Considering a progressive press.

[refuse2bafool]

Would said industrial engineer say this before or after he/she advised that the handloader load up a couple thousand rounds of one caliber and having a stock before making any kind of tooling reconfiguration? Or would the mythological engineer advise that the handloader load 100 rounds 9mm, then change to 100 rounds 45 ACP, then 50 rounds .223 then 100 rounds 38 SPL?

Industrial engineer's are not mythical. I know a few and they actually exist. They generally live in trees and only come out at night. At any rate...

As I said in my second post, which I think post dates yours, I agree that if you invest it a lot of brass then yes, you can still take advantage of the economies of scale provided by a progressive even if you shoot small amounts. However, if I go six months without reloading I tend to forget a lot of the "little things" that make reloading go smoothly. Add to that the fact that I reload because I enjoy it, not because I can't afford factory ammo, and that I like to experiment with bullets and powders, I prefer to load in relatively small batches except for 45acp, which is what I shoot the most. Even then I usually take an hour or so to crank out 300-400 on my Pro 1000 and call that good.

And this engineering manager is not really "advising" anyone. Just offering up suggestions to consider. It seems like some progressive press users are somehow determined to prove to others (or themselves) that the extra $$$ spent on a high end progressive is justified.

 

[ray15]

I agree that if you invest it a lot of brass then yes, you can still take advantage of the economies of scale provided by a progressive even if you shoot small amounts. However, if I go six months without reloading I tend to forget a lot of the "little things" that make reloading go smoothly. Add to that the fact that I reload because I enjoy it, not because I can't afford factory ammo, and that I like to experiment with bullets and powders, I prefer to load in relatively small batches except for 45acp, which is what I shoot the most. Even then I usually take an hour or so to crank out 300-400 on my Pro 1000 and call that good.

I brought up the batch size and changover costs using my own loading as an example partly to jump-start discussion of these relevant topics but also to hopefully bring attention to how poorly the OP's needs dovetail with a single progressive press. I load 600 rounds a week (772 yesterday) on my LCT and a progressive is still not a clear sell because it's split across 4 die setups.

The OP only loads 600 rounds a month, and it's split more ways. LCT is the way to do that. As others have pointed out, with one progressive you'll most likely dedicate that to your highest-volume load and do the rest on the LCT. His, and my highest volume loads aren't very high compared to the sort of batch sized that make the progressive highly advantageous.

I also fully realize if you load in say 1,000 round batches progressives are very much faster. And when my loads are better and better proven I will look to up batch sizes. But I'm still tweaking on my existing loads and have a few relevant powders to try, plus a lot of testing before I'm ready to crank out thousands upon thousands and a single progressive will really help. I have the components in hand, but don't want to end up with say 2,000 rounds of 9mm I would prefer was loaded differently.

 

[refuse2bafool]

I have the components in hand, but don't want to end up with say 2,000 rounds of 9mm I would prefer was loaded differently.

LOL! Yeah, nothing worse than loading up a large batch of 45acp only to find your 1911 jams every other magazine! Trust me, I know!

 

[Damon555]

I am more likely to stop because I depleted my bullets or brass, with little chance that the supply of primers would be coordinated.

RealGun has a good point.....When my 550b is set up for a specific caliber/round combination I load them until I'm out of brass or that particular bullet. But you must make sure that this is the load you want to use......DO NOT mass produce a bunch of ammo that you aren't 100% sure will function well in you gun.

 

[MoreIsLess]

I've had a DIllon 550b for 5 years and I bought an XL650 about 6 months ago. If I had to sell one and keep only one, it would be the 550b. 550 is not as fast as the 650 but still plenty fast, plus you have more control like a single stage press and it's easier to change calibers and tweak a lot of things. You can use a powder check die with the 550b (I don't have one) but you have to use one of the slots to seat and crimp in the same step (Lee). Glad I don't have to make the choice right now

 

[1-12 INF (M)]

Pistol - Dillon 550 and Lee dies. Rifle - Hornady Co-Ax - but remove the 'universal shell holder' and replace with a set screw and plate that holds conventional ones. I kept my old RCBS Jr just to use the RCBS priming tool.

 

[Doublehelix]

RealGun has a good point.....When my 550b is set up for a specific caliber/round combination I load them until I'm out of brass or that particular bullet. But you must make sure that this is the load you want to use......DO NOT mass produce a bunch of ammo that you aren't 100% sure will function well in you gun.

Dang! That sucks, I know, I did that once. I loaded up some 9mm that shot well out of my SIG P226 SAO, but was too long for any of my other 9mm guns. DOH! I was not happy obviously. I think I had about 1,200 rounds left when I realized it (I was obviously heavily into the SIG at the time), so I worked up a load with shorter COAL that shoots in all my guns, and just shot out the longer cartridges in the SIG. I thought about having a SIG-specific load, but that is too much work, and I just compromised and worked up something that functions in all my guns.

At least I was able to shoot them. I can't imagine having a boat ton of cartridges that don't function in anything. UGH! Having to pull 100's or 1,000's of bullets??? No way! That would be hell on earth!

 

[Damon555]

I once loaded a bunch (two or three hundred) of 147 grain cast bullets for a 9mm revolver that I had. They worked great in the revolver but were much too long for my semi-autos. Eventually I got rid of the revolver and didn't have another gun that would shoot those long rounds.....Luckily, my crimping procedure sets the dies up so they only remove the bell.....it wasn't a problem to re-seat those bullets to a suitable length for my other pistols.