DaveInFloweryBranchGA
Member
Loco,
Your commentary is giving me enough information to tell me you need to consider something that creates volume. That said, your commentary is also telling me cost is an issue for you. For you, the deciding factor on which press to buy is how much time you have to reload and what your actual quantity is.
Based on your commentary, here's where I suggest you think about and/or look at.
1. How many rounds you are actually shooting in a month's time now.
2. How much actual cash you (and your brother, since he's involved) have to spend on equipment right now. Yes, the cost is amortized over a period of time, but the actual cash in your wallet isn't.
3. How many rounds you are actually shooting combined with how many rounds your brother is shooting over a month's time now.
4. If you want to save even more money by casting your own bullets, which means the eventual purchase of casting equipment. (Of course, casting your own bullet could be a problem that can be solved "later." But if cost is an issue, casting your own pistol bullets can reduce costs to less than $2.00 a box of 50, so seriously worth consideration.
5. A compromise - you need volume, but you may want to slow down and learn, depending on your mechanical aptitude. If it's high, no problem with a progressive such as a Hornady LnL or a Dillon 550/650 If it's lower, you may be better off with something simpler, like a semi automated turret such as the Lee Classic Turret.
6. How many rounds you are shooting per month now and how many you might want to shoot per month for the same cost or less cost.
7. How much of your budget can you spend on components? (Hint: It's about the same as you can afford to spend on ammo now.)
8. How much time you have to spend shooting and reloading. The more time you have, the more you can spend. A man with a wife and kids has less. A man who's retired, who's kids are grown or who is single has more.
9. How much you're actually shooting and are likely to shoot.
Conclusion:
Notice how the statement how much you're shooting keeps popping up?
Here's some loading rates for various presses that go from low average to press potential. (Note these are my own estimates and are in no way scientific. I didn not put the reloader on a stop watch and they're only to get you in the ball park.):
1. single stage press (pick brand) - If your a working man with kids and are well organized, you'll be challenged to turn out 200 rounds of rifle ammo per week at best if you work every night, with each step a single focused step. However, your ammo will be very accurate if you do it right.
2. Standard turret press (pick the brand) - you can reduce the time for those 200 rifle rounds per week down to three nights work vs. 4-5 days of single stage work. Again, this is including trimming, etc.
3. Lee Classic Turret press - 200-300 rounds per hour when they're using it with the Safety Prime and the Pro Auto Disk powder measure. I mention it alone because it's unique in design and function at the present, because it's an auto rotating turret.
4. Dillon 550 - 300 to 550 rounds per hour. Adding a casefeeder to one you already own adds about 20-25% production to this rate. I suspect the RCBS 2000 to be about the same rate, but to my knowledge, RCBS does not offer a casefeeder for it. If you don't already own one, I wouldn't buy one with a casefeeder. Insteady I'd opt for:
5. Hornady LnL and Dillon 650 - 400 to 700 rounds per hour. The upper level rates depend on you having such things as casefeeders or a highly organized/ergonomic setup as well as either extra primer tubes pre filled or a vibra prime primer filler.
6. Dillon 1050 - 1050 an hour, this press is approaching a low end professional grade reloader, so it's quite expensive. This is for the serious competition shooter or some who shoots a helluva lot or has little time and lots of money and who wants to shoot a lot.
Ok, what do all those rates mean?
1. Convert the rounds per hour to boxes of ammo for the gun you shoot and see how many boxes you think you'll need per week.
2. Think about how much time you spend shooting at the range and how much free time you have to load. The lower the amount of time you have to spend reloading, the faster a machine you'll want.
3. Be conservative in your thinking. After all, it does you no darn good to have a press capable of 650 rounds per hour if you can't afford to keep it in primers, powder and bullets. Better to have a slow press you can keep fed. Trade off time for money. Kinda how it works with cars too, you'll notice. The guy that can't afford mechanics usually has more time to work on it himself. The guy that can, typically is too busy working to work on his own car anyways. In both cases, ya probably gotta work somewheres some how, no free lunch.
So there you have it, the how to pick it thought process. Good luck with your choice.
Dave
Your commentary is giving me enough information to tell me you need to consider something that creates volume. That said, your commentary is also telling me cost is an issue for you. For you, the deciding factor on which press to buy is how much time you have to reload and what your actual quantity is.
Based on your commentary, here's where I suggest you think about and/or look at.
1. How many rounds you are actually shooting in a month's time now.
2. How much actual cash you (and your brother, since he's involved) have to spend on equipment right now. Yes, the cost is amortized over a period of time, but the actual cash in your wallet isn't.
3. How many rounds you are actually shooting combined with how many rounds your brother is shooting over a month's time now.
4. If you want to save even more money by casting your own bullets, which means the eventual purchase of casting equipment. (Of course, casting your own bullet could be a problem that can be solved "later." But if cost is an issue, casting your own pistol bullets can reduce costs to less than $2.00 a box of 50, so seriously worth consideration.
5. A compromise - you need volume, but you may want to slow down and learn, depending on your mechanical aptitude. If it's high, no problem with a progressive such as a Hornady LnL or a Dillon 550/650 If it's lower, you may be better off with something simpler, like a semi automated turret such as the Lee Classic Turret.
6. How many rounds you are shooting per month now and how many you might want to shoot per month for the same cost or less cost.
7. How much of your budget can you spend on components? (Hint: It's about the same as you can afford to spend on ammo now.)
8. How much time you have to spend shooting and reloading. The more time you have, the more you can spend. A man with a wife and kids has less. A man who's retired, who's kids are grown or who is single has more.
9. How much you're actually shooting and are likely to shoot.
Conclusion:
Notice how the statement how much you're shooting keeps popping up?
Here's some loading rates for various presses that go from low average to press potential. (Note these are my own estimates and are in no way scientific. I didn not put the reloader on a stop watch and they're only to get you in the ball park.):
1. single stage press (pick brand) - If your a working man with kids and are well organized, you'll be challenged to turn out 200 rounds of rifle ammo per week at best if you work every night, with each step a single focused step. However, your ammo will be very accurate if you do it right.
2. Standard turret press (pick the brand) - you can reduce the time for those 200 rifle rounds per week down to three nights work vs. 4-5 days of single stage work. Again, this is including trimming, etc.
3. Lee Classic Turret press - 200-300 rounds per hour when they're using it with the Safety Prime and the Pro Auto Disk powder measure. I mention it alone because it's unique in design and function at the present, because it's an auto rotating turret.
4. Dillon 550 - 300 to 550 rounds per hour. Adding a casefeeder to one you already own adds about 20-25% production to this rate. I suspect the RCBS 2000 to be about the same rate, but to my knowledge, RCBS does not offer a casefeeder for it. If you don't already own one, I wouldn't buy one with a casefeeder. Insteady I'd opt for:
5. Hornady LnL and Dillon 650 - 400 to 700 rounds per hour. The upper level rates depend on you having such things as casefeeders or a highly organized/ergonomic setup as well as either extra primer tubes pre filled or a vibra prime primer filler.
6. Dillon 1050 - 1050 an hour, this press is approaching a low end professional grade reloader, so it's quite expensive. This is for the serious competition shooter or some who shoots a helluva lot or has little time and lots of money and who wants to shoot a lot.
Ok, what do all those rates mean?
1. Convert the rounds per hour to boxes of ammo for the gun you shoot and see how many boxes you think you'll need per week.
2. Think about how much time you spend shooting at the range and how much free time you have to load. The lower the amount of time you have to spend reloading, the faster a machine you'll want.
3. Be conservative in your thinking. After all, it does you no darn good to have a press capable of 650 rounds per hour if you can't afford to keep it in primers, powder and bullets. Better to have a slow press you can keep fed. Trade off time for money. Kinda how it works with cars too, you'll notice. The guy that can't afford mechanics usually has more time to work on it himself. The guy that can, typically is too busy working to work on his own car anyways. In both cases, ya probably gotta work somewheres some how, no free lunch.
So there you have it, the how to pick it thought process. Good luck with your choice.
Dave
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