I've been reloading on a rcbs single stage press and it sure is a lot of time. I think it might be time for a new press. I was thinking a Dillon 550b or Hornady lnl ap. What do you all suggest . What do you use. My biggest concern is powder drop being correct and consistent. I've been weighing each one.
Dillon 650 with a powder op die station....
But if you are working single station press here is what I do...
Pass through size everything
Size and deprime everything
Case neck expand everything
This is done to prepare everything ahead of time...
Then hand prime what I will do in a secession
Measure power, place in casing, slide that casing in the press shell holder set to seat without crimp.
Immediately dropping the next charge weight in the scale pan and placing it on the scale to stabilize,
Seat the bullet and remove to tray.
trickle powder if needed, repeat till all are cartridges have powder and bullets seated.
Then after they are finished, I kick out my die spacer, back off the seater stem and taper crimp till done.
Doing this this way I am only working on the one step at a time... :D
Zito,
I am in the same boat as you, single stage worked great for revolvers and rifles, but it is an investment of time on the 10mm. I just ordered a XL650 from Brian Enos' site last Friday...
Quote from: zito1553 on April 13 2015 06:40:24 PM MDT
I've been reloading on a rcbs single stage press and it sure is a lot of time. I think it might be time for a new press. I was thinking a Dillon 550b or Hornady lnl ap. What do you all suggest . What do you use. My biggest concern is powder drop being correct and consistent. I've been weighing each one.
I had a 550 and sold it to buy the Hornady LNL.
If you want to compare apples to apples, look at the 650. The 550 has to be indexed manually, and hold 4 dies. The 650 and the LNL hold 5 dies and index automatically.
.
Quote from: The_Shadow on April 13 2015 06:59:20 PM MDT
Dillon 650 with a powder op die station....
But if you are working single station press here is what I do...
Pass through size everything
Size and deprime everything
Case neck expand everything
This is done to prepare everything ahead of time...
Then hand prime what I will do in a secession
Measure power, place in casing, slide that casing in the press shell holder set to seat without crimp.
Immediately dropping the next charge weight in the scale pan and placing it on the scale to stabilize,
Seat the bullet and remove to tray.
trickle powder if needed, repeat till all are cartridges have powder and bullets seated.
Then after they are finished, I kick out my die spacer, back off the seater stem and taper crimp till done.
Doing this this way I am only working on the one step at a time... :D
That is basically the way I do it except I wash the brass off with soap and water first, then size and deprime, then I tumble it.
Quote from: cwall64 on April 13 2015 07:12:13 PM MDT
Zito,
I am in the same boat as you, single stage worked great for revolvers and rifles, but it is an investment of time on the 10mm. I just ordered a XL650 from Brian Enos' site last Friday...
I still do a lot of reloading on my single stage press. It is easier for load development.
.
Quote from: my_old_glock on April 13 2015 09:35:03 PM MDT
Quote from: cwall64 on April 13 2015 07:12:13 PM MDT
Zito,
I am in the same boat as you, single stage worked great for revolvers and rifles, but it is an investment of time on the 10mm. I just ordered a XL650 from Brian Enos' site last Friday...
I still do a lot of reloading on my single stage press. It is easier for load development.
.
No doubt, 100% agree.
It would kind of depend on whether you are reloading mainly one caliber, or many. Because Dillon caliber plates aren't cheap. It might cost you more to swap out calibers if you want all the dies on separate plates for ease of swapping.
I will be the odd man out here.
Unless something drastic changes I will buy the Hornady Lock-n-Load AP. It is far cheaper to start with than the XL650. Caliber plates are about the same price, but you can get 10 quick change bushings (2-toolhead equivalent) for the price of one dillon tool head.
Guys that have them are very fond of them.
I have been loading for nearly forty years... I have or have had most presses out there. I have a Dillon 550 and three single stages presses bolted to my benches.
I STILL load mostly from a single stage Redding. Most definitely for load developmental! THEN its moved to the 550 for mass production.
Just like when building a load, I will lean to accuracy over top velocity. So a SS press gets me that accuracy.
CW
My friend had the Dillon 550. After I bought the Hornady Lnlap and he saw how easy it was to change calibers he sold his and got the Hornady. A lot of the Dillon owners that load multiple calibers have a bunch of extra heads/powder measures etc to make the change over easy so you can quickly sink $2K into Dillon where the Hornady might go $600 to get the job done with 4 calibers. Dillon might be the better set up only if cost is not a consideration and yes a good single stage is always needed as well.
Quote from: jazzsax8 on April 14 2015 09:05:10 AM MDT
My friend had the Dillon 550. After I bought the Hornady Lnlap and he saw how easy it was to change calibers he sold his and got the Hornady. A lot of the Dillon owners that load multiple calibers have a bunch of extra heads/powder measures etc to make the change over easy so you can quickly sink $2K into Dillon where the Hornady might go $600 to get the job done with 4 calibers. Dillon might be the better set up only if cost is not a consideration and yes a good single stage is always needed as well.
Totally agree with this
Quote from: sqlbullet on April 14 2015 07:48:05 AM MDT
I will be the odd man out here.
Unless something drastic changes I will buy the Hornady Lock-n-Load AP. It is far cheaper to start with than the XL650. Caliber plates are about the same price, but you can get 10 quick change bushings (2-toolhead equivalent) for the price of one dillon tool head.
Guys that have them are very fond of them.
That is one of the main reasons why I went with the LNL over the 650. Another good thing about the LNL bushing is that you can put the female part in a single stage press. I have one in my RCBS Rockchucker and I switch my dies from the RCBS to the LNL with only a height adjustment.
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/858110/hornady-lock-n-load-press-and-die-conversion-bushing-kit
.
my_old_glock
I am using the same bushing set up on my single stage. I took some white teflon pipe tape and put enough on the threads to keep it short of going all in. I now have the same height dimension from the LNLAP to single stage with no adjustments necessary!
Oh...Snap. I gotta order some of those. That would be just the thing to get me into one bushing set for my Lee, RCBS and future hornady presses.
Thank you all for your replies...I'll be loading 45acp and 10mm for now. And $$$$$ is an issue. So I'll be looking into the lnl ap
Quote from: cwlongshot on April 14 2015 08:28:45 AM MDT
I have been loading for nearly forty years... I have or have had most presses out there. I have a Dillon 550 and three single stages presses bolted to my benches.
I STILL load mostly from a single stage Redding. Most definitely for load developmental! THEN its moved to the 550 for mass production.
Just like when building a load, I will lean to accuracy over top velocity. So a SS press gets me that accuracy.
CW
pretty much.
I load develop on my 650 but kind of use it as a faster single stage press if that makes sense. . But when I want volume with a load I like its full bore 650.
my ancient rcbs single stage is rifle load development. Looking to upgrade it to possibly a redding ultra mag.
will see. Man I just love this stuff
A real sleeper of a press is the Pro 2000. However, if you need a case feeder, then it won't work since that is not an option. Just thought I'd get that out of the way. My short list ended up with the 550, LNL, 650, and Pro 2000.
I eliminated the 650 early since it really needs a case feeder. That put the cost a bit out of reach.
There were a couple of things that I did not like about the LNL (bushings, the indexing method, and some local friends that have had endless problems). There were some things that I did like about it. Auto-indexing, 5 stations, powder dispenser.
The 550 was nearly my final choice. It was close. What did it for me was the large operating area of the Pro 2000, the flexibility of 5 stations, much easier caliber and, especially, priming changeovers, and APS priming.
The Pro 2000 is a 5 station, and can be had in auto or manual index. I recommend auto-index. 223 case prep just flies with auto-index, and it is a mechanical way to reduce the risk of a double charge.
Die plates are $19 and shell plates are about $30, so caliber changes are inexpensive. One of the reasons is that it has a unique fixed station 3 dedicated for charging. In that way, caliber changes don't need a separate powder die or dedicated hopper. Re-configuring the powder throw from 223 to 10mm takes about 30 seconds. It is so simple. If you were to load large rifle in addition to pistol, I'd get another dedicated hopper so that the metering drum doesn't have to be swapped. Of course, you could move the powder throw to station 2. Add a powder through expander, then have stations 3, 4, 5 for bullet feed or powder check, seat, then crimp.
My worst-case conversion is from 223 (small primer) rifle to 10mm (large primer) pistol. That takes 2.5 minutes! Add 30 more seconds if starting with a full hopper of powder.
It has been very reliable for me, and it is very simple in design and operation. It is cast iron and built like a brick turd shack too.
The other unique feature is APS priming. Pre-filled strips from CCI are great, or filling strips with brand B primers is fast and easy. Priming is usually the bane of progressives, and I have been a few thousand rounds since the last time I had a primer flip sideways. It just works.
I recommend auto-indexing.
Prices are all over the place, and RCBS always has that $50 rebate going.
One other interesting development is the announcement of the Pro Chucker 5 and Pro Chucker 7. Those look awesome, and brilliant in their simplicity. I was a little disappointed to see them move away from APS priming though. I can understand why. The industry just never really warmed up to APS priming. Too bad. The does have the proven Uniflow powder throw, and the indexing looks to be a tremendous solution for incredibly smooth and positive indexing. Case feeders will be announced shortly, from what I've read.
EDIT:
Here is a pretty nice long-term review. I think that I read somewhere that the author has since passed 250,000 rounds.
http://handloads.com/articles/default.asp?id=26
Quote from: Taterhead on April 14 2015 11:40:59 PM MDT
Here is a pretty nice long-term review. I think that I read somewhere that the author has since passed 250,000 rounds.
So why is he eating his bullets, and passing 250,00 sounds pretty painful to me! ;D
Quote from: gandog56 on April 15 2015 05:53:47 AM MDT
Quote from: Taterhead on April 14 2015 11:40:59 PM MDT
Here is a pretty nice long-term review. I think that I read somewhere that the author has since passed 250,000 rounds.
So why is he eating his bullets, and passing 250,00 sounds pretty painful to me! ;D
I see what you did there... :))