Turret? Progressive? Single Stage? Reloading Press for Beginner

[M_User]

Thank you all for the feedback. I see a lot of people say its better to go with a single stage especially for rifles but a few people say if your reloading pistol use a progressive press.

Why isn't a progressive press as accurate as a single stage? Is it because your hand loading powder for each round?

I really don't know what I want, I may buy both and sell one at a later date.

 

[ffgats]

get a Dillon 550B which is progressive and run it as a single press for the time being until you fully understand the process. will not really take so much time to learn, its not rocket science, it only needs deligence and nothing more. with a 550B, you already have a good progressive press ready for volume reloading for your future needs.

btw, I use single stage for my resizing rifle brass,

 

[Gunneegoogoo]

Thank you all for the feedback. I see a lot of people say its better to go with a single stage especially for rifles but a few people say if your reloading pistol use a progressive press.

Why isn't a progressive press as accurate as a single stage? Is it because your hand loading powder for each round?

I really don't know what I want, I may buy both and sell one at a later date.

I've not owned a progressive, but it's my understanding that some precision is lost in exchange for productivity. Powder is volumetrically measured, not by weight. The more linkages and automation you have, the more chance for error, etc....

 

[madcow]

I'll put the results of my progressive up against any single/turrent press

my loads chrony +/- 5fps for my match loads

simple, if you load low quantities rifle & pistol get a turrent
if you have lots of time get a single stage, or if you load precision rifle
if you load lots of pistol calibres get a progressive

 

[Gunneegoogoo]

I'll take your word for it.....I don't, and won't ever own a progressive.....

GGG

 

[burnaby]

A progressive will do everything.
Newbies can start by using only one die and voila, you got a single stage.
Do all your sizing in stage 1 along with priming. Won't take long to realize that was easy.
Repeat with the other stages with the die in the correct spot.
Won't be long before a mechanically inclined person will be making a round per pull.

For precision I like my Forster co-ax.
Recently went to Wilson die with mini arbor for seating. Amazing the feel I gets using wilson with an arbor. Can always tell when a bullet seat harder/easier which always reflect in base to Ogive measurements.

 

[burnaby]

In a multi stage press all the steps are done at the same time. Sizing and LEE FCD and to lesser degree expanding requires a lot more force than seating. Bullets will not be seated accurately on a progressive. Try sizing/seating vs. just seating. The just seating will be a lot deeper.

...
Why isn't a progressive press as accurate as a single stage? Is it because your hand loading powder for each round?

I really don't know what I want, I may buy both and sell one at a later date.

 

[jethunter]

If you're doing mostly rifle then probably a single stage press is what will suit you best to get started. Buy what you can afford and get after it. The best learning comes from your own experience, not from the internet experts, many of the most vociferous of which learned what they know from reading it on the internet as well.

Buy a press, get started. You can't really make a mistake - if you want to upgrade later then you won't have trouble selling the first one. Keep it simple to begin with and work at developing safe, reliable ammunition. Later on when you have a good understanding of the basics you can fine tune and improve your technique and you will know whether you need to upgrade your equipment or not, and you won't have to rely on someone else to tell you what's best for you.

 

[Ron AKA]

Thank you all for the feedback. I see a lot of people say its better to go with a single stage especially for rifles but a few people say if your reloading pistol use a progressive press. Why isn't a progressive press as accurate as a single stage? Is it because your hand loading powder for each round?

If you load for speed you will likely use a powder measure which dumps powder directly into the cartridge. That is fine for pistol, and other guns where accuracy is not a big concern. For rifle cartridges most weigh every powder charge. They may use a powder measure to slightly undercharge the powder pan, and then weigh it while tricking the last few grains into the pan to get the exact load.

 

[M_User]

Thanks for the advice everyone I picked up both a single stage and a progressive press for $450 on a black friday sale. I am going to try both and sell which ever one I don't need. Currently most of my needs aren't high on accuracy and more about affordability. I think the progressive press will do it for me but I bought both and will resell at a later date, the 500 bullets for each press really makes it worth the purchase on top of the awesome price.

 

[WolfChild]

Thanks for the advice everyone I picked up both a single stage and a progressive press for $450 on a black friday sale.

Good deal! Congratulations, and thanks for the update!

Welcome down the rabbit hole of reloading!

 

[gwesson]

If you are going to load a bunch of pistol get a progressive. I am loading 9mm on a single stage and it sucks. An hour to load 100-150 rounds and 15 min to shoot them. I do however use a single stage for all rifle and wouldn't consider a progressive for rifle loading.

^What he said.

You will need a stout single-stage, like a RCBS cast-iron, for resizing surplus brass - buy one used, you'd have to argue the guy up to pay $50 for it. This is nearly the ideal press for rifles; a turret press is even better, but because of the power needed at the ram, I'd hesitate to full-length resize on a turret press.

But for pistol, nope - sure you can load lots and lots and lots of pistol on a single-stage or turret press, but it gets old - so, so old. Precisely as ^ said, I'd take the better part of three hours - cast the bullets, lube/size them, size/deprime the empties, prime 'em, throw charges { - with always the risk of double-charging a case through bored inattention - }, bell the case mouths, seat / crimp the bullets... over and over and over again...

EDIT: - and all the while, standing in cheap shoes on a concrete floor; MURDER on the back...

And at the end of it all I'd have a full hundred-round box of .45 or 9mm, and "SWMBO" would burn through them in under 17 minutes. And she's tiny, and lacks the muscle and the mechanical smarts to help reload; I could put her on the Lee priming tool, and she was good for ~30 primers before her elbows / wrists would tell her "Quit NOW or don't go to work tomorrow - you decide..." And it's her money that bought the components in the first place.

Get a progressive - I loudly proclaim the Dillon Square Deal the best pistol press there is, but only if you're only ever planning to reload for one calibre - and it's one of the common ones that Dillon equips the Square Deal for - changing calibres on it is a pain. The only other progressive I can comment-on is the Hornady LnL; ours has given us trouble, but also many thousand rounds of .45, .455 and .223.

The BAD thing about the progressive for rifle is that its charge thrower isn't nearly precision enough to throw rifle loads to 0.1gr - and the Hornady's DOES NOT LIKE stick-powders. The GREAT thing about progressives is, you're very unlikely to double-charge a cartridge. If I was still reloading pistol on the turret, I'd still be using Trail Boss - you can't fit a double charge of Trail Boss in anything.

- And I've more-or-less taught "HER" to crank-out 9mm on the Square Deal...

 

[cement head]

Start with a single stage press and learn the ropes . I like RCBS . I started with a unit I think was called the partner. and now have a rockchucker. an older one . it works great. I have used Lee dies Hornady dies and RCBS. I perfur RCBS. and I bought Lee and it has the so called factory crimp die well I don't like them . and don't rush when you reload .

if you don't have time to do it then don't . and get someone to show you how to do it and who has been reloading for several years and knows what they are doing. just my opinion .

 

[Grawfr]

Thanks for the advice everyone I picked up both a single stage and a progressive press for $450 on a black friday sale. I am going to try both and sell which ever one I don't need. Currently most of my needs aren't high on accuracy and more about affordability. I think the progressive press will do it for me but I bought both and will resell at a later date, the 500 bullets for each press really makes it worth the purchase on top of the awesome price.

Since you bought both types, keep them both: you'll find each can be the best tool depending on the job at hand.

 

[rookie wildcat]

If you are going to load a bunch of pistol get a progressive. I am loading 9mm on a single stage and it sucks. An hour to load 100-150 rounds and 15 min to shoot them. I do however use a single stage for all rifle and wouldn't consider a progressive for rifle loading.

If you're doing mostly rifle then probably a single stage press is what will suit you best to get started. Buy what you can afford and get after it. The best learning comes from your own experience, not from the internet experts, many of the most vociferous of which learned what they know from reading it on the internet as well.

Buy a press, get started. You can't really make a mistake - if you want to upgrade later then you won't have trouble selling the first one. Keep it simple to begin with and work at developing safe, reliable ammunition. Later on when you have a good understanding of the basics you can fine tune and improve your technique and you will know whether you need to upgrade your equipment or not, and you won't have to rely on someone else to tell you what's best for you.

Thanks for the advice everyone I picked up both a single stage and a progressive press for $450 on a black friday sale. I am going to try both and sell which ever one I don't need. Currently most of my needs aren't high on accuracy and more about affordability. I think the progressive press will do it for me but I bought both and will resell at a later date, the 500 bullets for each press really makes it worth the purchase on top of the awesome price.

Since you bought both types, keep them both: you'll find each can be the best tool depending on the job at hand.

OP, You already have both, now. You will never get rid of the single stage. I load .223 and .45ACP. I have a couple of Lee turret presses for that. I can load 200 in about an hour using it with the auto-index bar. That's not ammo I load for accuracy, I have to hit a soup can at 50 yds with either. That's it. Rifle ammo? Hunting or shooting, I'm looking for 1/2" groups, so it'll be single stage all the way.

 

[Pr589]

OP, You already have both, now. You will never get rid of the single stage. I load .223 and .45ACP. I have a couple of Lee turret presses for that. I can load 200 in about an hour using it with the auto-index bar. That's not ammo I load for accuracy, I have to hit a soup can at 50 yds with either. That's it. Rifle ammo? Hunting or shooting, I'm looking for 1/2" groups, so it'll be single stage all the way.

I'm curious, has anyone done any testing to see what differences in precision might be attributed to the use of progressives and/or turret presses versus a single stage. I think this would be easy to do - just load up 10 of your accuracy loads on each press and shoot for group.

 

[silverfoxdj]

I'm curious, has anyone done any testing to see what differences in precision might be attributed to the use of progressives and/or turret presses versus a single stage. I think this would be easy to do - just load up 10 of your accuracy loads on each press and shoot for group.

The die positioning on the Forster is pretty hard to beat from an accuracy point of view..

 

[Fargone4sure]

I'm curious, has anyone done any testing to see what differences in precision might be attributed to the use of progressives and/or turret presses versus a single stage. I think this would be easy to do - just load up 10 of your accuracy loads on each press and shoot for group.

An interesting question. I've never seen a comparison done. I have a suspicion that for the average hunter/plinker it would make zero difference, but may come into play for extreme long range/competitive shooters.

I load rifle exclusively on a turret. My Tikka T3 Varmint in 204 ruger will do 5 shot cold bore 100yd groups of 1/2" . I haven't spent a lot of time working on refining loads for it, because there isn't much left to gain. Perhaps a single stage could tighten the groups slightly, but any gain would be insignificant against the additional time spent reloading. I know the coyotes can't tell the difference regardless. For those that reload in smaller volumes, perhaps the time difference isn't that important, but with the volume I load it is.

I do load my main pistol calibers on a progressive, ie 9mm, 45acp, 45 colt, 38 Special. But for lower volumes of odd calibers, ie 8mm Steyr, 8mm Nambu etc, changing over a progressive just to do 50 or 100 rounds would be a pain, but a turret changes over in a minute.

If I had to pick one press, my turret wouldn't be going anywhere.

 

[tjhaile]

Thank you all for the feedback. I see a lot of people say its better to go with a single stage especially for rifles but a few people say if your reloading pistol use a progressive press.

Why isn't a progressive press as accurate as a single stage? Is it because your hand loading powder for each round?

I really don't know what I want, I may buy both and sell one at a later date.

Most of the accuracy difference comes down to thrown versus measured charges. Depending on the powder, this may not matter until you are shooting at very long ranges, say, beyond 600 yards. Other than that, it is more a function of the dies themselves than into what sort of press they are screwed.

get a Dillon 550B which is progressive and run it as a single press for the time being until you fully understand the process. will not really take so much time to learn, its not rocket science, it only needs deligence and nothing more. with a 550B, you already have a good progressive press ready for volume reloading for your future needs.

btw, I use single stage for my resizing rifle brass,

This is my choice for a variety of rifle and pistol cartridges. I size may cases in a separate pass through the press from the rest of the loading operation and sizing broken into two stages. Station 1 has a sizing die with an undersized expander ball (used to retain the de-capper pin only) and station 2 uses a Lyman M die to neck expand. I find that this makes for smoother operation and less case growth.

 

[Pr589]

The die positioning on the Forster is pretty hard to beat from an accuracy point of view..

I can see ram/die alignment being a factor however the amount of float between a case and the shell-holder is so large that it would take a fairly gross misalignment of the press to cause an issue.

My gut tells me that the differences between in-spec presses is much smaller than the interwebz thinks.