After 35 years should I upgrade my press?

[Vodoun da Vinci]

I'm 58 and just started shooting and reloading again after a 30+ year hiatus...dug my old RCBS JR2 single stage out and oiled it up and bought some new dies for 9mm and .32 acp and such. My Wife and I are shooting about 600 -800 rounds a month in .38, 9mm, .32, .45 and soon (maybe) .380 and I do them all on a single stage and throw all charges by weighing on a digital (Unique dun't meter very well) scale.

At the volume you are shooting? You won't gain anything by spending a lot to upgrade and you'll likely lose some of the touchy feely for each round...which I happen to like but other find tedious and control freakish.

VooDoo

 

[Potatohead]

Pretty sure this falls into the dumb question category

Keep going with the one you have. I'm still using a 1984 3 hole Lee Turret Press. I had some problems and I sent it back to Lee. The rebuilt it and sent it back. If they think it's worth rebuilding it's good enough for me. BTW Lee fixed it at No Charge.

I'd love to lose a station. I suspect I can't just slap a 3 hole turret in my LCT because it wont line up right, eh?

 

[Potatohead]

Change nothing? Only problem with that mentality, is it ain't real. We change! and not all for the better.

I'm only 64 and 5 years ago, I was happy with my 40 year-old Rock Chucker ....still like it fine, don't every plan on parting with it, but that's not to say I can't add to the fun. What's more useful and fun to do with your hard earned cash after retirement? Buy rocking chairs? Guns, yes, but I had enough of those.....and I didn't shoot them enough mainly due to the fact that I was hoarding ammo, and not shooting it, because it took too much time to replenish it........hey!, That's me.

When you start getting glimpses that you are on the down hill slide, time becomes more precious. I started noticing (and being irritated with) the bottle necks that made my reloading slow. It was still fun, but was becoming less so with so many rounds I wanted to load & shoot, and too little time to get it done.

That's when I researched the hobby a bit and became convinced the guys who were loading on progressives were having more fun!

So I bought a progressive! Damn, that was fun! Using it is even funner!! Buying the goodies to go with it was fun. Then it amplified the other bottlenecks like trimming....doing away with those bottlenecks was fun.

So now, 5 years later, I shoot more....don't worry a lick about shooting up my ammo stash....and I have way more fun replenishing it, one round per stroke of the press. And there's a bonus...I have more time to do other things I like to do too. I call that win/win.

I say keep what you got (you'll still need and use it), but buy what you think will make this last quarter of your life more enjoyable! Indulge yourself...having weathered 68 years...you earned it!

Good post GW

 

[Nordeste]

I shoot approximately 200 rounds of nine mm power week. So far I'm happy with my LCT, but I can see the value of progressives. They buy you time. This said, unless you plan on shooting more, a LCT sounds like the best option for you.

 

[splithoof]

I started loading in 1980 with an RCBS Rockchucker kit, and then got into progressive loaders using a Dillon SDB & 650. With a bedroom-sized "loading den" of various pieces of equipment, benches, shelves of components, accessories, etc., I believe that careful organization of components and tooling is the first key to producing high quality reloads, not necessarily just the loading equipment itself. You might want to produce your ammunition in "batched stages"; on one day size & prime a few hundred cases; charge, seat, & crimp on the next day; and polish/package on the last. Things really slow down when we are constantly changing dies out.
I use my old single stage for research and new load development; after I establish something that works well, the progressive loaders are set-up for that caliber/load, and from then on it is a 3-5K minimum before a changeover.

 

[BCRider]

The Rock Chucker is fine for what you're doing at the moment. It shouldn't take more than about an hour to reload 50 45-70's even if you trickle/weigh each charge. I've done that many in an hour and found the pace to be quite relaxed.

I did recently upgrade the Lee Classic single hole press over to a Hornady LNL single stage to use for all my rifle ammo. I found that the Lee wasn't bored concentrically or something but the ram didn't line up fully with the die. So it got tossed into a corner to be used for something more mundane.

The thing I like about the LNL is that the bushings let me set up the dies ONCE and then they are fine and can be swapped in and out without worrying about accidentally changing a setting due to the lock nuts creeping.

I suppose another "upgrade" in your case would be to switch over all your dies to the clamping lock nuts that Hornady sells. With them clamped on that way you know will stay in place.

If you're only shooting around 50 to 100 rounds of anything a month at most and even that is unusual then you have all the press you need... other than some upgrade like I did to make my life easier, not faster. If you start shooting your .44Mag or some other gun for fun and upping the round count to up around 200 a month or more THEN I'd consider a progressive. But until then I just don't see a point.

OK, there IS one good reason for getting a progressive even if you only use it as a multi station single stage. And that's the priming setup. I've yet to see a single stage or selectable turret press priming arrangement that is as slick to use as a hand primer or a progressive setup. And the hand primer is a pain in the hand if you need to do much with them. ESPECIALLY for older hands that might be feeling the first signs of Arthritis.... or so I've been told.... So ease of priming MIGHT just be a good reason to "cross grade" from the venerable old Rock Chucker.

 

[orionengnr]

For +/- 50 rounds a month? No, I would not spend the money to upgrade.

Fifty rounds should take you less than an hour to load, even moving at a leisurely pace.

One hour a month is not (IMHO) a large amount of time.

Spend your money and your time as you will.

 

[788Ham]

I bought an RCBS JR. press back in '71 when I started reloading…. still have the ol' workhorse. Add a tad of oil once in awhile, still slipping' the bullets into the cases like it did when brand new. If you like yours new and shiny, then by all means spend the monies and get one, uh, I won't buy any new though.

 

[41 Mag]

I still load several hundred rounds a year on my pop's circa '62 Wells press with fond memories of the times we spent together using it. It still will load bullets which group well under an inch at 100yds.

That said, and after reading through some of the other post, if your stretched for space but would still like to add another press or two even there are options. I use two small presses for my load work ups while at the range or elsewhere. I have them mounted to 4' wide flat bar which I can easily C-clamp to just about anything including my trailer hitch if needed. One is the little Lee press and the other is the small RCBS. I have loaded everything from 38 SPL up through 7mm STW's with them and not had much if any issue from either.

If that doesn't suit your fancy then there is also Inline Fabrication who offers a very neat changeable base set up, that allows you to simply swap out one press for another very quickly and neatly without having to go through a lot of dis assembly in the process.
Inline Fabrication Press Accessories Just scroll down to the bottom for the bases and top plates. I'm warning you ahead of time he also builds a LOT of other neat stuff so your on your own once you go there.

Myself I have a half a dozen or so presses in single stage, turret, and progressive designs. I use them all for specific task and it has taken me upwards of 45 years to accumulate them all. Do I really NEED them, not really, but they are like tools of any other sort, they serve my needs and purposes as well as wants, so I have them.

 

[WVRJ]

I shoot a good bit,and have gotten along good with a single stage Lyman Spartan that I've had since 79.When my reloading went up a notch in regards to precision rifle ammo,I began to notice more bullet runout than I would like to have seen.Last week I loaded some Berger VLD's for a shooting buddy,and we saw .006 to .008 runout.Ran them across the concentricity tool and made them straight.He took the dies home with him and loaded the exact same ammo on his press.The runout was .002 or less.The problem is wear on the ram on my old Lyman press that has loaded Godknowshowmany rounds.I used the Lyman press to seat bullets because it is a c-type that is open in the front.I used my Pacific press for resizing because it has more leverage.Now the Lyman will be doing pistol ammo only.The ram on the Lyman has over 1/16 inch slop.The ram on the Pacific is tight,barely moving the needle on the dial indicator I used to check it.I've been fighting excessive runout on most of my rifle ammo,and now I know why.No other reason for me to replace a press,but having 2 is an advantage.