.
 
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Progressives are great for pistol cartridges because you dont have to worry about trimming brass.

If you have to resize then trim the brass you are losing a huge benefit to the progressive in my opinion.
 
^^ Yeah trimming can be an issue with a progressive but I end up trimming first. If the case mouths are all dinged up then that won't work either.

I have a RCBS Ammomaster, made in the 90's I believe. While not as nice as the newer units or the Dillons I'm sure, it loads good ammo and is reliable. I wouldn't want to be without a progressive now, although I don't load bigger rounds on it much as I don't like swapping primer setups back and forth. When I set up for 45 acp with large primers I load every bullet I have and be done with it. That's only once every few years so no big deal. If I found a deal on a second press I'd probably get another and have one set up for each primer size.

One thing they are great for is if you make wildcats requiring multi-step brass forming. Just set your dies up in sequence and crank them out.

My other press is a Rockchucker from the early 90's. I doubt I'll ever wear it out. Great press except for the spent primer catcher. Dumb design but I can live with it.
 

Quote:I don't like swapping primer setups back and forth. When I set up for 45 acp with large primers I load every bullet I have and be done with it. That's only once every few years so no big deal. If I found a deal on a second press I'd probably get another and have one set up for each primer size.

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Bought the (450) on the left in the early 80's and loaded over 5000 rounds/year of 30-06 ammo on it until '99, and lots of 45 ACP, 223 and misc. other calibers. Somewhere along the line I made all the upgrades (except the frame) to be same as 550. Biggest drawback, as stated by 204 AR was the necessity of changing out the priming system from large to small primers.

Somewhere along the line, I ran across a used 450 for $150 (IIRC) so picked it up to eliminate the primer change. As it turns out, there was a very small plastic bushing missing on the press, so I called Dillon and asked to purchase one, explaining I had purchased a used press and that part was missing; well the tech I spoke to acted insulted that I wanted the buy one, took my address and a couple days later the part arrived no charge. If that isn't a no BS warranty, you'll never find one.
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As for stick powder in the Dillon measure, all the 30-06 I loaded was for HP Rifle match shooting and the measure, operated carefully would throw H4895 close enough to shoot high master scores. It handles ball powders better, of course but longer or heavier (than 4895) stick powders would probably not do too well?? I did also pick up a couple of extra powder measures and keep one set up w/pistol bars and one for rifle powder.

I do still have the first press I ever purchased, an old Herter's single stage, purchased in 1954. Still use it for those rounds that I only load a few/season. It loaded all my ammo from 1954 until 83 or so) and, as, is any single stage press perfectly capable of loading 1000+ rounds/year; it all depends on how much time you wish to spend reloading.
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Regards,
hm


 
Extra presses are great. That's how I ended up with three Dillon 300's in the 80's and a pair of AAA turrets. I got a 650 and later got a 550 that I paid $50.00 for along with a big Dillon tumbler. For another $100.00 I got three conversion kits and about $1200 more in dies tool heads, factory ammo and components. It pays to check the local classifieds on Thanksgiving..lol

Greg
 
I loaded 45 years on a single stage and just 5 yrs or so ago bought a Dillon 550-C. It's great for volume loading and some things I figured out for my use are:

I load ball powders for consistency and don't run charges up by 'redline'
This one both pistol and rifle
I use Lee neck Collet dies for rifles so no lube needed
I use one load per caliber/cartridge so I m not always changing things
Load 17 Hornet, 204 Ruger and 223 in rifles
Load 380, 9, 357 and 45 for pistol
Note that I load all small Primer cases so don't have to change my priming feed/system
Works for me !!

Do my big rifles and smaller ammo loading on my single stage.
 
I really like my Dillon 550. I load 45 acp, 9mm and 223 on it. I still load 243 on single stage since that is low round count for me and I’m still working up that load. I would like another Dillon and have one for small primer and one for large. As soon as I’m done working up loads for my 243 I will probably switch it over to the Dillon too. I might get the Dillon 750 for my second.
 
Lots of good info here. I do have another press I don't use other than pulling bullets with a collet style die. I ordered a lee power trimmer with the dies for trimming. Going to resize in 1 press, move the case to the other press and trimm with a cordless drill. Maybe this will speed the process up a little.
I have been trimming with a lymen lathe style and drill for years. Still have to chamfer and debur the cases. Seemed slow. Older I get I just hate the whole trimming and case prep procedure.
 
Originally Posted By: canineshooter
I have been trimming with a lymen lathe style and drill for years. Still have to chamfer and debur the cases. Seemed slow. Older I get I just hate the whole trimming and case prep procedure.

Me, too. My home made, err, custom built answer to RCBS & Lyman's Case Prep Center:

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1) Lee case trimmer @ $13/first caliber (and only $7 for shell holder & case length gauge for each additional cartridge you load for)
2) L E Wilson Chamfer Tool @$18

3)Mounted in 2" cut off shovel handle for one handed, one step operation(I'm short and it was too long anyway
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-free)
4) Borrow cordless drill from workshop (also free)

Simply lock case in drill shell holder, pick up CBCPC (Custom Built Case Prep Center, trim, deburr, & done .....priceless.

Sold the Forster Case Lathe (cost about $135) in the background of picture as the Lee is much faster.
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Custom Built Mechanized Primer Pocket Cleaner Upper shown @ left:
1) Wife's old sewing machine motor & foot operated switch - (free)
2) Left over scrap of tin (free)
3) Fan blade purchased years ago & never used to keep motor cool during continuous service (also free)
4) Short piece of plastic coated SS boat steering cable, (yep, you guessed it, also free)

Removes crud from primer pockets in one fell swoop, and free's good.
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Regards,
hm

 
My dad and I split the cost of a hornady lnl.

It’s kind of a pain to set up and if ball powder spills out of a pistol case, which happens a lot, it’s a pain, but, once running it’s really slick.

I save brass all year and prep and prime it.

It go to his place on a Saturday and we will set up say 45acp and take turns bsing while loading and make 2000 or so in a day easy.

A month or 2 later we will setup and load 9mm the next month 223 and so on.
 
I narrowed my presses down. I ended up with two Hornady progressives for rifle cartridges. Two Dillon SD’s for pistol. Still have my rock chucker and a COAX press.

Traded off a Dillon 450 for a 550, my mistake. The 450 is a better rig than the 550 imho. The 550 didn’t make me feel warm and fuzzy, traded it off for the two Hornady presses.

I like the Hornady as I can use it as a full progressive or an automatic turret of sorts. I like the spring retainer, easy to snap a case in or out.
 


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