Single-stage metallic reloading presses: Hornady VS RCBS

[Zeede]

Been considering getting a single stage press for reloading .30-06 for my M1 Garand. Those of you familiar with it know that you have to shoot surplus or reload your own, as modern factory .30-06 are almost all unsuitable, due to the pressure peaks.

I've been looking at both the Hornady and RCBS Rock Chucker kits. Both are around $275-325, and come with the usual goodies. Scale, powder dispenser, loading block, etc. Hornady has a deal going on right now for 500 free bullets, which is nice, but I want to know if there are any pros or cons about the two presses. I know every company has a slightly different method of adjusting the dies, and I *think* the Hornady one comes with a die, whereas the RCBS one doesn't.

Opinions?

Cameron

 

[308sc]

out of you given options get the Hornady...500 free premium bullets!

I have the Lee Challenger Anniversary kit....it has reloading 8mm Mauser, .308 win...it is no where near as expensive as RCBS or Hornady but will do the job!

make sure you get a case tumbler, the one from cabelas isn't bad, and a case length gauge.

 

[45ACPUSER]

Your first step is buying the best reference book or what I call Reloading for Dummies or The ABC's of Reloading from Krause Publications. Read it cover to cover, and then read it again while taking notes! Look for a mentor at your local club, range, or purveyor of supplies! Another more technical book, is Handloading for Competition by Glen Zediker.

There are several great reloading manuals of the real kind not the freebee ones! Freebee manuals are good for cross referencing data, at times. For meaty manuals a person can not go wrong with the Lyman48th, Hornady, and Sierra. One must always look up loads when you compare/cross-reference data. Especially in larger calibers as some data might be using different brass from yours. Case in point before the Hodgdon website upgrade they Hodgdon used WW brass to work up loads with, whereas Sierra used Fed cases in their 308 Winchester loading information. Now, Hodgdon does not list what brass the loads were worked up in.

Press - Single Stage or Turret presses are the best way to learn before advancing to any kind of progressive press. You will always have need for a single stage press. Redding and RCBS are good sources of all kinds of presses. RCBS Rockchucker Supreme for a single stage and Redding T7 for a turret press are basically the gold standard for the two different types.

Dies - I like Redding Dies, and I would get the carbide expander ball upgrade for bottle neck rifle cases. Dillon makes carbide rifle sizer dies, but you still need to use case lube and make sure you lube the inside of the case neck, too. I would just stick with regular dies for rifle cartridges. Dillon makes die sets specifically for their press so to speak, meaning that it does not come with a case mouth belling die; Redding makes a set of dies for progressive presses, too. I like Forster competition seaters, and they can be had as an individual item. Dies are pretty much threaded universally, except for Lyman 310 dies, and Dillon dies for the Square Deal B. Accuracy nuts will use hand dies, and they require an arbor press be used.

Shell holders (if the die set doesn't have them like Lee) or the appropriate shell plate for the progressive press. Remember that many shell holders work for more then one cartridge. I would do some home work, especially if you get a Dillon. Some cartridge conversions might only require you to get powder funnel for the new cartridge.

A tumbler will be a good investment, as clean cases will not harm you dies. There are vibratory and rotary tumblers out there. I like corn cob media treated with some Iosso case polish. You can get walnut in bulk at Petco or Pet Smart. Bulk corn cob grit is a great way to reduce the cost of commercially supplied media, because you pay through the nose for the treated media from other vendors.

MTM makes great loading block tray that handles most cartridges.

Case Lube is great for both conventional dies, and to treat your brass used in a progressive press even with carbide dies. That extra lubricity makes the cycling of the press a tad slicker! Dillon spray lube works well for shake and bake application. I like Imperial Die Wax for rifle cartridges when FL sizing.

Case Neck Brush to clean bottleneck rifle cases

Dial Calipers

Case Trimmer (Lee works, but Possum Hollow is better, Wilson makes the best hand powered Lathe trimmer, and Giraud is the best powered Trimmer)

Deburring/Chamfering Tool

Primer Pocket Cleaner and uniformer

Primer Flip Tray is needed for loading pick up tubes for some primer systems like the Dillon.

Priming Tool (I like the RCBS (now even better with universal shell holder, but Sinclair makes the best)

Powder Scale - remember that is always better to have a mechanical scale as a back up to any electronic scale.

Powder Funnel kit with drop tubes especially if you intend to use powders like Varget.

Powder Trickler (used to tweak powder charges)

Powder Measure (nice for faster powder charges it does require a bit of learning curve to get consistent powder charges sort of rhythm thing) standard with progressive presses, but the RCBS Uniflow is nice! Redding makes a better one, and Harrell is the gold standard!

Hammer Type Bullet Puller (for taking down the boo boo's)

Ammo boxes and labels

A notebook for recording your results! Saves covering the same ground twice!

A chronograph is great when working up loads, but is more a luxury in the beginning.

 

[jeepmor]

I'd hit up my local craigslist.org and find whatever is available. I am of the opinion that any single stage press will work fine. On that note, I own a Rockchucker and am very pleased with it. Also, in all fairness, I don't own anything but RCBS presses, so take that advice with a grain of salt.

I will also recommend any single stage owner to purchase a Hornady Lock and Load bushing kit. It will greatly improve your reloading fun factor, it really did mine.

jeepmor

 

[BigJakeJ1s]

There are generally two schools of thought regarding beginning reloading kits. One is to buy the best you can afford up front, in hopes of not having to replace it. The second thought is to buy a cheaper set so that you can decide whether you like reloading, and give you some experience so you can better decide what pieces of equipment you want to upgrade with what. Both ways are valid.

Lee is the all-time champion of inexpensive reloading kits.

RCBS and Hornady probably have the most complete reloading kits. Redding and Lyman also offer them, but I don't think they include hand priming tools.

The only problem with the upper end kits is that you will likely still upgrade point tools, since no single manufacturer makes the best in class of every individual tool.

For single stage presses, the platinum standard is the Forster Co-Ax, but it is pricey. It has snap-in, snap-out, floating die retention, automatic universal shell holder jaws, and design and build quality unsurpassed in any other press.

Otherwise, I recommend a press that will accept Hornady LNL inserts for quick and easy die changes, and has through-the-ram spent primer disposal to keep those pesky little bits and pieces out of harm's way. Presses that have both features include Lee Classic Cast, and Redding Big Boss II and Ultramag. Neither RCBS nor Hornady presses have the latter feature. Of these, the Redding UltraMag is the finest (and most expensive, as much or more than the Co-Ax), but the Lee Classic Cast is right up there, and at much less cost than the others, including Hornady and RCBS which do not offer its features.

Andy

 

[Zeede]

I should add that I have reloaded thousands of shotshells, so I am new to the metallic side of reloading, but have had a lot of experience on the shotgun side.

I do not anticipate going above 300 rounds a month, so I doubt I will need a progressive for quite some time.

One of the other attractive features for me about the Hornady kit is that it comes with (surprise, surprise) the Hornady Reloading Manual, which is also the only manual I am aware of that has specific M1 Garand load data. And as others have mentioned, it's one of the better reloading manuals to have.

Cameron

P.S. If I will be getting the Hornady manual, do I need the ABC's one also?

 

[Halo]

The ABCs of Reloading goes into greater detail about reloading theory and technique. The reloading manuals cover the necessary aspects of this (some more so than others), but it is usually limited to examples with their own products.

AFAIK, the Rockchucker kit comes with the Speer manual - mine did at least. Regardless of which one you decide on, I heartily suggest you get the Lyman manual in addition. The 49th edition is about to come out, and I will be adding it to my library right away.

 

[ar10]

"The ABC's of Reloading" is the first book I bought. It makes you think about reloading and what-not-to-do. I think it's well worth it.
Being new to reloading I bought the SS Hornady LnL that came with the free die set, I picked the .308. The free 100 bullets they offered wasn't what I was after so I didn't send for any.

Whatever you buy I'd read as many THR posts in the reloading threads as possible. I screwed up a lot before I figured out what I was doing wrong.
I think the biggest challenge is going out to the range and shooting the first one. I had all sorts of crap on, face shield, one of those kevlar vests, gloves, safety glasses, They even gave me one of the empty ranges with a walkie talkie . I didn't need any of it.

 

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

I wouldn't recommend either kit you mention. They're both expensive and the presses, though good ones, are getting long in the tooth design wise compared to such presses as the Lee Classic Cast single stage that has primer disposal, keeping the press clean and free of spent primer debris (an important factor to me)

Were I you, based on the round count you have, here's what I would buy:

Essentials:

Lee Classic Cast Single stage
Lee Deluxe Die sets in the caliber/s you wish to load for
Hornady LnL bushing conversion kit
RCBS, Hornady or Dillon powder scale if you don't have one
RCBS Uniflow powder measure and a bench mount for measure
RCBS powder trickler (or pick your brand)
Lee Safety prime kit large/small (my choice) or Lee Auto Prime with case holder set (excellent choice)
Frankford Arsenal Vibratory Cleaner
finely ground corn cob and walnut shells (lizard bedding) at your local pet store
Nu Finish car polish (additive for the 50/50 corncob/crushedwalnut mix, 1 capful per load of brass)
Akro Bins for holding brass and bullets
One Universal Case holder to hold partially reloaded brass
Dollar store plastic bins with lids to hold bulk brass
Imperial Sizing die wax to lubricate rifle cases

The above will provide you excellent ammo and you'll have to have an extremely accurate rifle, be a top notch shot and shooting at very long ranges to need anything any more expensive.

If you find you want a little more speed after reloading a few, buy this:

Lee Classic Turret (the cast iron and steel one)
Enough turret heads to hold the dies you have
Lee Pro Auto Disk
Auto Disk Riser

This will provide you 200 rounds/hour and allow you to load pistol at a rate that will feed most automatic pistols for the month.

All of the above together will give you excellent results and likely be less than either of the kits you're looking at.

Btw, I've owned a RCBS Rock Chucker, a Dillon 550 and currently own a Hornady LnL along with a Lee Classic Cast single stage and a Lee Classic Turret. I've been lucky enough due to where I live to load on most of the presses out there. If the Lee Classics had been available before I bought the other progressives and single stages, I would never have needed any of the other presses I bought. The Lees would have done it all, even when I was shooting IDPA and High Power.

Regards,

Dave

 

[Zeede]

What is the Lee Challenger press? There's no mention of a "Classic Cast" single stage on their website.

Cameron

 

[mkl]

This is the Lee "Classic Cast:" http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=317831&t=11082005

I had used an RCBS Jr. for 40 years but got tired of the pressure it took on the handle to reload the larger cases (30-06 and up). So, about two months ago I did the research and decided to try the Lee Classic Cast since it was about half the price of the RCBS or Redding and looked to have the same high leverage link construction.

I was very pleasantly suprised. First of all the "Cast in USA" suprised me; the quality of the cast was excellent. Second, the linkage and ram movement was quite smooth and precise; no "play" whatsoever. Third, the primer disposal was really nice; my RCBS has spit primers on the floor for 40 years.

The only disadvantage I see is the lack of a priming arm so you can prime like my RCBS does. I think that would be impossible given the ram design and is common on many other presses. So now I size on the Lee and prime on the RCBS. Lee does make a priming system that fits the Classic Cast and many hand priming tools are available.

There are many good presses out there, but the Lee does do the job quite well for about half the price, and the quality was a suprise to me.

 

[scrat]

for sure i would go with the classic cast. much better press.

 

[Ridgerunner665]

I prefer RCBS...but they are all good.

 

[ar10]

I prefer a Dillon 550 but like a lot of people I have a lot more time than money I still love 'em though.

 

[Sunray]

Been using a single stage Redding press for everything, match grade ammo included, for eons. Takes technique to get quick with it, but they'll do the same thing with less chance of 'mispriming' as a progressive.
RCBS' warrantee is better than Lee's. Have any problems and they'll fix it, even if you caused it or bought the kit used. No questions other than your mailing address.
"...The 49th edition is about to come out..." Released in June. Haven't seen it myself, up here, yet. Haven't looked either though.
The Lyman book is far more versatile than any bullet maker's book. It has more loads with more bullet weights from every bullet maker instead of just the bullet maker's products. Not that bullet maker's books are bad.

 

[Zeede]

The Lee Classic Turret press seems nice. I don't like the idea of getting interrupted in the middle of a batch of reloading, and with a turret I'd be working one bullet to completion, one at a time, correct?

Cameron

 

[Halo]

"...The 49th edition is about to come out..." Released in June. Haven't seen it myself, up here, yet. Haven't looked either though.

Yes it was supposed to be out, but according to Lyman they have not yet received it from the printer.

 

[Marlin 45 carbine]

whatever you get consider buying a second, cheaper one to set up in tandem and get spare shell holders. it can really speed up handloading. since you load for a Garand you might consider a Lee factory crimp die.

 

[DEDON45]

I have a Hornady Classic single-stage press... I like it... the other brands are good too, I just was so happy with my Hornady progressive I figured I wouldn't mind having a single stage with their name on it. It's well made, includes the Lock n' load bushing system, and is pretty smooth. I do have a box of 100 bullets coming to me as well (part of the LnL Rebate)... so the press is more like 100.00 . I think the kit (that comes with everything you need to start out with, except maybe a case trimmer if you're doing rifle, and dies) is a pretty good deal, and you get 500 bullets back as part of the rebate. I just bought the press alone as I had everything else already, just wanted a press to do grunt work and small batches of rifle.

FWIW, I started loading on a Lee Challenger press (well, before that it was the infamous Lee Loader), and the only thing I can remember really bad about the press was the aluminum, two piece toggle attached to the ram failed (cracked, looked like bad casting) several times in the 3 years or so I used it. The other thing I didn't like about that Challenger (don't know if they've changed this on the design yet, this was 15 years ago) was that the priming had to be done on up the upstroke with this gadget that fit in the die hole... maybe it was called "ram-prime" ... anyhow, it's not the easiest way to deal with priming. The Lyman and RCBS presses have my respect, though... The lyman turret press is pretty good, too, a friend of mine uses one his Dad bought in the early 70's (I'm guessing here). Redding stuff is nice as well.