Round count to move to a progessive

[jfrey]

I always loaded rifle ammo, one box at a time, on a single stage. When I decided to load pistol ammo the progressive was a no brainer. Got two SDB's and never looked back. I normally shoot hundreds of pistol rounds at an outing. A single stage just wouldn't cut it.

 

[Joatmon]

No magic number that I know. With the amount of shooting that I currently do there is no way I could justify having a progressive loader, but I do. I also enjoy working on older progressives and getting them back into shape. There are some great old designs out there. Plus there is always that "when I retire then I can do a lot more shooting" argument. I got to the point that I dont try to justify everything if it involves a hobby that I enjoy.

 

[C.F. Plinker]

I started thinking about it when I was shooting 1000 rounds of 45ACP a year. I loaded that much and more every year on a C-H C-press. Then Dillon brought out their 300. I got to see one at the NRA meeting in Denver that year and the rest is history. Ordered one as soon as I could and never looked back. Sold it and my Lee 10 pound bottom pour to a co-worker that was getting started in loading. They were replaced by an RCBS Pro-Melt and a 550B both of which I still have.

My bottom line was that I wanted to be able to load or cast faster than I could shoot them up.

 

[bad375]

My rifle ammo I load on a single stage and still plan on it, I don't shoot that much rifle anyway except my pig guns, went ahead and ordered the Hornday AP yesterday with hopefully all the extras I need. Should be here Friday, ready for a fun weekend of setting it up. I'm sure I'll have some questions though, thanks everyone

 

[Blue68f100]

You will like the LNL-AP. Just take the time to get the primer feed right. Once it's set it's good to go for now on unless you do something to move the guide rod position. Then the most important thing is the indexing. This needs to be right for smoothness.

Where about in east texas? My dad is out there in the piney woods, Camp County.

 

[bad375]

Blue68f100 - I'm in Smith county, been reading all I can about the LNL, and the primer feed does come up a lot, I will take it slow for a while

 

[Missionary]

Greetings
When my two boys started wanting to shoot.. there was no way to supply 3 shooters with ammo. Plus they got to be a part of the project loading primers tubes, adding powder and such.
Mike in Peru

 

[tightgroup tiger]

For me, I was loading between 200-350 9mm and 357 mag a month on a rock chucker. I have a bone spuring problem in my shoulders and there were to many repetitious move with a single stage.
I bought a LNL-AP a couple months ago and now I'm amazed as to all the more time it take to reload my 9mm shells. I should have bought one a long time ago. My shoulder doesn't hurt me near as much any more and I have more time to do other things, and this is loading very slowly because I'M not broke in on my new press yet. I have a Lee Pro 1000 that I have had a lot of trouble with and took it out of service. I'm not parting with it yet or maybe never, but the LNL sure took the work load off the pro1000 so I don't care if I ever run it again. The pro1000 worked fine except for the powder measure, it used to work perfect 20 yrs ago but didn't survive me moving to North Carolina very well. I'll play with it when I get board.

Every one buys a auto progressive for different reasons, I hope you find your way on this issue.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I loaded on a single stage for about 20 years before buying a progressive. I wish I would have bought one years ago. Loading 50 rounds on a single stage took me about an hour. Just yesterday, I sat down at my progressive and loaded 50 rounds in less than 10 minutes....FWIW, it is a LNL. I could have afforded about any press out there, but my homework led me to the LNL. I have zero complaints with it and nothing but praise for Hornady's customer service.

 

[JLDickmon]

now just got to go buy more bullets!

heckuva problem to have...

I started on a turret press (Lyman) and I've always been able to keep up with a couple hundred rounds per week...

 

[Lost Sheep]

I would like to know at what round count did you decide to move to a progressive press. I currently use a Lee Classic Turret which I like. But I have been shooting a lot more lately due to a new range opening up about 15 minutes from my house. While I enjoy reloading it is eating up my time in the evenings.

I moved from a pair of progressives to a Lee Classic Turret.

I was never comfortable with monitoring simultaneous operations, didn't like the way my Lee Pro-1000 progressives handled primers, either the spent ones that didn't fall where they were supposed to or the fresh ones that didn't flow down the chute when the supply ran low.

The main thing, I guess was that dividing my attention to ensure everything went OK made me a nervous wreck. The (to me) completely natural progressing of continuous processing one step at a time on one round at a time works best. (Again, that's just me.)

See if you can go to a friend's house to try out a progressive under the watchful eye of an experienced user is my advice.

If you can't experiment like that, do give it a try. Not everyone is as limited as I. But don't trade off your turret until you know you are happy.

Round count? less than 60 per hour will satisfy you? Single stage is OK
60 to 200 rounds per hour is your target range? Lee's Classic Turret, or Deluxe Turret if you are really hurting for cash (but I think that is a false economy).
You just HAVE to HAVE more than 250 rounds per hour to keep shooting? Progressive.

One little considered thing about progressives is that swapping calibers can range from a minor inconvenience to a major pain. However, if you pay more for the parts (such as swappable carriers and assemblies) the switchover is easier. But no progressive caliber change is as easy (15 seconds and no tools) or cheap (set of dies and $13 for a spare turret) as with the Lee Turret.

Lost Sheep

Good luck.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

My back starts hurting me after about 100 rounds which takes me about 30-40 minutes barring any problems. On average I shoot around 300 9mm and 2-300 hundred 45 per weekend, and it takes me all week to load for a couple of hours of fun.
Looks I may be spending my income tax return on a new press instead of a new gun, darn the luck

I can safely load 180-200 rounds/hour on my Lee turret press. That's only ~3 hours ow work for the amount of ammo you shoot. I don't think I could justify spending all that money on a progressive press for only 3 hours of loading a week. I shoot just about the same number of rounds you do.

Although, any more than 500-600 rounds a week might push me to something a little faster.

 

[cfullgraf]

I was never comfortable with monitoring simultaneous operations, didn't like the way my Lee Pro-1000 progressives handled primers, either the spent ones that didn't fall where they were supposed to or the fresh ones that didn't flow down the chute when the supply ran low.

The main thing, I guess was that dividing my attention to ensure everything went OK made me a nervous wreck. The (to me) completely natural progressing of continuous processing one step at a time on one round at a time works best. (Again, that's just me.)

bad375

Lost Sheep makes some good points on concerns of operation of a progressive. There is alot going on. It is what works for him.

There are other options.

Instead of buying a turret press, I decouple the resizing/mouth expansion operation from the loading operation.

Bottom line for me is there are fewer things happening at any one time and the press runs smooth as silk.

I resize/moth expand cases shortly after shooting. Small batches go quickly, less than 5 minutes per 100 cases. I tumble then store the cases away for a future reloading.

I prefer to use a hand primer, I can hand prime 100 cases as fast as filling a primer tube. Since i am not resizing, I can do that. I have less stoppages/jams of the press when just charging the cases and seating the bullet.

Finally, I do have an upside production potential if I wish to put the process back together.

Think outside the box when dealing with any press and mold the process to your needs and likes.

 

[kingmt]

It seems a easy thing for me to watch what is going on. I don't get in a hurry. I normally only load 50-100 at a time & many times only 2. When I stroke the handle I watch that the primers moved, look at the charge & bell at the same time, & look at the finished round. I'm just looking across the press & see everything happen in one motion. If that is to much to watch then look at the first finished round & don't look at it again until finished. As long as you keep a eye on the primers & powder charge you will be OK. If you run out of cases you will be OK & will find out fast but it won't cause you a problem.

 

[bad375]

Thanks for the ideas guys I do appreciate your input. I went ahead and got a Hornady LnL, it arrived last night, I can tell I'm going to enjoy it and will be shooting even more now. Got it all cleaned up and mounted to my bench last night

 

[joed]

I decided progressive when I found myself shooting 300 rounds a week. Some people enjoy reloading, I don't, my time is spent doing better things.

After buying a Dillon 550 I watched my reloading time go from 2 evenings to about 1 hour a week.

 

[Certaindeaf]

bad375, that's great.. I'm sure you'll be happy with it. Experimentation is half the fun of anything anyway.
I find it odd though that many folks will get a geewilliker progressive and then size only before polishing, seat primers by hand etc etc.. what's the gain/point?

 

[cfullgraf]

bad375, that's great.. I'm sure you'll be happy with it. Experimentation is half the fun of anything anyway.
I find it odd though that many folks will get a geewilliker progressive and then size only before polishing, seat primers by hand etc etc.. what's the gain/point?

Because I can.

I load more on my progressive my way than I shoot. I eliminate some of the extra case handling that is required on a single stage and some of the extra handle stroking required on a turret.

I size and expand the mouth at one time. I like the way expander dies epand the case mouth. I do not like the way the "powder through the expanders" do their job.

Since I separate the process, I have the option of hand priming. I can hand prime 100 cases as fast as filling a primer tube plus I never, I repeat, never, feed a case with a miss seated primer to the powder drop since I get 100% inspection of the seated primers. I hate re-work more than trimming cases.

I even sometimes charge the cases off the progressive when I am making a small run and do not want to set up the press mounted powder measure.

I find I have more problems with upsets in the process in the resizing die. Cases not lining up with the dies, primers not fulling decapping and the such. By separating the resizing/mouth expansion from loading, I can better monitor the process without the chance of making a faulty round.

I reload some cases on the progressives that require case lubricant (357 Sig and 38/45 Clerke). I would rather not have greasy, gooey hands when handling powder and primers. So, I resize/mouth expand then clean the cases.

Sometimes, I wet tumble to clean my cases. I might as well be done with resizing, mouth expanding and decapping when I do that.

It works for me and makes me happy. It adds to the enjoyment of reloading for me.

It may not work for you and that makes me happy too.

I did not buy a progressive until I figured out that I did not have to operate the press "from fired case to loaded round". I am just offering options to folks on the fence for buying a progressive.

 

[Certaindeaf]

^
I hear you, Chuck.

 

[bad375]

CFULLGRAF I like what you said here "It works for me and makes me happy. It adds to the enjoyment of reloading for me." This is what it's all about right here, enjoyment, no matter how you load

 

[bad375]

Greetings
When my two boys started wanting to shoot.. there was no way to supply 3 shooters with ammo. Plus they got to be a part of the project loading primers tubes, adding powder and such.

Mike in Peru

I missed this, I started with my Dad as a very little kid, he would let me pull the handle on his Herters press when he was seating bullets, and I thought I was an ammo making man

 

[FROGO207]

I could have been typing the posts of cfullgraf to the word except I do not own that progressive. I own several SS and progressive presses and do what I want as far as the process to get the ammo I desire. I always batch load and do it mostly in the winter months to be able to shoot the rest of the year. If your family and friends are shooting up your stuff THEY should be included in the reloading process to understand the time commitment it takes to make good handcrafted ammo. Otherwise it is just another form of enabling IMHO. I do enjoy reloading for the sake of reloading as a separate hobby unto itself I now find. YMMV