Wow making pistol ammo is way easier than making rifle ammo

[mapes]

So Dillon, Progressive and RCBS.

Actually progressive is a type of press. I have a Hornady. It is a quality machine. However it took some getting used to and fiddling to get it to go. One the reasons I got the Hornady is it came with 1200 bullets. Which was quite a deal.

Anways the type of presses are

Single stage, You process all of your brass through each stage. So I would take my 50 cases and resize all of them. Then change the die and seat a primer in all of them etc..

Turret press, You process completely each case. All of the dies are on a rotating selector. So you take a case and resize. The rotate to the primer seater, then put in powder, then rotate the dies to the bullet seater

Progressive press, This is what I have and it has the highest speed of production. For each stroke of the lever

1. Resizing and de-priming
2 Seating a primer
3 Charging (i.e. putting powder in)
4. Verifing powder depth (not necessary but I have a device that is a saftey measure that shows if I double charged a case)
5. Expanding case mount (if needed)
6. Seating a bullet.


Since I have the automatic case feeder between each stroke I place a bullet in the case. Rates of production are 250 rounds an hour for pistol and slightly slower for rifle (harder to resize a large case with a bottle neck).

[Duke{CLR}]

Since I have the automatic case feeder between each stroke I place a bullet in the case. Rates of production are 250 rounds an hour for pistol and slightly slower for rifle (harder to resize a large case with a bottle neck).

Does your case feeder handle rifle cartridges?

[mapes]

Does your case feeder handle rifle cartridges?

You betcha. Although there is some setup going between different sized cases. Mainly changing the size of the feeder wheel (thing that orientates the cases bottom down) in the hopper, the feed tube and the bottom end stuff that puts the shell into the shell plate

Here is my exact setup

YouTube - Hornady LNL AP Progressive Case Feeder Overview

[mapes]

Wow Duke thanks for making me look around for some vids. I found out there is an upgrade to my press to deal with a bullet ejection issue. My completed .40s weren't falling into the done hopper. Not a big deal really I just plucked them out by hand. However for 30 bucks they have a new updated system. Very cool!

[Duke{CLR}]

I'm glad that I could help. This hobby is just like all the otheres in that there is always a new gadget to get.

[DougBob]

Oh I like the Hornady progressive loader. Cabella's has it without the auto-feeder for $399 is that a good deal?

[Duke{CLR}]

Oh I like the Hornady progressive loader. Cabella's has it without the auto-feeder for $399 is that a good deal?

Does this come with a set of dies?

[Duke{CLR}]

Well I went ahead and priced out a Dillon with the bells and whistles that I would want and I came up with this bad boy. The one my father has is a bit cheaper and is the one I linked to several posts ago. With .223 ammo being so cheap it would take a long time for this thing to pay for itself so it would be for the hobby aspect of it. I would go with Dillon because my father has one and I could use his dies if I ever needed to reload other ammo. Fantasy shopping can be pretty fun.

XL 650
x1: $529.95
Caliber Type: .223/5.56mm - $0.00

XL 650 Casefeeder - 110 Volt XL 650 Casefeeder - 110 Volt
x1: $209.95
Casefeeder Size: Small Rifle (.204 Ruger, .223 and similar) - $209.95

Dillon Powder Check Dillon Powder Check
x1: $65.95


Dillon Strong Mounts XL650-only Dillon Strong Mounts
Price: $42.95
x1: $42.95

Dillon Aluminum Bullet Tray-for Square Deal, RL550 & XL650
x1: $37.95


Dillon Plastic Roller Handle Dillon Plastic Roller Handle
x1: $37.95

Dillon's XL 650 Toolholders XL 650 w/Wrench Set Dillon's XL 650 Toolholders XL 650 w/Wrench Set
x1: $26.95

Dillon Low Powder Sensor Dillon Low Powder Sensor
x1: $40.95

Dillon Carbide Rifle Dies (Individual & Three-Die Sets) Dillon Carbide Rifle Dies (Individual & Three-Die Sets)
x1: $110.95
Die Type: .223 Remington (size die only) - $110.95

Dillon Rifle Case Gages Dillon Rifle Case Gages
x1: $22.95
Dillon Rifle Case Gages: 223 Case Gage - $0.00

Dillon Primer Flip Tray Dillon Primer Flip Tray
x1: $16.95

Dillon RF 100 Sm. Primer Filler Dillon RF 100 Sm. Primer Filler
Stock #: 97111
Price: $294.95
x1: $294.95


Total Price: $1,438.40

[Apache Warrior]

You do not reload to save money. You reload to get better patterns.
Apache

[mapes]

You do not reload to save money. You reload to get better patterns.
Apache

Not necessarily true.

Yes if your reloading for bolt action rifle then you are reloading to optimize the the round to your rifle. You can control powder charge and bullet seating depth. For example I can make premium ammo that is tailor made for my bolt rifle at less than half the cost of store bought premium ammo. It won't work in another rifle however.

Reloading for auto and semi's you can control powder charge and to some extent bullet seating depth but, you have to be careful and make sure the round still feeds correctly.

If you reloading for pistol your reloading for cheapness. Unless your doing some type of old timey pistol or maybe revolver.


To be honest the Hornady LNL AP is a good press. There are a ton of reviews on it now. There were two issues with it.

One the ejector wire that pushes the round into the done hopper had issue with smaller rounds not my .308 though. Hornady has redesigned that part. All new presses have the upgrade and my 30$ upgrade part is on the way for me to upgrade my press

Two it seats primers on the downstroke. This is my main beef with the press. I had to fiddle with the press and my cycle speed to make sure the primer pickup actually picked up a primer. Nothing but, cleaning it, some sanding some rough machine surfaces and then making a positive feed weighted bar out of some brass rod to give the primers a little weight.


The stuff you'll need that is caliber specific and sold separately is

shell plate, It keeps the case on the press and moves it to the next station
Die set,

You'll also need stuff like lube, case blocks, a decent pair of calipers etc..


check out this page. Lots of good info

The Smallest Minority