Going progressive

[Jamieb]

I've been reloading 25 years on a RCBS rockchucker and still will use the rockchucker for most rifle rounds. I've been thinking of getting a progressive press for handgun and AR-15 but all the handloaders I know use a single stage press so I've never had a chance to put my hands on one. I found a used Dillon 550B for a real good price so bought it, set it up today.
I should have done this years ago. I'd spend hours and hours loading 45acp on my single stage, now I can load enough in a hour to shoot a month worth of bowling pin matches and practice.
Heres a little video of my 550B about 5 minutes into the first time I used it, I'm sure it will get faster as I get into a comfotable grove.

[300rum]

Like you, I started out on a single stage RCBS and then "graduated".  I just got done loading 1500 rounds this morning in no time.  Before it would have taken forever! 

[Wacenturion]

Looking good.  I just took a break from setting up my new Hornady L&L AP progressive press to go on line.  Going to be doing .45 ACP on it and some 9mm.

[Jamieb]

I did 600 45ACP today  , the only reason I didnt load more was I ran out of 45ACP brass. Tomorow I'll set it up for the .223 and load for the AR-15.
Loading on the 550B is stupid fast, now I'm thinking of loading for some of my varmint rifles on the Dillon.

[JimmyHoffa]

Now you'll have to task yourself with shooting all that ammo.
Have you seen the Ammo Plant from Hornady?

[Jamieb]

When I'm working down in the south sound and can make it to the Wed. night boling pin matches in Centalia, I shoot around 600 45ACP a month (matches and practice). I was having to load at least a couple of nights a week to keep up but now 2 hours a month will do it.

[Special T]

Whats the price break on a progressive verses single stage? I know you can get single stages used for good deals time to time, but i doubt you can get a progressive used.

[Jamieb]

Progressives are expensive but used do come along now and then, I've been watching out for a used Dillon 550B for years and just finaly got one. Used ones sell fast.

[Special T]

Is there anyone with a progressive in the skagit valley area? I like the idea of trying reloading, but with a family my time is somewhat limited. I would love to trade some helping time for some learning/reloading time.

[300rum]

Cabelas has the Hornady LNL AP on sale right now and they also have "free" shipping.  With the purchase you get 500 "free" bullets from Hornady.  I shoot primarily moly coated lead bullets, so I sold the bullets for around a $100.  Use your Cabelas card and you will shave off even more!  This is the least expensive way to get into a progressive. 

Whats the price break on a progressive verses single stage? I know you can get single stages used for good deals time to time, but i doubt you can get a progressive used.

[300rum]

I would suggest looking at some youtube videos.  Look up Hornady LNL or Dillon 650 and you will see everything that you need to set up dies and use the machine. 

Is there anyone with a progressive in the skagit valley area? I like the idea of trying reloading, but with a family my time is somewhat limited. I would love to trade some helping time for some learning/reloading time.

[Encore 280]

I do Cowboy Action Shooting and go thru a lot of ammo also. I've been using the Lee Load Master for a few years and it does a great job. Also have the Lee Pro 1000, Dillon Square Deal and then the Mec 9000 for shotgun. Every once inawhile they have a hicup like flip a primer but nothing serious. For my pistols and lever gun I use moly coated lead from Bear Creek in Calif., I ordor 2,000 at a time, I like 'em. I think the moly cuts down on leading. Progressive is the only way to go.

[Jekemi]

The Dillon guys (Blue Press) are somewhat religious about their Dillon's. They are expensive and suffer from too many idiosyncrasies to my liking. I think the Hornady progressive Lock N Load is the best machine out there; the best value. Mate it with the case feeder and bullet feeder and you have a virtual ammo factory. But at over $1,000 it's a bit steep for many folks.

Having said that: I like the Lee Loadmaster press, simply as a press it is well built and very solid. It has a good strong shell plate that is easy to remove. However, the rest of the Lee components on the Loadmaster are cheaply built, potentially dangerous, and somewhat unreliable. The only exception is the case feeder, which is still chintzy but works well. The negative on the case feeder is that it has a limited capacity and you must hand-rotate the tubes to continue feeding the cases. However, for the price (about $30 dollars) it does the job.

There are a couple things you can do to augment the Lee Loadmaster and make it more precise and reliable. One is to use the Hornady or RCBS motorized bullet feeder. Check out www.ultimatereloader.com for instructions on using the RCBS bullet feeder with the Lee Loadmaster. The feed tube fits right into the Lee removable die station and is easy to adjust. It loads bullets all day long without incident. The second modification is to use a Hornady case activated powder measure instead of the Lee disk-type powder measure. The Hornady case activated powder measure is solid, well built, and smooth. It’s a little expensive but the cost is worth it. It fits right into the aluminum Lee die station. It’s easy to adjust using the optional micrometer powder adjustment. Now you don’t have to fool around with the little chain, inaccurate disks, powder leakage, or any other Lee mechanism they use to dispense powder.

The worst offender of the Lee Loadmaster progressive  reloading system is the priming system. It is a multi-piece, cheap plastic, poorly designed mechanism. There are numerous reports of primers getting loaded sideways and exploding with nearly disastrous results. Lee even sells a primer explosion deflector so they are clearly aware of the problem.  I haven’t found a fix for this yet so you just need to be careful, make sure any burrs are removed from the plastic primer guide tubes, and check to see that a primer has been properly loaded. When it is set up correctly it works well but it still makes me nervous.

One way around the Lee Loadmaster Auto-primer is to prime your brass in a separate step using any single stage press. Deprime the brass and place it into an ultrasonic brass cleaner. Once it is clean and dry use your single stage press to resize the brass and re-prime. I believe this is the preferred method even though it is tedious for a 500 case run. If you use an ultrasonic brass cleaner you don’t have to worry about bits of tumbler media getting lodged in the primer pocket.

Since the brass is already deprimed, resized, and a new primer installed you don’t need a resizing die. Just fill the Lee case feeder tubes with clean, resized, and primed brass. In station one the pistol brass is flared and charged using the case activated Hornady powder measure. Station two feeds the bullets using the Hornady or RCBS bullet feeder. Station three uses the Hornady Powder Cop to test for proper powder level. Station four seats the bullet. Finally in Station 5 use the factory crimp die. Then the finished cartridge is pushed into the collection bin. 

For a little less than $600 you can have a sturdy progressive press with an automated bullet feeder, case feeder, and super-reliable powder measure that will enable you to reload 800 to 900 rounds per hour. It would be great if the Ultimate Reloader guys would build a ergo-roller handle for the Lee Loadmaster but the factory one from Lee works OK albeit a bit ergonomically deficient.

[h20hunter]

Just loaded up a few last night. I also load on a Dillon 550b...love it. Mine is not tempremental at all. I get it set up and it is dialed in. I don't need to make any adjustments and you can really knock 'em out. I make sure I go much slower than the press is capable of since I'm new at this. One or two more loading sessions and I'll be good for the next 6 months!

[Jamieb]

This weekend I'll realy put this thing to work, the .223 conversion kit showed up today. I'll see how long it takes to load up the 1500 .223 brass that I've stockpiled up.