dlm1188

Hey Guys and Gals,



I'm going to start reloading soon this being the case I've bought and read two reloading manuals and read as much as I have time for online. With that I have some issues I can't seem to reconcile on my own and hope some of you can assist me with them.



Firstly, carbide dies... I know that if I use a carbide resizing die for pistol cases, I will not need to use lubricant. I have found that Lee makes well priced carbide dies for rifle cases as well, but they do not specifically say that the carbide resizing die for a rifle case does not need lubricant. I don't want to assume that I can forgo lubricant and end up with a case stuck in the die on the first resizing. Do any of you know if carbide rifle dies require lubrication?



Secondly, from what I've read the basic process of reloading almost makes a progressive press seem not that progressive and more of a hassle for the money. Let me explain why I say that.



From what I understand, the basic process of reloading (an already spent brass case) is as follows... tumble or sonic clean brass, lubricate brass, re-size and de-prime, clean primer pocket, check and trim case length, debur case mouth, clean out the case to remove any metal caught during case trimming, chamfer case mouth, re-prime, open case mouth and charge, check charge, insert and seat bullet, crimp if necessary.



So with those steps, you first place a case into the press to resize and de-prime, but afterwards you remove it to trim it and remove lubricant. Then the case can go back into the press, then it gets and new primer and a charge of powder, then it is removed in order to check the powder to make sure it contains the correct load. Then it goes back into the press and the other functions are performed, thus creating a newly completed cartridge.



Since the case is being removed twice already it seems that the progressive press is losing quite a bit of the speed it advertises because progressive presses lock the shell in place throughout reloading, so it's not always quick to remove a case and place it back in the press.



I have watched many videos online of guys reloading and all they do is put new brass in the progressive press and run through all the cycles without trimming after resizing, without removing lubricant and without checking the powder. I know some guys that will only check powder every 10 or 20 rounds once they are comfortable with their equipment and so I am curious, for all the reloaders on here, what do you actually do from start to finish and do you think a progressive press is really worth it?



I know some steps probably don't need to be done every time or can be avoided once an experienced eye is gained, but I simply don't know these things yet and would like to buy the press that is going to last me my lifetime hopefully and not need to be upgraded because I chose to buy an unbearably slow press to begin with. I'd rather pay more upfront and spend more time learning how to use the press than to purchase different equipment later on because a single stage press is easier to start with, but unsatisfactory in the long run.



I'm liking the looks of the "turret" style press from Hornady since it has a single stage style press and a removable and rotational head plate, so I can adjust and lock in my dies to the head plate and just turn the entire head plate when I want to perform another function, then buy extra head plate for each different caliber I own and keep my dies stored in their dialed in positions.



And lastly, powder throwers, how accurate are they? Both of my manuals recommend measuring each individual charge by hand and using a small funnel to charge the brass. This seems unnecessary, but I've read about some powder throwers that are only accurate within 5 grains or so... this being the case, it seems like reloading with a powder thrower will produce widely varied results with ammunition. + or - 5 grains of powder seems pretty significant. So I'm curious if there are very reliable throwers out there that will work for everything from a 9mm to a 338 Lapua Mag?



Any and all advice would be much appreciated. I hope I explained myself well enough, if it's confusing let me know and I'll try and clear it up. Thanks for all the help as always!

MT357Mag

I was thinking about reloading again, It's been at least 20 years ago, I sometimes wonder if it's worth it concidering everything in the world is sky hi & not as cheap as they use to be & I'm thinking it's going to cost about $500.00 to get started, Thats what i'm thinking... I was never a pro at reloading but I use to reload 9mm, 38 & 357 cal, It's been a while & if I remember correctly I had a Lee progressive 1000



At first I only took a few cartridges off of the press to weigh the power charge, They will give You a Min & Max charge weight, The most important thing is to don't double charge it, I don't think You can anyways but if You stick with the same gun powder You will get use to what it looks like in the cartridge, Like I said it's been 20 + years, On my Lee when You do one stroke with the handle it will do two functions,

(I'm not sure I have this right its been a very long time) on that one stroke it will punch out the primer & resize the case Then next stoke it will install primer, next stroke it will load charge, next stroke you line up your bullet, next stroke it seats & crimps Your bullet, I hope I got that right.. Keep in mind. While Your pulling the handle the press is rotating doing numerous jobs to the other cartridges.. You have to keep a good eye on things & make sure everything is going smoothly.. One mess up it screws everything up & you will have a mess.



Example, My press was working good for a few Years then one time one of the primers got stuck & didn't feed, So I had powder all over the place & it kind of screwed up everything because I didn't notice in time It was like my whole assembly line was all screwed up, You have to stop.. Fix the problem & clean up the mess before continuing & if it messed up one cartridge it most likley messed up a few more...A few years later My z-bar got bent the whole press got out of time & kept screwing up so I sold it, You also have to make time to reload, I always used new brass or brass that was only used a few times if I had to trim them I did that before I put them on the press... Those auto loaders were pretty accurate & if You change powders You may have to readjust your settings





If I was going to reload again I think I would start with a single stage reloader, You can spend a few hours trimming them & installing the primers & maybe the next day reload them.

Just My experience but that was years ago..

dlm1188

Thank you for the input and advice! If you're interested Lee has a deal right now where you get a lee reloading manual and a cast iron single stage press for about $49 including shipping. That's what I did and plan on using the single stage for priming or maybe for a powder thrower, not sure yet.



You said you trimmed the case before resizing... wouldn't resizing change the overall length of the case? Maybe it's such a small change it's negligible, but I assumed the manual had trimming done after resizing for that issue.

MT357Mag

Most of my cases were new it was more or less like a deburring tool, Another thing, sometimes when I was reloading the primers would flip upside down or get stuck on the ramp & next thing you know you have 5 loads without primers, there was alot to pay attention to & you can't see everything thats going on & when using that machine I noticed I had everything out, bullets, primers, scales,powder,casings, My work area was a mess, What I would do now is get a single stage & maybe one day get about 500 - 1000 cases inspect them remove & install the primers & the next day or so load them up & crimp them, Your work space would be a lot cleaner & you wouldn't have a big mess in Your way all the time,



Another thing I did is I didn't have a whole lot of money back then but I had a 380 pistol, 9mm, 38 special, 357 mag & a 45 I really wanted to reload 45 cal ammo because I liked shooting that gun the best, But what I did since money was tight I purchased the 38 cal die that Way I can produce both 38 special & 357 ammo, a few weeks later I got the 9mm die & I was producing 380 cal & 9mm ammo it made more sense to Me getting Two different types of ammo using one die, If I would have bought the 45 cal Die I could only do 45 ammo..



RCBS always had nice stuf..



Good Luck & let Me know how it goes, I'm thinking $350.00 - $500.00

matthew86

carbide dies for rifle- personally i have no direct experience with them as i inherited my rifle dies, none of which are carbide. i got a mica kit from midway and use the dry lube on my necks. no mess and to date no lube related problems. i have friends that use the carbide dies for rifle with no lube.



progressive or single stage- this depends on what you are loading for and how much you plan to shoot. i will only use my single stage to load my hunting rifle ammo as i am extremely picky about being precise with it and IMO progressive doesnt afford me the same tolerance level. however my rifle ammo consumption per year is exponentially less than my pistol ammo. also pistol ammo doesnt require the same exactness IMO. progressive reloading can net you 1000 rounds in a couple of hours where the same time on a single stage would be more like 200. of course provided the case prep was taken care of properly beforehand. you have to watch your case lengths with the progressive loader and pistol ammo as it can cause a lot of feed reliability issues when you crimp. there are tools that allow you to crimp as a separate step and remedy this issue. progressive loaders are more expensive and are usually set up for one caliber when you order it. you can change the caliber but it is more involved than the single stage. the dillon xl650 (awesome) is going to put you in the $500 range pretty quick. now if you happen to have a .357 SIG and wish to reload for it....be patient and best of luck to you. it is possible.



conclusion- i need both. lol. seriously. i reload for my .30-06 and several of my friends rifles ranging from .243-.300 mag. given my ocd when it comes to loading accurate rifle ammo i prefer the single stage and doing everything by hand. however when it comes to loading 1k .45 rounds for a range day...there is no question i turn to the progressive loader. i dont know how much you shoot or how much spare time you have. this is based on my experience, yours may vary. hopefully it helps.

Fishslayer

Turret presses are a good compromise between the speed of a progressive & simplicity of single stage. I happen to have the Lee Classic Turret & like it a lot. You can buy spare turrets for $10-ish apiece so changing calibers takes about 30 seconds. Mine can be operated as a single stage if I like.

You can buy a kit with everything but dies, caliper & bullet puller for around $200.

The other manufacturers also make turret presses.

I have the Lee carbide pistol dies. I've found that Hornady One Shot dry lube makes life MUCH easier even with pistol rounds.

Pepprdog

With a progress or turret everything but crimping is fine if the cases aren't trimmed to the same length.
I have a Dillon 550b but started with a Lee Anniversary set. It's a great way to start because you learn all the nuances to reloading. I still us it for crimping untrimmed case lots and the whole cycle for my 300WSM.
I wouldn't ever go back to using nothing but the Lee or any other single stage press. Takes WAY too much time for the kind of shooting I do.
Don't buy dies because of price, get the best dies you can(not necessarily the most expensive). Carbide for straight walled cases is, to me, necessary because of time and lack of trouble. For a specific bolt gun , case length and neck sizing are about all that's necessary to prep the case.
Anyone that can do 200 rounds an hour with a single press is, in my mind, a hero. No matter how fast I go, that's way out of my capabilities, maybe because I'M anal about the powder charge and making sure the dies are set right between changes. I can do near 1,000 rounds with my Dillon.

Smith3466

I have a Dillon 550b that I load all of my handgun ammo on. I can load around 500 an hour and still make sure Im not rushing to make mistakes.

I do not trim my pistol brass or clean primer pockets. It goes right from the tumbler into the press and comes out a loaded cartridge.

As for my rifles (I don't shoot them much) I use only my single stage. I reload for them enough to shoot some before hunting season, then enough to get me through hunting season. The takes time with deprimimg, trimming, chamfering, deburring so on and so on.

As for my powder throws. I have on of the table mounted RCBS ones that I use for Rifle. I use stick powder in my rifles, and it does not meter well. I set it to drop about half a grain short then throw it on the scale and trickle the rest in to hit my weight.

As for the 550's powder throw, I have loaded thousands of pistol rounds out of each of them. They are very very accurate with ball powder. I have never had to adjust them after they were set. At the beginning of each session I check 10 or so of the throws to make sure then go from there.