CMV
Member
Currently I use a Lee classic turret. Has been a great press and am happy with it. Not even going to put in the standard Lee disclaimer "for the money" - I'm happy with its performance overall and would be if it cost twice as much.
I load in batches, typically 1,000 to 1,500 rds at a time (and that time might be a little here & there over a week). But my process is doing a decent amount off-press. In general it's:
1. decap with universal decap die
2. clean (either tumble or hot soapy water & dry)
3. resize
4. trim (rifle), chamfer, debur
5. quick clean to get case lube & trim shavings gone
6. Prime with Lee Hand prime - usually sitting on couch watching tv
7. Then load so I'm using 2 stations, 3 if FCD.
So I auto-index going from powder drop to seating to FCD (if using), then just twist the turret back to powder station when removing the finished round.
Doing it this way, my pace is typically 200-250 rds per hour. Since I'm doing so much offline/as prep work, it's really much lower. But primed ready to load cases, say 225/hr.
I only do 3 calibers in that volume - 9mm, .45ACP, & .223. Everything else is smaller batches and I will keep the LCT press for those. Possibly .45ACP could stay on the LCT too since I shoot a little less of it.
So....I'm going through ammo a little faster lately. Shooting more in general, sharing a little ammo when various church members come out to shoot & realize the 2 boxes of ammo they brought wasn't enough or whatever.
Also, when I got into reloading I thought it would be a hobby I enjoyed. And to some extent it is. But large batches of these 3 calibers, just churning out generic range ammo, it isn't recreational. More like a chore that I do so I can shoot a lot more for same amount of money. Lots of benefits too and I wouldn't give up reloading (although I do buy lots of 9mm when I find it around 14¢ / rd - I'm at 11¢ reloading so $30/case isn't much incentive to reload).
So all that to ask....if I want to load appx 15k/yr of those 3 calibers (combined, not 45k rds total) or about 1500 every 5 weeks, would a 550 or 650 be the better choice? I would want to move to priming on the press and eliminate much of my offline pre-processing.
Is it reasonable to clean the brass, then decap, prime, size, and load all at once with either?
How do you handle stuff like .223 where some will need trimmed? Seems like it's still a multi-step batch process - clean & resize the batch, then measure & trim as needed, then continue on. If that's the case, doesn't seem like it would be much faster than what I'm doing now other than the time saved priming on press - which I probably could be doing today, just never have.
What's a realistic case/hr rate with either one?
Case and bullet feeders necessary or just one? Seems one hand would be free to deal with one or the other so both maybe not needed?
Sorry for super long post with multiple questions. I watch various videos of both, and both seem pretty slick. It seems like the 550 proponents biggest pros are it costs less and no auto-index so you can single stage. Since I'll be keeping the LCT in service, I don't care about the single stage piece. And don't really know how to compare costs since not sure what all is needed with both to setup for those 3 calibers and what optional stuff is needed with on or the other.
I load in batches, typically 1,000 to 1,500 rds at a time (and that time might be a little here & there over a week). But my process is doing a decent amount off-press. In general it's:
1. decap with universal decap die
2. clean (either tumble or hot soapy water & dry)
3. resize
4. trim (rifle), chamfer, debur
5. quick clean to get case lube & trim shavings gone
6. Prime with Lee Hand prime - usually sitting on couch watching tv
7. Then load so I'm using 2 stations, 3 if FCD.
So I auto-index going from powder drop to seating to FCD (if using), then just twist the turret back to powder station when removing the finished round.
Doing it this way, my pace is typically 200-250 rds per hour. Since I'm doing so much offline/as prep work, it's really much lower. But primed ready to load cases, say 225/hr.
I only do 3 calibers in that volume - 9mm, .45ACP, & .223. Everything else is smaller batches and I will keep the LCT press for those. Possibly .45ACP could stay on the LCT too since I shoot a little less of it.
So....I'm going through ammo a little faster lately. Shooting more in general, sharing a little ammo when various church members come out to shoot & realize the 2 boxes of ammo they brought wasn't enough or whatever.
Also, when I got into reloading I thought it would be a hobby I enjoyed. And to some extent it is. But large batches of these 3 calibers, just churning out generic range ammo, it isn't recreational. More like a chore that I do so I can shoot a lot more for same amount of money. Lots of benefits too and I wouldn't give up reloading (although I do buy lots of 9mm when I find it around 14¢ / rd - I'm at 11¢ reloading so $30/case isn't much incentive to reload).
So all that to ask....if I want to load appx 15k/yr of those 3 calibers (combined, not 45k rds total) or about 1500 every 5 weeks, would a 550 or 650 be the better choice? I would want to move to priming on the press and eliminate much of my offline pre-processing.
Is it reasonable to clean the brass, then decap, prime, size, and load all at once with either?
How do you handle stuff like .223 where some will need trimmed? Seems like it's still a multi-step batch process - clean & resize the batch, then measure & trim as needed, then continue on. If that's the case, doesn't seem like it would be much faster than what I'm doing now other than the time saved priming on press - which I probably could be doing today, just never have.
What's a realistic case/hr rate with either one?
Case and bullet feeders necessary or just one? Seems one hand would be free to deal with one or the other so both maybe not needed?
Sorry for super long post with multiple questions. I watch various videos of both, and both seem pretty slick. It seems like the 550 proponents biggest pros are it costs less and no auto-index so you can single stage. Since I'll be keeping the LCT in service, I don't care about the single stage piece. And don't really know how to compare costs since not sure what all is needed with both to setup for those 3 calibers and what optional stuff is needed with on or the other.