Thinking about selling my press, need advise

[iatrogenic]

I bought a Hornady Lock N Load auto progressive press a few months ago and have not had the time to set it up. I expect to be able to set it up with in the next month and get going with reloading. I bought the progressive due to limited time to reload, but I'm thinking that I will only be able to get out and shoot 1-2 times per month and shoot about 200 rounds at a time. I'm thinking that this could be easily done with a single stage press.

Calibers I will be loading for:
9mm
.45acp
.308 Win for a bolt action, so not high volume.

Would it be a bad move to sell the Hornady LNL and get a single stage press? Now I would NOT get rid of it and buy a single stage kit that is only about 50 cheaper. I'm specifically thinking about the Lee Anniversary kit for about $89
I started reading some of the reviews on Midway and it seems like for the price it can't be beat. Will this kit get the job done?

[tagacali]

If you don't do a lot of reloads, single press would do the job.

[Waldog]

Once you start reloading I can almost guarantee that you will shoot more than you think. I would encourage you to buy a single stage press and hang on to your LNL. I think selling would be a bad idea as you will probably find yourself shooting more and more. Besides you state that you will shoot 200 rounds twice a month. Four hundred rounds total on a single stage press is quite a chore. However, I load all my rifle ammo on a single stage press.

Nothing wrong with the LEE Anniversary Kit. It will work just fine. I do believe the Lee powder scale is the weak link in the whole set. It does work, but it is difficult to use. I would recommend you spring for a better scale. The BEST BARGAIN out there is Dillon's Eliminator scale, $55.

[rsrocket1]

If you are ready to set up for reloading with your LnL, I hope you already have a scale and the other necessary items other than the press itself. That makes a lot of the Anniversary Kit redundant.

When I bought the LnL AP, before I ran it, I actually went out to buy a Breech Lock Challenger set so that I could first learn with a single stage and get most of the necessary extras, most importantly, the scale, a separate powder measure and the hand primer. After 1 month on the SS, I unboxed and set up the LnL and started cranking away. Loading 100 rounds of pistol ammo is 1+ hours worth of work with a single stage press. It's about 20 minutes with the LnL AP max (with a complete large rifle to small pistol changeover). If you are already set up, its about 10-15 minutes. That makes a quick trip to the garage for 100 rounds of pistol ammo an easy getaway for that "reloading fix" and no one even notices I'm gone .

I think you'll find switching dies so many times for a batch of pistol rounds tedious when you can perform up to 6 operations in one stroke with the AP. That's if you bell the case and crimp, or de-bell on separate stations (only really needed with lead bullets)

I find loading .308 easier on the single stage press. All the case prep makes it so that you can do the powder drop and seating without using a loading block and without changing dies in the press. I just keep a bin full of sized/trimmed/primed cases ready to go.

[sargenv]

Or you can do what a lot of people do.. sit down and crank out a whole season/year's worth in the amt of time that you would take only loading a few hundred rounds on a single stage.. and do this once a year. I find myself doing a bulk of my loading when the weather out is nasty and I make up at least a 3 month supply so I don't have to panic and load a few hundred to get me by when time is short. Progressives are really nice to have.

[BigBronco]

I have the LnL and you should keep yours. First you will not get what you paid for it you will have to sell it for a a bit less than you paid and if you paid shipping you will loose that also. As I see you are pressed for time when would you find the time to load at a slower pace. Yes time is precious so spend less time at the loading bench to get the job done.

Though I do not get out as often as I would like to shoot, sometimes only once a month. I often cannot find the time to load, so loading in bulk works for me. I will load a thousand or so of each caliber then not load for a year at times. for example I will load 3,000 shot shells and pack my loader away for two years. Store them up in GI ammo cans I just finished loading 1,500 223 & 500 .45acp (about 2 hours for the .45) and I don't now when I will get the next chance to shoot. However I will have the ammo ready to go.

[mls204]

keep the press. loading 9 and 45 on a single stage press would suck and take way more time.

[iatrogenic]

You guys are right. I'm just going to keep it and reload in bulk for handgun and attempt to use it as a single stage (or at least pay extra attention to each case) when loading the .308 for maximum accuracy.

[Cowboy T]

Good decision, IMHO. An inexpensive single-stage (e. g. the Challenger) will certainly load .308 and bigger rounds. A guy named Daywalker over at ATG uses one for his rifle rounds (sits next to his SDB progressive).

Another good choice for your .308's might be Lee's Classic Turret Press, if you like the idea of a turret. Additionally, you can do your 9mm and .45 ACP's on it should you choose to, and at a decent clip. I can tell you it works great for .45 Colt and .38 Spl.

[sargenv]

I was using my Rock Chucker for small batch reloading before it became a swaging press... now I simply do some powder drops and small batch research loads on my 650, and once I find the load, I make up a bunch of it to keep me in supply for a while. I load pretty much everything on that 650, rifle included.. With the Dillon trimmer, it makes case trimming/sizing/processing less of a headache.

[NotEnufGarage]

I do pretty fair volume with my Lee Challenger Breech Lock. I load 9MM, .38 Special, .45ACP, and 5.56 in some volume (300 - 500 a month, each). I can knock out 100 pistol bullets in about an hour, once all the prep is done (cleaning, decapping, polishing, sorting). It helps that I wake up at 4AM and don't go into work until 9 so that time between works well for me to listen to the news, drink some coffee and make some ammo at the same time, with occassional Calguns breaks.

The only thing that sucks about having a single stage is if you suddenly decide you want to go shooting and you haven't stocked up on reloads in advance, but you can always keep a little factory ammo around for that.

[sargenv]

I used to do that sort of thing, and if you are not a competitive shooter, a single stage is ok.. but wife, in her infinite wisdom, bought me that 650 all those years ago since she actually wanted to SEE me while we were married.. It used to take me 2 hours to make up 200 rds of 45 acp ammo from start to finish.. and I was batch loading everything.. now in the same amt of time I can crank out about 1500 rounds.. and not have to load ammo (for that caliber) for a month or so..

[LGB Loader]

To me, i would keep the LNL. It's paid for.

that said, a reloading bench/man cave needs a single stage.

LGB