Rookie question: How do I choose a proper reloading press?

[Novice Reloader]

So, I have recently gotten into reloading, I am reading up on it an plan on buying a reloading press soon. I saw in another thread, someone recommended the Lee Classic Turret Press for pistol and rifle rounds.

Its about $220, which isn't that bad, but I want to know this:

Can I use any centerfire reloading press for handgun and rifle rounds, or just this one?

 

[ROCKFISH]

Any press will do. Personally I prefer the single stage for reloading accurate rifle ammo. Slow and precise, one at a time.

 

[kingmt]

Need more info. Which calibers, how many rounds of which, & how much money do you want to spend?

 

[Marty B]

RCBS Rockchucker!

 

[mgmorden]

The vast majority of presses out there are absolutely fine for either. I will say that the ultra-cheap Lee aluminum presses - while fine for pistol - tend to be a bit light for rifles. That said, I've loaded .270 Win on their $25 aluminum C-frame before.

If you want single stage, my advice would be to get either the Lee Classic Cast, a Lyman Crusher, or a RCBS Ruckchucker. All are darned sturdy, strong, and will do just about anything you need within the limitations of single-stage.

Despite there being a lot of nay-sayers on their equipment, Lee's Classic Cast Turret does seem to be THE choice for a turret press these days.

If you want to go progressive, Dillon is the way to go. Since you asked here though the "Square Deal B" press that they make is pistol only, but all their other stuff will do either.

 

[Jdillon]

You may want to check out the Forster Coax. IMHO the best single stage on the market.

 

[Jim..]

I've had a Lyman T-Mag for probably 25 years or more. It is a good press and loads accurate ammo. And I am told the new model is even better.

 

[SASS#23149]

the only press that will NOT do rifle rounds,that I can think of,is the dillon squared deal and square deal B.The use special dies,and only do pistol calibers.
most other presses ,of recent maufacture, use all brands of dies,and do rifle or pistol rounds.

 

[TheCracker]

Any press will do. Personally I prefer the single stage for reloading accurate rifle ammo. Slow and precise, one at a time.

I agree. I use single stage for precision rifle. Everything else goes through the lee classic turret. You could certainly load anything on the lee classic turret though. It's a great press!

 

[cfullgraf]

Can I use any centerfire reloading press for handgun and rifle rounds, or just this one?

Virtually all common presses on the market today will load both rifle and hand gun cartridges.

The Dillon SDB, as already said, will only do handgun.

But, not all presses will do the longer rifle cartridges. They just are not tall enough to fit the longer cartridges.

I think most presses on the market will do at least 30-06 size cases. Determine what you are planning to load, then make sure the press you are interested will work for the cartridges you plan to load.

 

[Kevin Rohrer]

Any press will NOT necessarily do when loading both pistol and rifle.

However, any popular "O", "H", or turret press will do to get started. And some of the older, cast iron "C" presses (like the Herters Super 3) will also do.

It doesn't have to be new to be a quality press, either. I bought all but two of my presses used, and almost all of them are my age or older.

There are tons of threads here recommending first-time presses.

 

[Ubet]

Here is a link for a Lee Classic Turret press for $84.48. If you are ordering when you get to the final checkout you can select ground shipping, which is much more reasonable than the shipping that shows for sample. I've ordered from this company in the past and had excellent service. I just placed an order this morning with them for a myself and a friend from work for the Lee Cast Classic press, I have two different progressive presses (RCBS Grand in 12 gauge and a Dillon RL550, but I missed having a good single stage press.

http://fsreloading.com/catalogs/lee-precision/classic-cast.html#LeeClassicTurretPress

Good Luck in your choice.

Regards,
Ubet

 

[GT1]

I have the Lee classic turret, and bought it from that same place. You won't be sorry.

I have that press and a Dillon 650, I am happiest loading on that little turret press. It will do it all, and can work as single stage, manual or auto-index, pistol or rifle. It doesn't get much more flexible and nothing else comes close that I know of, and certainly not for the price, even fully loaded with the pro measure and priming system.

 

[hogrdr]

i have a lee turret but i only load pistol, fs is the place to buy lee. i would go with a single stage for lower volume rifle though. or a dillon for loading large amounts of pistol.

 

[1SOW]

Choose by BOTH WHAT and HOW MANY/WEEK you plan to load.

 

[oneounceload]

You might check Ebay and your local Craigs List for used presses - that will save you a lot of money that you can use towards the other items you need, like a good scale, calipers, and on and on

 

[mookiie]

I bought a lee classic cast single stage press a little over a year and a half ago and have since used it to load 13 calibers rifle and pistol mixed, for around 25,000 total rounds loaded. For the price you cannot beat lee!

 

[josephbw]

One thing to think about regarding the Lee Classic Turret press, is that you can remove the center shaft (takes about 3 seconds), and you have a single stage press. As a bonus you don't have to remove and install dies for the different stages, just manually rotate the turret. Best of both worlds.

 

[Lost Sheep]

I have answers, but have questions first

How have you managed to "get into reloading" withough a press? Are you using someone else's equipment or the Lee Load-All?

I have answers, but have questions first. Knowing your needs will let us target our answers better.

How much do you plan/want to load? What calibers? What are you goals? (supreme accuracy at extreme long range? casual plinking? Silhouette shooting? Bowling pin competitions? IDPA? Hunting? Practice?)

Thanks for asking our advice and welcome to the forum. Help us help you.

Lost Sheep

 

[bubbinator]

You are me in 1970! I got the gun bug-ammo price/lack of access shock-and started reloading. I bought an RCBS Single stage press with a scale/powder measure/trickler(lead added to base by mentor), primer flipper,hand priming tool and 4-5 Bullet Maker manuals. Today I load for over 25 calibers, have obtained 5-shot groups from factory rifles in multiple calibers under .3 " consistantly from proper rests @ <40% factoryammo cost with better bullets!
Glad to have you here. Read all you can-I suggest "Pet Loads" by Ken Waters-he's done every caliber ever invented it seems, with multiple gun platforms.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

So, I have recently gotten into reloading, I am reading up on it an plan on buying a reloading press soon. I saw in another thread, someone recommended the Lee Classic Turret Press for pistol and rifle rounds.

Its about $220, which isn't that bad, but I want to know this:

Can I use any centerfire reloading press for handgun and rifle rounds, or just this one?

Novice,
Any style press will load both rifle and handgun ammo but the question is, how fast. Like said above you should choose by what type of ammo you are going to load and how much.

I have and use a Lee Classic Turret Press and I can safely load 180-200 handgun rounds per hour. I have also loaded 30-06, 30-30, 45-70, .223 and a few others on the turret press without using the auto-index feature. I do prefer using my single stage press for rifle ammo though. (RCBS Rockchucker) If you can buy only 1 press and you are going to be loading a lot of handgun ammo the Classic turret press will work just fine. Like I said, you can remove the auto-index rod and use it just like you would a single stage press for loading rifle ammo. The only difference is you can have all the dies set in the turret and not have to remove one die to install the next.

If you do buy the turret press you might want this link to Kempf Gun Shop. That kit is a good price and I highly recommend you choose the upgrade at the bottom of the page for the Pro Auto-Disk. That is a much better powder measure than the standard auto-disk and well worth the additional $12.95.

If you are going to load more rifle ammo than handgun ammo and when you load handgun ammo it's only 50-100 rounds you will probably be better off with a single stage press. I recommend a RCBS Rockchucker but if price is a consideration Lee's Classic Cast Press is also good. (make sure you get the Classic because it's cast iron and the linkage is heavier) The Rockchucker is ~$155 and the Lee Classic Cast is ~$99.

 

[x_wrench]

i bought a lee "anniversary kit" when i first got into loading (for the second time). my first press was a rockchucker. it was a great press. but i had not loaded in about a dozen years, and did not think i would get back into it. so i sold it. i really was not sure if i would really stay into it this time, so i went cheap as i could. longer story short. i wore out the lee cast aluminum press. so DO NOT BUY AN ALUMINUM PRESS! i replaced it with a cast steel lee classic press. the thing i like about it over my old rockchucker is that the primers, and all the gunk runs down the center of the ram. which keeps all the dirt out of the ram bearing area. the ram stays much cleaner, no junk in between the ram and the base. no tearing it apart to clean it out all the time. i would recommend this press to anyone.

 

[ranger335v]

Intelligent selection of a press should be based on 1) what you know about reloading, 2) what cartridge or cartridges you will be loading on it, 3) the volume of ammo you need to turn out per session.

New guys are best served with a single stage press because it simplifies learning.

Large cartridges require a large press, any press can handle pistol or small/medium sized rifle cartridges. If you need high volumes of handgun or auto loading rifle ammo a progressive may be in order later but only AFTER you learn the ropes on a single stage.

As a practical balance between cost and performance for new loaders, Lee's Classic Cast offers the best deal available in an iron bodied single stage. It is very well made, it's large enough to deal with any sporting cartridge you may choose, it's user features are excellant (it's spent primer catcher system actually works and keeps the ram clean while doing so). The price is low enough to allow the user to add something like a progressive later without feeling like he has wasted money on his starting press, and a stout extra press is always useful anyway.

 

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Read the sticky for new reloaders. It's a bit dated, but the general information is still good. Beyond that, selecting a press for your use should be based on what you're reloading and how much of it you're planning on shooting up, combined with practical considerations on how much you can afford.

ranger sums it up pretty well. If I were new and didn't know for sure about the what and how much, here's what I'd buy:

Lee Classic Turret press and all the trimmings.

Lee Classic Cast Single stage press and all the trimmings.

Note: I wouldn't limit the trimmings to Lee brand products. I would try out other brands as well.

 

[twofifty]

Consider that most start with a manual press.

Those that start loading for rifle with a progressive find that load development is more easily and quickly done with a manual press. So they end up with 2 presses...or more.