Buying right the first time: need some advice
- Thread starter Canadian_Sapper
- Start date
That is my experience as well, though some rifle shooters can be pretty anal when it comes to case preparation. The only thing I have found is somtimes it helps for primer seating with cases that have been reloaded several times.
Take Care
Bob
Take Care
Bob
I have never cleaned a primer pocket on a pistol case.
For dies you might consider the Lee set. Why? because it has a powder through expander die. Expands case mouth and you can dump the powder in at the same time and will save a step on a single stage setup.
Only Lee and Dillon dies have this feature. Lee has the patent and Dillon licenses it from Lee.
You won't be able to tell the difference between pistol ammo produced by the Lee set and the RCBS set.
Also, the Lee Carbide Factory Crimp die is a very useful addition. It taper crimps handgun cartridges and also has a carbide sizer that makes sure the finished round will chamber with no problems.
The Lee disk powder measure works quite well.
If you go for a progressive, read the excellent article by a member here giving detailed pros and cons of each.
http://www.comrace.ca/cmfiles/dillonLeeHornadyComparison.pdf
I really like your approach of learning the basics first on a single stage (or turret) press and this is the approach I have always STRONGLY recommended.
Yes, there are going to be some people here who will say "only buy top of the line Dillon 650 etc...." But in reality there is lots of ammo produced on other brands. The only thing is that something like a Lee loadmaster it that it take MORE fiddling to get it working really well, but once it is tuned and working the differences are much smaller.
I have both high end and "low" end equipment and there are uses for all of it. I use a Lee Loadmaster and Hornady Progressive, several different powder measures, all sorts of dies, plus other equipment.
It is the end results that matter. Take a look what mysticplayer (a member here) uses to load his superbly accurate rifles. A Lee Challenger press and Lee dies, and regularly shoots teeny tiny groups from 200m to a mile. http://www.6mmbr.com/gunweek075.html
Last edited:
- Location
- Southern Ontario
Thanks for all the advice, guys! I definately can't ignore the overwhelming that a lot of you agree I should start right away with a Dillon progressive, which is exactly the opposite of what I had planned and what I thought you would advise 
I'm sitting on the fence here, and I'd still like to hear what others have to say!
I'm sitting on the fence here, and I'd still like to hear what others have to say!
Last edited:
Well, I'm a relatively high volume shooter, and I'm doing fine with my Lee turret press. I know that if I switched to a progressive, I'd probably kick myself for not doing it sooner, but as it stands I have no real reason to complain.
If you can spend half an hour a day at the press, you can easily reload 1000 rounds per month, provided you have a tried and tested recipe you can just pump out rounds with. At first it was pretty slow, since I was working up a bunch of different loads for a few different calibres, but now that I've settled on what works in which firearm, I can really churn'em out!
There's an alternative position for ya!
If you can spend half an hour a day at the press, you can easily reload 1000 rounds per month, provided you have a tried and tested recipe you can just pump out rounds with. At first it was pretty slow, since I was working up a bunch of different loads for a few different calibres, but now that I've settled on what works in which firearm, I can really churn'em out!
There's an alternative position for ya!
Another thing I would recommend is to go straight to the auto-disk pro powder measure. It's a bit more expensive than the basic model but man does it ever reduce the frustration factor of leaks (with flattened ball powders and those really fine grain powders) and powder cutting (with extruded powders).
