Reloading Newbie

[Truck286]

I have some cash and instead of another weapon Im thinking of a Dillion Progessive Reloader XL 650.
Ive never reloaded but have a few buddies that do. One buddy says get a single stage and components and the other says to go Progressiive and Knock out ammo faster..
Im completely New to this and am seeking in put.
Are the Progessives worth the money ?
Is a Progressive the way to go ?
If i did go Progressive Dillion offers a set up package for 1 Caliver of my Choice I shoot .308/.223/5.56/7.62x39 /9mm/.45 ( I shoot all about the same but 9mm and .308 more so and have just began saving all my Brass )
Which caliber is best to get first dies for and primers with my order.

[chinny33]

dillon steel dies
you need a powder scale

progressives are the best for speed. time is money.

what caliber do you shoot the most? get it in that one.
caliber conversions are expensive-ish.

watch you tube videos.

[Divernhunter]

I have both single stage presses(3) and a Dillon 650 with all the bells and whistles.

I load all rifle rounds on a single stage. I batch process my brass so I always have brass ready for powder/bullets. I have been reloading a long time and suggest you get a single stage kit first. Even if you go with a progressive you will find the single stage press will get used. Also consider with bottle neck rounds you need to do some case prep so the progressive is not a big improvement to the process. The progressive is good when loading 45ACP/9mm and such if you need more speed.

Most important is that you get the Lyman #49 or50 reloading manual and read it. That will answer most questions you will have.

If you are near Modesto I would be happy to walk you thru the steps and some tips/tricks I have learned over the years.

[alexisjohnson]

Divern is spot on.

Progressives are amazing for pistol rounds (and 223 plinking rounds) but they are marginal at best for precision rifle rounds. You will end up basically doing them single stage on the progressive (which works just fine).

I would go ahead and get the 650...in my opinion its a phenomenal machine and the autoindexing (where it turns the cartridges into the different stages) makes it way better than the 650. I would not get the 1050 though unless i was churning out like 10, 20, or 30k rounds a month or something. The 550 is also great...i can churn out about 400-500-600 rounds an hour....which is plenty.

My final advice is get the dillon 650, use it as a progressive for the pistol rounds and then use it as a type of single stage for more precision rounds. Keep in mind to budget for the other stuff which will cost quite a bit as well. You'll need either an ultrasonic cleaner or a vibratory one, a good digital scale, case gauges, manuals, components, etc...

Don't forget to watch a million videos and reach 2 or 3 reloading manuals.

[BigBronco]

Steel dies for bottleneck rifle are fine. Carbide dies are the way to go for straight wall pistol.

[davek8s]

I would side with your friend that says to start with a single stage set up. That way you can learn each step of the process. Especially since making a mistake could be costly.

[stilly]

I have some cash and instead of another weapon Im thinking of a Dillion Progessive Reloader XL 650.
Ive never reloaded but have a few buddies that do. One buddy says get a single stage and components and the other says to go Progressiive and Knock out ammo faster..
Im completely New to this and am seeking in put.
Are the Progessives worth the money ?
Is a Progressive the way to go ?
If i did go Progressive Dillion offers a set up package for 1 Caliver of my Choice I shoot .308/.223/5.56/7.62x39 /9mm/.45 ( I shoot all about the same but 9mm and .308 more so and have just began saving all my Brass )
Which caliber is best to get first dies for and primers with my order.

The buddy that tells you to get a progressive when you have never reloaded is probably picturing himself next to you helping you every inch of the way until you are up to speed. Unless he is going to be right next to you everytime you pull the handle until you clearly have developed good habits and know what you are doing, I would not trust his advice.

I recommend that you start on a single stage or a Lee Classic Turret. In all honesty, You want to make rounds fast clearly, I can read between the lines, but you need to LEARN things first. Not just learn, but develop good habits and know what to watch for. When you start on a progressive press, there are so many things happening that can distract you that it will be very easy to OOPS and make 20 bad rounds that just got mixed into your 200 rounds you made, now do you shoot and see what happens or do you take them all apart and find the bad ones? Things like that DO happen all the time when people are not paying attention or do not have the right habits developed.

SO, I recommend the Lee Classic Turret, which is the flatter arrow shaped base that is heavy and NOT the raised base that looks like the pro-1000 and is made of aluminum.

With the Lee Classic Turret you are investing only $120 or less depending on where you get it from, you can still run all the same dies and all the same powder droppers that you can migrate to a progressive later on, you will have an excellent press that will enable you to go the fastest that you can go before moving to a progressive. I think can knock out 300+ rds per hour on mine with the right case prep and rhythm.

If you intend to shoot bolt rifles with precision, I would say go for a rock chucker or single stage, but it looks like you want to load the fast stuff so I am saying to go with the Lee Classic Turret. Then, after several months when you know what to look for and you are fairly familiar with the process, I say go get whatever progressive you want. Until then, you only dropped about 120 for a great press and you will most likely keep it for smaller projects down the road, then if you need to crank out ammo you can step over to your progressive press and kill 600+ rds per hour.

Just keep in mind that a fully decked out Dillon 650XL will run you over $1k to have everything setup correctly. A Lock N Load fully decked out will cost a bit less than that and a Loadmaster will run you about $350 or so fully decked out. I do not know about the RCBS Progressive but I expect it will be around $1k+ fully decked out. On top of that, Lee is making a new progressive press and it is being engineered from the ground up so it might be an expensive press killer... We will know more when they unleash it...

Until you get a press though, you should strongly consider getting either Modern Reloading by Richard Lee (mainly for all the data and loads inside) or the Lyman 49th or 50th edition book on reloading. The important step for you to take is EDUCATION. Once you get a reloading book, (do not be discouraged by their size) you only need to read like the first half inch to inch of the book, after that they typically have charts, rates, and published load data that you can peruse through like a cook book and decide on a load you want to try out. But they read very easily.

Good luck and have fun.

[tanks]

Both of your friends are right.
For rifle I'd use a single stage. For pistol I'd go with Dillon 650XL with a case feeder in 9mm including carbide dies.
Now, don't let people scare you of progressive presses, once set-up not only they are very safe, they are also very easy to run.

Costwise, yes Dillon are more expensive than their competition. However, not only they hold their value (in case you ever want to sell it) they are better than their competition, not to mention excellent customer service. There is a reason over 90% of competition shooters use a Dillon of one sort or another.

One other thing to consider is that a press is a one time cost. I just bought some primers, coated lead bullets, and powder. A few months supply that cost more than a Dillon 650XL fully set up. Real cost of reloading is components (if you shoot enough) not the press.

[Truck286]

Single stage would probably be my safest start. I just dont want to regret buying it in 5 months wishing I woulda got the progressive as I wont have the funds I currently have to Invest LATER.
Buy Once Cry Once kinda thought.

[bubbala]

i'm with stilly, get the lee turret if only for their on press priming set up.

[Divernhunter]

Truck286---The trouble with that thinking --besides it is all wrong-- is you will always use a single stage.
AFTER you read the Lyman manual you will understand all the other steps required for rifle cases which make a progressive not so handy.
You will also learn to batch process which make the final steps fast and not need to change dies very often.
You may use the single stage when just loading a few(usually for testing) rounds of pistol brass.
I have the 650 with bells and whistles. Yet I still have 3 single stage presses which get more use than my Dillon. I have been loading since the early 1960's.
I do agree with the buy once idea which is why I suggested the RCBS/Hornady/Lyman/Redding presses over the lee. I have 2 RCBS units(Rockchrusher and Jr) and a Hornady dedicated for 50BMG.
Get a hand primer and prime brass while watching TV(not used on a progressive). You can also do some of your rifle case prep watching TV.

A heads up---You will continue to buy equipment as you load. You will find something that looks good or will make things easier as you go. Examples are case prep center, electronic powder dispenser/scale, electric trimmer, universal decap die, a baking pan and RCBS Spray Lube, plastic ammo boxes and other items. So once you buy you will probably continue to buy items.

[tanks]

Single stage would probably be my safest start. I just dont want to regret buying it in 5 months wishing I woulda got the progressive as I wont have the funds I currently have to Invest LATER.
Buy Once Cry Once kinda thought.

Then, go for the Dillon 650XL with a case feeder. Based on my calculations break even point (in $$$$ savings) is 12K rounds compared to buying factory.

IF you are shooting 9mm in any quantity then progressive is the choice, and Dillon is the best in the market for it though Stilly might disagree . However, I think his disagreement is more to do with cost than anything else. As they say, "time, quality, price - pick any two". With Dillon you get time (as in speed) and quality at a bit higher cost than others.

In regards to "Buy Once Cry Once" I know of many people that upgrade to Dillon after buying other brands, but people going the other way are very, very rare.

[Michael in California]

If you can only afford one, get the single stage. The rifle rounds almost demand it. The truth is you will end up with both eventually.

Rifle has so many off-press operations, a progressive is not much benefit. Generally you have to trim off-press and load powder off-press, so it really interrupts the flow of operations on the progressive. Sure, you can load plinker .223 on a progressive with ease, but generally folks don't do that with .308 and such.

I have no problems if a person who has good attention to detail starts on a progressive. You can just run one stage at a time until you understand how it operates. Then, combine things and just go slow checking after each pull of the handle.

That is how I started. That was 9mm, and I load a bunch of that. I think it would be real tedious to manually do powder drops in 1000 rounds.

Then I wanted to load 30-06. So I had to buy a single stage. Since you lube the cases to size, but you don't want lube on them when you drop powder or seat bullets, your progressive would have to be run through twice to be done.

First, you clean the cases. First round on the press is lube, decap and size. Then you re-clean the cases, trim, and back to the press for powder drop and bullet seating. So, you are really only gaining about one pass relative to a single stage. Of course, powder dropping on the progressive is way faster, so you got that too. But, your not weighing every rifle round and relying on powder volume, which isn't as consistent.

[alexisjohnson]

I actually was making this decision a while back and i decided to go with the dillon 550. It was an excellent choice. I simply took my time learning how to do it and i had zero issues with it. I also visually check every single round for powder.

Frankly, if i had bought a single stage....right now i'd be looking to buy a progressive....simple as that.

I think its impt to see what you need your press for. If you are doing 70 or 80% precision rifle...then there is no point to a progressive. But if you are going to do any appreciable amount of pistol...then there is no way except with buying a progressive press.

The most important thing in reloading is to go slow and dbl check everything. Do no assume anything... If in doubt, dbl check and be ready to chuck rounds (or dissassemble them) rather than using them when unsure.

[tanks]

... I also visually check every single round for powder. ...

^^^^ This. In my opinion one of the most important procedural steps in any type of reloading along with case gauging every round.