What is the best press for quick change...

[astrawn]

Of calibers? I don’t mind buying extra powder parts or whatever is needed, just want to do quick changes to swap calibers.

Thanks!

Andrew

[Omega]

I like my Lee Turret press, the turret can be changed in seconds. There are other turrets out there and some with individual dies that have a quick release collet but I like my Lee. I use it as a single stage, it's just the way I reload, but it can be used as progressive if you like.

[Winger Ed.]

Probably a Dillon.

The Hornady LNL thing is good too,, after you buy a shoe box full of their bushings.

[Livin_cincy]

What Volume per hour do you desire ?

What Calibers do you plan to reload with it ?

How many rounds between caliber changes do you desire ?

[gpidaho]

For handgun rounds, I like my Lee Classic Turret. For rifle rounds larger than 300 Blackout I would recommend one of the Dillon machines. Gp

[tazman]

I agree with the Lee Classic Cast Turret press. I have turrets set up complete with powder measures for each pistol caliber I have. Caliber changes complete with primer and powder changes take less than 5 minutes per change and are VERY easily done.
I have turrets set up with the dies for each rifle caliber I have.
I run the pistol calibers in auto index mode and get 150 rounds per hour easily.
The rifle calibers get run in single stage mode and the powder gets dropped from a separate measure. Around 100 cartridges per hour depending on if the ammo is for blasting or precision. Most is run for precision, so is slightly slower. With three of the rifle calibers, I get sub MOA accuracy consistently. Two of them produce half MOA on calm days.
I have loaded rifle calibers up to 458 Win mag on this press. 223, 243, 308, and 30-06 are the most common.

[txbirdman]

I agree with the Lee Classic Cast Turret press. I have turrets set up complete with powder measures for each pistol caliber I have. Caliber changes complete with primer and powder changes take less than 5 minutes per change and are VERY easily done.
I have turrets set up with the dies for each rifle caliber I have.
I run the pistol calibers in auto index mode and get 150 rounds per hour easily.
The rifle calibers get run in single stage mode and the powder gets dropped from a separate measure. Around 100 cartridges per hour depending on if the ammo is for blasting or precision. Most is run for precision, so is slightly slower. With three of the rifle calibers, I get sub MOA accuracy consistently. Two of them produce half MOA on calm days.
I have loaded rifle calibers up to 458 Win mag on this press. 223, 243, 308, and 30-06 are the most common.

Same here. Love that press

[MrWolf]

I like my quick change stations on my Dillon 550. Pricey but very fast and everything is set just like you left it.

[1hole]

How long does it take to swap out screw-in dies in a single stage press? Even if die swaps could be done instantly (they can't) what might be gained in a typical reloading session? The answer is ... not much!

I've been reloading a very long time and I know there is nothing gained by locking dies in place with wrenches and pliers; in fact, many lock rings have simple knurling, that's a makers hint to not use pliers on dies because they know that hand tight is plenty tight. That means, if done right, we can easily unscrew, remove and replace dies in about 45 seconds each; way less than three minutes for a 3 die swap. In a 2-3 hour session, including one 3 die caliber swap, swapping dies eats less than 2 1/2 minutes so even instant changes wouldn't save anyone enough time to improve their lives.

Of course, reloading tool makers will happily make and sell us things like all the "quick-swap" die bushings that we're willing to buy. Me, I'm not buying time saving things that won't make a bit of difference in my life.

[dverna]

What Volume per hour do you desire ?

What Calibers do you plan to reload with it ?

How many rounds between caliber changes do you desire ?

Really good questions.

[Gtrubicon]

My Dillon 650 is pretty dang fast with caliber changes set up on separate tool heads

[1006]

I think it depends on how many rounds you want to produce of each caliber before changing over to the next caliber. If you are loading more than a hundred at a time: the Dillon 550 is hard to beat as an entry level machine for bulk reloading, and it is easy to change between calibers. I usually load between 500 and 3000 before changing calibers. I use a Dillon 650. Some guys will load 10,000 9mm or 223 at time on a Dillon 1050, and never change calibers.

[onelight]

I am another fan of the the Lee turret . For reloading multiple calibers in modest quantities it is my favorite press. It has a lot of nice features for such a simple piece of equipment. I have other presses but the LCT is so easy to switch calibers with the inexpensive turrets . No matter what other presses I have I will have the Lee also.

[jmorris]

Pretty hard to beat a co-ax.




What’s that, going through 3 different calibers with different rim diameters in 24 seconds.? Try that with anything else to see the difference.

[jmorris]

As far as progressives go, the 550 can be pretty quick too.

[DiverJay]

The absolute fastest way is to have a press for each caliber. It's interesting that the faster we go, the lazier we get. For each caliber I trim, I have a seperate toolhead with its own Dillon trimmer motor already set up and the trim die Loctite'd down. Lazy but it beats adjusting them each time.

[rbuck351]

With my co-ax I can change dies faster than I can move to another set up press. Take all of 2 or 3 seconds to switch dies but as was said the small amount of time to screw out and in another die is minor in how long it takes to load even 50 rounds.

Wow! What would it cost to buy and set up enough presses with tool heads, conversion sets, trimmers and everything to load the 40 or so different calibers I load for. Not to mention the bench space required for that many presses.

[David2011]

Of calibers? I don’t mind buying extra powder parts or whatever is needed, just want to do quick changes to swap calibers.

Thanks!

Andrew

Progressive or single stage? The most cost effective progressive is probably the Dillon 550. For a single stage a Rock Chucker with the Hornady LnL bushing system works very well.

[Kevin Rohrer]

The best quality press (which excludes those red boat anchors) to do quick changes? I never owned a Square Deal and can't comment on it, so will say the 550. I could change calibers (not including primer changes) in <10-seconds as I each caliber gets their own stand. The 750 has the same setup.

[jmorris]

so will say the 550. I could change calibers (not including primer changes) in <10-seconds...

That’s best case like above where the two rounds use common priming size and shell plate and only a tool head swap is required (with powder measure ready to go).

However 550 is also the fastest to convert primer sizes that I have used.