What style press would you suggest ?

[ptt811]

Thanks all for your imput

 

[GetA2J]

My vote is for a Dillon 650XL because I bought that one after doing hours of research.
Just do NOT short yourself by settling for the Dillon Square Deal. It can get you into reloading very inexpensive (by Dillon Standards) and I'm sure they will work for a long time.
They will not load any rifle calibers and you will want or need to get another press altogether when you want to load for .223 or .308. I like what BigCraig said....

Buy once, Cry once.... Get a Dillon

As far as paying for itself in 4,000 rounds of .45acp I cannot completely agree with that statement. While it will cost you about as much as 4,000 rounds of .45 ACP In order to recoup the investment you have to Save that much money. Components will cost you about half as much as store bought ammo IF you keep your brass. With that it will take about 8,000 rounds to "pay" for itself but it really is a great investment.
That 8,000 rounds of .45ACP can be processed in about 8 to 10 hours also. So you could shoot a LOT more and not increase your time spent reloading one bit!

 

[ptt811]

I do enjoy sitting at the bench reloading....but I don't want to spend every night there !! I am leaning to a progressive press for now. ( I THINK ) ??

 

[NWIeng]

I do enjoy sitting at the bench reloading....but I don't want to spend every night there !! I am leaning to a progressive press for now. ( I THINK ) ??

I have never used anything other than a single stage press, I load mostly pistol calibers and probably load about 3000 rounds a year. I have been looking at the progressive automatic indexing turret press or going with a fully progressive press.
Now if I understand it right the auto indexing or manual indexing still require the same amount of strokes as the manual press I have. With the progressive type I will put out a loaded shell every stroke of the press. Now if I am right ??? Can some of you guys give me some input as to what type of press I could get the best use out of ??? I am getting by with my old single stage but I have a lot of time wrapped up on the stool in front of the press. Is the indexing style that much faster ????


Thanks

I'm going to second the recommendation of going towards a Turret press. I load about the same as you, about 2K-3K a year. With the turret press, I think you have the balance of still being able to spend a decent amount of time at the press and relaxing, but without burning through too quickly to take fun out of it.

My Lee 4 hole turret press has worked flawlessly, only thing needing replacing is the 50 cent plastic piece that wears out every 1000 rounds or so. It's a 30 second replacement job, and when you call Lee to explain what's gone wrong, they know EXACTLY what piece you're talking about, even if you don't have a part number from a schematic.

While I know Lee is lower end, for the price I think my breech lock and turret presses from them have been extremely good values.