There may come a time when you just get tired of all this changing and changing again......that is me after a lot of years. It's exactly why I got my first progressive in the first place. (not because I shoot so much I needed one) The year is easy to remember. December Obama's first win.....when ammo, reloading components and equipment were rare as hen's teeth, like they are now. So I started thinking permanent setups and if not permanent, quick easy caliber changes of things better left, not permanent.. So now I have 3 singles, and three progressives. My first two progressives were not cheap...but ones easy to change calibers on....the Pro 2000, and the Pro Chucker 7. They use tool heads similar to Dillon's 6 or 750. You typically don't change what's on the tool heads. That's the point of them....change the toolheads not the tools.
But then I bought Lee's little APP for case processing and discovered that little and inexpensive could be REALLY useful, especially with a quickchange feeding system.
That lead to my interest in this new Lee 6000.....and I was right to think this could be as time saving as my expensive presses, and do it just as well. Cheap enough you can buy several if you really want to stop the caliber dance....if you have the room. But I only need one, since I already have two progressives.
But the point for me is NOT reusing dies on different presses....it's dedicating presses for specific dies & calibers ....excepting the "processing presses"......I can think that way because I don't load a million calibers. So just to demonstrate, for food for thought....here's what my goal is.....
1. My Pro 2000 for pistol calibers.....why? because I have pistol bullet and case collators/feeders made for it, that can load 9mm, .40, .45acp, and .357 without even changing a turning plate. (yes one plate on each collator does it all).........so on the press itself, the tool head changes by sliding them out, the shell plates change by screwing a center bolt in and out, one powder measure just drops in the tool head permanently mounted powder die, and power charge moves to a preset according to caliber and bullet. (and of course tested and adjusted slightly for the day's humidity.) Primer size change takes 20 seconds on that press.
2. My Pro Chucker and Pro 6000 for rifle calibers, .308 and .223., set up with case and bullet feeders, and never moved......therefore I prefer, on the 6000, to use set screw versions of Lee's bushings......since I don't plan to change them a lot. But I can easily, if I a get a whim to try something new. The bushings are pretty inexpensive to have a set or two lying around for just that.
3. Then there's case prep.....my two APP's Lee's APP and my modded RCBS Summit for bigger rifle calibers. This is where TylerR's quickchange really shines.
4. Finally last but not least, my Rock Chucker II, for load development and for rifle calibers I don't shoot much of, like .270, .30-30, .243, and .22-.243.
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