How do I know when Im ready for a progressive ?

[toooldtocare]

Ive loaded 600 rounds of 9mm today. 400 yesterday. Every thing hurts. Back, neck, shoulders, finger and even my butt. Im thinking of going to a progressive. Just to speed up things. Ive been reloading for about a year now. Ive managed to feed my addiction pretty well. Should I step up or just keep using the single stage. Just looking for opinions. thanks in advance guys

[Steel185]

Id say if you would be doing that amount of loading often you are ready. If this was a rare occasion you might be there, all depends on if you are ready to pay the extra cash. I loaded 400 45acp rounds in about 1.5 hours last weekend, while I was watching football and drinking a cold one.

Now you get to figure out which progressive is best for you....that's always fun.

P.s. maybe you need a better bench? If your all that hurts a progressive might not change much. I built a bench 45 inches high and its so much more confortable than my 36 inch high work bench. Worth a though at least, maybe get both?

[toooldtocare]

my table is 36 inches or so high. Chair sucks. But..Mother in law is moving in, so I am now allowed to close in the 26x14 carport and make it my gun room. So a new higher bench is in the works.

[LUBEDUDE]

Dude, you've paid your dues.

It's Time!

[williamwaco]

What counts is how much you shoot not how many you recently loaded.

I would say if you shoot more than 200 a week, you are ready. If that 1000 rounds will last you six months, you are not.


.

[toooldtocare]

Im loading for Me, my wife and my to sons. For every 1 box I load to shoot I try to load one to store. I guess its time.

[Oreo]

As someone who bought an LNL-AP as my first press and taught myself reloading on it, frankly the question seems a little silly to me. If you can afford the cost to upgrade and shoot enough to justify it (only you can answer those questions) then go for it and don't look back. Worst case scenario, Hornady and Dillon presses are easy to sell for very near what you'll pay retail so you aren't risking much.

I think too many timid old reloaders scare new reloaders away from progressives. Just take your time till you understand your new press well. The brain trust is here if you need help solving problems.

[Wal']

As someone who bought an LNL-AP as my first press and taught myself reloading on it, frankly the question seems a little silly to me. If you can afford the cost to upgrade and shoot enough to justify it (only you can answer those questions) then go for it and don't look back. Worst case scenario, Hornady and Dillon presses are easy to sell for very near what you'll pay retail so you aren't risking much.

I think too many timid old reloaders scare new reloaders away from progressives. Just take your time till you understand your new press well. The brain trust is here if you need help solving problems.

+1............ What he said.

[LUBEDUDE]

What counts is how much you shoot not how many you recently loaded.

I would say if you shoot more than 200 a week, you are ready. If that 1000 rounds will last you six months, you are not.


.

What does that have to do with sitting down and loading SIX HUNDRED ROUNDS in ONE day! and 1000 in Two days!

MY gosh, give the man a break and give him a progressive!

Unless he is Rain Man.

[toooldtocare]

I guess I should have asked it different. Is there any difference in setting up the dies? Any thing I should be concerned about?

[LUBEDUDE]

No difference.

Now you are just setting them up sequentially. And once you get each die loaded, each pull of the handle will feed each die, thus you will end up with a loaded round.
This means you must concentrate on the goings on of everything going on at the same time by sight, sound and feel.
You will go slow and easy at first. And as you get the feel for things, you will slowly speed up depending upon your confidence in yourself and your machine.
Then you will really be feeling good and wondering why you didn't do this much earlier.

[Kevin Rohrer]

If you are loading those amounts on a regular basis, it's time for a progressive.

Think blue.

[jmorris]

When you know that you and your eyeball are the only thing that makes a bad round.


Many progressive users like to blame faults on a machine.

If you would say a gas grill messed up your steaks, your not ready.

[toooldtocare]

I guess i will start shopping for a Dillon. Thanks Guys

[Oreo]

I guess I should have asked it different. Is there any difference in setting up the dies? Any thing I should be concerned about?

Yes, its different setting up in so far as you're setting up all the stages to operate concurrently. Setting up each die / stage / function is more or less the same. Powder drop might be different depending on how you were doing it before.

Saying more then that though begs the more important question: WHICH progressive.

I'm partial to the LNL-AP of course but the Dillon 650 is also a very nice press. I say stay away from manual-indexing presses though. They are way too easy to forget to rotate the shell plate and then double charge a case. Just my opinions.

[cheese1566]

You have learned the basics on a single stage, good job!

My advice is going to be how "big" do you want to get in the future?
Will you eventually want to include case collators and bullet feeders?
Keep that in mind when shopping for a press.

My advice and opinion would be to start basic and shy away from the cartridge and bullet feeders until you get a good feel and understanding of a progressive. A lot is going on in one stroke of the handle, let alone extra add on equipment.

I love my older RCBS progressive and Hornady ProJectors. I wonder sometimes if I am missing out on not being able to have those new goodies, but am very content on what I have. I am not out for high rate production. I like to take my time and make good quality ammo that I won't hesitate or question it's safety. Some snicker when I say it takes me 30-45 minutes to load 100 rounds of ammo.

Spend the $$$ on the best you can afford.

Buy a new press that will enable those bells and whistles in the future or look for a good used one that is older.
After using a progressive, you'll wonder how how managed with a single stage. (But keep that single stage on the bench!!!)

[C.F.Plinker]

Any thing I should be concerned about?

The number 1 thing is to get 1 and only 1 charge into each case. Rig up your lighting so you can see down into each and every case to make sure it is empty when it goes up into the powder drop and comes down with the correct level of powder in it.

If you are going to get the 650 think about getting the RCBS powder lock-out die for station 3.

[beex215]

you were ready when you started. i was fed up with single stage in a month or 2. just way too slow. 1 hour for one process. ill move on

[mdi]

Ifn ya gotta ask, you ain't ready...

[Dennis Eugene]

I'd take a good look at the Hornady before buying the Dillon. Dennis