Asking Santa for a progressive reloading press?

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Out of curiosity, is a progressive press harder to push the lever down on? Rifle cases cause much more friction in a die than pistol brass, that’s on a single stage. Now I’m imagining sizing, expanding, depriming, seating, and crimping on the same motion. Does it require much more force from the user? Or does the press give more leverage than a normal single stage?
 
Jessesky said:
Out of curiosity, is a progressive press harder to push the lever down on? Rifle cases cause much more friction in a die than pistol brass, that’s on a single stage. Now I’m imagining sizing, expanding, depriming, seating, and crimping on the same motion. Does it require much more force from the user? Or does the press give more leverage than a normal single stage?
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It isn't that it has more leverage, it is that you won't be doing all those operations at the same time with rifle cases.

After you've sized and deprimed a rifle case, you'd be removing it from the press to trim. You'd then return it to the press to drop powder and seat the bullet.
I am assuming that you trim your rifle brass during your reloading process
 
As a general statement notice OP that everyone has a deep held belief in which press you should get. Handloading is like a religion, plenty of missionaries out there spreading the word.

Ok so it's my turn. I have a LNL progressive, had it now 5 years and load between 10K and 12K handgun rounds per year. I usually load in batches of between 500 and 1000 rounds at a setting. The press works, it's not perfect and I have a stoppage on occasion but overall it's fine.

In the OP it is stated that $500 is too much for the budget. I hate to say it but if you get the Hornady press, by the time you get it set up for 1 caliber your into it for $500 I know where all of the bargains are still it's $500 Another thing, and this is my personal opinion, but the reason for a progressive press is to make a bunch of ammo quickly. So I take this to mean that I load up enough for a month or two then if I want to load a different caliber I have the time to do so without getting into a bullet crunch. In time, the operator of a progressive press, cranking out 500 rounds per hour, will begin to think this is slow. So if caliber changes take 30 seconds or 5 minutes it's not the reason I would choose one press over another.

Jessesky said:
Out of curiosity, is a progressive press harder to push the lever down on? Rifle cases cause much more friction in a die than pistol brass, that’s on a single stage. Now I’m imagining sizing, expanding, depriming, seating, and crimping on the same motion. Does it require much more force from the user? Or does the press give more leverage than a normal single stage?
Click to expand...

Again my opinion but unless you are loading up 1000s of rifle rounds at a time there is little advantage to using a progressive press for bottle neck rifle cartridges. My advice keep the single stage for rifle.
 
Jessesky said:
Good point, if it doesn’t specify a max price, I don’t see why I cannot get Hornady .375 300gr bullets which are usually the most expensive I load for
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That’s not how it works, these are the only “free ones” (click photo to expand)
FB520227-8874-409F-B238-760B4A14F2AD.jpeg
If you email them you can get others for cheaper than normal prices but you still have to pony up some more cash.

This is an example of the additional costs (Feb 2012). It’s also worth noting that the box count on thoes particular bullets is 50 vs 100. So if you chose the #4504 bullets as a substitute, it’s half the bullets (250 vs 500) and adds $125 in cost.
AD30E010-CB47-47B9-82DE-E69EACD0C2E3.jpeg
 
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Out of curiosity, is a progressive press harder to push the lever down on? Rifle cases cause much more friction in a die than pistol brass, that’s on a single stage.
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Harder than what? Some single stage presses require more effort than some progressives, some don’t. Just depends.

I loaded for decades without lubing pistol cases (before I tried it once) and it wasn’t uncommon for some pistol rounds to require more effort on my part than lubed rifle cases.

As above, bottle neck cases are a two pass affair on progressive presses.

I resize/deprime and trim on the first pass.

595CCCEA-1B0C-47F7-BAE3-CBE94656DF90.jpeg

Then swage and load on the 2nd.

 
I've used an LNL AP for several years and am quite satisfied. Like everyone else says, be sure to take the time to set it up right and get a feel for what all is going on on each stroke, there are some excellent YouTube videos on set up and troubleshooting of the LNL AP.

I started out using mine for pistol only and and it's great for that, but in the past few years I've expanded to doing most of my .223 loading on the LNL AP as well. I have had good results sizing and priming in a separate process from loading, as well as (and I know this is sacreligeous) trimming cases in their as-fired state directly from the cleaner, lubing them and running all the way through.

I bought a bunch of collars for all the dies I use in the LNL AP so that I can leave them all adjusted and just pop them in to switch chamberings. I have been quite pleased with my Hornady meter; using fine powders like H110, W231, TAC and 8208 xbr it has been very consistent. I should go ahead and get a second meter so I can leave one set up for pistol and one set up for .223, as reconfiguring the meter is what takes the most time when changing chamberings.

I certainly would not want to go back to single loading everything.
 
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Just a little different point of view:

I haven't loaded much in the last year just due to being too busy with other things. When I do fire up the press to top off ammo supplies, I always reach for my LNL AP. Even if I am only loading a couple hundred. The LCT hasn't been used one time since I got the LNL. There is no need. One pull of the handle per finished round is so satisfying that anything else just seems like too much work.
 
jmorris said:
If you email them you can get others for cheaper than normal prices but you still have to pony up some more cash.
Click to expand...

Even with the free bullets you have to pay for the shipping. I think it's about $14.00 It took months for mine to arrive but I wasn't waiting for them so no biggie.

Another one of my opinions, get the Hornady press if that is what you want not because of 500 free bullets. My free bullets are still wrapped in plastic 5 years later. Nothing wrong with them just I picked out .308 and I haven't got around to loading that particular application yet. And It's only 500 bullets, not a years supply.
 
I must respectfully disagree about loading bottleneck cases.

I load 99 percent of my bottleneck cases on the Dillon.

I size and deprime on the Redding Ultramax, drop in the case gauge, trim if necessary, then prime, charge, seat and crimp on the Dillon.

Not as fast as loading straight wall cases, but far, far faster than loading on the Ultramax.
 
BC791097-B729-4630-A067-08AAC10E32DC.jpeg Thanks for the opinions guys, I left a comment on Ultimate Reloaders YouTube video a few days ago, this is what he replied. Check him out, great videos, accomplished reloader he was that guy the NYT did an article on about handloading @gavintoobe. I was asking if the LNL was viable for 50 round rifle sessions with the occasional 500rd pistol session.

I’m pretty set on the progressive at this point, and keep the single stage.
 
Jessesky said:
I don’t see why it wouldn’t fit, the rim is only off by less that 10 thousandths
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When the LNL AP first came out they only offered the #1 shell plate for the cartridges in question. They only offered the #45 shell plate when folks reported experiencing problems using it with .45ACP.

I'm doubtful they would have gone to the expense of offering a different plate if there wasn't a demand/market for it
 
9mmepiphany said:
When the LNL AP first came out they only offered the #1 shell plate for the cartridges in question. They only offered the #45 shell plate when folks reported experiencing problems using it with .45ACP.

I'm doubtful they would have gone to the expense of offering a different plate if there wasn't a demand/market for it
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That makes sense, I suppose the plate needs to be more precise than a single stage shell holder to retain cartridges better when you introduce centripetal force of the plate moving and jarring.
 
I started ~30 years ago with a RCBS 4x4 progressive (There are several good reasons the RCBS 4x4 isn't around any more) then tried a Lee Pro 1000 for a couple weeks before sending it back. I gave up on reloading as the money saved wasn't worth the hassle. About 25 years ago a buddy talked me into buying his Dillon 650xl for a sweet price (He and his wife had unexpected twins). I have been VERY pleased with my Dillon 650. I have never tried a Hornady but it is the one other progressive press I would consider if I didn't own a Dillon.

Jessesky said:
It sounds like while the dillons are higher quality as I expected, they are only meant for focusing on one cartridge at a time, and the LNL is better for multiple different cartridges.

I currently have a single stage press. I load only a couple hundred rounds per month, from 357mag to 375h&h. I would load more per month but I find now I am limited to the efficiency of my setup of the single stage press and having to do each step individually.

With the efficiency of the press I can easily see loading 800-1000+ per month. To give an idea of my needs. Currently I load for 11 cartridges.
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I load .380, 9mm, .45acp, .44 rem mag, .50ae, .30 carbine, .223, 6.5x55, 8x57, .308 and 30-06. Changing calibers is very quick. Like stated else where changing the priming system on the 650 from small to large and large to small takes the most time but not enough for me to worry about or enough for me to buy a second press.

Most of the pistol calibers I load in bulk. Most rifle calibers I only load a few at a time. I use my 650 for all of these. The only things I use my single stage press for is case trimming with the Dillon power trimmer and pulling bullets.


Jessesky said:
Are there any added headaches of using a progressive as a single stage? say I want to load only 50 rounds of something like my 375h&h where I’m not pumping out a ton of cartridges. Or will I want to keep my single stage
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Definitely keep your single stage. I do not know about the Hornady but using the Dillong 650 is inconvenient (not impossible) due to the auto shell plate indexing. A Dillon 550 does not auto index so it might work better as a single stage.

Jessesky said:
Okay thank you, I’ll hang on to it as well if I do end up getting the LNL. Mostly I’m wanting to load large amounts of 44 mag, 357, and 45-70 as I shoot those the most. And then I load my magnums like 375h&h, 300rum, 454casull In smaller batches of 50-100
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I can't imaging going back to a single stage press for hand gun ammo! Whether Dillon or Hornady hand gun ammo is where progressive presses really really shine! (Although I use my Dillion for hand gun and riffle ammo.

Jessesky said:
It sounds like maybe a turret press may be more suited for my needs. Or is there not an appreciable difference and may as well get a progressive. Realistically I’ll be doing sessions loading 200-300 of 357 at a time on the high volume. I want to cut down on time, but sounds like the setup for loading that little takes just as long.
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I would recommend a progressive over a turret for reloading hand gun ammo.... a buddy will give me a call at 10:00pm one evening asking if I want to go shooting the next morning (He bought a new pistol)... but I am out of .45acp... no problem I get up an hour early and load a couple hundred rounds of .45acp in that hour.

Jessesky said:
Out of curiosity, is a progressive press harder to push the lever down on? Rifle cases cause much more friction in a die than pistol brass, that’s on a single stage. Now I’m imagining sizing, expanding, depriming, seating, and crimping on the same motion. Does it require much more force from the user? Or does the press give more leverage than a normal single stage?
Click to expand...

I can't say for the Hornady... but my Dillon is very smooth. If there is a handle pull that requires extra force there is something wrong and I stop and check everything for the problem. The feel of the handle pull on my progressive is how I know everything is operating properly.

I use RCBS Lube dies on my 9mm, 45acp, 44 mag and 50ae heads. Every case gets a very light coat of lube but I don't have to make an extra operation out of lubing cases. Lube is not needed for straight walled pistol cases when using carbide dies... but it is really nice to have! P.S. RCBS lube dies are worthless for bottle neck rifle cases as they don't lube the neck... where the lube is needed the most.
 
cheygriz said:
Now start saving for a case feeder and bullet feeder!:D
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I opted not to get the feeders. I can load pretty quickly by picking up a bullet, then a case with the left hand, holding both at the same time. Only make one motion L>R placing the case in the shell holder and then seating the bullet.
 
Take your time. Like any progressive press, the mechanism will be tight for the first 2000 rounds. Then it will run much better.

• Traditionally, the area giving the most trouble on the LNL AP is the primer shuttle. Google it and you'll find hundreds of threads discussing how to fix it. Probably some YouTube videos too. You might head off the issues and look at that area during setup.

• The area on the LNL AP that's most sensitive is the powder hopper. Do not leave powder in the hopper over night and you'll be OK. Simply empty the hopper at the end of each session.

78Nm8h4iGEvhfTVEVSuXZ9mFY9ryIY3H4bHOHDvnbbnp3ZNK8db4uIGiaJQ0qH-hYaEt5sPPjtNgB_pGC5X=w800-h448-no.jpg

Otherwise, an excellent press. You're set for years of reloading pleasure.
 
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I have an older press, so the hopper screws into the body of the powder measure...very secure.

It is also larger than the factory hopper to hold 30% more powder. It comes with a built-in baffle and O-ring equipped cap. I thought it was well worth the $45
 
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