Press suggestions for new reloader

[Guest Lester Weevils]

I'm slow as cold molasses running the SDB, and would probably be equally slow on the 1050. I wouldn't mind if it would all instantly do itself without my intervention, but it isn't a race and I like to keep a close eye on what is happening.

[Luke E.]

Except that a turret has more slop. You know I like the Lee Turret. But, I have two single stage presses too. My turret will never see any Grendel ammo.

 

 I would tend to agree with Mike, OP. I have yet to lay my hands on a turret press that didn't have some slop in it, it's just the nature of the beast seeing as how you have a round plate with a rod through the middle and the dies along the outer edge. If a turret press has an honest ZERO slop in it then most likely it is so tight that you can't spin it which at that point it is debatable as to whether or not it is a turret press. I have a Lyman turret press and really like it and it does have somewhat of a safeguard built into it that addresses the slop. there is a threaded hole on the top side of the back of the frame and it has a rod that is threaded on one end and a smooth rounded surface on the other end. if you are loading ammo that you need the slop to not be there you just thread the rod up out of the frame until it supports the back side of the turret which effectively gets rid of all movement created by running a case up into the die. One day when I have some free time and nothing better to do I am going to drill and tap another hole up towards the front side of the frame and install another support which would give me a way to remove all movement and also allow me to true the turret and die to the shell holder. I've got a Dillon as well as the Lyman turret but I am most likely still going to buy a single stage to load the ammo for the rifle I am building now. 

 If you aren't loading long range precision ammo then going with the turret or even a progressive will serve you quite well but if you do or intend to load long range precision ammo then buying a single will not be a waste because as i'm sure others have mentioned, you will still want to use the trusty ol' single stage for that even if you have a shiny new Dillon 1050 sitting right next to it.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

I don't know about that slop. If it is properly adjusted to hit each station, and I have run mine way out of adjustment, it hits right on the mark

without fail. You are just doing things a bit differently between the two types of presses. I will admit I have to adjust mine, occasionally, to

get it to cycle when changing from straight wall to necked cases. I don't know why, but I do. If you run the Hornady out of adjustments, you

get problems with the first and second station, but if it is in adjustment, it runs just fine. I've cranked out a couple thousand 5.56's and only

had to restock. Reliable enough for me.

[Luke E.]

I don't know about that slop. If it is properly adjusted to hit each station, and I have run mine way out of adjustment, it hits right on the mark

without fail. You are just doing things a bit differently between the two types of presses. I will admit I have to adjust mine, occasionally, to

get it to cycle when changing from straight wall to necked cases. I don't know why, but I do. If you run the Hornady out of adjustments, you

get problems with the first and second station, but if it is in adjustment, it runs just fine. I've cranked out a couple thousand 5.56's and only

had to restock. Reliable enough for me.

 

 The slop i'm talking about is the turret flexing upward under the pressure of the case being pushed up into it. It's actually more flex than it is slop but it does seem to cause some inconsistencies because a a case being raised into the die with a bullet sitting perfectly on top of it will tend to flex the head less than a case with a bullet that is somewhat misaligned. This ends up turning out ammo with somewhat different OAL since the ones where the turret didn't flex much end up being seated a bit deeper than the ones that the turret did flex more on. I apologize if I have misunderstood what you are saying.  

[mikegideon]

 The slop i'm talking about is the turret flexing upward under the pressure of the case being pushed up into it. It's actually more flex than it is slop but it does seem to cause some inconsistencies because a a case being raised into the die with a bullet sitting perfectly on top of it will tend to flex the head less than a case with a bullet that is somewhat misaligned. This ends up turning out ammo with somewhat different OAL since the ones where the turret didn't flex much end up being seated a bit deeper than the ones that the turret did flex more on. I apologize if I have misunderstood what you are saying.  

 

I haven't found any inconsistencies. There are loose tolerances that cause the slop, but there's a hard stop too.

[Luke E.]

I haven't found any inconsistencies. There are loose tolerances that cause the slop, but there's a hard stop too.

 

 I have had some bullets that slid into the case enough smoother that they didn't reach the same "hard stop"ping point. Once I found the threaded rod under the backside of the turret it allowed me to make sure that they all hit the same hard stop and that ended the inconsistencies. 

[tnhawk]

I bought a RCBS press in 1978 and still use it today.  I like my Dillon but the RCBS will always have a place on my bench.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

 The slop i'm talking about is the turret flexing upward under the pressure of the case being pushed up into it. It's actually more flex than it is slop but it does seem to cause some inconsistencies because a a case being raised into the die with a bullet sitting perfectly on top of it will tend to flex the head less than a case with a bullet that is somewhat misaligned. This ends up turning out ammo with somewhat different OAL since the ones where the turret didn't flex much end up being seated a bit deeper than the ones that the turret did flex more on. I apologize if I have misunderstood what you are saying.  

Well, that does make sense in some presses. But, sitting here looking at my Hornady LnL progressive, the only place where there could be

any flex is on the shell plate. The ram and the die stations are rigid. To be fair about it with my press, it would be slop caused by it being out

of adjustment causing the plate to not completely align with the die parts above, which is still a problem. I haven't paid attention to the scheme

used by anyone other than Dillon or Hornady, so what you're saying makes sense for another design.

[Guest SavageOne]

While the rockchucker is awesome, buying one now and another later is not good use of money.  A lee classic turret is a single stage press if you take the turret off, pull the rod out, and put the turret back in with no rotation rod.   You can use it just like the single stage, and when you are ready, you can put the rod back in for turret action.   While a single stage is fairly cheap, its still redundant if you buy a turret later.    Just a thought? 

 

Exactly my recommendation!  My LCTP is mounted beside my 650. I use it for everything I'd use a single stage for except for primer pocket swagging. I still have a couple of RCBS single stages, but the turret keeps them under the bench. It is also capable of producing a couple hundred rounds of quality ammo per hour. Good way to start with a system that you won't soon outgrow for about the same price as a single stage.

[jaysouth]

Does the Dillon 650 or 1050 load rifle length cartridges?  I know plenty of pistol shooters that use the 650.  I have single stage presses for bullet sizing, full length bottleneck cartridge resizing and loading most rifle calibers.  I have 2 dillon 550s sitting side by side.  One is dedicated to large primer and the other to small primers.  I load everything from .380 to .308 on the Dillons and get ammo that is more accurate than I can shoot it.  The Rockchucker is basically the only press that I go to now, however I have a Lee dedicated for resizing cast bullets.  There is a Herter and an RCBC Jr. somewhere in the clutter of my shop.

 

As it turns out, the only way I can keep the dillons running  is to use the functioning press to compare to the broken press to diagnose problems.  Otherwise, I would be on the phone to Dillon a lot.

 

Regarding the 1050, it is a $2,000 proposition and so popular with commercial reloaders that Dillon does not offer the same bulletproof warranty on it that it does for it's other presses and gear.

[Luke E.]

Does the Dillon 650 or 1050 load rifle length cartridges? 

 

 Yes, The 650 should load anything south of 50bmg as far as I know. I'm pretty sure I remember reading that the 1050 is a bit more limited in the cartridge length dept. but it should still be good to load most popular cartridges. I have a 650 and I know it claims to be capable of 338 Lapua but the only rifle I have run through mine yet is .223 so I have no 1st hand experience with any others. I didn't realize that they didn't offer the same "no BS" warranty on the 1050 like they do on everything else. I can see having a "commercial use" clause in there but I would think that an individual looking at a 1050 might be cared off by that.

 

 What kind of problems are you having with your 550's? I've logged a great many hours on one and never had an issue that wasn't quite simple to cure.

[jaysouth]

Simple cures are often hard for simple folks.  The only problems I have had usually involved allignment or adjustments slipping over time.  Bearing wittness to that is my large primer machine.  I bought it used for $30.  It was barely recognizable and missing most moving parts.  I sent it back and got a new machine back in 4 weeks.  According to the invoice, they put over $300 worth of parts and billed me "No Charge".  I wish they would start making guns and autos with this level of warranty service.

 

Most of their gear has their lifetime no BS guarantee except for the 1050, which is one year.

Edited January 13, 2014 by jaysouth

[Luke E.]

Simple cures are often hard for simple folks.  The only problems I have had usually involved allignment or adjustments slipping over time.  Bearing wittness to that is my large primer machine.  I bought it used for $30.  It was barely recognizable and missing most moving parts.  I sent it back and got a new machine back in 4 weeks.  According to the invoice, they put over $300 worth of parts and billed me "No Charge".  I wish they would start making guns and autos with this level of warranty service.

 

Most of their gear has their lifetime no BS guarantee except for the 1050, which is one year.

 

 Haha I know what you mean about the simple cure's thing.. 

 

 They really stood behind it on the one you sent back.. That by itself is enough to earn a lot of loyalty. It's a shame they venture away from that on the 1050 though but i'm sure it's for good reason. I've watched a lot of YouTube videos of guys trying to prove to the world that they can snatch the handle of their 1050 faster than the next guy and i'd bet that's the kind of thing that they are shielding themselves from. I know a lot of different commercial equipment doesn't carry the same warranty as their private counterpart such as lawn mowers but that would play a big role in my decision to purchase a 1050 or not. I just got a 650 and it spits out loaded rounds plenty quick for my needs and adding new caliber on it are plenty expensive. You could buy a new 550 for about the same money as buying everything needed to load 2 calibers on a 1050 so it's a bit rich for my blood.

[Guest SavageOne]

As was stated in a previous post, the 650 will load rifle cartridges smaller than the 50 BMG. The same is true for the Hornady.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

The Hornady stutters a bit on 30-06. That could just be me, but it's the bullet feeding(manual) that slows me down on it. It should more likely

be done on a good single stage press, anyway. Just from the views around here, I doubt anyone would want to load .338 Lapua on a progressive

press because of accuracy issues. But that would apply to any caliber, I guess.

[Luke E.]

 Just from the views around here, I doubt anyone would want to load .338 Lapua on a progressive

press because of accuracy issues. But that would apply to any caliber, I guess.

 

 I'd say you're correct.. Anyone shooting a high enough volume of .338 Lapua to need to use a progressive press probably won't make it to long before their shoulder needs replacing! In all seriousness though, I have the Dillon small rifle casefeed plate for my 650 and I doubt that i'll get the large rifle plate unless I were to pick up an AR10 because everything I have in the large rifle category is stuff that I prefer to single stage for accuracy reasons. I just can't imagine that mine will ever see anything over .308 and likely won't ever see that.

[mikegideon]

The Hornady stutters a bit on 30-06. That could just be me, but it's the bullet feeding(manual) that slows me down on it. It should more likely

be done on a good single stage press, anyway. Just from the views around here, I doubt anyone would want to load .338 Lapua on a progressive

press because of accuracy issues. But that would apply to any caliber, I guess.

 

My general rule of thumb... if ANY of the components are made by Lapua, it gets loaded single stage.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

I doubt I'll ever have a .338 anything so it's no problem to me. I do load up to .308 on mine. The 30-06 was a one time run and won't

get near the LnL again. I'm happy with everything else, though. I just can't see doing 5.56 on a single stage. If I shot for that much

accuracy, I would need to see some doc who can re-grow nerves in my arm. Just ain't happening. I can get close enough with my

fast loaded 5.56 from the LnL. Besides, it is so much quicker with the pistol bullets.

[mikegideon]

I do my 5.56 blaster ammo, and 300 Blackout on the turret. The Grendel stuff will all be loaded single stage. It's Lapua bullets and brass.

[Guest SavageOne]

Good point on large rifle loading on the progressive. 5.56 is the only rifle I've loaded on my 650. Doubt I'll ever own a Lapua anything, if I did doubt I'd need the volume of a progressive press. My rifle ammo these days is limited to 5.56 and 7.62x39. I have loaded some larger rifle ammo on the turret though, .458 WM and 7mm Rem with no problems.

[mikegideon]

Good point on large rifle loading on the progressive. 5.56 is the only rifle I've loaded on my 650. Doubt I'll ever own a Lapua anything, if I did doubt I'd need the volume of a progressive press. My rifle ammo these days is limited to 5.56 and 7.62x39. I have loaded some larger rifle ammo on the turret though, .458 WM and 7mm Rem with no problems.

 

I just shoot those 50 cent bullets slower than a sackful of SS109's. Might as well reload them slower too :)

[jaysouth]

Back in the good old days before 9-11, I used to shoot at Quantico on the USMC ranges.  At the time they were loading/reloading the 7.62 ammo issued with each sniper rifle.  In the reloading room were several blue progressive reloaders cranking out ammo that went in the case with each sniper rifle.  This was in the day when I was not conversant with Dillon models.  I suspect they were SDBs or 550s.  a 650 or above probably has too many moving parts for the average Marine.  We were not allowed in the room and were watching through glass doors.  I have no idea what the components were.

 

However, in another building, a member of the post pistol club was making .45 reloads.  They were reloading 4 grs. VV310 under a Hornady XTP bullet.  185 gr. if I remember correctly.

 

Good enough for the US Marines...............................................

[Guest SavageOne]

Likely 550s, Jay.  SDBs can't load rifle ammo. I wouldn't have a problem loading 7.62x51 on my 650, plenty of leverage for that. Good enough for the corps, good enough for me.

[Guest RickB]

I am in the same boat as the IP, as I am looking into getting into reloading for the first time.

Before stumbling into this thread, I had done a lot of research, and for the money I had come to the conclusion that the four hole Lee Precision Classic Turret was the best buy for a person just starting out.

 

My intention is to do reloads for .45ACPs, 9M, and 40's (all pistol).

 

I would like to start out with a used press, but they are all but impossible to find, so here's my shopping list, and I would appreciate your thoughts.

  > Lee Precision Classic four hole Turret Press kit...........$229

     INCLUDES:

       > Four Hole Turret Press

       > Pro Auto Disk Powder measure system

       > Large and Small safety prime

       > Cutter & lock stud

       > Chamfer tool

       > Small & Large premier pocket cleaner

       > tube of case sizing lube

      > safety Powder scale

      > Copy of Modern Reloading (2nd edition)

  > Lee Deluxe Carbide Pistol Four Die Set.......................$47 each

  > Lee Replacement Turret (for different calibers) ...........$12

  > Lee Auto Disk Riser .....................................................$9

 

    TOTAL ...........................................................................$300

 

Add brass, primers, powder, bullets and a tumbler and I should be ready to go.

 

What are your thoughts??????

 

BTW, my intention is to target shoot; not competition.

 

 

Rick

[Guest 6.8 AR]

You won't stop at $300. If you are going for pistol only, a LnL will fly putting them out, so will the Dillons. Just a bit more than $300.