progressive press

[agdude]

I'm seriously considering buying a progressive press, using a single-stage is starting to be too tedious. I'm really hesitant to just go buy one, it's a LOT of cash for me to drop. I wanted to see if anyone had one they might be willing to let me try? If not, what would be the best deal for someone that is worried about not breaking the bank? Thanks for the help.

Kevin

[Charles L. Cotton]

Kevin:
Where do you live? Are you anywhere close to Friendswood (25 miles south of Houston)?

Chas.

[agdude]

Bryan, right next to College Station.

[BobCat]

Kevin,

A couple of suggestions for your consideration:

1) A lot of people think Lee equipment is trash. It looks and feels cheap, and it is inexpensive, but it works. If you are not certain but want to try something faster than a single stage press, a Lee turret can be had for around $50 used (not much more new). I used one for a long time and was glad to have it.

2) A new Dillon 550 is about $300. I've bought two used Dillon 450 presses this year, for about $100 each, on ebay. The difference is the 550 has an interchangeable tool head so it is easy to change calibers. I find it cost-effective to have a 450 set up for each caliber I load, bolted to a piece of 1-1/8" plywood that clamps to the bench. The point is, used equipment can save you some money.

Best of luck. Keep you single stage press too - there are lots of times you will use it even after you get a progressive or two.

Regards,
Andrew

[agdude]

Thanks for that thought, I don't know why I didn't think about it first. I will start looking for a used press, I'm not too sure where to look I'd guess a gun show. If anyone here wants to sell one feel free to chime in also.

[BobCat]

Gun show is good, the forums here are good too.

Many people despise ebay for their anti-gun stance. The do not discriminate against reloading equipment or supplies, except I know of one guy whose business was cast bullets, and paypal (owned by ebay or associated in some way) did not want their service used to pay for his goods.

In any case, I searched ebay for "Dillon 450" (without quotes), and variations like RL450 and RL-450 and hit pay dirt - takes time to keep looking.

Also helps if you have an idea of what press you would like. For instance, Hornady (sp?) has a couple nice progressives but I'm unfamiliar with the brand so would not know what to suggest you look for.

I'm sure others here will give you good advice. Many people think whatever brand they chose is the absolute best, all others ar junk. You can weed that stuff out.

Good luck! Printing a real nice group, with ammunition you assembled, is very satisfying - you probably know this from the single-stage press. Opening the big ammo box and grabbing two or three boxes of your loads, without thinking about how long it will take to replace them, is also a nice feeling.

Regards,
Andrew

[nuparadigm]

BobCat's experience with Lee is the same as my own. It's cheap, but it works if you do your part.

I used my Lee Turret press for a long time before I saved up enough to go Dillon.

The only down-side to Lee is with the powder measuring system. It's what they call "Auto Disc" or something like that. The automatic powder measure has interchangeable discs that throw certain weights of various powders. If the amount you want to throw of - say something like Win 231 - isn't in the Disc's capacity, then you'll have to either charge the cases by hand or be content with having a little more (or a little less) powder than you'd like. It's not a perfect system, but it sure beats the single-stage reloading by a long way.

[bj]

I belive that Natches Shooters Supply Is the cheapest at the moment
on Lee equipment also find a good powder mearsurement
system to go with it B.J.

[cyphur]

Can you switch out/replace the powder measuring system with something else?

[bj]

For my own use I went with a system from Pact just sit the measure next to the scale plug them in calibrate and push a button B.J.

[BobCat]

You can use almost any powder measure, but I actually like the Lee disc measure.

It seems immune to bridging and jamming on powder granules. There is a screw-adjust "disc" available for it so you can make fine changes; it is only a few bucks. I actually use the disc measure on my Dillon presses (gasp! oh, the sacrilege!) because it works without drama.

I use an RCBS Uniflow for rifle cartridges, and it chokes on Varget sometimes. I also have a Lee "Perfect" measure (same general design as the Uniflow, just plastic instead of metal) and it does not jam on Varget.

The Lee equipment "feels" and looks cheap and weak, but it works well.

Regards,
Andrew

[Gungle George]

Kevin,

Keep looking and buy a Dillion used. They have what they call a "No bull Warranty". That means they don't care if you bought it new OR used, they will replace any part that is bad for FREE and I mean return shipping as well!! I have 4 of their presses and nothing works any better. I load about 2000-2500 rounds of 12 ga a month on a SL900 Dillion and 1000 .45 ACP on a 650. You can flat crank out the ammo!!!!!
A buddy loaded over 350,000 12 ga on his SL900 and it was getting a little worn. He sent it back to Dillion and they completly rebuild the loader and sent it back to him (in 2 weeks) no charge!!!
Also, if you encounter a problem you can call them on an 800 number and talk to a tech rep that can help you with anything that is giving you a problem. Great service.

Cheers,

George

[GrandmasterB]

+1 on Dillon customer service. They totally rebuilt my press for me after it loaded thousands and thousands of rounds and they made it just like new again, all at no cost. If anything every bends, breaks or even gets lost, just call them and they will have a new one in the mail to you.

[Amy]

I'm seriously considering buying a progressive press, using a single-stage is starting to be too tedious. I'm really hesitant to just go buy one, it's a LOT of cash for me to drop. I wanted to see if anyone had one they might be willing to let me try? If not, what would be the best deal for someone that is worried about not breaking the bank? Thanks for the help.

Kevin

You will like the progressive, I have two of them and they are great. They aren't that hard really to get used to, and I well remember my single stage getting tedious. Believe me you will not regret spending the money, so spend all you can.

Bear in mind howver that a progressive press is a device that allows you to duplicate a mistake quite efficiently hundreds of times before you catch it.

Amy