How fast do you reload?

[RestrictedColt]

Not really. When I decided I wanted the LNL I searched used ones and couldn't find a good enough deal to be worth it. Partly because it was a group investment and I didn't wanna chance it having problems and me being to blame for buying used and wasting others' money. This was before knowing that Hornady will warrantee anything. I've since seen pretty good deals on every brand of press, really cheap ones go quick, and some people hold out at stupid prices.

Then there's the occasional lucky hit. About a year ago I was at the reloading shop when a guy came in to sell a LNL that had dies & a couple other extras. He said "I want it out of my way, give me whatever". The shop owner offered $100 and the dude jumped at it. As soon as the guy walked out I asked the owner "how much to quick flip that"? $150 and I jumped at it. When the guy started to talk about selling stuff I wanted to jump in first and coulda probably gotten the press for $20, but he was in the shop so it seemed rude to intercept the owner. Regardless, everyone was happy with what they got

[tanks]

Have two, two, perfectly good Reloading Presses, set up at the same time!!!
That really is a financially strange concept for some people. Must be nice.
I am joking here, but there was a time when having two machines was only for the rich guys.

Well, if you shoot a lot then the payback period on the machine is pretty fast. Dillon even has a simple calculator to figure it out.

http://dillonprecision.net/break-even-calculator/

[Capt.Dunsel]

I reload just a bit faster than I shoot

[Rbutler]

depends, pistol and bulk 223 is quick, set it up make sure hte powder is dropping close enough and go to town.

match ammo.... hell that takes time, clean trim chamfer debur etc etc etc etc.

[RestrictedColt]

As for the cost question; I've found it easier to luck into cheap & free components that cheap or free ammo. A lady I know gave me about 15lbs of powder and several thousand cases & bullets that 'nobody wanted' and were taking up space. I've gotten free ammo here & there, but it's usually junky stuff.

[Che762x39]

It's not a competition and I don't try to race ...

Well I must be slow because I started reloading in 1982 and I am not done yet.

[CSACANNONEER]

Well I must be slow because I started reloading in 1982 and I am not done yet.

[wbunning]

Assuming there's nothing wrong with it, the drop will be way more accurate than what a powder cop would detect so the cop is mostly pointless. If you don't trust yourself to fully stroke the press and/or not double stroke it, that's a whole different situation.

I recently ran 1000 9mm 100-200 at a time over the course of a few days. Every time I rechecked the powder drop any changes were unmeasurable.

[tanks]

... I could probably stroke the handle twice as fast as I was, but even if the case & bullet feeders could keep up, which is doubtful, and nothing else went wrong there would be a few other problems. I'd loose the ability to feel primers seat so I'd have to rely on faith that they're all primed properly. It's also likely that powder would spill from the cases being spun around so fast. It's also likely that the powder drop wouldn't have time to do a full dump which means short charged cases and possible powder spills. I was using small charges of a low bulk/high density powder (4.1 of W231) and even at my 6 minute pace I had a little bit of powder on the press, probably from cases coming out of the dropper tube while powder was still falling, and/or maybe from cases being jostled and tossing powder. It wasn't enough to worry about for plinkers, but at double speed it would probably be an issue. If it were bigger charges and/or a lower density powder it would be even worse.

A lot of the issues you are mentioning are solved on the Dillon 1050s. People have automated the process of pulling the handle (Mark VII auto drives) and can run at a pace of 2,400 rounds an hour without the issues you have mentioned once everything is dialed in.

A friend of mine has an automated machine. He just keeps feeding it bullets, primers, powder and brass while it is chugging along. The machine has enough sensors to recognize problems like jams etc..