The Smoothness of Single Stage

[jolly roger]

Believe it or not I have been reloading for 25 years on a Lyman T Mag turret and a Dillon 550. The Lyman finally cracked the center column holding the turret and they wouldn't fix it. I never had a single stage...but just got a Redding Big Boss II for some magnum rifle work...and DANG! I find myself sizing everything in that...SMOOTH as glass. Heck I even size stuff I'll run through the Dillon just for giggles. Call me crazy...

 

[oneounceload]

A good single stage will turn out some of the best ammo you can load as you also tend to focus on each aspect a little more closely

 

[Chuck Perry]

Agreed. I have to admit, it can be sometimes tedious churning out pistol ammo on a single stage, but my loads built on the Rock Chucker are far better than what I turned out on my Dillon.

 

[armoredman]

I started with a single stage, and don't plan on changing.

 

[kingmt]

I still use the SS but I wont stop using the progressive.

 

[Lost Sheep]

It's not the Lyman. It's the age

My friend has a Lyman turret. It is smooth. I suspect the upgrade in smoothness you observed is because you were used to a 25 year old press that had maybe gotten a little decrepit. When you got a new press the sudden difference was dramatic. The aging of your old press was gradual.

The Redding is a fine press, but for churning out a lot of ammo, I use a turret press with auto-indexing, which I recommend at every turn to anyone who doesn't want to go for a progressive.

Good for you on your Redding.

Lost Sheep

 

[rfwobbly]

Believe it or not I have been reloading for 25 years on a Lyman T Mag turret. The Lyman finally cracked the center column holding the turret and they wouldn't fix it.

Only 25 years!

It's a dang shame you can't buy an American made product and get any good service out of it. Why, when I was a boy you could have probably gotten at least 26 years.




Glad you're happy with the American made Redding. May you get good service for 35 years this time around!

 

[Walkalong]

Nothing beats a solid single stage for sizing medium and larger rifle calibers. If I loaded a lot of it,, I would get one. The LNL does pretty wel for my meager quantities.

 

[Tallinar]

I use single stage press when loading for rifle accuracy. For pistol/plinking loads, I'll take progressive press.

 

[codefour]

Big Boss II owner

I started with a 30 y/o Rock Chucker Jr and relaized it was not large enough for .308 and 30-06.

I bought a Redding Big Boss II.. You are right, it is the smoothest single stage. It is smoother than a standard Rock Chucker and all the others. I never tried a Forster though.

I love my Redding. Well worth the money..!

 

[SoulLessGinger]

I size all my calibers on a Redding T7 turret. Very smooth, and solid as a rock.

Then I do the rest on a LnL AP.

 

[JimKirk]

My old Bonanza/Forster CoAx... is slick as owl snot... Was really slick when I got it new back around 1970... made it slicker with all the loads that I made on it! I've had other presses, but they have all now moved on ....all but the Bonanza CoAx!

Jimmy K

 

[ArchAngelCD]

The Forster Co-Ax is pretty darn smooth too.

I'm glad you are so happy with your new press. Having tools that make things easy always improves the time you spend loading...

 

[ranger335v]

My 25 year old RC II's ram was smooth as highway concrete when new but after a thousand or so rounds it became slick as an oiled baby's butt. That doesn't seem to be usual with many of them, including my 45 year old Lyman Spar-T.

 

[morrow]

Most competition shooters reload via progressive. You can make just as good of ammo on a progressive than a single stage. Trying to say that single stages make "more accurate" or "better quality" ammo is just flat-out false.

 

[joed]

I too still use the single stage, but I'll match accurate ammo from my Dillon progressives with anyone that thinks their single stage produces a superior product.

I'm solidly 100% in agreement with morrow.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Most competition shooters reload via progressive. You can make just as good of ammo on a progressive than a single stage. Trying to say that single stages make "more accurate" or "better quality" ammo is just flat-out false.

I just read several of your posts in several threads and it seems you have no give at all. You are right and that's that it seems. If someone feels they get better ammo with one press or another that doesn't make it false. You may not agree but really now, flat-out-false??? You might want to back off a bit and get a feel for this forum. It's a really nice place to hang around.

 

[morrow]

I just read several of your posts in several threads and it seems you have no give at all. You are right and that's that it seems. If someone feels they get better ammo with one press or another that doesn't make it false. You may not agree but really now, flat-out-false??? You might want to back off a bit and get a feel for this forum. It's a really nice place to hang around.

Please stop getting your nose involved with every post that I make. Keep your comments relevant to the topic at hand or the original poster. Thanks.

I didn't bash a single stage at all, I said people that claim they make better or "more accurate" ammo are flat out false. That is true. Stop putting words in my mouth. Jesus christ dude get a life.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Please stop getting your nose involved with every post that I make. Keep your comments relevant to the topic at hand or the original poster. Thanks.

I didn't bash a single stage at all, I said people that claim they make better or "more accurate" ammo are flat out false. That is true. Stop putting words in my mouth. Jesus christ dude get a life.

Exactly...

 

[JimKirk]

Does anybody here have a Dillon with the floating "die head" ...
http://www.whiddengunworks.net/toolhead.html

It is my understanding that it will produce ammo that is very near what the Forster CoAx produces....

Jimmy K

 

[Rollis R. Karvellis]

I, have been developing a 9mm, load using one of my single stage press's, and it has been a nice change of pace. This particular, press is normally used for sizing .308.

 

[GLOOB]

Most competition shooters reload via progressive. You can make just as good of ammo on a progressive than a single stage. Trying to say that single stages make "more accurate" or "better quality" ammo is just flat-out false.

I suppose it doesn't matter what kind of competition shooting we're talking about. Practical pistol versus long range rifle? For the amount of time a bench rest rifle shooter spends prepping his brass, hand priming, and measuring individual charges, I wonder what advantage a progressive press offers, at all. Progressive sizing/decapping, only?

Seems like a lot of rifle reloaders use either a single stage or a turret for their hunting and target ammo. The ones that use a progressive often reserve that for their "blasting" ammo.

 

[ranger335v]

"Trying to say that single stages make "more accurate" or "better quality" ammo is just flat-out false."

That's true, as stated but it's a bit easier to do high quality work on a single stage. And "feelings" about what type or brand of press are just that; "feelings" are not facts.

Most reloaders, especially noobs and near noobs, agonize far too much over "what press - dies - rifle - bullet - cartridge", etc is 'best'. Fact is, it's all good stuff and capabile of producing much better ammo than maybe 98% of their users can assemble. Accuracy comes from the reloader's knowledge and skill, not from getting the right color boxes from a store. Good loaders can make good ammo on most virtually any tools but poor loaders can't make good ammo with anything.

 

[rscalzo]

I bought a RCBS Jr. in the early 70's. sold it when the department took all my time and gave me ammo. Gave away all the gear to a JunioR club at my range. I now use the 550B but I'd love to have it back for some rifle case prep work.

The new RCBS Jr.didn't look half as well built as the ancient ones.

 

[simon_rook]

I started with a Hornady LNL Ap, Stepped down to a RCBS Partner after an unfortunate accident. Now that I know a little more I'm thinking about a Rock Chucker.. maybe someday I'll dust off the Hornady again but I have a lot of learning to do