Ok, A Different Kind Of - New To Reloading Thread

[KevlarTester]

Wow, I thought this thread was dead.
30 days before it resurrected.

Thanks to all who've contributed.

Hutch,
Yes, I shoot about ~ 25k per year. I find that .223 & .308 are so plentiful and relatively inexpensive that it's not worth reloading at this time.
I'm not a serious a benchrest/target shooter to warrant it.

243_shooter,
Thanks, I'm a bit south in Westchester County. I've recently found some locals who are into reloading and willing to show me the ropes.


Yes, it's true I'd rather shoot and do other hobbies than reload.
I won't know for sure until I try it.
So producing a large amount of reliable ammo as quickly as possible is what I need.

 

[Smokey Joe]

Johnny G:

OK, Johnny, 10-4 and thanx for the reminder.

 

[Chuck from arkansaw]

This is the first forum I have seen where the Lee 1000 was not uniformly cursed. I used one for quite a while and loaded about 1000 rounds a week with a caliber change from .357 to .44 mag. The Lee will teach you what it takes to make a progressive loading press work. I would suggest a manual press as a backup when it takes you too long to fugure out what isn't working. It can be made to work well, and it is a great learning experience.

 

[MrPhil]

Manufacturing Process

Loading with a single stage allows you to "craft" each round. Only one thing happens at a time.
Progressive presses "manufacture" ammunition. To get the greatest consistancy from your press, you need to do your QC checks with the press fully loaded. In other words, all stations occupied. OAL will be different, crimp will be different, sizing will be different. (Powder drop NEVER varies, I've checked.) Go ahead, make rough adjustments with a single cartridge. Then, load up and fine tune your process.
Progressive reloading is like every automated (or semi-automated) manufacturing process. Dial your process while its running.
My profession is as an equipment technician for very complex semi-conductor manufacturing equipment. After every repair and/or adjustment, 100 wafers get cycled through before restarting manufacturing. That ensures proper operation . . . mostly.
By the way, I reload 9mm, 38/357, 40S&W, 44 Spl/Mag, 45ACP with 2 Dillon SDB's. Approx 500 rounds/week. I'm new to it, less than one year. Bought the presses used. Nice simple mechanisms. No computer/software to fail. Well, the processor between my ears needs the occasional tweak, but thats a "whole 'nother story".

 

[Chuck from arkansaw]

First a word to KevlarTester. If you shoot hand guns a lot and start reloading, you need to get a bullet mold and start casting bullets. The Lee aluminum molds are great, and not expensive. I use the 6 cavity tumble lube designs almost exclusively. In my crowd it was not unusual to get together for a Friday night bullet casting party and cast 300 lbs. of ingot. Sized and lubed bullets were stored in metal 1 gallon paint cans, and we went through several cans of bullets in a shooting season. As far as "hand crafting" every round, I defy anyone to compare the accuracy of their ammunition to what I can load on a Lee progressive, or even a Lee hand tool with dippers for charging cases. The group of shooters that I hang with got into a Thursday night .44 Magnum shoot-a-thon and the typical range was 100 yards, shooting clay skeet targets, and punching paper. You do not shoot an inaccurate revolver in those circles, and you don't shoot shoddy ammo. Runs of 4-6 broken clays out of a cylinder were typical (with iron sights). We chrono'ed some loads that had been loaded with a hand loader with powder dippers against Winchester and Remington factory, and found the velocity standard deviation of our hand loads to be about half that of factory. At that time, I shot long range revolvers on Thursday nights and Bullseye on Sunday afternoons. That and a just for fun session now and then kept your eye sharp and your hand steady.

 

[djl4570]

I know someone who got tired of fiddleing around changing his square deal to load different cartridges so he bought three of them. One for .45ACP, one for 9mm and one for all the rest. The unused presses hang from the rafters in his garage.

Throwing charges of 800X would be like trying to throw charges of oatmeal. Check out Hodgdon HS7, Accurate #7 and Accurate #9.

 

[Porter Rockwell]

Seven Minutes a Hundred!

A long lost friend of mine used to have a rds Per Min contest whilst running production ammo in a primitive 550B vs 1050B contest.
Marty on the 550B could consistantly run any straightwalled at 7min per hundred, the 1050B operator hovered around 3.5 minutes per hundred, both press operators exlplained that "Zen" had been achieved!
One at a time simply sucks compared to a real progressive press system!

 

[Black Snowman]

IMHO even if you have a progressive you need a single stage. Even if just for correcting mistakes or making a few experimental rounds.

My suggestion for any new reloader is to start on a single stage with your more expensive ammo (.44 Mag etc . . . ) to get a feel for the process and understand all of the factors that go into reloading. This makes it much easier to spot when things go wrong on a progressive and makes you MUCH more appreciative of it's speed

Even single stage loading can go quite quicky if you don't weigh every round and throw the powder instead. Still won't compare with a progressvie but typically will more consistant.