Rounds per hour?

[pontoon]

So you have some more manual reloading kits at about $300-$500 and then more automated ones at $1000+ like the Dillon XL650. What could I expect for rounds per hour out of something like "Hornady Lock N Load Classic Deluxe Reloading Kit" vs the Dillon XL650 (with addons)? Cheaper is nice, but I also have to value my time. I'm not interested in reloading for the cost so much as the ability to make better ammo. Also I'm in an apartment so not sure how on Earth I'm going to find a place for this stuff... Finally do these automated machines have good precision?

[CSACANNONEER]

It really depends on what type of brass prep you are going to do. Brass prep can take a lot of time on it's own. How automated are you planning on going with primers? A Dillon 550 can load up to 500 rounds an hour and a 650 probably close to 600 but, that doesn't account for increased set up times or loading primers. In all reality, I probably load close to 350 rounds an hour on my 550 not including brass prep time. For bottlenecked cartridges, I prefer to do my brass prep on a single stage press and can prep about 400 rounds (less if I need to swage primer pockets) an hour using a single stage press and a Giraud trimmer. But, again, that's assuming everything is set up and adjusted prior to starting and, I'm not prepping precision rounds. For my precision rifle ammo that I will be competing with at 1000 yards, it can take me 20 minutes per round to go from once fired brass to the finished product and, I would never use a progressive press to load that ammo.

Really, your question has so many variables that one could write a book on the subject and still not address your exact situation, wants and desires. Just remember that cheaper does not mean a press will produce lesser quality ammo. It's a combination of everything with the most important part of the equation being the handload's abilities.

[dmy]

Pontoon:
IMHO, if you want to make better ammo which suits your particular need, I recommend a single stage. I have been using my single-stage RCBS Rock Chucker for 25+ years and probably loaded somewhere around 50,000 - 100,000 rounds for a few different calibers. Similar to your reference, I started to primarily make loads which were much more accurate than off-the-shelf ammo. It also happened to be cheaper to load my own. Now, I only punch paper and do not have to reach any specific power factor, so I load relatively light stuff which you can't find in stores.
To me, the key to making accurate loads is consistency and separately charging cases as a separate step is very important. I believe, although I have never used a progressive or turrent reloader, that when one drop of the handle decaps, bells, seats and crimps 3 or 4 rounds at a time, that you may lose consistency. I am sure that a progressive or turrent can spit out loads at 1/10 of the time that it takes me to load mine, but I only shoot 200 - 300 rounds on the weekends, so I have no problem loading enough rounds during the week to shoot on the weekends. In addition, I take extra steps, which others have deemed unnecessary, such as tumbling, cleaning primer pockets and occasionally deburring / chamfering the case edges. All of these "extra" steps are done after the spent brass is decapped and resized. If I had a progressive or turrent, I would be using the first stage separately.
One final thought is that, if you are just starting out with your first press, then going slow with a single stage reduces the chance of double-charges or squibs. Good luck and be safe.

[Fordtrucks]

If u don't have the ability to store 1000's of rounds or that's not ur realy plan in the first place then don't think about getting a top of the line super fast progressive. It's just a waste of money.

And if ur time it really that valuable to use a single stage press, well then ur only option is pony up for precision ammo. Many company's make precision ammo for a variety of cartridges. Black hills, HSM and others come to mind right off the bat.

But then again how much precision are u really looking for. Most Walmart stuff will fill 90% of our precision needs.

[pontoon]

Thanks for the insight. It sounds like it doesn't speed things up an incredible amount to get the more expensive machine. I don't anticipate needing to load thousands of rounds often. My use would be either hand loading 270 or potentially some 6.5 such as 6.5 SAUM. Which machine would you pick? I'm such a novice anyone's guess would be better than mine.

[silas3d]

I load round 150 rounds/hour on my Lee classic turret if I'm doing 45acp plinking rounds.

I load more slowly if I'm working up "match" loads, or magnum revolver loads

[CSACANNONEER]

Thanks for the insight. It sounds like it doesn't speed things up an incredible amount to get the more expensive machine. I don't anticipate needing to load thousands of rounds often. My use would be either hand loading 270 or potentially some 6.5 such as 6.5 SAUM. Which machine would you pick? I'm such a novice anyone's guess would be better than mine.

For bottlenecked precision cartridges, a high quality single stage press is the best way to go. A Rockchucker, Hollywood, Forster Co-ax, etc. would be a good starting point. Again, the press is only one part of the equation. High quality dies, a very good scale, high quality trimmer, etc. are going to be more important than the press.

[robert101]

I loaded on a single stage Rock Chucker for over 30 years. Just this year I received a Dillon 550B as a gift. It is amazing how much time is saved with a progressive press. I feel the quality is comparable to my single stage. When you can have 4 rounds go up on the ram at once, the production increases substantially. Check out the various Utube videos on the various machines to get an idea of the expediency.

[Eljay]

If you're making quality rifle rounds I'd go single stage or if you want to crank production up a bit but keep quality very high get a Lee Classic Turret and a RCBS Chargemaster. The charge master will be more than the press but it'll have each powder load ready to go by the time you get back around to the add powder step. Very nice.

Progressives by their nature tend to lead to a little OAL variation among other things.

If you're cranking out, oh, say 9mm for USPSA (not bullseye) and you have a 650 with a bulletfeeder - hey that's me - it takes 5 minutes to run through a primer tube of 100. If you assume a minute to dump in some bullets, cases, and primers (it doesn't take that long) that's 6 minutes or 10 cycles per hour or yes a thousand rounds an hour.

Now, I'll tell you, my arm's ready to fall off before an actual hour of that, and I case gauge every round so more commonly I'll run 200, gauge 200, repeat until I'm out of time.

I guess I could buy the Mark 7 for the 650 but that's another couple of thousand dollars and seems excessive.

Loading the primer tubes ahead of time takes maybe a minute each with a Vibra Prime or you could throw $300 at one of those magic primer tube filler things that gets a new tube ready to go by the time you've loaded the last one.

[tanks]

For your purposes I'd say get a single stage, and good dies (Forster etc.). I would second the RCBS Charge master. My workflow after sizing, and priming is to pour powder, seat bullet and repeat on a single stage. By the time you are finished seating the bullet the next batch of powder is already measured and ready to pour. Great time saver, and very precise to boot.

Progressives are not that great for rifle cartridges if one uses the modern flake powders as they do not meter well.

[bruce381]

well 100 rounds of pistol takes me about 10 minutes on a 650.

[JMP]

Thanks for the insight. It sounds like it doesn't speed things up an incredible amount to get the more expensive machine. I don't anticipate needing to load thousands of rounds often. My use would be either hand loading 270 or potentially some 6.5 such as 6.5 SAUM. Which machine would you pick? I'm such a novice anyone's guess would be better than mine.

Absolutely a single stage press for these. For these cartridges, you will probably want to weight each charge so you don't gain much with a progressive. What can save time is practice and the efficiency of your process. It helps to have a hand primer set up for each cartridge, an automated trimmer like the Giraud Power Trimmer, an automated dispenser/scale like a Chargemaster, etc...

[mikeyr]

i happen to have a Dillon 650 and I want to use it for 308, I am trying to figure if its worth spending the money on the caliber conversion, etc. from Dillon or stay with single stage and a RCSB Chargemaster for the 308. I loaded a bunch of 308 on the single stage last weekend, trickling each and every charge and it was SLOW, I kept looking at my 650 and thinking, I should be using it. So Dillon caliber conversion or Chargemaster ?

By the way, pistol rounds, I easily do 600-700 per hour on the 650, sometimes even more but I try to keep it in that range to avoid potential mistakes. Rifle rounds of course will take more work so will be slower, I deprime them, stainless tumble them, trim, resize and then reload. If I went with the Dillon I would get their case trimmer so I could deprime and trim in one step, then tumble, then size and load. I don't take even tumble my pistol ammo, I shoot too much of it to worry about how it looks.

The way I do my math, its close enough to be a tossup between a Dillon caliber conversion + Dillon Case trimmer (I have the other Dillon stuff like spare powder drop, toolhead) = Chargemaster so its the time that I worry about and I figure I wont shoot that much 308, maybe 100 rounds or so each range trip compared to pistol. There is also time involved in swapping the Dillon, its minor but adds up.

[gvbsat]

So you have some more manual reloading kits at about $300-$500 and then more automated ones at $1000+ like the Dillon XL650. What could I expect for rounds per hour out of something like "Hornady Lock N Load Classic Deluxe Reloading Kit" vs the Dillon XL650 (with addons)? Cheaper is nice, but I also have to value my time. I'm not interested in reloading for the cost so much as the ability to make better ammo. Also I'm in an apartment so not sure how on Earth I'm going to find a place for this stuff... Finally do these automated machines have good precision?

You can pick up a brand new XL650 set up for one caliber with the case feeder shipped to your door for $800.00. You can expect a solid 6-700 rounds per hour not pushing it. The Dillon had the best precision in my opinion. I've used the turret and the Hordany LNL and the quality does not come close to Dillon. The Dillon machines are also built to last a life time.

[CSACANNONEER]

i happen to have a Dillon 650 and I want to use it for 308, I am trying to figure if its worth spending the money on the caliber conversion, etc. from Dillon or stay with single stage and a RCSB Chargemaster for the 308. I loaded a bunch of 308 on the single stage last weekend, trickling each and every charge and it was SLOW, I kept looking at my 650 and thinking, I should be using it. So Dillon caliber conversion or Chargemaster ?

By the way, pistol rounds, I easily do 600-700 per hour on the 650, sometimes even more but I try to keep it in that range to avoid potential mistakes. Rifle rounds of course will take more work so will be slower, I deprime them, stainless tumble them, trim, resize and then reload. If I went with the Dillon I would get their case trimmer so I could deprime and trim in one step, then tumble, then size and load. I don't take even tumble my pistol ammo, I shoot too much of it to worry about how it looks.

The way I do my math, its close enough to be a tossup between a Dillon caliber conversion + Dillon Case trimmer (I have the other Dillon stuff like spare powder drop, toolhead) = Chargemaster so its the time that I worry about and I figure I wont shoot that much 308, maybe 100 rounds or so each range trip compared to pistol. There is also time involved in swapping the Dillon, its minor but adds up.

Are you loading precision rounds? Even with a 650, you will still have to do all the brass prep before you can run it through and load it. I know that some people use one tool head to do their brass prep and a second tool head just to prime, drop powder, seat and crimp (if crimping is desired). So, that means each case would have to be cycled through your 650 twice and, even then, you will have to swage your primer pockets, uniform primer pockets, debur flash holes, etc. separately.