One more question before I pull the trigger

[Jicko]

+1 on what Wes said.

Yet, I personally liked Dillon's die....

A digital caliper is nice, and not expensive.... I bought mine @ HarborFreight $15.99!!!!!! Accurate to 0.001'', resolution: 0.0005'', what more do you want? (Dillon's is $80!? No thank you!!)

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=47257

A digital scale is REAL nice (I dun have one yet)....

[Icarus]

Every thing 10% said.

[Prc329]

Now that I really think about it, I probably will not be doing more then 100 rounds a month. Should I still go with a progressive setup? Oh and I will have to wait till my birthday so I get more time to think (June 20th). The wife decided she wants to see Love in Las Wages for her B-day so there goes my press money.

[wildcard]

100 rounds of .308 and .223 per month? I'd stick with either a RCBS of Forster single stage. Assuming you're going to weigh each individual powder charge, you'll probably spend about an hour on the press. 30 mins to size and deprime.. and another 30 mins to to seat the bullets. You'll also be spending another 30 mins seating primers. The rest of your time will be spent prepping your brass (trimming, chamfering, deburring, pocket cleaning) and measuring your powder charge.

For 100 rounds a month.. save some cash to buy more components and just spend a little more timedoing it.

[hybridatsun350]

Now that I really think about it, I probably will not be doing more then 100 rounds a month. Should I still go with a progressive setup? Oh and I will have to wait till my birthday so I get more time to think (June 20th). The wife decided she wants to see Love in Las Wages for her B-day so there goes my press money.

Yea, 100 rds/month is not going to require a progressive setup. I just ordered all my stuff to start reloading for .308, and I, like you, wont be doing mass amounts of reloading so I didn't buy a progressive press. A good single stage will do am awesome job with small batches like you are talking about.

[Prc329]

So to get back to my original idea. I was originally going to pick up an RCBS Rock chucker till someone I really respect mentioned dillon. I don't think he realized I was not planning on doing large volume of reloading. I will be more in the line of doing "match" quality ammo in small runs. Maybe 100 to 200 a month at the most. I'll continue to get black hills for practice and just general trigger time.

So A rock chucker, dies and other items will be needed. What is the deal with case trimming? If it is brass that was fired from my gun from either black hills or federal (gold match) would I still need to worry about trimming? I read at Brian Enos' sight that trimming is not necessary unless you are not sure about the brass. I was also told you need to crimp for semi-auto and not a bolt gun. Is this correct?

Graf has a pretty good price on the rock chucker supreme kit.

I think 10% will get a full mailbox of questions so I think I will ask everything here. The man is pretty darn busy as it is

I think I may just get the Rock chucker and later on step up to a dillon if I see that I want to load more or ammo prices get to hot.

[proraptor]

Im getting the good old LEE cast classic O press....Cheap, strong, and perfect for precision from what Ive read all over the place

[Prc329]

Man, the lee press is so much cheaper then the rest.

[dw1784]

What is the deal with case trimming? If it is brass that was fired from my gun from either black hills or federal (gold match) would I still need to worry about trimming? I read at Brian Enos' sight that trimming is not necessary unless you are not sure about the brass. I was also told you need to crimp for semi-auto and not a bolt gun. Is this correct?

I think if you start with brass from your gun and keeps track of it (batch/mfg/load/gun/etc), trimming is not that big of a deal.

Trimming is important if you full size each time, as in semi-auto's, or use brass not fire-formed from your gun. Each barrel is different and chamber dimensions will be different. My rebarreled Mauser has a tight chamber and the brass is very consistant and uniform in length. Brass from my PSS has a different shoulder, longer case and larger case mouth. The Mauser has a longer throat than the PSS so the seating depth/OCL can be different between the two rifle, even though both are 308.

As for crimping, I think it depends on the individual. Unless you're using bullet with cannelure there's no need to crimp. There are those that advise crimping but I don't know enough about it. The more knowledgable members might provide more insight to it advantage, but I think if you're using a set of good dies, it will have enough neck tension to go without crimp.

I started with neck sizing dies but as I started accumulating brass I had to get full length sizers. The brass from FAL's and HK's aren't too pretty. After resizing, some of the brass will go long as 2.03+. That;s when trimming gets to be a pain in the butt!

happy reloading

[proraptor]

Man, the lee press is so much cheaper then the rest.

Its a single but is supposed to be awesome for loading precision stuff

[Franksremote]

One big thing to consider isn't how much you're going to reload, but how much you shoot. There's as much savings in practice ammo as match ammo and a 50% savings against what you'll spend buying completed rounds pays for your press in no time. Remember, the press will probably outlast you and Dillon's lifetime warranty on their presses will ensure that your 2 yo will inherit and probably pass along this press to your grandchildren.

[xrMike]

Man, the lee press is so much cheaper then the rest.

If you're going to resist the legions of blue kool-aid prophets here (as I did) and go with Lee, take a look at their Classic Turret press instead of the O-frame.

It's faster than single-stage (but not as fast as a progressive). All your dies stay in a turret, so you just switch out turrets when you want to change calibers. Once your dies are set the first time, that's it -- no more messing with them ever again. Spent primers drop into a rubber tube for easy emptying. It's very heavy and solid too. Anyway, take a look at it.

[proraptor]

If you're going to resist the legions of blue kool-aid prophets here (as I did) and go with Lee, take a look at their Classic Turret press instead of the O-frame.

It's faster than single-stage (but not as fast as a progressive). All your dies stay in a turret, so you just switch out turrets when you want to change calibers. Once your dies are set the first time, that's it -- no more messing with them ever again. Spent primers drop into a rubber tube for easy emptying. It's very heavy and solid too. Anyway, take a look at it.

I was going to go turret press but am only interested in making super precise .308 for my savage....Everyone told me to go with the O-frame for precision....Maybe the classic turret would be better for you nate....

[Prc329]

Proraptor we are pretty much on the same page. I was looking at this...

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=149097

It is just so much cheaper then the rest, that is what had me going The RCBS kit has pretty close to the same stuff in it and runs around $250. The Lee kit is $75 with my FFL at Grafs.

[ocabj]

The reason why that Lee Anniversity kit is so much cheaper:

1. The press is made out of cast aluminum. I wouldn't expect it to last very long through the normal stress of the reloading process with much longetivity.

2. Warranty. Lee only has a 2 year warranty and even that can get spotty. Support is very weak compared to RCBS, Redding, Hornady, Dillon, and the other more expensive presses. Yes, a single stage RCBS Rock Chucker costs $115-$140 depending on your discounts compared to a $50 or less Lee Challenger press. But that extra money goes a long way 20 years down the line when the RCBS Rock Chucker starts wearing out and needs to be serviced. You can send it in to RCBS and they'll fix it for free. My friend had an old Rock Chucker from the 80s that he sent in because the ram had some slop in it. They ended up sending him a brand new Rock Chucker (latest version).

Personally, I'd pay $75 for an old Rock Chucker than $75 for a new Lee Classic (cast iron) press.

Plus, the RCBS kit that includes the Rock Chucker comes with the 5-0-5, which is probably one of the best analog scales out there.