quality reloader ?

[uscbigdawg]

Before thinking about which press, ask yourself how much do you really shoot. Until you break about 500 rounds a month of one caliber, it's likely that a progressive is not worth it. For a variety of calibers and low volume of ammo fired, a single stage is perfectly fine and for that, the Rock Chucker is awesome. It's proven quality and literally lasts forever. Mine is from a friend's Dad who loaded close to a million rounds on it (literally). Sent it to RCBS for a check-up and sent it back with a clean bill of health. I use it for my rifle loads (except 223), load development and my Bianchi Cup loads.

Current setup:

Dillon RL1050 #1: 38 Super (IPSC)
Dillon RL1050 #2: 40 S&W
Dillon XL650: 9mm, 38 Super (steel challenge), 223, 308 (AR), 45
Rock Chucker: 6 Ackley, 38 Super (Bianchi), 7WSM, 308

Rich

[Lead Waster]

Wow...you went with a 550B for .308 Win? Well, OK, you certainly got a good press, no doubt, but will you really be shooting that much .308?

He's STARTING with 308. You can do one round at a time on the 550B. The original post mentioned a bunch of pistol calibers too.

[Lead Waster]

I was given a well used RCBS Rock chucker 18 years ago and i'm still using it

That's the beauty of a well made press, it's such a simple mechanism and build strong on purpose. When you stop reloading, you can pass this on to the next person.

I have a Stanley Wood plane from 1892 and it works a lot better than the stuff you can buy nowadays (unless you want to spend hundreds on a plane) I have a Swedish Mauser 96 made in 1900. Still shoots. Well built stuff lasts a long time.

[uscbigdawg]

Nothing wrong with the 550. You can get a casefeeder for it to help speed up production and it's more than capable to load VERY accurate ammo. That David Tubb guy as well as top shooters like John Whidden, Bennie Cooley and Mike Voigt load their precision rifle ammo on 550's and 650's.

550 is not the #1 seller at Dillon for nothing. Good pick up.

Rich

[guile_99703]

Don't mean to hijack but I'm in the same boat..
I own 9mm, 45acp, 223, 308, 12ga, and a 50bmg.

All my firearms are auto-loaders, which concerns me that I may need small base diameter dies for all the rifle cartridges....? (I have heard that AR-10's, AR-15's and M82A1/M107's can be finicky about reloaded ammo)

I had been using cheap nonreloadable ammo for years. Its always been cheap enough, at-least until the last year or 2 when ammo prices combined with the purchase of a M107 changed my attitude about recycling brass.. The last few cases of ammo I purchased have been current production Federal/Lake City, to stock up on brass in preparation of this reloading endeavor.

I figured if I am going to buy a big press I might as well reload smaller ammo on it as well.

What I have been looking at is the "Lee Classic Cast 50 BMG Single Stage Press Kit" with Lee die kits in all the above mentioned calibers, RCBS shell holders and hand priming tool along with a tumbler, calipers, and powder measure kit, it totals right around $400.00
I also found an extremely accurate (within .02gr) powder scale for under $175.00 (that has good reviews on vitamin/medication boards)
Thats only about a $600.00 total investment with shipping..

Now I realize it will be slow going with a single stage press and I will likely get frustrated with the pace (especially while reloading pistol rounds) but It seems like it might be a good building point to start from (making only the multistage press my next investment if i choose to increase my production speed).

Lee also sells the "Load-All 2 Shotshell Press 12 Gauge" for relatively short money covering my entire firearm collection. (short of .22 rim-fires anyway)

Anyone have thoughts on going this rout?