If just loading 9mm, Dillon Square Deal. It s by far the most underappreciated press out there. I used to have three - 9, 40, 45 - and cranked out a lot of pistol ammo through them. I have 550s now because I do rifle.
If just loading 9mm, Dillon Square Deal. It s by far the most underappreciated press out there. I used to have three - 9, 40, 45 - and cranked out a lot of pistol ammo through them. I have 550s now because I do rifle.
Lots of great advise above so I will just add my personal experience. I started with a Dillon 650 with a case feeder - this is a fairly sophisticated progressive press. I was loading primarily 40 S&W for IPSC, then added 9mm and 44 magnum for Cowboy Action (yes, I know...). It has been a great press and I have no regrets about starting off with it. Since then I have added a Forstner Coax for rifle reloading and a Lee for case prep, both single stage and good presses but I would not want to load hundreds of rounds on them.
At 400 rounds per month, that is less than one hundred rounds per week. I cannot suggest a progressive press for both a new reloader and that round count. I use a hand press for that quantity, but a turret press would be more the norm.
I also would focus on good measuring equipment (calipers, scale), good lighting, and a dedicated work area. Due to dust and lead, my setups are in the outbuilding. A sturdy bench and lots of storage are needed. I added a dehumidifier as well as a window AC unit for the summer and an oil-filled electric radiator heater in the winter.
For the number of rounds per month that you state, a turret press is perfect for you. You can easily load 800 a month on them once you establish a system. 200-400 is a piece of cake.
I love my Redding T7 but there are more reasonably priced models out there. With most turret presses you can keep a couple of sets of dies in the toolhead all adjusted and ready to go at all times too.
If it's only handgun calibers you intend to reload you can look into a Dillon Square Deal as they are affordable and they auto-index, but they don't do rifle calibers. For reasons others mentioned earlier I always steer a new reloader towards an auto-index progressive if that's the route they choose. It's just too easy to pull the handle twice without indexing and get a double charge while you are learning the process. The more interaction you have with a progressive, the more "oops moments" you end up with. Auto-index helps with that. Once they are dialed in and making ammo and you've got your own individual processes down that largely goes away as long as you are diligent in your consistency. Progressive presses are fine to learn on, but you have to take the time to learn and they are not as good in that respect as a single stage or turret.
Get a good 1/2 dozen manuals. They all have good info.
A good beam scale with check weights is fine, digital isn't required, just nice to have.
A decent set of calipers will have you using them for all sorts of things other than reloading, I don't know how I'd function without them.
These are the main items, as you learn what works for you, you will also learn what other items you want and what things you will want to change up. That happens as you go along. Welcome to the addiction...
I have advised many beginning reloaders how to enter this game with minimum expenditure, have 1st class equipment, and do so without buying items that will be set aside or discarded later. Your first step should be to identify where your bench will be. It does not have to be large. But it must be sturdy and not flex. Lee outdid themselves when they devised the Classic Cast Turret Press. Let's start there. PM me if you care to correspond.
I was you in law school. I went with a Dillon Square Deal B and a their started kit which had: a scale/calipers/primer flip tray/adjustment wrench/a few replacements parts etc.
Later I added a Dillon 550 for .45 cal thinking that I would swap between that and other calibers. I never have.
My first shooting mentor ( DRS-RIP) had a conga line of Dillon SDBs on his bench with the goal of loading 100 per day in a given caliber. As such, he never ran out of ammo. 38-357/9mm/44 spl-44mag/.45 cal/.223 IIRC.
In the end, he sent them all back to the mothership for a lube/oil/adjust, sold them for more than he had in them and bought two Dillion 650s, one for small primer and one for large primer. he also stopped reloading bulk .223.
In normal times, I never found reloading for 9mm worth the time when you could get quality 9mm to the door at 199.99@1000 all day long because it cost me 130ish @1000 to reload (80 per 1000 for plated bullets/30 per thousand for primers and 20 per tounsand for powder/brass 0 as it was range pick up.) I know some people do better because they buy in bulk.
We are not in normal times.
In the end, IMHO, you will not "save" money reloading, you will simply spend more in the end because you will shoot more in the end. It is however, very nice to shoot optimized loads for specific applications i.e. 4.3 of 231 and a 124 plated bullet out of a G34, barely makes IDPA minor, soft shooting, highly accurate, made with pride etc. I am "told" that 3.7 will ding steel if that is all you need to do and is almost like cheating when you run it in a G34 with a recoil spring that had been in a G35 running full power factory loads for awhile.
I have been using a Lee Turret for about 9 years now. I bought a kit very similar to this one: https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1013020237.
My kit came with the Auto-Disk measure, though. The Auto-Disk is very good for pistol, but struggles with bigger charges for rifle. I added an Auto-Drum measure for .223 and 6.5 CM. I also upgraded to a Dillon beam scale. I can churn out 200 rounds of pistol an hour, and .223 is a bit slower. I load my 6.5 rounds in single-stage mode. The $ to versatility ratio is very good. My next press will be a true single stage, since I am getting more interested in precision.
I disagree. You will be miserable, it will suck, I did it, and don't recommend it.Originally Posted by Whirlwind06
Loading 9 mm is easy, if you can't do it you should probably not own a gun. The only squib round I ever loaded was on a single stage because I missed one case in the tray when throwing charges. Bullet stuck in the barrel, luckily it was far enough back in the chamber the next round would not feed. Progressives force you to hit all the operations, prevents double charges, etc. Just follow the rule that once the case leaves the shell holder it starts over, back into the case feeder, or in the shit rounds box.
“Loading 9 mm is easy, if you can't do it you should probably not own a gun.”
Not true and much more importantly, not remotely helpful to the OP.
I've loaded over 10K rds on a Lee Classic single stage press. That's all I have. I shoot about 400 rds a month. I would say that press is good for 100 rds an hour. It does bottleneck cartridges as well as straight wall. If you want more capacity, make your first purchase a turret press that auto indexes. The learning curve will be steeper but the payoff will come eventually.
The nice thing about a single stage press is you learn the ins and outs of loading different cartridge's pretty fast without dealing with press issues. Those are great for new reloaders because each step is a very hands on separate operation. That can become mind numbing once you have the process down but I don't hear a lot of people saying it's a bad idea for a new reloader. It's just very time consuming but once you have the basics down you're probably ready for any number of high end progressive presses. You can also pass that press on to a new reloader who may not have the money to buy one.
I was ready for a progressive press a long time ago but never purchased one. The result is I have two dozen dry boxes full of brass in various stages of prep. That's probably a downside to not having a progressive press.
I seriously need to retool.
In the P-F basket of deplorables.
Reply With Quote
