best reloading press for beginners

[kmw1954]

A single stage press forces you to repeat each function every time you set up a die, it forces you to look at your mistakes one at a time when you remove them by hand, and it forces you to go through this process over and over and over. .

This is very true and instills good habits. At the same time I am transitioning from a Lee Pro1000 progressive press that has 3 positions to a Auto Beech Lock Pro progressive press that has four positions and in the 3rd position I have a tube type bullet feeder installed. One of the things I am finding is that the habits I built using with the old press have forced me to a new set of movements and adjustments to the way I operate this press. A change of habits as it were. So once again I have to build a new set of habits and movements. All of which has caused me to slow down and pay closer attention to each step, each position, each tool. Not quite as seamless as some may think moving from one press to the other.

[robg]

When you start keep it simple you can always upgrade your equipment when you have some experience. Better to catch an error in a few cartridges than several hundred!

[abunaitoo]

First time trying reloading?????
Start with a single stage bench press.
If first time, look for the cheapest press you can find.
Gunshow in your area???
Better yet, borrow one if you can.

I've met a few people that wanted to start reloading, bought new expensive stuff, only to learn that it's not for them.
Sold it for a big loss, or have it rusting away someplace.

The cheap LEE press, is not all that cheap anymore. But can be found used at shows sometimes.
I have four of them. Had more, but sold or gave them away to guys learning reloading.
They come in handy for depriming, powder drops, flaring the necks, and other things.
Not real heavy duty, but for pistol, it's good enough.

Learn on it, then you'll get a better idea on what works for you.
A turret would be the next choice.
Load faster, but a little more chance of mistakes.
Progressive is a whole new learning curve.
I never recommend a progressive for first timers.
To much to go wrong.

[Prairie Cowboy]

Personally, I also agree with getting a single stage press first. Remember that old saying: "It's not a race."
A single stage press will always be useful, and if it's cast iron, it will never wear out.
Personally, I enjoy performing each stage of reloading one step at a time, and changing a die only takes a minute. Quick change dies make little sense to me.
Using a turret press still requires a separate press stroke for each operation, although case handling is reduced a bit.
And, with a press-mounted powder measure activated on the mouth belling stroke, a little more time is saved.
Really, it all depends on how many rounds a week that you intend to reload.
While some people run through 500 rounds a week, others may only visit the range once or twice a month and go through 400 rounds or less per month.
The RCBS Rock Chucker is constantly recommended, and it's a very common and very good press.
Not often mentioned is the Redding Big Boss 2 press, which is in my opinion a better one. I own one and really like it.
That's my recommendation.
I have owned and used an RCBS JR3 since 1973, and it will outlive me, as will the Redding.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I love it when this topic comes up. Everybody piles on with their idea of the best single stage press, and I could do the same as I consider my BPM Hand Press to be the best there is.

However,,, I started in 1971 with a Lee Loader in .243 which I still have. A few years later after I got out of the USAF I got a .44 mag pistol and a Lee loader for it as well. Gave that one away like an idiot cuz the guy I gave it to just let a friend steal his gun and the tool as well.

If a guy is just wanting to get into reloading, he doesn't know if he'll want to stick with it or not. A Lee Loader will load good quality ammo, certainly as good as anything he'd make with a Single stage press with all the fixin's. But the Lee Loader will teach what the steps are in the simplest way possible, and understanding the fundamentals is the basis for all future trips into reloading. A guy can get up and running $35 and be very well equipped for $100. This is within the reach of just about any shooter.

Also the real up side is if he decides he doesn't want to pursue the hobby he can easily get his money back by selling the tool. Of all Reloading Tools the Lee Loader is by far the easiest to resell.

Don't forget that a Lee Loader can, with practice, load just as fast as a single stage press, and the finished ammo will be as good or better than anything you can make with any single stage press.

So that's my .02 and I am sticking to it.

Randy

[David2011]

The Dillon 550 is a pseudo progressive / turret since you must manually index them. It is a time tested & proven design.

While it is a time tested and proven design it is not at all a turret. A turret press holds a single cartridge and does a single operation on it at a time. The dies are moved into place over the single cartridge so it can be loaded without being removed from the press.

The Dillon 550 has a rotating shellholder that holds four cartridges at a time and puts a cartridge under each die. Three or 4 separate operations are done on those cartridges simultaneously. Once all the positions are full a loaded round is produced with every stroke of the lever. It has nothing to do with auto or manual indexing. I have heard of people loading a single round at a time using the multiple positions before starting the next round but that is not how the machine was designed to be used.

[Three44s]

A single stage press is the simplest press to start with. The Lee hand dies may be the cheapest non press system per one cartridge to hand load but you have to drive the just sized case back out of it. With a press you just reverse the direction of the handle to extract the casing, much better in my opinion.

There are very few handloaders that have moved on to turrets or progressive presses that do not have a single stage for back up or one off jobs. I spent my first 30+ years behind a RCBS Jr. press before I ventured into a Lee Classic Cast turret. I have a Hornady LNL progressive but it mostly sits, it’s more for political insurance!

A Redding Boss is currently my mainstay (compound single stage).

There are many folks that got their feet wet in handloading only to give it up and let their equipment gather dust, why have a large investment go to waste? Why confound a beginner loader with more complex machinery too soon that might just be the final straw in alienating them in the first place?

Three44s

[mortyg]

Like many here I started out with a 310. It was "the" learning experience. Slow but thorough. You learn by doing and feeling the whole process. Moved on to an RCBS JR3 1974 which I still have and use. Though I have a few larger presses and a 1050 NIB (political insurance, well put 444). It is the single stage presses that do the work. I just line them up and use them in line, alot of shellholders.

[Barr]

I actually recommend a Lee Hand Press. Its not the very best press but they can get a taste of reloading for $50 and it can always be used later for simple case prep or field loading.

[1hole]

First, Lee's tools are NOT cheep. They ARE less expensive tools than other brands because Lee's designs put their main effort is on the functional things that matter to low volume loaders, not the meaningless fluffy stuff that enthralls so many people. And no current "O" type single stage press is any stronger or better built than Lee's Classic Cast.

Next, those of us who are avid reloaders get far more wrapped up in what we need than maybe 95% of the rest of the world needs. So, unhappily, new aspiring new loaders usually get lot's of well meaning "advice" from people who's needs are far removed from what the vast majority of noobs will ever need. I prefer to use my experience to guide tentative noobs into wise choices for their needs, not my choices for my needs.

Last, anyone who gets infatuated with any brand of anything simply has too little experience with other brands. Fact is, they all work and any press, dies, etc. that look nearly the same will perform exactly the same if they are properly used.

Dies matter but NO brand has any better average claim to "higher" precision than others. It's our dies that make our ammo, presses are very simple tools made to push cases and bullets into and out of the dies. ALL of our die makers adhere to SAAMI specifications and that's a dimensional range, not a specific dimension. I have found as much tolerance variation between individual dies of the same brand as between brands and that includes Lee's. And every other brand but Dillon; that lack is by chance, not choice.

NOTE: Lee's little hand press is designed for a narrow range of users, it's particularly good for the range for those willing to put up with its limits but it's too clumsy to be a good choice for noobs.

However, Lee has a little compound linkage single stage, their "Reloader", selling at the same price and with the same basic design as the hand press but it's bench mounted so it's MUCH more user friendly. And, while the small hand and Reloader's are obviously not chunks of cast iron, both are much stronger than their sometimes vocal critics seem to think. I have both of the little Lee's and like them both for what they are but they are not my prime presses. However, they both work and I've had no problem FL sizing properly lubed cases as large as .300 mag with them.

[waco]

Just my two cents but I think it's best for a new reloader to learn on a single stage press. So much easier to wrap your head around doing one thing at a time. You can always upgrade to a progressive down the road. You will want a good SS press on your bench anyway.

Cry once, buy once. Get an RCBS RockChucker and be done with it. Only SS press you'll ever have to buy.

[EDG]

>>ALL of our die makers adhere to SAAMI specifications and that's a dimensional range, not a specific dimension. <<
This is not really true. First to make things really clear there are no SAAMI standards for dies. There are only SAAMI standards for ammunition and for chambers.

If you measure the shoulder location to the head of a lot of dies you will find a few brands cheat toward the long side and actually make the dies about .002 too long. This in turn means that the cases come out of the dies a little long even when the FL die is set down hard against the shell holder. But then few rifles are manufactured right on the lower limit of head space so everything still works and probably works better due to the fudge factor in the die.

[gbehrman]

Start with a Rockchucker is the one you will always have a use for even if you upgrade later. There is a lot to learn as has been said, but it is easier to get it right with a Rockchucker

[RogerDat]

The Lee Classic Turret with a 10 second removal of the square indexing rod becomes a single stage press. With turret disks to hold the dies in correct adjustment for quick drop in of the turret disk with the dies required. Saves you set up time every time you reload.

Later as proficiency grows one can add an on the die powder dispenser, drop that auto indexing rod you removed for single stage operation back in and crank out pistol rounds in larger volumes.

I have used the LCT to reform 30-06 brass to 8mm mauser so I consider it a solid and sturdy piece of equipment. It can provide faster output using the auto indexing rod to auto rotate the dies allowing it to be used for producing larger quantities of loaded ammo for auto loading rifles, or pistols, as well as large brass one at a time for bolt action rifles etc.

LCT has a good selection of additional devices for powder dispensing on the press and the primer dispenser for on the press has been very useful and I find it easy to use.

I also keep assorted "special" dies on a turret disk. Such as those for universal depriming, forming 30-06 to other calibers, and a tapered expander to round the mouths of brass that was crushed using the expander.

The function of a single stage while learning, the productivity of a turret later when skills have grown in a solid piece of equipment at a good price.

[onelight]

The Lee Classic Turret with a 10 second removal of the square indexing rod becomes a single stage press. With turret disks to hold the dies in correct adjustment for quick drop in of the turret disk with the dies required. Saves you set up time every time you reload.

Later as proficiency grows one can add an on the die powder dispenser, drop that auto indexing rod you removed for single stage operation back in and crank out pistol rounds in larger volumes.

I have used the LCT to reform 30-06 brass to 8mm mauser so I consider it a solid and sturdy piece of equipment. It can provide faster output using the auto indexing rod to auto rotate the dies allowing it to be used for producing larger quantities of loaded ammo for auto loading rifles, or pistols, as well as large brass one at a time for bolt action rifles etc.

LCT has a good selection of additional devices for powder dispensing on the press and the primer dispenser for on the press has been very useful and I find it easy to use.

I also keep assorted "special" dies on a turret disk. Such as those for universal depriming, forming 30-06 to other calibers, and a tapered expander to round the mouths of brass that was crushed using the expander.

The function of a single stage while learning, the productivity of a turret later when skills have grown in a solid piece of equipment at a good price.

What he said.. and it has the cleanest depriming system of any press I have used ,
and cost less than many popular single station pressses. I have 2 single stage presses
that get no use.
If you are not making bullets or reforming big cases it is in a class of its own for low volume loading and simple operation...
now the secret is out everybody knows I like it.

[1hole]

Cry once, buy once. Get an RCBS RockChucker and be done with it. Only SS press you'll ever have to buy.

I agree that no one who takes care of a Chucker is very unlikely to ever need another. I got my RC II about 1992 and it's still as good as new - or better because it is now smooth as an oiled baby's butt.

But - and, no offense intended, I just have to ask this - "How is a RC in anyway better than a big 'O' press from Lee, Redding, Hornady?"

Fact is, IF I had to replace my old RC II tomorrow I'd get a Lee Classic Cast, not for the cost but because I feel it is as strong as any and it has the best user features of any "O" press on the market.


EDG: Good catch. You are correct that SAAMI specs only apply to chamber and FL sizer internals, not the die's outside features/dimensions nor anything at all about seaters. That was what I meant but was a bit too tired when I wrote to see how the way I put it was misleading.

Help me! Over the last 50 years I've measured chamber casts for 40+ FL dies and maybe half that many chambers but I've never measured headspace (length) because I can't figure out how to do it. HOW do you measure dies/chambers leaning 2 thou, more or less, by brand?

[EDG]

Quote

Help me! Over the last 50 years I've measured chamber casts for 40+ FL dies and maybe half that many chambers but I've never measured headspace (length) because I can't figure out how to do it. HOW do you measure dies/chambers leaning 2 thou, more or less, by brand?[/QUOTE]

There are 2 ways to measure the length of a die interior.

1. Most expensive- use a gunsmith headspace gauge. The length of the gauge is known. Then measure how far it protrudes out of the die.
More than .125 protrusion means the die is short by the difference.
Less than .125 protrusion means the die is long by the difference.
I have used this method to double check method 2 below.

2. Take a case with the same size or slightly smaller head diameter but longer shoulder length.
Example a .30-06 case can be used for 8x57, 7X57 or even 6.5X55.
Pick out a shell holder that is exactly .125 deep.
Remove ecpander assy from FL sizer die.
Size your longer case with the shell holder hard against the bottom of the die. Rotate the cdie.and size again. Relube the case and size several more times slowly. Let the case dwell at the top of each ram stroke for about 4 or 5 seconds. After you are satisfied the case shoulder cannot be pushed back any more remove your case.
Use a Hornady case gage attached to your calipers.
Pick out the correct bushing.
Use a gun smith headspace gage for that caliber and shoulder angle.
Use the gage to set the calipers so they read the same value as the gage length.
Measure your FL sized case.
Your case will be the same length as the die.
Your case will be equal to the shortest possible length that can be produced by your die.

[frkelly74]

Well it looks like everyone has chimed in already and I did not read all the posts...... But if you are near Kalamazoo, go to On Target out on West Main west of the 131 expressway. They have used RCBS and other presses piled up on the floor and you can probably get a good buy on one. Used dies also and all kinds of components, some cheap, some not. Rock Chuckers last "forever" .

[44magLeo]

I am in the single stage press group.
With a bit of shopping around you can fine a good used press for not a lot of cash.
Same with dies and other tooling.
A reloading manual should be the first thing to get. You can find them used to.
A press, dies, and a set of Lee powder scoops can get you started. Stick with starting to mid loads and you will be fine.
Once you get the basics down you will find you either don't like loading or you do. If you do then expanding on your tooling is the next step.
Adding a powder scale, powder measure and some measuring tools, dial caliper and 0-1" micrometer. One with a digital readout on it, adding things like case trimmer, bullet pullers ect, ect.
You can go as far as your income allows.
Leo

[1hole]

.... 1. Most expensive- use a gunsmith headspace gauge. The length of the gauge is known. Then measure how far it protrudes out of the die.
More than .125 protrusion means the die is short by the difference.
Less than .125 protrusion means the die is long by the difference.

Okay, I see your principle. But I lack a micrometer depth gage and doubt my ability to consistently take that measurement to an accuracy of +/- 2 thou with my 6" caliper. Given that shell holder depths vary that much, and so did the one go/no-go headspace gage set I ever tried, I still wouldn't have much faith in the precise accuracy of that method in my hands.

Since, IMHO, the major advantage of handloading is our opportunity to actually make custom ammo. We - as a group - have to live with whatever diameters our dies may have but we have near total control over our sized case length (i.e., "headspace") so I do that.

Both the RCBS "Precision Case Mic" and Hornady's kit that uses our calipers allow us to precisely make any headspace length in our ammo we wish. So, for decades, I've not given a care about what length my FL sizers (or rifle chambers) actually are because I'm going to make ammo that properly fits my individual chambers anyway.

I've never had good sporting rifle accuracy with crush fit or neck sized ammo. Therefore, given the normal variations in individual case springback, I bump size to insure my longest cases will have a couple thou of "slop" in the chamber.

FL sizing (bottle neck) cases that way gives good accuracy AND makes them last a looong time with little concern about head separations. In fact, my cases always die with split necks. Been loading since '65 and have NEVER had a case failure by head separation!

(Okay guys, I know this case measurement conversation is off topic but the original question has been well answered and we're speaking to a new guy who can surely benefit in knowing a bit about how others USE their favorite presses!)