Basic buying rules for new reloaders:
1. Buy at least one good reloading manual AND READ IT THOROUGHLY before you buy a single piece of equipment.
Actually, buying three would be a better idea. The ABC's of Reloading and Metallic Cartridge reloading and possibly either Lee's latest book or Speer's latest manual.
2. Buy a single-stage for your first press. This flattens out the learning curve and saves some frustration, but the main reason is LOAD DEVELOPMENT. It's a chore on a single-stage, but a collossal pain in the...er, neck on a progressive. That's why too many reloaders who start off with (and therefore only own) a progressive skip this part of reloading altogether. Money spent on a single-stage at the beginning is never "wasted", as some suggest; if you're a careful reloader, you'll always need one.
Buying a single stage is a good idea, as they're always useful, especially for specialty items, but a quality turret press like the Lee Classic Turret does the same thing, but does it a good bit faster. You get the "one at a time" learning effect when you're new, then you put the automatic advance back in and you're reloading at 200/hour easily when you're through the basic learning curve.
3. Don't buy junk. Get the best-quality gear you can afford. Good reloading equipment will last for years--my Rockchucker and my RCBS scale are 25 years old and show no signs of needing replacement.
What junk was 5 years ago and what is junk has changed a bit. The RCBS Rock Chucker you mention has been the standard for many years, but is now manufactured in China and has been surpassed in design features and quality by the current Lee Classic Cast single stage. (I know, I had them both on my bench for a side by side comparison and the Lee was the superior press. I sold the Rock Chucker.)
Both the Lee presses I mentioned in my earlier post are extremely well made presses and the two combined will meet the needs of most reloaders for their entire lives.
4. Don't limit your options. You may think you're only going to be reloading a few .45s now, but you can bet that you'll wind up wanting to do more--more and bigger calibers, higher volume, etc.
Yep, makes good sense.
Lee progressives violate rule #3. SOME Lee products are pretty good--notably their dies and the AutoPrime--but too many people have too many problems with the Lee progressive presses.
You obviously haven't checked out the Lee Classic series. You might want to do that before commenting on Lee products. Lee's latest offerings are excellent presses, as good as any presses on the market unless you go extremely high end (More expensive than the Dillon offerings.) and even when you do, you get little more than what the Lee Classics offer. I don't think the majority have suggested a progressive for the OP.
