turret or progressive

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brybenn

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For someone only shooting a 100-150 rounds a month of 9mm is it worth buying a progressive press? I hand load for my rifles but have been buying factory ammo for my 9mm. I'm debating a turret or cheaper progressive press. I can knock out 30/40 rifle rounds an hour on a single stage press weighing each charge so either one will be a step up. I'll eventually get a 45 acp as well but the 9 will see more use. Or should I just keep buying bulk ammo and not have to worry about chasing brass?
For the record I'm Ok with Lee products
 
brybenn said:
For someone only shooting a 100-150 rounds a month of 9mm is it worth buying a progressive press? I hand load for my rifles but have been buying factory ammo for my 9mm. I'm debating a turret or cheaper progressive press. I can knock out 30/40 rifle rounds an hour on a single stage press weighing each charge so either one will be a step up. I'll eventually get a 45 acp as well but the 9 will see more use. Or should I just keep buying bulk ammo and not have to worry about chasing brass?
For the record I'm Ok with Lee products
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I have two Loadmasters that I do my high volume reloading on but I bought a Lee Classic Turret for lower volume rounds and I'm really happy with it. Easily does 100-150 rounds per hour, rock solid (it's cast iron), turrets are cheap and Inline Fabrication even makes a loaded round ejector that speeds up the reloading process. I'm guessing that it's only about 1/2-2/3 the cost of the cheapest progressive (Lee 1000) and it turns out good quality ammo.

If you're sure you don't need higher volume than 100-150 rounds a month it will fit your needs very nicely.
 
Trust me, if you get a progressive. You WILL shoot more.

my hornady is 25 years old, loaded over 300k rounds, and paid for itself 1000 times over

and still get free parts for it
 
I use both a Hornady progressive and RCBS turret, turret works well, 150 would be a breeze, you likely could put both 45 and 9mm in the turret so no changeover, the progressive does require time to set up, even more switching from large to small primer, the turret could likely reload 200 rounds in the time the progressive needs to setup
 
I just occasionally shoot my 9. It's more for getting ppl into shooting. I would like an extremely nice 45 for my self but I know it won't see much use. Maybe 2-3 mags worth each weekend in between skeet rounds. Sounds like I could get away with just a turret press then. Thanks
 
I have single stage, Lee Turret and progressive, and I say go turret. Compared to a progessive it is cheaper to buy and faster, cheaper and easier to switch calibers. It fills a valuable niche for those medium volumes: I think I have my progessive set up for four calibers, and my turret for five.
 
I use the Lee Pro 1000. It works well once you figure out its peculiarities. Primer feed and seating are the cause of most problems. As stated changing from 9mm to 45 Colt takes time as you have to change shell plate and primer trough. It would be nice to have something added that avoids having the loaded cases hang up in the trough. The bullet feed option would be nice, but then I think would also have to be changed when you change cartridges loaded. I find it works smoother with lightly lubricating every 3d to 5th case with case lube oil.
 
I'm not looking for a top end press but budget is less than $500 most likely. As stated I'm not a huge pistol shooter. If that changes I'll reevaluate. I plan on shooting mostly rimfire but I feel wrong by not reloading.
 
Progressive. Although, with 9mm you can get away with not reloading and if you use steel cased for plinking; for .45acp, the savings are much more significant. Caliber changeover, from 9mm to .45, from what I hear, is one of the longest. The Lee turret press is much easier, I think. Change the discs, primer (depending on large or small primers), swap a single shell-holder and the turrets, and you are good to go.

I used to use a lee turret press and when I went to the hornady I spent less time loading, more time shooting. If you were in Southern Alberta, I'd sell you my Lee for $100.
 
ted_dent said:
I have two Loadmasters that I do my high volume reloading on but I bought a Lee Classic Turret for lower volume rounds and I'm really happy with it. Easily does 100-150 rounds per hour, rock solid (it's cast iron), turrets are cheap and Inline Fabrication even makes a loaded round ejector that speeds up the reloading process. I'm guessing that it's only about 1/2-2/3 the cost of the cheapest progressive (Lee 1000) and it turns out good quality ammo.

If you're sure you don't need higher volume than 100-150 rounds a month it will fit your needs very nicely.
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brybenn said:
I'm not looking for a top end press but budget is less than $500 most likely. As stated I'm not a huge pistol shooter. If that changes I'll reevaluate. I plan on shooting mostly rimfire but I feel wrong by not reloading.
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OP, if I were you I'd get the Lee Classic Cast turret kit as ted_dent recommends. I have a Lee single stage, Lee Turret, and a Pro 1000 (that I gave up on because I just couldn't get the damned thing to work right - I was constantly jamming primers no matter HOW I adjusted it).

I use the single stage for rifle case sizing and depriming, and the turret is used for priming, powder charging, and bullet seating/crimping in rifle calibres. I use the turret only to do pistol calibre (9mm and 45ACP) reloading.
 
I reloaded pistol on a single stage for a year, thousands of rounds. Batch the process stages and you can knock out 100 - 150 very quickly. That being said I now have a progressive press as well and need it for the volume that I shoot.
 
I have an RCBS single stage and a Hornady progressive, I've used both for loading pistol. The single stage mostly for load development. But once I find a load the progressive will knock out 150 in an hour with complete repeatability giving me a little more time to blow the crap out of noobies on World of Tanks.
 
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