Buying new press kit. Help!!!

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Action_Can_Do

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I have finally decided to stop putting it off and buy a reloading press. The cost of ammo has simply gotten too silly to not do it. Seeing a 50 rd box of American Eagle 44 mag go for almost $40 made the decision for me. I've limited the selection to either Lyman, RCBS, or Hornady single stage. The problem is, I don't know squat about the differences between the presses or the dies. Are the dies interchangeable? RCBS dies cost a fortune! Are they different than the rest? I have a friend who reloads who suggests I mix and match parts and companies to get a better deal. Is this a good idea? Help!!!!
 
All modern 7/8" x 14 TPI dies are interchangeable with any brand press, except perhaps for some of the Dillon's.

Nothing at all wrong with buying an RCBS or Hornady starter kit, and adding Lee dies & shell holders.
Lee dies are a real bargain, and are usually quite satisfactory.

I do still recommend buying dies & shell holders from the same company, although it is not nearly as critical as it used to be years ago.

rcmodel
 
Dies are interchangeable. I have used Dillon, Lee, and RCBS dies and the Lees are quite satisfactory for my uses. The accuracy differences surpass my ability. Any of the presses you mention should be great. I use an RCBS Progressive and I love it. The customer service is exceptional. The other 2 should be of equal high quality.
 
RCModel's advice is good, but there is a little company in upstate NY call Redding. They make excellent presses and dies and their quality and engineering is the best I have seen. Redding's prices are a little more than RCBS or Hornady but they are well worth it. Your great grandchildren will still be using that press if we are still allowed to possess firearms then. Good luck and good shooting. :)
 
If you are going to be loading for pistols you will find that a single stage press is very laborious. At a minimum you should get one that takes the Die collets. I would recommend a Turret press to start.
 
+2 for Redding. The T7 Turret press is one hell of a press, that's why it's on my bench. However, I just replaced my old rock chucker with a Lee Classic cast press for various single action duties and for $70.00 bucks, it was well worth it.
 
If you are just getting started, Lee has their 50th anniversary deal going, it is a kit that contains everything you need except dies and the case trimming length gauge for your calibers for $128. You can go ahead and use Redding, RCBS or whetever dies you want and later on upgrade as you desire. You'll also need to get components - cases (presumably you already have you once fired cases), powder, bullets and primers.

Lots of folks here recommend starting with a single stage press to learn.

Here's the link to the Lee deal: http://www.leeprecision.com/html/catalog/anivers.html

Good luck whatever you end up doing!
 
The reloading kits have good equipment, but not usually the best of any individual tool. I would suggest starting out with a Lee kit, and finding out whether you like reloading or not, and get a better idea of things you do and don't like about equipment. All this while not spending too much money. Then upgrade pieces of it as you find out what you want.

Andy
 
As an example: I use a RCBS Rock Chucker refitted with a Hornady Lock-N-Load bushing, RCBS and Lee dies with Hornady Lock-N-Load die bushings and a mixture of Hornady and RCBS die lock rings; and a Hornady Fast-Load powder measure stand with a RCBS powder measure.

All that green and red together, looks like Christmas on my bench, but it works great.
 
Thank you for the responses. Something I forgot to mention. I need the press for reloading rifle rounds. Are all of the presses able to do magnum rifle rounds?
 
I've limited the selection to either Lyman, RCBS, or Hornady single stage. The problem is, I don't know squat about the differences between the presses or the dies. Are the dies interchangeable? RCBS dies cost a fortune!
Click to expand...

Dies will be interchangeable.

Any reason you're not looking at the Lee Classic Cast? Internet scuttlebutt says it's pretty good.

have a friend who reloads who suggests I mix and match parts and companies to get a better deal. Is this a good idea?
Click to expand...

If you know what you're getting, yeah.
 
As for mixing and matching hardware, there's no particular reason not to do that, save for the caveats mentioned above.

However, If you're going to be reloading both for pistol and rifle, then I strongly recommend getting a turret press, so I'll second BAD KHARMA's and lee n. field's recommendation.

Specifically, look at the Lee Classic Cast Turret press. That press will function as a single stage while you learn, as an auto-indexing turret while you load pistol, and again as a "manual turret" while you load rifle.

There's several good discussions of the Lee Classic Cast Turret on this forum--and here is a link to one of them.

Look it over, and follow the links inside it as well.

Jim H.
 
I have a bad habit of collecting presses. For thelast fifteen years My bucks have gone to Redding....and I'm very particular. Essex
 
I've already talked to action can do on this one but I will say it again. Either a rockchucker kit, or a lee press with RCBS thrower and scale. Either way... lee dies.

Simple is good.
 
+1 on the Lee (or any) turret press. Worked great for me while learning as a single stage press. Then 'turning on' the indexing to speed production up when I got the hang of it. Not nearly as fast as a progressive but good enough for me. And the Lee at least is a snap to change calibers on provided you buy extra turrets which are pretty cheap.
 
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