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This is great advice. Progressive presses are too expensive to buy practice machines with the intent to replace later.
Disable the index or just put one die in and run it if you have to start with a progressive press.
I always recommend starting with a single stage press. Not only is it easier to learn the process on a simpler machine but I still use my single stage quite often even though I have a progressive.
On top of that you don't have so much invested if you decide reloading isn't for you.
I appreciate all the advice. I have been researching and thinking about it, and an inexpensive single stage may be the way to go. I have the tendency to get too excited about something and go all in quick! Probably why a year ago I didn’t own a gun, and now I’m at the range 3X a week. I was looking at the Lee, and the kit with the press, powder measure, and primer tray isn’t that much, and die sets are only $50. And even if I eventually got a better press later, I could always keep the Lee set up for a caliber I don’t shoot a whole lot. One question I have is, are the dies interchangeable between presses? Or would I need all new die sets if I went to a Dillon?
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Before you spend a ton of money, how many rounds at a time are you going to reload? No question Dillon is the best and with all of their bullet loaders and case loaders you can turn out lots of ammo. The question is do you need something like that? I personally started with a Lee Single stage which I still use and moved up to a Lee Classic turret. With the turret I turn out one round with 4 strokes of the handle. With the Dillon you turn out 1 round with one stroke of the handle. I am very conservative with my loading and want to be very careful with each step. I am retired and have plenty of time so I don't need to rush. I find that for my needs the turret is sufficient, the heads are inexpensive so I can easily change calibers and my ammo is as good as the ammo a Dillon makes, it just is slower. This is a great hobby to get into. But evaluate your needs and consider whether you need an ammo factory (Dillon) or not.
Also, when things quiet down a bit and supplies return (soon I hope) stock up on the essential like powder, primers and bullets. Some very good resources are on YouTube, gavintoobe has some excellent equipment evaluations that I recommend evaluating.
Finally, make sure you have a sturdy bench to do all of this on.
Also, when things quiet down a bit and supplies return (soon I hope) stock up on the essential like powder, primers and bullets. Some very good resources are on YouTube, gavintoobe has some excellent equipment evaluations that I recommend evaluating.
Finally, make sure you have a sturdy bench to do all of this on.
I have never had my hands on a Dillion, but the reviews are hard to ignore. Having said that I have a Hornady Lock N Load AP that has probably close to 10,000 rounds through it. I load everything from 380 Auto to 458 Socom on it. So far I have had to readjust the timing once. Again I've never used a Dillion but it seems like cars. You start paying exponentially more money for a slight improvement. Is it worth it? Depends on your income.
sergeant69
Active Member
this will sway no one, and i've posted it b4 but here goes. i have been reloading since the mid 60s and did it commercially for 6 years so i know a little, and i mean that literally, about reloading. i'm no expert at all, just have made more mistakes than most.skipping over all the lees, stars, rcbs etc i've owned, started with a dillon1000 in 1980, talked to mike dillon on the phone a few times about the crappy swager feature on it and he agreed. anyways, mid 2000 i decided to try a hornady LNL. hands down worst POS i ever used. customer service knew me by my voice. maybe i just got a lemon, i dunno. record was 3 (?) 45acp in a row b4 it jammed. finally had enough, chunked it out, got a 650 and loaded around 1000 rds w/out a hiccup first day. also had a 550 on bench and a forester etc. sold the 650 as it primes on downstroke and aggravated back. got a 1050 and sold it a few years later as had no more room to store all the ammo. sold it here on TGT. still regret it. i honestly don't remember about the 650, but the 550 can be used as a single stage when learning, as i'm sure others can. other than my specialty loaders, forester, rcbs, Prazipress etc, the only advice i can offer is GO BLUE! love their Bill Of Rights too!
I started on a turret and agree. I already wish I had gotten a progressive to start with.
If you're mostly competent and attentive to detail, there's no reason to have to start on a single stage if you don't want to.
Your cost isnt that much differnt when you start reloading other than your press selection. $100 press vs $500 press. Your cost for all the other accessories to reload would be the same... no matter the press. If your willing to drop 400-500 on a new pistol... just go with a progressive.
Besides the press, I’m getting a list of stuff I will need. I know I will need dies, a tumbler with tumbling media (my workspace is in my garage so I’m getting a dry tumbler with corncob or walnut shell media), small pistol primers (gonna start with 9mm reloading), bullets, powder, and a digital scale. I have digital calipers. Ive heard people mention case trimming, and cleaning the primer pocket, but on the videos I have watched it looks like they just clean the brass, and start loading. Does the brass need to be trimmed and the primer pocket cleaned on 9mm brass?
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9mm brass doesn't need to be trimmed. The primer pockets should be good to go as well. Trimming brass mostly applies to rile and cleaning pockets for bench rest shooters. Not that cleaning the pockets hurts anything but for pistol I feel it's overkill. Unless they have crimped primers. They the crimp needs to be removed before putting a new primer in.
You will not need a case trimmer or primer pocket cleaned for 9mm.
Don’t forget brass if you don’t have any.
Hope your garage is air conditioned. I don't think anyone trims pistol brass. Lyman has a little inexpensive kit with a deburr, primer pocket swag and cleaner. I do run that in the primer pocket. Lets you physically check the brass and remove pieces of media that may be stuck. When you do .45ACP it's nice to be checking that primer pocket as there are small and large primer pockets and you need to separate them out.
I have a stainless steel liquid tumbler which I never use but brass looks like new and I have a regular tumbler with corn cob media which I use 99% of the time. I tumble outside though as there is lead dust danger.
Finally you will want a chronometer, a bullet puller (inertia works for me), maybe a balance scale to make your digital is really accurate, safety glasses, a do not disturb sign. Get a notebook so that you can record all of your data for every load you make.
Have fun.
sergeant69
Active Member
no need at all to trim straight wall brass. it will crack or primer pockets loosened b4 they need to be trimmed. and i'm including 45-70, 45 acp, 45 colt, 9mm, 38/357 and 100 others.
Ive got a media tumbler, with media & seperater id be willing to sell ya. Ill take some pics tonight & send them to ya.
I started with a Lee Pro 1000 press for pistol brass, and then later a Rockchucker for Rifle brass. I got tired of continuously tweaking on the Lee to make it work, and upgraded to a used Dillon 550. I absolutely love that press and don’t see me ever needing to upgrade from there. I don’t even have the Rockchucker mounted on my workbench anymore, because I’ve been loading everything on the 550.
Leaning toward the Lee Classic 4 turret press, with the auto index. Looks pretty simple to learn and to use, Press is about $200 and carbide 4 die sets are around $50. For the amount that I’m actually able to shoot now I think it will work pretty well. You can get the extra turrets for $12 and have your dies already set up, so to change calibers you just replace the turret and set your powder charge. Some people get a separate powder drum for each caliber, but I think that may be overkill for what I need.
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