Help me to finally get started
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Lost Sheep
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mels95y
Thanks for asking our advice
In 1975 I loaded with a Rockchucker. Eventually I went to a progressive press, but found progressive presses were not for me. I researched extensively to get my "perfect for me" setup, with money (almost) no object.
the story is here:
www.rugerforum.net/reloading/29385-...you-will-never-outgrow-novice-handloader.html
but the upshot of this post is that I still have my Rockchucker and a Lee Classic Turret (not the Deluxe Turret, which is inferior to the Classic Turret).
The Lee Classic Turret sees virtually 100% of my handgun loading, (9mm, .357 Magnum, 45ACP, 45 Colt, 44 Magnum, 480 Ruger, 454 Casull.
You are on your way to a rewarding and fulfilling hobby. Welcome.
Lost Sheep
edit: Note that the Lee Classic Cast press is a single stage press reputed to be the equal (or nearly so) of the RockChucker. I can attest personally that the spent prime handling of the Lee is FAR superior to the RockChucker.
Thanks for asking our advice
In 1975 I loaded with a Rockchucker. Eventually I went to a progressive press, but found progressive presses were not for me. I researched extensively to get my "perfect for me" setup, with money (almost) no object.
the story is here:
www.rugerforum.net/reloading/29385-...you-will-never-outgrow-novice-handloader.html
but the upshot of this post is that I still have my Rockchucker and a Lee Classic Turret (not the Deluxe Turret, which is inferior to the Classic Turret).
The Lee Classic Turret sees virtually 100% of my handgun loading, (9mm, .357 Magnum, 45ACP, 45 Colt, 44 Magnum, 480 Ruger, 454 Casull.
You are on your way to a rewarding and fulfilling hobby. Welcome.
Lost Sheep
edit: Note that the Lee Classic Cast press is a single stage press reputed to be the equal (or nearly so) of the RockChucker. I can attest personally that the spent prime handling of the Lee is FAR superior to the RockChucker.
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Icky The Great
Member
*MTM makes decent loading blocks cheap.
*I love my RCBS Hand Priming Tool, my best investment thus far
*Get an E-zee gauge from Lyman
*Go with Carbide dies, lube isn't as important
*At least 2 manuals from different manufactures, I have 23 to cover everything
*An extra shell holder, one on the press and one for the priming tool, trimmer or bullet puller (I like the Kinetic Hammer myself) or what ever tool you might need. Thus your setup remains unaltered and consistant
*A nice seat
*a nice garbage can
The only other things I can think of are containers for storing bits and pieces (Gladware makes a multi sized kit. They come in handy as do sturdy ziplok bags. Get the sliders, they are way easier to deal with in the long run. Oh, and sharpies at least 2
I second Lost Sheep's note about the spent primer handling
*I love my RCBS Hand Priming Tool, my best investment thus far
*Get an E-zee gauge from Lyman
*Go with Carbide dies, lube isn't as important
*At least 2 manuals from different manufactures, I have 23 to cover everything
*An extra shell holder, one on the press and one for the priming tool, trimmer or bullet puller (I like the Kinetic Hammer myself) or what ever tool you might need. Thus your setup remains unaltered and consistant
*A nice seat
*a nice garbage can
The only other things I can think of are containers for storing bits and pieces (Gladware makes a multi sized kit. They come in handy as do sturdy ziplok bags. Get the sliders, they are way easier to deal with in the long run. Oh, and sharpies at least 2
I second Lost Sheep's note about the spent primer handling
Lost Sheep
Member
Not the RCBS funnel
The Lee Powder funnel fits perfectly in the Lee Powder-Through die that you already own.
I don't think the RCBS funnel will fit. Mine doesn't.
Whether you use the press in batch mode (single stage) or continuous mode (taking advantage of the auto-indexing), you will be better served by the Lee funnel.
The Lee Powder funnel fits perfectly in the Lee Powder-Through die that you already own.
I don't think the RCBS funnel will fit. Mine doesn't.
Whether you use the press in batch mode (single stage) or continuous mode (taking advantage of the auto-indexing), you will be better served by the Lee funnel.
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Lost Sheep
Member
If you are undecided between a single stage and a turret, here is an essay I wrote a while back.
Operational differences between single stage and turret presses.
Short answer:
A single stage can only do batch operation, turret can do continuous operation or batch almost equally well.
Batch operation is slower than continuous operation because with continuous processing you only insert and remove the cartridge case once per cartridge the case going through all the loading steps without ever exiting the press). With batch processing, you handle the case through multiple insert-remove cycles. Thus a Turret can be maybe 2 to 4 times as fast as a single stage.
(Mels95y, You don't need to use the automatic powder drop of the Lee die and Auto-Disk when continuous processing, but it is available. You can still use individually weighted charge from your Chargemaster if you like at only a little penalty of speed.)
Long answer:
A turret is a single stage with multiple die stations. That is the only operational difference. But that difference allows a turret to do either continuous operation or batch where a single stage is practical only for batch processing.
Single stages tend to be (but are not necessarily) stronger and stiffer. This is mostly because single stages' frames are usually of one casting where turrets are of at least two parts assembled, and they move, which pretty much requires some clearance. In practice, the difference is vanishingly small. But we still argue over it.
Like a single stage, a turret press does only one thing (operation, like size/deprime, belling case mouth, seat/crimp) at a time, but switching between those is nearly instantaneous. This makes continuous processing practical. (In contrast to progressive presses do multiple different steps simultaneously.)
Batch processing, you are familiar with. You can do your batches in 50 as I do or 20 or 100 or 1,000. But the operations are the same. (For pistol) Size/deprime and prime 50 rounds, then switch dies and bell and charge 50 rounds. Inspect the charges in a batch and switch dies. Seat and crimp 50 rounds. Batch is done. Move on to the next batch.
Continuous processing: Put the empty case in the press and do all the operations (size/deprime, bell/charge, seat/crimp) and remove the finished cartridge only when all the steps are done. This saves a lot of handling the cases (at least three insertion-removal cycles) and amounts to a lot of time saved.
If the press indexes the dies automatically, this saves a LOT of time. If you index the die stations manually, it is a little slower, but still much faster than batch processing.
Turret presses can do either batch processing (as a single stage) or continuous processing with equal facility.
Because many loaders of bottleneck (rifle) cartridges do manual operations or inspections in the middle of the loading process, they often choose to break up even the continuous process into smaller groupings of operations, making loading a hybrid of batch and continuous. Other loaders of such cartridges use the continuous process, but temporarily interrupt the process to pull each case from the press before continuing.
I suggest you view the many (almost too many) videos showing the operation of various presses.
Whatever method(s) is(are) you choose, if the production algorithm is well designed for the cartridge and your temperament it will work and is, by design, perfect for you and your production needs. So, you could use the press one way for pistol and another way for rifle. You don't have to do pure batch or continuous processing either. You can devise your own hybrid method, a combination of the two.
Lost Sheep
Operational differences between single stage and turret presses.
Short answer:
A single stage can only do batch operation, turret can do continuous operation or batch almost equally well.
Batch operation is slower than continuous operation because with continuous processing you only insert and remove the cartridge case once per cartridge the case going through all the loading steps without ever exiting the press). With batch processing, you handle the case through multiple insert-remove cycles. Thus a Turret can be maybe 2 to 4 times as fast as a single stage.
(Mels95y, You don't need to use the automatic powder drop of the Lee die and Auto-Disk when continuous processing, but it is available. You can still use individually weighted charge from your Chargemaster if you like at only a little penalty of speed.)
Long answer:
A turret is a single stage with multiple die stations. That is the only operational difference. But that difference allows a turret to do either continuous operation or batch where a single stage is practical only for batch processing.
Single stages tend to be (but are not necessarily) stronger and stiffer. This is mostly because single stages' frames are usually of one casting where turrets are of at least two parts assembled, and they move, which pretty much requires some clearance. In practice, the difference is vanishingly small. But we still argue over it.
Like a single stage, a turret press does only one thing (operation, like size/deprime, belling case mouth, seat/crimp) at a time, but switching between those is nearly instantaneous. This makes continuous processing practical. (In contrast to progressive presses do multiple different steps simultaneously.)
Batch processing, you are familiar with. You can do your batches in 50 as I do or 20 or 100 or 1,000. But the operations are the same. (For pistol) Size/deprime and prime 50 rounds, then switch dies and bell and charge 50 rounds. Inspect the charges in a batch and switch dies. Seat and crimp 50 rounds. Batch is done. Move on to the next batch.
Continuous processing: Put the empty case in the press and do all the operations (size/deprime, bell/charge, seat/crimp) and remove the finished cartridge only when all the steps are done. This saves a lot of handling the cases (at least three insertion-removal cycles) and amounts to a lot of time saved.
If the press indexes the dies automatically, this saves a LOT of time. If you index the die stations manually, it is a little slower, but still much faster than batch processing.
Turret presses can do either batch processing (as a single stage) or continuous processing with equal facility.
Because many loaders of bottleneck (rifle) cartridges do manual operations or inspections in the middle of the loading process, they often choose to break up even the continuous process into smaller groupings of operations, making loading a hybrid of batch and continuous. Other loaders of such cartridges use the continuous process, but temporarily interrupt the process to pull each case from the press before continuing.
I suggest you view the many (almost too many) videos showing the operation of various presses.
Whatever method(s) is(are) you choose, if the production algorithm is well designed for the cartridge and your temperament it will work and is, by design, perfect for you and your production needs. So, you could use the press one way for pistol and another way for rifle. You don't have to do pure batch or continuous processing either. You can devise your own hybrid method, a combination of the two.
Lost Sheep
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