600 per hour is doable, but there are some things that need to be done to do it.
Press needs to work perfectly. No stoppages for anything. With my LnL, this can be a stretch sometimes, but I deal with it.
You have to have a case or bullet feeder or both. Having to feed brass and bullets you just cant do it, easily at least. I have a case feeder on my LnL, but 1 in 30 or 40 cases will need to be flicked into place.
You also need to have primers on hand, ready to drop into the press. This is my limiting factor. I can load 100 into the press, and have 3 extra primer tubes on hand to drop into the press. I do have a FA VibraPrime that works well, but its still 2-3 minutes to open primer box, shake them the right direction, and fill the tube. I suppose I could buy a couple extra tubes to get me to 600. The other option is making my son fill primer tubes for me.
Powder is minor. Just open the bottle, and pour it in. When loading .223 I get about 275 rounds per pound of powder, so I would have to fill up twice. Pistol using Titegroup, I can run over 1000 before I need to add powder. Make sure the powder measure works perfectly, and consistently drops the charge needed.
Cases need to be ready to load. For me that means, pistol lightly lubed with One Shot to keep everything running smooth, and rifle brass prepped ready to go. Not a huge deal for me as I keep 1000's of brass on hand, prepped and ready to load.
Caliber makes a difference for me. I can load rifle much faster than I can pistol. For me the bullets are easier to set in the case.
All this being said. I think the RCBS presses could do this as well. You would have to hand feed cases obviously even though I think reaching around the back side of the press is a PITA. Dealt with that with my LnL when I first got it, and it one of the things that made me buy the case feeder first. Would need to have 100 primers in the press, and 500 tubed up and ready to drop in. Press reliability might be an issue with the plastic primer slide. Bullet feeder is probably a must, there are good options for that on the market, but RCBS really needs to get a good case feeder (like a Dillon, not the Hornady) on the market if they want to play with the big boys.
Press needs to work perfectly. No stoppages for anything. With my LnL, this can be a stretch sometimes, but I deal with it.
You have to have a case or bullet feeder or both. Having to feed brass and bullets you just cant do it, easily at least. I have a case feeder on my LnL, but 1 in 30 or 40 cases will need to be flicked into place.
You also need to have primers on hand, ready to drop into the press. This is my limiting factor. I can load 100 into the press, and have 3 extra primer tubes on hand to drop into the press. I do have a FA VibraPrime that works well, but its still 2-3 minutes to open primer box, shake them the right direction, and fill the tube. I suppose I could buy a couple extra tubes to get me to 600. The other option is making my son fill primer tubes for me.
Powder is minor. Just open the bottle, and pour it in. When loading .223 I get about 275 rounds per pound of powder, so I would have to fill up twice. Pistol using Titegroup, I can run over 1000 before I need to add powder. Make sure the powder measure works perfectly, and consistently drops the charge needed.
Cases need to be ready to load. For me that means, pistol lightly lubed with One Shot to keep everything running smooth, and rifle brass prepped ready to go. Not a huge deal for me as I keep 1000's of brass on hand, prepped and ready to load.
Caliber makes a difference for me. I can load rifle much faster than I can pistol. For me the bullets are easier to set in the case.
All this being said. I think the RCBS presses could do this as well. You would have to hand feed cases obviously even though I think reaching around the back side of the press is a PITA. Dealt with that with my LnL when I first got it, and it one of the things that made me buy the case feeder first. Would need to have 100 primers in the press, and 500 tubed up and ready to drop in. Press reliability might be an issue with the plastic primer slide. Bullet feeder is probably a must, there are good options for that on the market, but RCBS really needs to get a good case feeder (like a Dillon, not the Hornady) on the market if they want to play with the big boys.
I bought my progressive to make it funner....less tedious. For that it works 100%. Nice that it's naturally much faster too....even at 1/3 that speed.
