Newbie Reloader

[cgizen]

I am sorry if I'm beating a dead horse here but looking for suggestions on single stage or progressive as a newbie? I will be almost exclusively loading 9mm for IPSC shooting. I feel like I should just get straight into progressive reloading due to the volume I'll be doing. I am quite detail orientated and thorough in what I am doing. I would probably go with an auto indexing progressive to minimize the risks of double loads and such.

 

[laker415]

If you're starting out with the intent to load pistol ammo in volume, you are correct in wanting a progressive. Dillon is the gold standard if your budget allows. Hornady and Lee are options as well if you need to save some $$. You can't go wrong with a Dillon in my experience

 

[jimbo14]

Progressive

I am the same detail oriented person as you. I started with a Hornady LnL AP, and had no problems learning how to reload 9mm. If I had to do it over again, I’d do Dillon 650/750 for the primer pocket swaging ability.

 

[4n2t0]

If you're going to load for volume a progressive press is the only way to go. I too would suggest a Dillon 650 or 750.

 

[BattleRife]

I will be almost exclusively loading 9mm for IPSC shooting.

This type of shooting certainly does justify a progressive setup. I will strongly recommend that you research your costs closely, as you are looking at a significant investment into equipment, and 9mm component costs offer rather minimal savings. You are going to be spending between one and two thousand dollars to get started, then 2-4 hours for every thousand cartridges you crank out, make sure you think the savings are worth it, or all that investment is going to end up gathering dust in the corner.

 

[wasa]

I agree progressive is the way to go *IF* you work it out and determine how many rounds you load and what the cost savings will be to pay for the equipment. And you need a lot of equipment.

I shoot 38 Special and 45acp for PPC League, 357 Mag for Bullseye (yes), and 9mm and 45acp for 3-gun matches. I did some cost calculations and the best for me was a Lee turret press. Starting with a full primer tray and a full hopper of powder, I can load between 150-175 rounds per hour. Before the zombie apocalypse I shot about 600 rounds for a season of Bullseye, 1200 rounds for a year of PPC, and ~1800 rounds for 3-gun. Plus practice so round up to say 5000 rounds a year or roughly 33 hours of work on the press. I can load 9mm for about $9 per 50 and 45acp for about $11.50 per 50. I've never bought factory 9mm or 45acp so not 100% how much they go for but guessing $15 per box of 9mm? Cheaper on sale (seen them for $13 or so I think). So $4 savings per box, 100 boxes, $400 per year of 9mm savings. So a Dillon system for 9mm with case feeder, bullet feeder, powder system, etc is what, $1000? So 2.5 years payback. Guess not too bad.

 

[4n2t0]

When the OP mentions volume I think at least 1K per month. I currently load 9mm @ ~ .17 per round (147gr CamPro+Titegroup+S&B primers+FREE range brass). If I use 9mm prices from the same time period in which the components were purchased (to be fair) that would be a savings of ~ $840 in the first year alone ($240 per 1K of ammo x 12 = $2880 - $2040 [.17 x 12K]). If the OP loads any other calibre the setup should pay for itself rather quickly.

Again, volume should guide this decision.

P.S. 650 + casefeeder + Vibra Prime = 1K per 1.5 hrs for me (faster if I go like snot).

 

[bertn]

My first reloads were 9mm on a progressive press. Single stage for volume reloading gets old fast I think.

Just make sure you understand the process and go slow at the beginning.
If your progressive has case activated powder drop (no case present means no powder dropped) you could
run your progressive as a single stage if you want.

 

[cgizen]

I appreciate the feedback, I am thinking I might use my first year as a test to see first off, if I want to stick with IPSC, and secondly just how much 9 mm I go through in a year. After this season I will make a determination on whether or not it justifies investing into reloading equipment. I am still leaning more towards loading though. I just bought 1000 rounds from my local guy and paid 399.00 plus tax for 1000, so that works out to .39 per round. I have priced out reloading 9mm with range brass at .17 per round so if I end up doing the volume I suspect I will I think a progressive will pay for itself quickly. I pretty well echoed what a couple of you said so that makes me feel confident in going with a progressive if I go that route after running a season or at least part of a season.