Question about low volume reloading

[Aznatama]

Reloading just seems fun to me, but I'm not willing to invest hundreds of dollars into it.

So... I was thinking about the Lee anniversary press, but there's discussion about adjusting the dies and whatnot, and the turret press started to look better, but more $$$

The problem I'm coming to is the charge and bullet seating are on different dies... so wouldn't I need to charge all the cases and set them aside hoping I don't knock any of them over and wasting time, or change the die and insert a bullet?

Seems like a lot of time wasted here... is there a faster way of completing this portion of it?

[meaty-btz]

Amazingly, it is hard to understand your perspective. I have reloaded most of my life. But, with a little thought, I think I can help you.

You have seen all this progressive talk and are thinking: form, charge, seat, repeat.

With single stages, rather than working like a progressive reloader or a turret reloader, you work in BATCHES. You do 50-60-100 cases at a time, one step at a time. You form 50-60-100 cases and use holders designed for batch reloading to keep them nicely orderly. Then you charge them as a batch. Then you seat.

I am still a single stage guy. Batches are how I think. Can you knock over or jostle the cases and spill powder? Yeah, but reloading is an art, and a detailed one at that. You must be precise, accurate, involved, detail oriented.

[Bill Steele]

Reloading just seems fun to me, but I'm not willing to invest hundreds of dollars into it.

So... I was thinking about the Lee anniversary press, but there's discussion about adjusting the dies and whatnot, and the turret press started to look better, but more $$$

The problem I'm coming to is the charge and bullet seating are on different dies... so wouldn't I need to charge all the cases and set them aside hoping I don't knock any of them over and wasting time, or change the die and insert a bullet?

Seems like a lot of time wasted here... is there a faster way of completing this portion of it?

On the Anniversary Press (single stage press), you do things in batches. You size/deprime, prime, charge, seat bullet, crimp (if needed), all in separate steps. A batch at a time.

With a turret like the Lee Classic Turret, you do more of these steps in succession with a single case. For handgun, you do a complete cartridge in each cycle of the turret plate. For rifle, there still may be some batch processing (depending on how you process your rifle brass), but still many successive steps can be accomplished.

A single stage press is a great way to start, you will always have a use for it as long as you are reloading.

Have fun, good luck.

[NotEnufGarage]

Even if you do eventually move up to a progressive press, something like the Lee Anniversary Kit is a good investment to start with. Everything in there will be usable even once you do move up to a progressive.

I started with one and still use it quite a bit, even though I do my volume loading on a Load Master. I still do the match grade ammo on the Challenger, weighing each charge separately, seating bullets one at a time, crimping one at a time, etc.

[korny351]

The problem I'm coming to is the charge and bullet seating are on different dies... so wouldn't I need to charge all the cases and set them aside hoping I don't knock any of them over and wasting time, or change the die and insert a bullet?

What you need are known as loading blocks. http://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/...loading+blocks

Get a couple of them. Charge all your cases with powder, placing them in the loading blocks. Check the powder level in all of them visually, making sure you don't have any double charges or missing charges. Swap out the die for the bullet seating die and proceed with bullet seating and crimping.

[drifter2be]

I have a very modest setup, single stage lee press, lee powder measure and RCBS powder trickler, lee ram prime, a digital scale and a digital caliper to check OAL. I deprime and size a batch, then bell the mouth, then charge and seat the bullet immediately after chargine. I am an extremely low volume pistol loader, maybe do about 200 in a week. Typically I will deprime and size ALL of my brass in one sitting. After that I spend maybe 3 hours knocking out all those rounds over the course of a week in my free time, could be faster, but I am meticulous in measuring powder weight, and weigh each charge individually, I doubt very many people here do that, but my powder measure does not meter unique very well, so I occasionally get enough of a variation that I feel the need to be anal about measuring each powder charge.

[Aznatama]

thanks for the input. I didn't know there were those blocks, I was just going to improvise something.

As for cleaning, is the primer hole much of an issue if uncleaned? seems like I have to clean first since the die resizes and deprimes together?

Also, anyone know how involved is swapping out a die? is it adjust once, then more or less drop in as needed? or is an adjustment required each and every single time? The anniversary kit looks like a great deal.

the only think left is making a brass catch to hang on the divider panel at the indoor range to catch all my brass. :-)

[NotEnufGarage]

thanks for the input. I didn't know there were those blocks, I was just going to improvise something.

As for cleaning, is the primer hole much of an issue if uncleaned? seems like I have to clean first since the die resizes and deprimes together?

Also, anyone know how involved is swapping out a die? is it adjust once, then more or less drop in as needed? or is an adjustment required each and every single time? The anniversary kit looks like a great deal.

the only think left is making a brass catch to hang on the divider panel at the indoor range to catch all my brass. :-)

You'll want to have a tumbler to clean your brass, otherwise your hands will be black everytime you do any reloading and who knows what chemicals and heavy metals you'll be exposed to.

I tumble my brass in crushed walnut and NuFinish, separated by caliber before I decap and resize. After resizing, I'll throw it in the tumbler again with corn cob and NuFinish for a few hours to clean out the primer holes. Then I prime, expand and charge the cases. Finally, seat bullets and crimp. I end up with nice shiny cases with nice shiny bullets on them.

If you shoot many calibers, you need to separater all your brass first. If you put 9MM, .40 and .45 in the tumbler at the same time, you'll end up with cases stacked together, since 9MM fits inside .40 and .40 fits inside .45. It's okay to mix brass of similar calibers together, ie. .45ACP and .45 Colt or 9MM and .38/.357, since they won't stack together.

Make one final check of your brass before you load it. Make sure you don't have any .380 brass mixed in with your 9MM and while you're doing that make sure there's no polishing media (corn cob) stuck in the flash holes.

As you can see this batch processing method follows all the way through. You perform 1 step on all your brass at one time, then move on to the next step.

So, the steps are (at least for me) ;

1) Separate brass by similar caliber
2) Tumble in walnut and NuFinish
3) Size and deprime (1st step on press)
4) Tumble in corn cob and NuFinish
5) Separate by exact caliber and inspect primer pockets and flash holes
6) Seat new primer, expand and charge case (2nd step on press)
7) Inspect cases for equal powder charge level
8) Seat bullets (3rd step on press)
9) Crimp with Factory Crimp Die (4th step on press)
10) Inspect
11) Shoot!

I know it sounds like a lot, but you'd be amazed how quickly it goes once you get a rythm going. Set up a radio by your press and it can be rather enjoyable.

Since you're thinking about the Lee kit, a few things I'll mention that make it easier and quicker ;

1) Get the Lee dies and plenty of breech lock bushings so you can set and forget your dies.
2) Lee's expander dies let you charge the case at the top of the press stroke which cuts down on handling the brass for 1 additional step. In step 6 above, with the ram 1/3 up from the bottom, you'll insert a new case in the shellholder, take the ram all the way down to seat the primer, take the ram all the way up to expand the case, click the primer feed to put a new primer in the priming arm, dump and weigh powder from the powder feed, dump powder into top of expander die and into the case, bring ram to 1/3 from bottm and remove case, put charged case in loading block. That sounds like a lot, but once you get your rythym going, it goes quickly. It's best not to have any distraction for this step.

The best prices I've seen on Lee are from Titan Reloading, plus they're quick to get things to you. Their website is www.titanreloading.com. They sell only Lee products.

[ns3v3n]

OP, what rounds are you planning to load??? Pistol? Rifle? for rifle rounds, you are better off with a single stage anyways. Pistol rounds, depends if you're just loading one caliber or have multiple calibers? I have the Lee pro 1000 and I love it for pistol rounds. It is a progressive, and it does have its quirks, but once you figure it out, it will produce quality ammo for a good price. The press can be had for $160 new. Comes with dies, and everything. All you need are a scale, calibers to measure your rounds, and a reloading manual. But it cant really do Rifle rounds other than 223. Take your pick and ask questions on here. Also Youtube is your best friend when it comes to instructions/demo videos on these kind of stuff. Hope you find one that would fit your needs. And yes, get a loading tray/block if you do go single stage to hold your brass with powder in them.

[Aznatama]

Thanks for all the info, it's good to hear.

I thought I posted the round, guess not. At first, this is for 9mm, but eventually I plan to get into .45ACP as well once I can find a MC Operator for sale. (prolly end of this year).

I was thinking about just tossing small batches into an ultrasonic cleaner. About 1-200 pcs of brass should fit in a small ultrasonic cleaner device. cycle the cleaning solution through a coffee filter each time and reuse.

[johnny1290]

I run a lee pro 1000. I have a single stage for sizing cast boolits, too, but I've never used it for loading.

I just cranked out 250 9mm rounds as I stayed on hold for the IRS. Gave me something to distract me.

I should have asked more questions before I bought my setup, so I think you're being smart.

I've done 7k rounds on it, so its finally paid for itself LOL

I learned on a progressive, and to be honest it took forever for me to get the hang of it. The press wasn't at fault, I just didn't know what to do in different fiddly situations. Now that I do, I can crank out the ammo no prob.

[rsrocket1]

Ultrasonic cleaners are not worth it when compared to a run of the mill Harbor Freight vibratory cleaner. The transducers are way too small unless you buy one of those $4-500 industrial or dental cleaners. The little 60 watt transducer is good for about 18 cases when you clean purely with ultrasonic power. The 100 case cleaning job is mostly done with the chemicals. You can do just as well by swishing them in a bucket for 10 minutes.

You can certainly load 9/45ACP on a single stage press, but as soon as you realize you are shooting a lot more, you'll want at least a turret or progressive. As the others have said, you will certainly find uses for the single stage all your shooting life.

I have learned to load single stage rifle and pistol development rounds in batches, but never use the loading block. That's a good way to double charge with pistol rounds and dense powder.

I prep all my cases up to the primed stage, then charge with powder and seat the bullet in one step. There is no chance for a missed or double charge that way.

[billetmann]

i use a single stage press but still reload thousands of rounds. i prep all the cases i want to work with first, usually 1-2k. then prime them all one at a time with a hand primer usually takes a couple nites. once all the cases are prepped and primed i sort them into 500's (gallon baggies). then i work in batches, i charge 100 then check the load and seat those 100.- baggie those one hundred up and store away in my ammo can. i usaully will charge and seat 100- 200 in a sitting. each ammo can holds 1k. after a week or so i'm done with that particular caliber and do another same way. with shooting and
and storing i find i still grow my reserve-