Future setup

[Monkeybear]

This is what I'm about to pull the trigger on. Been out of the game for about eight years. Planning on reloading .357 range fodder and developing loads for my .223 CZ Carbine. Its been a while so I gotta reread all my old books and rebuy all the stuff I lost. Just want to get y'alls experienced opinions before I spend this much.

I used to use the Lee scale and Perfect Powder Measurer and wasn't a fan of the measurer. Just had to constantly fiddle with it. Also Ive never loaded rifle rounds before, just lots and lots of .357. Mostly heavy bullets and I generally stopped working my way up about halfway between the minimum and maximum load so not really looking for anything in pistol reloading but practice ammo. I shoot pistol at 21 yards and rifle off hand at fifty and a hundred. Thats my back ground info just in case anyone had something helpful to add.

Thank you all for your time, I appreciate it.

 

[leefan]

What press do you have?

 

[Monkeybear]

Right now I have nothing.

 

[454PB]

Just a personal opinion, but the auto powder measures are not worth the expense. I bought one several years ago, and it takes more time to warm up, set up, then empty when you're done using it then it's worth. Mine is almost never used.

 

[rcmodel]

+1

Buy a good name brand beam scale and adjustable powder measure instead.

RCBS comes to mind, but Hornady, Redding, & Lyman also are good.

It would not feel safe reloading without an accurate beam scale to keep tabs on my less accurate electronic digital scale!

rc

 

[ArchAngelCD]

By using the Hornady Auto Charge when loading handgun ammo you are slowing down the process and negating the advantage an auto-indexing turret press provides you. You might want to add a Lee Pro Auto-Disk and a riser for when you load .357 Magnum ammo. That setup works very well for me.
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/348753/lee-pro-auto-disk-powder-measure?cm_vc=ProductFinding
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/114080/lee-auto-disk-powder-measure-riser?cm_vc=ProductFinding

 

[Monkeybear]

Yeah, after thinking about it the pro auto disc might be the way to go for bulk .357.

So the auto measurer is junk? Even for rifle loads? Read good things about using them in conjunction with single stage/turrets, that you could just do your thing and when you were ready the LNL would have your powder ready and perfectly measured.

 

[454PB]

They're not junk, in fact I'm impressed with their accuracy and operation, they are just SLOW and take a lot of time to setup and then clean out when done, or when a different powder is to be used.

I load a lot of .338 and .300 magnum rifle cartridges. It takes so long for the "trickler" to discharge 70 to 75 grains of powder that I use a Lee dipper to dump the first 60 grains or so into the pan. If you were using 3 grains of Bullseye it would be really quick, but you still have to dump the scale pan into the case. A traditional powder measure is much faster.

 

[Rico567]

^^^^^^

This is exactly what I do. I have the earlier model RCBS "separates" where the electronic scale talks to the measure via a wireless interface. The setup does what it's intended to do beautifully. But it's just too damn slow. The measure employs a coarse and fine motor drive, so all I do is dump the powder within about a grain through my Uniflow into the pan, then the unit goes right into "fine trickle" mode, which only takes a few seconds. This is fine for rifle reloading, disastrously slow when I'm looking for production in volume, aka pistols.