Newbie Question(s) on presses

Red Herring

Red Herring

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Hi all,

couple of newbie reloader questions.

I want to get into reloading for both rifle and pistol. My question is... and it's a total newbie forehead slapper...but,

Can you reload rifle and pistol on the same press? I am thinking primarily .308 and 9mm.

Secondly,

I am a little torn on presses. Henry has the Lee Turret kits for a good price, and Profit has the Rock Chucker Supreme for a great price. So, single stage or progressive, and again, can I load both pistol as well as rifle on each?

I would likely load 100 rounds at a time and maybe 2000 rounds/year.

Thanks fellers. Very much appreciated!
 
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Red,

I quite enjoy my Lee progressive - the one with 4 holes in the quick change turret. I disabled the 'progressive' feature - as I like to check my work, and I load in small batches of quite different calibers.

My press makes quick work of straight walled pistol cartridges (.45LC, .44Mag, .38/.357) as well as stright walled 38/55 and 45-70. I have also loaded .30-30 and .223. I load black powder and smokeless, and it keeps up with me shooting 1,200 rounds a year (combined). The quick change turrets allow me to leave all of the dies setup so I can swap from 1 caliber to another in literally seconds.

I recall that it was not even $150, so I consider it a good deal, and well supported by the factory and local dealers.


stewbud
 
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Yes (albeit with some very rare exceptions), any standard press will reload both rifle and pistol rounds. All you have to do is swap out the dies (die sets run, say, $50 per set); everything else stays the same.

I personally have been using a Rockchucker for, well... a very long time. No complaints whatever and I'd do it again happily.

On the other hand, some people call Lee stuff cheap cr*p, but I have some Lee gear and am quite happy with that, too.

If you are only doing 100 rounds at a time, a single-stage press will do you just fine. I think single stage is the way to go for any beginner as it allows them to focus on what's going on - which is really important.

BTW - it's only a head-slapper to those too dumb to ask. If I might make a suggestion, there's a very good introduction to reloading called the ABCs of Reloading. Takes you through the principles and although it's been out in any number of editions, even the older ones are fine.

Welcome to the dark side.
 
Thank you fellas. I look forward to venturing down the reloading path, and I'll check out the ABC's of reloading. It was actually the Lee Turret kit I was thinking of... not the progressive.
 
Lee Classic Turret kit sounds like a great start for rifle and pistol loading. I really like mine.
 
Yep you can do pistol and rifle on the same press.

That said, if you shoot a good amount of pistol ammo you will find that single stage loading may not be fast enough. The turret press is a good compromise, though lots of folks recommend learning on a single stage.

I kind of learned differently.

I started with a Dillon 550b which will do both rifle and pistol. I learned doing 9mm. The press is a manually indexing progressive machine so you have to be pretty involved in the process. While I was learning I would just build one round at a time (just one on the shellplate) so that I could keep track of what was happening in every stage. Once I got comfortable I started loading it up.

You can't go wrong with a Dillon. Or a single stage. Or a turret. All will serve you well and when you have been loading for awhile you will find that each machine has its own niche for what its good at. For example most people who shoot alot of pistol will load on a progressive press, but most people who load for precision rifle will use a single stage for that purpose.

Have fun!
 
I use a single stage for all my reloading: 303, 308, 38 S&W, 9mm. For the pistol stuff, I just break it down into steps, and do it over winter when the range is closed anyway. Right now I'm flaring/priming all my 9mm. 600 done, 600 to go.
If I get another press, I think it'll be the Lee classic cast for my pistol reloading, but with a tight budget, I can manage on the single stage just fine.
 
I always liked Dillon for high volume pistol reloading (IPSC rounds etc) and if I was reloading high volume rifle I would go the same route. I have a Hornady (big mistake) progressive, however I'm not happy with it compared to the operation of a Dillon. I would go Dillon 550B or 650 if I was buying a progressive again. Hindsight is 20/20. I have had Lee, Dillon and now Hornady, I will always go Dillon from now on, never should have changed.

For rifle reloading I like single stage since I am loading for accuracy and usually no more than 100 rounds all cases hand prepped, it's the only way to go to ensure consistent high accuracy long range loads.
 
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