Get a lee turret, you can use it as a single stage at first until you learn. Highly recommend you don't go progressive out of the gate.Lee dies are inexpensive and just plain work.
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New To Reloading: Press Questions
- Thread starter Cason
- Start date
Thanks chuck I was just trying to think about his well being, but he is a grown man and can do what he wants
I second this. I started out with a LEE single stage. Learned all the basics and used it for about a year. THEN I went to a lee classic turret press. Went from 50 rounds a hour to 250 rounds ahour. PLUS you can disable auto index and still run it as a single stage press. Take your time, learn the fundamentals, THEN move up to a Turret or progressive.
I'll also second this. A Lee turret can used like a single stage, but you do no have to remove/insert each die. Just manually rotate the turret to the next one.
I second what chuckdog says. He has many yeas of good experience. Find a good mentor, start with a good single station and learn the basics. No need of getting injured. That give everyone a bad rap. Have fun!!!
The Lee progressive presses (1000 and Load Master) can both make large piles of very good ammo. But, among the current offerings of progressive presses, they are also the presses most likely to drive you nuts. The priming system in both presses is sensitive to stray debris and malfunction easily without careful attention to prep and keeping it clean.
The more expensive progressive presses from Dillon, Hornady and RCBS are all better built pieces of equipment with more conservative approaches to priming that are more reliable.
Like Chuckdog, most of my reloading takes place on a Lee Classic Turret press. It's one of the best pieces of gear ever to come from Lee. I don't think there is a better way to get started on reloading because it also functions as a really good single stage press when you are just learning the ropes. When you know what you are doing, you can crank up the speed and produce rounds at a reasoonably fast clip. You're working harder than you do with a progressive, but it's a fair trade off. And there is no product out there that makes changeover to another caliber easier, if you buy an extra insert turret for each die set you own. With the exception of the Forster Co-Ax single stage, the Lee Classic Turret is the most flexible press available for switching back and forth between pistol and rifle cartridges. If you only plan to own one press and support a bunch of different calibers, the Classic Turret is a great choice because those changes are economical and the press is effective no matter what cartridge you are loading.
Don't confuse the Classic Turret with the older, cast aluminum presses. The desirable "Classic Turret" press looks like this:
The older Lee turret press looks like this:
The older press wasn't a bad product, but it's signficantly inferior to the Classic Turret.
The more expensive progressive presses from Dillon, Hornady and RCBS are all better built pieces of equipment with more conservative approaches to priming that are more reliable.
Like Chuckdog, most of my reloading takes place on a Lee Classic Turret press. It's one of the best pieces of gear ever to come from Lee. I don't think there is a better way to get started on reloading because it also functions as a really good single stage press when you are just learning the ropes. When you know what you are doing, you can crank up the speed and produce rounds at a reasoonably fast clip. You're working harder than you do with a progressive, but it's a fair trade off. And there is no product out there that makes changeover to another caliber easier, if you buy an extra insert turret for each die set you own. With the exception of the Forster Co-Ax single stage, the Lee Classic Turret is the most flexible press available for switching back and forth between pistol and rifle cartridges. If you only plan to own one press and support a bunch of different calibers, the Classic Turret is a great choice because those changes are economical and the press is effective no matter what cartridge you are loading.
Don't confuse the Classic Turret with the older, cast aluminum presses. The desirable "Classic Turret" press looks like this:
The older Lee turret press looks like this:
The older press wasn't a bad product, but it's signficantly inferior to the Classic Turret.
I started the wrong way, I got the Dillon 650 and jumped right in. 9mm and 45 were real simple. After having a few bad experiments I bought a lee single stage for rifle. Now I do 300 blackout and 308 on the lee. It takes longer but I get a lot mroe control.
eggzacklee! Then, after a LOT of experience , by all means get that Dillon 550B! And get ahold of every doggone reloading manual you see & spend hours, days, & weeks reading.............
Great way to start loading. I think about getting a dillon progressive but the turret works so well I can't convince myself its worth it...... so far...... could change lol
I would jump right in and get the 550.
Choose a powder that will fill the case; that will help you never to double charge a load. Put a light over the press to allow you to see into the case before you install the bullet, and train yourself to look into it before you seat a bullet.
Lastly, do some reading, and ask for help.
Red Dot, Unique, and Solo100powder will fill the case, and work well in 9, 40,38's, 357 and 45 for light to medium target loads.
Choose a powder that will fill the case; that will help you never to double charge a load. Put a light over the press to allow you to see into the case before you install the bullet, and train yourself to look into it before you seat a bullet.
Lastly, do some reading, and ask for help.
Red Dot, Unique, and Solo100powder will fill the case, and work well in 9, 40,38's, 357 and 45 for light to medium target loads.
