selecting a press (please help)

Wayne -
I keep thinking it would be helpful to know what else you are going to load. Like, what other cartridges did you buy your Sq Deal for?? Do you still need those calibers??

I looked at the Sq Deal years ago, but decided not to do it because you're sort of "painted into a corner", and I feel that's where you are now. Here's how I see your situation...

• If you keep the Sq Deal, then you won't need another progressive, hand operated or automatic.

• If you buy a single stage to go along with the Sq Deal, then it will use different dies. You'll never be able to place those dies in the Sq Deal and rip off 50 rounds. But needing that many rounds, a single stage is going to take a long time to get there.

• Having gotten accustomed to Dillon, I doubt there are many presses out there that would meet your level of expectation for trouble-free operation and quality of ammo.


So IMHO the Sq Deal is the real issue here.

• Have you considered selling the Sq Deal? You could get really good money for it on Ebay. If that doesn't appeal, have you called Dillon about a possible trade in?

• Have you considered what it might cost to call Georgia Arms and simply buy 5000 rounds of reloaded ammo and skip the press altogether ??


So IMHO the question you asked can't be answered until you decide what to do with the Sq Deal. Hope this helps!

I agree with the Lee classic turret. I can load 250 to 300 per hour on mine after case prep is done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOpN9iYOyE8

If you are going for speed go with one of the progressives, If you are after accuracy then get the Forster Co-ax single stage. I promise that you will never wish you hadn't bought it!

Jimmy K

If I could throw fired cases on stage one and just crank them out like I do with pistol cartridges, I'd certainly have gone with a progressive.

Click to expand...

Ah, my friend, but you can if you use the RCBS "X-Dies". Using a special first time trim length and the X-Dies make it to where the cases never need trimming again. In that way the progressive can be utilized.

Sounds like X-dies would speed things up considerably--no trimming required and no interruption between stages 1 and 2 because no case lube is necessary...

Click to expand...

Sorry to say that you will always need case lube for a bottle neck case. The thing is with the X-die you don't need to trim so you load from a empty case to a complete round and then tumble them to remove the lube. Yes a lot of us tumble live ammo.

So use an RCBS lube die. But you need to use an RCBS or Hornady progressive, since the powder drop will need to move to station three (1: lube/deprime/reprime, 2:x-size (remove depriming pin), 3: drop powder...

Andy

Nay, not so.

While experimenting with a friend's RCBS X-Dies, I used a standard case lube pad and rolled/ lubed 5-10 cases at a time, before installing them in the press. These were then set on a Dillon 550b and loaded in 3 positions: 1. size/prime, 2. bell/powder, 3. seat. It worked like a champ.

Loading went just as fast as my 9mm !!

Good move

Going single-stage was a wise move, Wayne. I started on a single-stage 30 years ago, went progressive with a pair of Lee Pro-1000s, and am now back to my old single-stage and sorry I ever left. In fact I found another single-stage like it (RCBS RS) on ebay and now have two.

If you LIKE reloading, as I do, why spend big $ to hurry through it? When the Lee 1000s were working right, it was a challenge to keep components on hand. It would be even harder now.

When the 1000s were acting up, it was just a lot of frustration and poor/untrustworthy ammo. Worst of all, you sometimes didn't catch on to a problem until hundreds of rounds were made. As was said above, the single-stage lets you gage each case and inspect the results of each operation. Problems are caught immediately.

I'm looking forward to Winter. I'll spend those cold dark evenings down in the basement quietly cranking out reliable ammo, one round at a time, with the wood burning furnace in the corner keeping everything warm and toasty. Peace of Mind -- squared.

Only thing that sounds better OrangePwex9 would be if that basement was under a log cabin on a private lake. Think Thomas Kinkade painting.