How to suck the fun out of reloading, Buy a Progressive Press!

[Rule3]

Now lets see, is that case, prime, bullet, check powder or case. prime, bullet, case?
Better make a Flow Chart
Oops forgot a case, round we go, Oops, primer jammed, dissemble press.

Was that a single charge, double charge?
Shell plate did not index completely, complexity. Just once and a while. Adjust pawls
Did the primers run out? ops did not push hard enough to seat primer, Whole assembly line halted to bang on it with hammer and wrenches.

Oops out of sequence start over

Better check that brass, pull out spring shell holder thingy.
Damn jammed again

Finished case bucket falls off, loaded rounds all over floor, pick up and place in case holder box and label.

But hey. it's progressive, loading 300 to 500 rounds in 30 days!

I sense a disaster,and been reloading for many years and am mechanically inclined.

As of this moment I will take my LCTP any day.

Ya I know, should have bought a Dillon, Powder Cop, Ergo handle, case feeder, bullet feeder. watch videos, post on forums. do modifications, start drinking and smoking again.

 

[Taurus 617 CCW]

I still reload on a single stage press because I am not in a hurry when I reload.

 

[GW Staar]

Obviously you are young enough to still enjoy spending time on the beach in the Florida sun when ever you can.....absolutely....enjoy it while you can!

Me? I'm not so lucky. And all the 1000's of press strokes on my trusty Rock Chucker are not appreciated anymore. In fact they hurt after the first 100 or so.

Your Turret press is the same. More convenient in moving dies around, but the same number of strokes.

With a fairly short learning curve and a little rareish patience and you can cut 5000 strokes to 1005......to load the same amount. That's the measure important to us old farts......speed is just gravy.

Hurry? What's that?

Looked it up on the internet......guess It means finding out you are 100 rounds short for the IPSC match in 1 hour.......and you only loaded 100 rounds last night instead of 500.

 

[mcb]

I have never had many issue with my Dillon XL 650. I load a heap of different cartridges on it. I don't find it any better or worst than my full manual setup just much more productive and efficient.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I love my Hornady LnL

 

[Kaldor]

Now lets see, is that case, prime, bullet, check powder or case. prime, bullet, case?
Better make a Flow Chart
Oops forgot a case, round we go, Oops, primer jammed, dissemble press.

Was that a single charge, double charge?
Shell plate did not index completely, complexity. Just once and a while. Adjust pawls
Did the primers run out? ops did not push hard enough to seat primer, Whole assembly line halted to bang on it with hammer and wrenches.

Oops out of sequence start over

Better check that brass, pull out spring shell holder thingy.
Damn jammed again

Finished case bucket falls off, loaded rounds all over floor, pick up and place in case holder box and label.

But hey. it's progressive, loading 300 to 500 rounds in 30 days!

I sense a disaster,and been reloading for many years and am mechanically inclined.

As of this moment I will take my LCTP any day.

Ya I know, should have bought a Dillon, Powder Cop, Ergo handle, case feeder, bullet feeder. watch videos, post on forums. do modifications, start drinking and smoking again.

I can appreciate your dislike of a progressive because its not everyone cup of tea, however...

Most of the issue that folks have with a progressive is simply setting it up and adjusting it correctly. Next is simply training yourself to check operations as the shell plate goes round and round. Once you got that, it becomes second nature to do those checks on every pull of the handle, even running at 500 rounds an hour. I simply dont have time to load 1000's of rounds a year on a single stage or even a turret, so for me, the ability to knock out a quick 500 in an hour or less is a big deal.

 

[AZAndy]

Yeah, I've had days like that. Just a half-hour ago, I dumped powder into the wrong container. My garden will be delighted, since that's where the mixed powder went, but it's still irksome.

When things start to go wacky like that, I take it as a sign to quit and do something else.

 

[Skgreen]

=)
Lotta things going on at once.
Takes a while to get the hang of it, and even then, stuff can happen.
Can certainly be frustrating at times.
When it gets to be burdensome, it's time to get up and take a break.

 

[mdi]

Yep, progressive presses just don't fit my lifestyle. Even when I was off to work for 10-14 hrs per day (work + commute in LA) I had no need to produce thousands of rounds per week. I once helped a friend reload some 45 ACPs for competition, on his 1050 Dillon. It was work operating a reloading machine and I felt completely disconnected from reloading. I cranked, he double checked random reloads falling off his machine.

I now use a single stage that's really quick and easy to use, and a better press than any I have owned; a Forster Co-Ax. My fun time is just me, a little Willie or Do-Wop on the stereo, and my Co-Ax...

 

[alfsauve]

Rule: Reloading will not save you money. It will however allow you to shoot a more for the same dollars.
Corollary: A progressive press does not save you time. It will however allow you to expend more ammunition in a given time frame.

So if time and money are not an object

 

[Hondo 60]

Did I forget a step? Dbl charge? etc, etc...

This is EXACTLY why I LOVE my Dillon 550.
I can stop mid-stroke or backup.

I had several red turret & progressive presses (the prog had an auto advance & HATED missteps or stopping mid-stroke)
That just wasn't for me.
I hated tinkering while trying to reload.
It caused too many issues.
I'm already bald, so I have no hair to pull out.

My 2nd blue press was EXPENSIVE, but worth it for me.
(The first blue press I bought was 17 years old, but never taken out of the box.)

Just my 2¢ - YMMV

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

More parts and more things happening simultaneously so there is more potential for problems. Red blue or green there is a learning curve with any progressive press. Many people, myself included, load thousands of rounds with few issues.
I enjoy reloading and have single stage, turret and progressive presses.
Loading thousands of rounds of handgun ammo on a single stage press would take the fun out of it for me.

 

[Rule3]

More parts and more things happening simultaneously so there is more potential for problems. Red blue or green there is a learning curve with any progressive press. Many people, myself included, load thousands of rounds with few issues.
I enjoy reloading and have single stage, turret and progressive presses.
Loading thousands of rounds of handgun ammo on a single stage press would take the fun out of it for me.

I don;t want to learn, I am entitled I want it NOW!

 

[DRAINSMITH]

Rule: You are just frustrated. The first thing you need to do is stand up turn your back to the press and walk away. Go pet the dog, take the wife out to dinner, or run around the block naked singing "We Are The World". Whatever it takes to get YOUR mind in the right place.

When you get back to the press don't try to start cranking out rounds. Fix the problems first. I started out with my press first. My goal was to seat primer and to not have powder fling no matter how fast I pulled the handle. I spent about 6 hours making a timing kit and teaching myself to get the timing perfect. This fixed both problems. that entire time I didn't make 1 single round. Next, I went to the case feeder/collator. My goal was to have the case set perfectly as fast as I could pull the handle. I spent about 30 hours to do this and during this time I didn't make one single round. It only took me about 4 hours to get my bullet feeder perfect. I now can make 500 rounds in about 20 min.

When you have a problem ask. You might get 3 different fixes for the problem but if you try them out you will have a perfectly running press.

 

[George P]

I still use single stage presses for some metallic and shotshell (same number of handle pulls for either); but I also have progressive shotshell and a new LNL because 6 pulls of the handle for 1 9mm round - when I have 10K empties to load - is too much at my age. Had a Dillion years ago; got rid of it when I moved to another state as I didn't care for the primer feed issues I was getting. That area seems to be the bane of EVERY progressive press, whether shotshell or metallic, so that is where my focus is concentrated the most.

 

[Rule3]

I forgot.

Tighten the press handle over and over again. Nut by itself doesn't do it.
Watch Bubbas 25 minute YouTube video on Modification
Apply Thread Loc, JB Weld, Lock washer and O ring. Tack Weld. Should fix it.

now Knob on handle is loose repeat above application.

 

[rskent]

Before you start drinking and smoking again maybe you should think about just breaking it down into simpler sets. Maybe decap, bell and prime on the first pass through your progressive. Then powder, bullet and crimp on the second pass through your progressive .

 

[Reeferman]

Whatever works for you. But if I had to reload for my various handgun calibers on my Rockchucker instead of my LNL I would quit reloading for them and only load rifle on a single stage. At 61 time is running out faster everyday and shooting two or three hundred rounds of handgun rounds a week it just isn’t possible for me.

 

[Rule3]

Before you start drinking and smoking again maybe you should think about just breaking it down into simpler sets. Maybe decap, bell and prime on the first pass. Then powder, bullet and crimp on the second pass.

Oh you mean a single stage, batch loading slower than my turret. or I could do like a lot of others do and decap off the press, prime off the press and then the rest on a Progressive??

After my NAP I am gonna time the whole thing for 50 rounds.

 

[Skgreen]

Progressives,,, They ain't for everyone,,,,

Wasn't sure I made the right choice when I added a LNL AP to my bench, but I DID know that my Rockchucker 4 was just too darn slow for cranking out 1,000's of pistol rounds.

I also knew the LNL-AP was just a simple machine. If I could understand it, I could make it do what I wanted it to do.

Took a while, but it all came together eventually!

 

[higgite]

Some can handle it, some can't. No need to mock those who can.

 

[dannyd]

Oh you mean a single stage, batch loading slower than my turret. or I could do like a lot of others do and decap off the press, prime off the press and then the rest on a Progressive??

After my NAP I am gonna time the whole thing for 50 rounds.

I bet your one of the people here that only drive between 10 am and 2 pm.

 

[GBExpat]

When things start to go wacky like that, I take it as a sign to quit and do something else.

Ab-so-lute-ly! A few decades ago I learned that lesson (not soon enought, IMO) ... one of THE most important that I have ever learned, btw.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

Look at it this way, if your dies are set up correctly you only have three things to do. Set a case in front of the pusher, look in the case after the powder measure dumps to make sure their is powder in the case and set a bullet.
Keep bullets and cases next to each other and engrain it in your mind that if set a bullet in the case you also have to put a case on the pusher platform.
I wouldn't waste my time running one case at a time through the press unless you want to really get a good look at what each station does.
I only do that on setting up a new load. Stick with one caliber until you get it down. Pick the one you shoot the most.

The more you use it the more it become second nature in running the press.
It is not that complicated, it is just different and you have to look at it that way. Forget single stage, you already know it.
Resizing takes care of itself, neck expanding takes care of itself, priming should take care of itself if the press is set up correctly. Powder is a primary concern and a lot of attention needs to be paid to it. That is where I spend my most time.
I can see in my straight walled pistol cases in station 4 so I can see the powder in there. That's where I watch it after I have the measure making accurate charges.
Then you set the bullet in the case and seat it.
If you use a bullet, you use a case.
Think of it that way, bullet, case, look in case or at powder die. Bullet, case, look in case or at powder die.
Always complete the stroke of the handle and if you loose your place, stop, and take all the cases out of the press and start over. The spring around the shell plate allows you to do that. It's safer that way.
Don't get frustrated, just change your frame of mind, you are not loading on a single stage.

 

[rsrocket1]

I'll be happy to remove the "sucker" to your joy from your otherwise idyllic life. Ship it to me!

Thanks!

Buy once, cry once. Perfection.