equipment question

[riverman67]

I am just getting back into reloading after about a 15 year hiatus.
I have a rock chucker single stage press that I am sure is going to be way too slow to keep up with my brother and my shooting .
I already have dies for 357/38 , 45, 9mm ,40 s&w, 223 and 30-06 and I don't really want to replace it if I don't have to.

I guess that my question is should I buy the add ons to make the rock chucker a progressive or scrap it and get something else.

Again i'm just looking for your opinon

I'll shut up and listen

 

[WhitleyStu]

I was not aware there was an upgrade to make the Rock Chucker a progressive. If you need volume a Hornady LNL progressive or a Dilllon would be two nice presses to consider.

 

[riverman67]

I think it's called a piggyback and it supposedly turns a rockchucker into a manually indexing press

 

[IndyGunworks]

i would highly suggest hanging onto the rockchucker, for precison rifle rounds if you want to go there, but invest in a dillion rl550 b or the 650 you CANNOT go wrong... the 550 can do rifle calibers, and caliber conversions are cheaper than with the 650.... after having my dillon for several thousand rounds now, i am 100 percent happy with it, and will NEVER buy another press that is not a dillon. its worth the extra $$$ on the upfront investment.

 

[riverman67]

Thanks indygunworks I will look into the dillon

 

[IndyGunworks]

Not a problem... if you want to swing up to indy, you can take a look at my press and get some hands on experience... see my post in the reloading section about hands on classes.

 

[riverman67]

Will the dillon 550 accept my dies ????

 

[Leadeye]

I would keep the RC and pick up a progressive. I have heard a lot of good things about the LNL although I don't have one. I still use the RC for a lot of odd and end work, it is 32 years with me and still going strong.

 

[buckhunterbb]

Don't rule out Hornady press. Free bullets when you buy a new one. Check their website for offer.

 

[indyjoe]

Don't worry. The single stage is fast enough to keep up with the available primer supply.

 

[hornadylnl]

I've already posted this in other threads but I wouldn't go with anything other than a Dillon 650 or a Hornady LNL. If you decide you want to upgrade with a casefeeder in the future, you can't do rifle cases on the 550. They're all going to have their quirks. I haven't operated a Dillon first hand to see for sure what their quirks are.

 

[IndyGunworks]

Yes... the dillon will work with all manufacturers dies.... at least there are none out there that i know of that dont fit... i have rcbs dies... dillon dies.... lee dies.... and forester dies... and they all fit in the dillon with no problems.

 

[IndyGunworks]

You can do rifle cases on the rl 550b as well... and they make a case feeder for it now too.... i think the 650 is overall a little bit better but i was a bit nervous about the auto indexing after having tons of trouble with that feature on my lee loadmasters so i went with manual indexing... a tad slower but complete caliber conversions are cheaper.

I've already posted this in other threads but I wouldn't go with anything other than a Dillon 650 or a Hornady LNL. If you decide you want to upgrade with a casefeeder in the future, you can't do rifle cases on the 550. They're all going to have their quirks. I haven't operated a Dillon first hand to see for sure what their quirks are.

 

[hornadylnl]

You can do rifle cases on the rl 550b as well... and they make a case feeder for it now too.... i think the 650 is overall a little bit better but i was a bit nervous about the auto indexing after having tons of trouble with that feature on my lee loadmasters so i went with manual indexing... a tad slower but complete caliber conversions are cheaper.

Can you run rifle cases through a 550 case feeder now? Last I knew, the 550 case feeder would only do pistol. Maybe I wasn't clear enough on my earlier post. I know the press will do rifle but I believe the case feeder for a 550 won't.

 

[riverman67]

I haven't heard of the hornady lnl until now I will check it out
Indy joe I feel your pain on the primer situation

 

[IndyGunworks]

Can you run rifle cases through a 550 case feeder now? Last I knew, the 550 case feeder would only do pistol. Maybe I wasn't clear enough on my earlier post. I know the press will do rifle but I believe the case feeder for a 550 won't.

I am unsure about running rifle brass through the case feeder... I cant justify spending 300 dollars on a case feeder at the moment...

 

[IndyGunworks]

I haven't heard of the hornady lnl until now I will check it out
Indy joe I feel your pain on the primer situation

I havent heard much bad stuff about the hornady press at all, but you dont quite get the dillon lifetime NO QUESTIONS ASKED warranty.
I still reccomend the dillon, its worth the extra money..

and riverman67 i replyed to your email but i am not sure if you got it.

 

[BE Mike]

I have an RCBS Junior, Dillon 550B, and Dillon 650. I haven't had any serious problems with either Dillon. For fastest production rates, you can't beat the 650 if you have the optional case feeder. I keep my Dillon 550B set up for small primers and my 650 set up for large primers.

You will find that you will use your RCBS when you want to load precision rifle loads for long distances. It is also useful for loading small amounts of ammo when developing loads and is handy when you just want to do one operation like deprime or pull bullets.

 

[ntrngr]

I've owned or worked with at least 5 different presses. The only progressive done much with is an RCBS Green Machine. I keep it set up for 38 Special. (3 gr Super M Ballistite / 158gr Elmer Keith bullet). You can load tons of ammo with the progressive setups, for sure, but there are only a few that I've seen that work.

So far, a friend of mine has a Lee turret press with a progressive option. It just doesn't work well. It could be that its just worn out, but, even so, I think I could beat him with my Lyman Spartan. (...the Spartan is a single stage c-press much like yours) Its not a fair comparison since I've loaded 10s of thousands of 223s, 219 zippers,

Honestly, if you don't want to invest all that dough in a good progressive loader, I'd recommend a good turret press. I dang near wore out a Lyman All American. Its a 4 station turret. It saves you from having to screw the dies in and out. Though, I'll admit, this little Lee press that my friend has is set up with a turret plate you can change and he's got several plates with it. This means that you can set the dies and just drop all three dies in place. Its also got a "powder charge through the expander die" option. Saves even more time. Basically, you get a loaded shell in three strokes if the indexer is working well.

I've loaded too many by hand. If I have to handle them, I rather use a loading block. But, a Dillon or a Green Machine makes it nice.

...if you can *FIND* the *PRIMERS*!!!


-NR