Progressive press questions

AlbertaSheepdog

AlbertaSheepdog

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Hello all,

I'm looking at upgrading my reloading bench significantly, and wanted to get the cgn opinion on which direction to head. Specifically I'm looking at upgrading my single stage lee press to a nice progressive press.

I started reloading with the lee anniversary press kit, and it has served me well. Unfortunatley it is simply too time consuming for me to reload (I shoot plenty of 9mm, .45, and .223... Basically everything is semi-auto except for my .308). I want to increase my output as my fired brass is starting to pile up faster then I can reload it.

I will keep the single stage to reload for my .308 bolt, but want to be able to reload about 1-2000 rounds per month. Progressive seems to be the way to go.

Do you have any recommendations on the best bang for your buck progressive press? I have a garage workspace, with a 9 foot ceiling and A solid workbench, so size shouldn't be a factor. Also... Do I really need a progressive? Or could I get away with a turret style? Or for the price, should I just get 3 more lee single stage presses and set up the assembly line?

Links to products and dealers would be appreciated. Thanks all!

ASD
 
I use a lee pro1000 for all my pistol stuff. Probably put down in exess of 10000 rounds in the last year. It's the bargain brand, but it works. For .223 I cannot comment on its suitability
 
I personally use a Dillon 550 with case feeder, but if I could have a 'do-over' I would go with the Dillon 650 with case feeder. Loading the .223 will still be time consuming due to trimming/swaging, but once those steps are complete the 650 will make up for lost time. I deprime/resize my .223 on my single stage, then use my swaging tool. After that they go into the Dillon case feeder. Others will recommend other brands but this is my opinion. If you can swing it ($$$) - the 1050 is awesome.
 
Is there any Merrit in simply buying 4 single stage presses and setting them up each as a dedicated different stage... Rather then shelling out for the progressive? I can buy 3 more lee single stage for $80 locally
 
pmt said:
I personally use a Dillon 550 with case feeder, but if I could have a 'do-over' I would go with the Dillon 650 with case feeder. Loading the .223 will still be time consuming due to trimming/swaging, but once those steps are complete the 650 will make up for lost time. I deprime/resize my .223 on my single stage, then use my swaging tool. After that they go into the Dillon case feeder. Others will recommend other brands but this is my opinion. If you can swing it ($$$) - the 1050 is awesome.
Click to expand...

Why the 650 over the 550?
 
Yeah I just checked out the "in use videos" for the 550 and 650. Seems like for the extra $150-200 you would spend on the 650 you lose a lot of the precision, but also lose a lot of the headache. Would be worth it I think for large ammounts
 
If you have the ability (mechanical aptitude) and patience to tweak a Lee Pro1000, it's good value. I've reloaded many thousand .38 special, .357 Magnum, 9mm and .45 on mine.
If you do go that way, spring for the extra shell plate carriers, not just the shell plate. Having a dedicated one (at least in small and large primers) makes changing over to another caliber much easier.

Stan
 
I have a lee loadmaster to reload on the cheap, it works, but it requires a lot of tweaking, especially for priming.

case feeding is a fail (my opinion) and I just hand feed, it's faster and it works 100% of the time that way.

other than that it works.

Dillon 650 is probably the easiest "plug and play" reliable press. Case feeder makes it really nice. Maybe one day I would buy one. Lots of money with all the quick change kits
 
I just set up a lee loadmaster. Boy was that a lot of work. My first press. Did 100 rounds of .40 in about 20 minutes! (My first reloads ever)

I was scared at first given all the negative posts about it but i also heard some positives. Now that I understand everything about it, and know some of it's quirks (youtube), I'm liking it.
 
Hi. I'm Sean and I loaded 100K+ rounds on Lee progressives over an 8 year period.
Thank heavens a friend smacked me in the head in 2000.

There are tons of threads on which progressive to use; but if you do a search - you'll find this:

Posts / Threads that don't exist...
Someone with a Lee Progressive got a Dillon or Hornady and regretted the move.
Someone with a Dillon or Hornady decided to get a Lee Progressive instead.

Posts / Threads plentiful:
Someone with a Lee Progressive that loves it; has never tried anything else.
Someone with a Lee Progressive that hated it and is now happy with something else.

I get a kick out of the suggestion of "mechanically inclined" and "tweaking" when referring to a Lee progressive.
It suggests that those that don't like them are klutzes, but it's far from the case.

It simply translates to "you'll spend time frigging with the press while not making bullets."
If your goal is to have a hobby working on presses, Lee is definitely the solution.
(Bonus by-product - you get some ammo too.)
If your goal is to output ammunition, well - there are better solutions.

In your case, with multiple calibers and relatively low output, I'd suggest a Dillon 550.
 
Last edited:
Freedom Ventures said:
Hi. I'm Sean and I loaded 100K+ rounds on Lee progressives over an 8 year period.
Thank heavens a friend smacked me in the head in 2000.

There are tons of threads on which progressive to use; but if you do a search - you'll find this:

Posts / Threads that don't exist...
Someone with a Lee Progressive got a Dillon or Hornady and regretted the move.
Someone with a Dillon or Hornady decided to get a Lee Progressive instead.

Posts / Threads plentiful:
Someone with a Lee Progressive that loves it; has never tried anything else.
Someone with a Lee Progressive that hated it and is now happy with something else.

I get a kick out of the suggestion of "mechanically inclined" and "tweaking" when referring to a Lee progressive.
It suggests that those that don't like them are klutzes, but it's far from the case.

It simply translates to "you'll spend time frigging with the press while not making bullets."
If your goal is to have a hobby working on presses, Lee is definitely the solution.
(Bonus by-product - you get some ammo too.)
If your goal is to output ammunition, well - there are better solutions.

In your case, with multiple calibers and relatively low output, I'd suggest a Dillon 550.
Click to expand...
Lee's are 90% finished from the factory, Dillion's and hornady are 99.9% finished from the factory, as a result you spend a lot less money on them. Some people don't want to mess with them (lee) and others don't know how, that's what Dillion and hornady are for.


At some point I will switch to hornady or Dillion, but for now Lee works a treat and produces plenty of quality ammo.
 
Spawn-Inc said:
Lee's are 90% finished from the factory, Dillion's and hornady are 99.9% finished from the factory, as a result you spend a lot less money on them. Some people don't want to mess with them (lee) and others don't know how, that's what Dillion and hornady are for.


At some point I will switch to hornady or Dillion, but for now Lee works a treat and produces plenty of quality ammo.
Click to expand...

Not sure about your math. I Love my L&L AP but there was definitely some assembly required ;). In fact, the somewhat sketchy Hornady assembly manual is one of the few valid criticisms of the unit and headaches do result if you don't get it right.

Lee warranty = 1 year I believe. Every other brand = forever. I know price is an offsetting consideration but this is worth mentioning IMHO.
 
well, here is what I dislike about my lee:

Priming system. So much trouble trying to get it to prime reliably, and then having to adjust the screw every time to change calibers.
There is the "put a fl die and adjust it" trick, but guess what, for 9mm, that doesnt center the priming system with the primer hole in the case, because it's the same system for all calibers.... what I have just found out you need to do:
slack the brass adjuster screw, put a case in, raise the primer arm to "lock" the case, then adjust the case retaining arm according to this case position, no die. Then adjust the primer depth screw, THEN this setting should work fine for this caliber. Should.
Thats if you disassemble the priming plastic system, and put some silicone grease on the o-ring so it doesnt stick, and thats if the priming system has no factory flash in it, and, and, and......

Forget about the case collator. half 9mm are upside down. Oh ya there is this plastic thing that you punch holes in... and then you shake the cases 30 minutes to try to fill the tubes.... it just works faster to hand feed.
And often the case will tip and fall off the press if you reload rifle like 223.

And then you get a case that does not prime(why? no clue), and then the powder empties under the shellplate and jams the press.

Honestly, the loadmaster works to : powder, bullet, crimp. That's ok.
BUT, the included die to flare and dump powder really "jams" up the process, the case sticks in it, and when you lower, you spill powder everywhere.

Oh well. it works I guess, but you will have to play with it a bit.
 
AlbertaSheepdog said:
Is there any Merrit in simply buying 4 single stage presses and setting them up each as a dedicated different stage... Rather then shelling out for the progressive? I can buy 3 more lee single stage for $80 locally
Click to expand...

Not really. Having four single stages only saves you the time of changing dies between operations. That was never a big time killer. The benefit of a progressive is that each stroke you are actually working all four stations at once.
 
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