Press choices

[byrnesy94]

Hi all, i am in need of a press, i don't know what brand or even form of press, ie single stage, turret or progressive. I'm not inexperienced with reloading and have done my fair share of it, but here is what ill need to be doing with it: a few hundred rounds a month of 223, and for about 3 months of the year, close to a 1000 a month. Around 1000 rounds a year of 243, 1000 of 308 and 2-3000 of 222 remington. Any suggestions on press choice would be muchly appreciated.
Cheers.

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

pretty much every reloading forum has a sticky for beginners asking the same question you're asking. here's THR's:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=238214

 

[Hit_Factor]

Sounds like a Dillon 550 or 650 depending on the features you may want. 650 offers automatic indexing and powder check alarm for under or over charged cases. These options are not available on the 550.

 

[brotherbadger]

What kind of budget are you looking at? From your needs, a single stage is probably not fast enough. The Dillon suggested above probably would suit your needs, but it's a little pricey. Maybe start out with a turret first.

 

[byrnesy94]

thanks for all the info people, no real set budget really! within reason but following the old "buy once, cry once" adage.
Cheers

 

[Certaindeaf]

All turrets are essentially a single stage except the Lee. The Lee automatically advances (you can easily disable the auto advance if you want) the turret/dies with each stroke. Case handling is reduced compared to a single stage.. in a regular turret, case handling is the same, perhaps, as a Lee but you have to manually horse the turret/die to the next step for each pull.. if you don't batch them like a single stage.

 

[res7s]

Sounds like a Lee Classic Turret press to me. Unless I'm going to turn out over 300 rounds, at one sitting, I use it over my Dillon.

 

[Blue68f100]

Don't over look the LNL-AP. It is very quick when doing caliber changes. It's a Auto-Progressive like the Dillon 650 if you want to compare presses. I have had mine for 5 yrs now and would buy it again. Like any thing that has moving parts getting it timed/adjusted correctly is key. Once you do they run smooth. The LNL has a lot few parts than the Dillion's do. It's a very simple press design.

 

[Searcher4851]

Sounds like either the Hornady LNL AP if you want to go progressive, or the Lee Classic Cast Turret would serve the purpose quite well, with the Hornady being faster, but costing more. I use a Lee Classic Cast turret myself, and have no complaints. I shoot considerably more pistol than rifle though. I guess it comes down to whether or not you enjoy reloading as a hobby in itself. I do, and I like the somewhat slower pace of the turret press when doing rifle cartridges. It just makes it easier for my old eyes to keep up with the process. If you're just looking to crank out rounds, then a progressive may be the way to go. Hornady or Dillon would be the way to go for progressive. Just my opinion.

 

[traderpats]

I started with a Lee turret and although a very good value, it simply took way too long for my liking when loading bulk ammo. For the numbers you stated a 550b would be a great choice. Very reliable and fills the gap between turret press and full progressive. You could get by without extra toolheads, etc and just swap out your dies when needed if on a budget.

Of course you could always spend more money and make change overs faster too. The Dillon also holds it's value so if time became scarce later on, or you simply needed to produce more ammo, you could always sell the 550b and upgrade to a full progressive w/ case feeder, etc....

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Since you are going to be loading so many rifle rounds I'm not sure a turret press will be the right choice. If you were loading handgun ammo and only .223 and .222 ammo the Lee Classic Turret press would be fine but there is not much of a advantage with a turret press with bigger rifle rounds like the .308 on a Classic Turret press. (other than having all the dies set on the turret)

I'm sorry I have no experience with progressive presses so I can't recommend one for the rifle rounds but it looks like you're already getting some advice on that.

I'm loading a lot of M1 Garand 30-06 ammo on a Rockchucker and it's getting tedious at times especially processing the brass but no press will help that. The advice I have there, process your brass beforehand. I usually clean, deprime, resize, trim, chamfer/debur and store them for primer/powder/bullets at a later time. (3lb plastic coffee cans work well)

 

[Certaindeaf]

I load bottleneck rifle on my Lee Classic cast turret in the automatic mode.
Step one can be problematic if the cases need trimmed (you verify case length after sizing). They sure don't need trimmed every time.
1. size and prime using Lee safety prime.
2. powder using using Lee pro auto-disk.
3. seat.
4. nothing (you could use the Lee three hole press but the Classic is better and for handgun etc, the fourth hole is great) or applying a Lee factory crimp.

Actually, the four holes come in handy if you need to flare for lead using the Lee universal expander die. I cast for rifle too.