What would you get

[Eeieza3]

I am looking at getting into reloading. I have no experience. Everyone goes back and forth about what machine is better and so on and so forth.

If money was not a concern and you wanted to get the best setup for ease of use and quality what would you get....

Thanks

 

[Pistolier60]

Hard to beat RCBS,Lee or Dillon stuff with just a plain old press ,scales and powder drops.The more automated progressive presses can be a little complicated for beginners...... or even veterans! IMHO

 

[jglenn]

for a single stage press it's hard to beat RCBS.. I have a 48 year old Rock Chucker that is still solid as a rock..

always a good place to start... you can learn the basics with a single stage... Then if you do any type of volume move into a progressive.. There it's hard to beat the leader of the pack...Dillon I have two Dillon 550s and still use my RCBS for most Rifle work

 

[Eeieza3]

Sounds like RCBS is the place to start. I just worry if I buy the single press i am going to end up with a progressive anyway. Who do yall think makes the best progressive. Dillon?

 

[Pistolier60]

Sounds like RCBS is the place to start. I just worry if I buy the single press i am going to end up with a progressive anyway. Who do yall think makes the best progressive. Dillon?

I've got a Hornady. Only problem is you need to be an octopus to try to run it. There's alot going on there every time you pull the handle....just sayin

 

[Flashover16]

Depends on what your primary goal is for the particular press.
IF you want to try to turn out hundreds of rounds per hour then you need a progressive, if more interested in safety and quality rounds then the Turret press is likely the best, a single station does fine as well.
I have loaded for well over 40 years, done the single station, the progressive and the turret, been using the Lee turret now for about 12-15 years and it serves my purpose just fine and I can keep check on quality as I move along.
Sure some have no problems with a progressive, but honestly check around and you will find most Squibs, over charges, high primers are produced on progressive presses.
In my opinion Dillon does make the best progressive.
like any skill you need to practice and check quality as you move along, it only takes a single round to mess up a pistol/rifle and possibly the shooter as well.

 

[rbstern]

I am looking at getting into reloading. I have no experience. Everyone goes back and forth about what machine is better and so on and so forth.

If money was not a concern and you wanted to get the best setup for ease of use and quality what would you get....

Thanks

It would help to know what calibers you want to reload, and some idea of the volume you'd like to load (per week, per month, or something along those lines).

 

[Eeieza3]

I want quality rounds for sure. I would like to produce 500 rounds but i know the QC isnt there. So if we cross out a progressive and aim towards producing lets say 100 to 200 rounds a session... Would a single or a turret be better. I am interested in producing 9mm, 5.56, and Match Grade .308 for precision rifle. I go through about 1000 rounds a month with 556 and 9.

 

[rbstern]

I want quality rounds for sure. I would like to produce 500 rounds but i know the QC isnt there. So if we cross out a progressive and aim towards producing lets say 100 to 200 rounds a session... Would a single or a turret be better. I am interested in producing 9mm, 5.56, and Match Grade .308 for precision rifle. I go through about 1000 rounds a month with 556 and 9.

It comes down to how much you enjoy reloading and how much time you want to devote to it. Some people can sit down and invest the time to produce 100 to 200 rounds on a single stage press in one session, but it's a lot of time. I enjoy reloading, but that's too big of a time commitment, as far as I'm concerned.

A turret press is a happy compromise. The Lee Classic Turret is the most versatile press on the market, IMHO. It's also a well designed, high quality machine. You can make 200 rounds an hour of 9mm, and then switch out the head and shell holder, and be making 223 or 308 just a minute or two later. While some people do rifle on a full progressive, I am not a huge fan of that. Perhaps if I shot a lot more rifle rounds per month, I would do it, but I like to load rifle single stage/batch style (which I do with the Lee Classic Turret as a single stage).

If I wanted to crank out huge volumes of 9mm, I'd get a Dillon Square Deal in 9mm, or a Lee Pro 1000 dedicated to that purpose. Both of those presses can crank out an amazing amount of pistol ammo with minimal work. Edge to the Dillon for being a more reliable machine. The Lee Pro 1000's primer system is a finicky beast. The Dillon 550, 650, Hornday LNL AP, RCBS 2000, Chucker 5, Lee Loadmaster...a lot of great qualities in all of them, but they're a pain in the butt to switch calibers, and some are expensive to switch calibers on.

My favorite single stage is the Forster Co-Ax, and if I was only loading precision rifle rounds, I'd probably use that.

 

[owen58]

I've been reloading for one year now, and I vividly recall being in your position. After months of back and forth, I decided to go with a Hornady LNL AP progressive press. Very soon thereafter I purchased a plain-jane Lee single stage....the model that it about $35. I love them both! I load .38, .40, .45acp, .223, and .308. I bought extra Hornady bushings for the dies and I can switch calibers and get set up in minutes, and then turn out pistol ammo stupid-fast. I load .308 for accuracy and in smaller numbers and do most of it on the simple Lee. Had to call Hornady with a minor issue and their customer service folks were top-notch. That said, I own several RCBS dies and had to call them as well. And, as I'm sure you've heard RCBS customer service folks are fantastic as well. I almost went with the Dillon, but I couldn't justify the added cost over the Hornady. I found the best deal was from midsouth shooters supply.