Thinkin on going the other way!

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gmaske

Bearcat
Joined
Jan 8, 2008
Messages
78
Location
Colorful Colorado
When I bought my P345 and started shooting again I naturally started back reloading. I figured I'd need a progressive press to feed that varmit so I bought a Lee Pro 1000. This was great as long as I was "In Love" with my new pistol. The Pro 1000, once set up, WILL crank em out in a hurry and does a nice job too. Now as my passions cooled a bit I started thinking about reloading for my .357 again so I bought all the stuff I'd need to convert the press. After looking at what I'd have to go through I blew that idea off and just bought a second Pro 1000. This worked out ok except my loading area is on the small side so I have to unbolt one press and install the other. What ends up happening is I never get around to switch them. Now I am loading for an SKS 7.62x39. I'm doing this on my single stage press......There has to be a better way! So I am seriously thinking on selling off the two Pro 1000's and buying a turret press. I really don't need the output of a progressive press anyway. The truth of the matter is if you shoot one load and need a lot of them you can't beat a progressive. On the other hand if you want to tweak your charges or load diffrent bullets with diffrent charges the progressive can be a pain in the Buttkis. Lee's Clasic Turret is starting to call my name. Changing calibers on a turret is soooo much easier and playing with seating depth and powder charge weights has got to be a thousand times easier too. I guess the point of all this is, that you really need to think through your long term needs and goals before you jump in to a progressive press. It might take me a bit longer to crank out 100 rounds on a turret press but I really don't need to make 500 rounds in an evening either. It sure seems to make a lot of sense to me at this point.
 

45Colt_Man

Blackhawk
Joined
Jun 14, 2003
Messages
573
Location
Greybull, WY USA
I started with a Lee Pro 1000. Went to the Lee Loadmaster for more die stations. A caliber change on it is under 2 minutes. Have all the spare turrets set up with their respective calibers. A big improvment over the Pro 1000. I do all my primers with a handheld tool so I can inspect the cases and primer pockets before inserting primer and get more uniform primer seating.

Dana
 

1ruger

Single-Sixer
Joined
Nov 19, 2009
Messages
151
I started with a simple Lee press loading 45ACP and 38 Special.

A year or two later I got a RCBS and a Lyman single stage press on a garage sale and use them to load various rifle cartridges.

Few years later I got a Dillon SDB for 45ACP

Few years more and I got a second SDB for 38 Special

Few years more and I got a Dillon 550B for 44mag

Few years more and I got a third SDB for 9mm

Today I have a SDB in 45ACP, a SDB in 38 special and a SDB in 9mm mounted on one side of my reloading bench. On the order side is the Dillon 550B and each end of the bench has the single stage press.

All this was collected over 25+ years.

Now I'm thinking about getting rid of the SDB in 38 Special as I'm shoot more 357magnum and replacing it with a 550B so I can load both 38/357 on it.

Also, a can see a 650 set up for 223/5.56 in my future.
 

Yosemite Sam

Hunter
Joined
Mar 18, 2002
Messages
2,113
Location
Cape Cod, MA, USA
And all this time I've stuck with my Lee Turret, and just get a new turret ring ($10) for each new caliber I add.

I've done .44 Special, .45 Colt, and .30/30 rifle all on the same press within the last week. I do have the RCBS Rockchucker I started with, but it's not even set up any longer. I can't imagine needing a whole separate press for a different caliber. Of course, I don't have unlimited space in my workshop, either...

-- Sam
 

gmaske

Bearcat
Joined
Jan 8, 2008
Messages
78
Location
Colorful Colorado
Well the two Pro 1000's are up on Ebay right now. A new Lee Classic Turret press is in route to my door and I'm glad to be almost rid of the one and excited about getting the other. Once I get all the turrets set up for the four diffrent calibers I load for, life should be sweet! All I'll have to fool with will be the powder charge and bullet depth and to me that is the way it should be.
" Progressive!......I don't need no stinkin Progressive!" :wink:

I'm over it!
 

Yosemite Sam

Hunter
Joined
Mar 18, 2002
Messages
2,113
Location
Cape Cod, MA, USA
I've always been a somewhat conservative traditionalist. We don't need no stinking progressives. ;)

Seriously though, I love my Turret Press and Auto Disk powder measure. The one weak link on the setup is the primer feed, just like on the Lee Progressive presses. A little patience and attention to detail will help a lot in this area.

I've also found that if cases aren't sized properly, or have uneven mouths, the Auto Disk can act up, dropping too much powder. You'll get used to the sound it makes, and be able to "hear" when it hiccups. I really only experience this on some new pre-primed .45 Colt brass I picked up. Once they've been sized it isn't a problem.

-- Sam
 

gmaske

Bearcat
Joined
Jan 8, 2008
Messages
78
Location
Colorful Colorado
For paper punching loads the auto disk is great and I'll use it for that. I also want to be able to load near or at max powder charge using a scale to check each charge. It wasn't practical to do that with the progressive press.
 

NCMountains

Bearcat
Joined
Nov 8, 2009
Messages
72
Location
NC
Glad to hear that the Lee Turret is the way to go. This is my option for reloading .38/.357 rounds. I just need to order the darn thing instead of looking at it in my wish list on Cabela's!
 

gmaske

Bearcat
Joined
Jan 8, 2008
Messages
78
Location
Colorful Colorado
Yesterday I checked the tracking number to see where my press was at.
"Out for Delivery!".....Oh Cr@p I'm about to walk out the door to leave for a trip to my daughters house for turkey! I don't want the thing sitting on the porch for three days! Anyway it showed up five minutes before I left. I had just enough time to open the box....Oh Man!.... so I know what I'm gonna do when I get home!
 

gmaske

Bearcat
Joined
Jan 8, 2008
Messages
78
Location
Colorful Colorado
I got back Saturday in the early afternoon. Take a guess what I headed for when the luggage was in the house! I had it mounted in nothing flat and installed my new 45 ACP dies with the factory crimp die. I set all the dies and loaded up a box of 50 Speer 200 grain Gold Dots on top of 9.5 grains of AA #5 in Magtech once fired brass with CCI 300 primers. My first impression is that it is an easy press to set up and it makes beautiful factory like rounds! I used the Lee Auto disk powder hopper with the adjustable micro disk. Once I had it dialed in it was dropping within less than a tenth either way. The press is super smooth and I love the factory crimp die. It really does a slick job. I'm gonna load up some 38's, 357's and maybe a few 7.62x39 today! It's not as quick as the Pro 1000 but it is so much better when it comes to checking powder drops and tweeking bullet seating depth. The Lee safety prime system works really great too! You see each primer as it is placed in the seating cup. You know if it's in right to start with so there shouldn't be any seating problems from cocked or upside down primers. I love it!
The only problem I have now is I've gotta shoot up some of this stuff.
Life is hard! :lol:
 

1ruger

Single-Sixer
Joined
Nov 19, 2009
Messages
151
I have as many presses as I do because I don't have very much free time. I want to make as much ammo as possible in shortest amount of time since it can be a while before I have time to get back to it. I don't want to spend the time to set up different calibers. It is not unusual for me to sit for 3 hours and load 1,000 rounds of one load/caliber at a time. In the past 4 days I spent two nights loading. I spend one night loading 1,200 rounds of 45ACP and last night I loaded 800 rounds of 38 Special. It will be few weeks before I'll have a chance to load again.
 
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