I’ve had the idea to get a medium or higher end progressive reloading setup and I’m wondering if it’s worth the added effort and money. I’m not new to reloading (albeit it’s been a while) and in fact I have spent days, weeks, and probably months of my life massaging brass to near perfection, fire forming and indexing cases/neck sizing/etc, bedding actions, floating barrels, and all the rest that goes with the goal of all shots touching at 100 yds.
I’m not searching for the holy grail anymore and in fact any combination that holds about a minute or even a minute and a half is probably better than me these days. But I have experienced some very unsatisfactory performance / consistency from local reloads (rifle and pistol) purchased just for ‘something to shoot’ and it is cheap.
The bottom line is I’m just wondering if an ‘automated’ setup is worth it or if I should just dust off the old single stage press and do everything in batches like I used to.
The voice of all experience is welcome please.
It depends on what you are after. I started off on a Lee Turret Press that I took the “auto” parts out of and did my ammo in batches much like I imagine you do. I still use it today for all my pistol ammo and some rattle battle rifle using the Lee Powder Disk set up which works well for pistol powders and small case rifle.
For any serious rifle endeavors I have a Redding Big Boss. I still do my ammo in stages but the precision stuff gets more stages. The biggest issue is powder charging and consistency, most rifle power doesn’t meter worth a dog and if you are going progressive you will see the variances that you noted.
The other issue with progressives IMHO is the cost and PITA of changing calibers and keeping all those moving parts moving in the same direction. I have a Dillon 650XL and it sits in the corner on the floor, the turret press and Redding are mounted to the benches. I know lots of guys that swear by progressives and in general they also swear at them on occasion.
Cheers,
Craig6
I think you hit on my biggest concern, powder consistency. My experience is that ball/flake isn’t bad, even with something that ‘throws’ a charge but any thing extruded is a PIA, sometimes even with a screw trickle feeder.
I used throw a charge that was close and then trickle the final touch. You get to the point that after you put it on the scale you know just how many additional flakes or kernels will be needed to ‘get it right’
I did reloading on a single stage with my brother. I did the batches like
you are talking about and it worked out fine. I got to the point that I wanted
to turn out ammo faster, I got a Hornady 5 stage press. I have enjoyed that
for several years, as far as the powder goes I got a powder cop and put it in
as one of the stages and it lets me know how much powder I just threw. It’s
not perfect by any means, it does let me know if the powder is near what I
want and that I didn’t throw a double load. Just my 2 cents. Mike_T
I use a couple Lee progressive presses for hand guns (one set up for small primer and one set up for large).
First I weigh my power charge on the first one each time I sit down at the press. Next I check it again about every 10 rounds. I also weight each finished round before it is put in the “good to shoot” box.
I should also note the way I am set up I can see the power in each case before I press the bullet in place. If it looks off (I cant explain this it just doesn’t look right) I check it.
I have pulled a few back apart because something didn’t feel right.
My father only had one “pop not kick” in all the years of reloading that I am aware of. It was in his own gun while out shooting with friends. They were all shooting his 38 special reloads when it happened. Once it did he stopped all shooting with his reloads and when we got back home he checked every round the had reloaded in that batch.
You can never be overly cautious when it comes to things that go bang/boom.
Don
I hear you and that was my main problem with progressives so I gave up on them. I went so far as to get the Lyman automated powder thrower (DP 1200 I think) and I could never get it consistent to my standards with Varget or RE22/25 so I let it throw the charge to just under close and I would screw trickle in the last few grains. On the bigger cases I would cheat and throw a “scoop” of powder in to speed things up. On the disk thrower, I got very consistent results from W231, HP38, W748 & BLC2, but you have to keep the hopper at least half full to maintain it. I use it in “semi-auto” mode where I am turning the turret back and forth while powdering and booleting.
Cheers,
Craig6
I have the Hornady lock n load progressive. The only time I use it as a single stage is on brass that has been fired maybe 3 times. Then I single out the primer, clean the primer pocket, Sonic them and shake polish them.
Been using a Dillon 650 for more than 20-years.
I would not be reloading without a progressive reloading setup.
Started out loading 45 ACP with the 650. Use to shoot enough 45 ACP that I saved enough money in less than 3-years to pay for the Dillon 650. Purchasing large quantities of reloading supplies, I can typically reload for 1/3 the cost of purchased ammo.