Progressive Reloaders

[Lisa]

Need some advice on a progressive reloading system. I would like to purchase one for my husband and am at a bit of a loss. My understanding is that a progressive reloading machine will/can measure the powder, seed the primer and place the bullet. Can anyone recommend a particular brand of reloading equipment that is good or one that I should steer clear of?

 

[AC_Pilot]

I have a Hornady Pro-7 that has made 10s of thousands of reloads for me flawlessly. I have lost track I don't even know if the Pro 7 or a variant is still manufactured but you can't go wrong with Hornady or the other brands I list below!

What calibers does he want to reload? that's very important as not every press can reload a 600 Express

In presses one brand I would mostly avoid is Lee. They do make some valuable equipment but their presses tend to be on the flimsier side. I do have a Lee shotshell press that has performed admirably however, and one cheapie Lee single stage I use for depriming once fired brass for processing into combat worthy reloads.

Brands I would recommend:

Redding

RCBS

Hornady

Some may recommend Dillon but I once had a bad customer service problem with them and now I'm prejudiced. Maybe it was a fluke but I don't think so

I could sell you any of this gear but just so I don't get commercial here, this is another good discount source: http://www.natchezss.com/curFlier/t1.html

 

[Lisa]

He needs it to reload a .223, 30.06 rifles from what I understand.

 

[KenpoTex]

My dad and I used to use an RCBS and reloaded .223, .30-06, .41 mag, and .357 mag. It was a single stage (not a progressive) but was a high quality piece of equipment and if I remember correctly, the RCBS dies are slightly cheaper than the ones for some of the other types (Dillon, Hornady, etc.). Happy shopping (your husband's a lucky son of a gun, I'd love to have a progressive )

 

[AC_Pilot]

Any good standard progressive should be able to load the 30-06 round.. BTW the .223 case is a finicky little bugger to size properly, he'll have some frustrating moments.. tell him never to OVER lube .223 cases when sizing. It's tough to get .223 exactly right, especially for a .223 autoloader. But once you succeed it's wonderful to be out there acing a target with your reliable home-rolled steel penetrator or softpoint handloads I load my own 63 grain penetrator rounds for my .223s, (Mini 14s and AR15s) and have had great success (eventually) The 30-06 is a joy to reload, and handgun rounds are a piece of cake, relatively speaking. If he's looking to load military type 30-06, tell him about possible remaining supplies of the black tip WW2 AP bullets from this source: www.wideners.com Perfect load for a Garand rifle. You'll maybe find the .223 penetrators there also For hunting or other use softpoint loads I like the Hornady 150 grain boat tail softpoint. My military style rebarreled .308 (98) Mauser puts my handloads with this bullet into 1 MOA with iron sights. Military brass, same batch of brass, weighed and sorted for uniformity. Not kidding about the 1 MOA! Of course when it heats up the rounds start walking, that's the wood military stock..
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In addition to the press, he'll also need:

A powder/bullet scale.. these vary from a a simple sliding weight type to the really nice electronic-digital type, $$$ and convenience is the difference

Dies for each caliber. For auto pistol calibers and even some revolver loads I recommend a Lee taper crimp die for the final step

Lee or other primer cleaning tool (cheap)

Case trimmer. After a few firings (especially rifle cases) the overall length has grown due to case stretch. He'll need to measure OAL and trim to original specs. I have an RCBS trimmer and it's great

Micrometer, to measure case specs. Inexpensive plastic versions are available and do the job just fine.

Case mouth reamer. Make sure it's the type that can do up to .50 caliber, so it'll be the last one he'll need (cheap) This process is done after any sizing/trimming, and before the loading process

Lube pad and something like RCBS case lube, this is for rifle and some other bottlenecked cartridges

Case cleaner. Personally I prefer the rock tumbler type, using automatic dishwasher detergent and hot water. Yep. It leaves a matte finish on the brass, not nice and shiny, but it cleans very well inside and out, and is CHEAP with no "media" to replace. You simply rinse the brass in the sink when done, and shake them back and forth in a rolled up towel to dry, then lay them out on a dry towel overnight.You can also tumble rocks and such If he's not going to do a large quantity of rounds per session a small tumbler will do. I have a small and a very large tumbler. Large reloading operations sometimes use cement mixers with media

I like to deprime first using a cheap Lee single stage press and the unbreakable Lee depriming die, before sizing. Then I clean primer pockets, tumble the cases clean, trim to length, etc..Many deprimers have weak pins which regularly break.. if you go this route, note that steel pop rivets are your best source for replacement "pins"

Good reloading book such as the Hornady handbook of cartridge reloading, for charge weights and step by step help.

I had a welder buddy make me a sturdy steel reloading bench.. it's large, wonderful and immoveable and I'll never go back to another style of bench. I have stations for each process and my shotshell reloader in one corner, also. I store my brass and such under the open style bench, in large plastic jugs such as the kind find protein mix comes in.

 

[Lisa]

Thanks so much for such fantastic information. I was just coming home to post the question... what else will he need? and low and behold, it has alread been answered. I know that I could ask him but I wanted all of this to be a surprise so me all of a sudden being interested in reloading equipment and what exactly he needed would be pretty transparent that I was up to something. Usually when he talks about rifles, guns, ammo, etc. I get this glazed over look in my eyes

Me is gonna get some real big points for this if I can pull it off without a glitch

 

[AC_Pilot]

Feel free to ask any other questions you may have.. it's great to be able to share knowledge and help shooters and reloaders get set up..it will become a lifetime hobby that can be passed down to the children and grandchildren as well.
I'm sure he'll love a progressive press.. it'll also be a way to get him out of your hair for hours on end :uhyeah:

All the best,
Steve

 

[Lisa]

....I'm sure he'll love a progressive press.. it'll also be a way to get him out of your hair for hours on end :uhyeah:

All the best,
Steve

Oh now Steve, That would be the down side wouldn't it?

I really honestly have no alterior motive here at all, except to make him happy.:angel: :uhyeah:

 

[AC_Pilot]

Nalia,

I'm sure it will give hubby many hours of enjoyment, handloading to a real shootist is like a kid in a candy shop.. there's really no limit to what you can load, there are even setups to make your own bullets, and even more arcane loading secrets yet. Here's a great source for reloading tools and components: http://www.grafs.com/ I have bought a lot of supplies from them, great company..

Keep the coffee on and the groups tight

 

[psi_radar]

Need some advice on a progressive reloading system. I would like to purchase one for my husband and am at a bit of a loss. My understanding is that a progressive reloading machine will/can measure the powder, seed the primer and place the bullet. Can anyone recommend a particular brand of reloading equipment that is good or one that I should steer clear of?

You're bringing a tear to my eye! :ultracool

 

[Lisa]

You're bringing a tear to my eye! :ultracool

thanks psi_radar. Hopefully he will think the same way

 

[GAB]

Hi,

Not to be a wet blanket, but if your husband is not an avid shooter and has not done much reloading. He should get involved with a gun club and start out slow.

Lots of dough for some of these purchase's if you do the math and time involved you will be putting out a lot and never fired a round.

He needs to talk the walk and walk the talk, before he plunges into the complicated and very precise game of reloading. If he is shooting bolt actions and going for good groups and wants to be extra meticulous etc. etc.

There is an awfull lot of bulk ammo you can buy and fairly inexpensive, it would take years and years to recover the money involved in your purchases.

Buy him 500 rounds each and see what happens with them and all the cleaning and picking up of brass and in automatics the jambs and misfires etc.

I would suggest a good gun club membership or gift certificates etc.

Regards, Gary

 

[AC_Pilot]

Gab,

If he casts his own lead bullets and shoots even pistols quite a bit he can save the cost of the entire setup easily in one year... in a few years if he buys bulk bullets by the thousands, In addition he can make loads not commercially available.. and very inexpensive rifle rounds that are identical to super expensive match or hunting ammo. In becoming a reloader there is another advantage of learning more about ballistics, components, and the relationship of ammo to firearms, and the ability to make superior performing loads that function 100% in a fussy weapon..

 

[Lisa]

Gab,

Your not being a wet blanket at all. My husband has reloaded for himself in the past and has been an avid shooter of both rifle and pistol for many a year. He had equipment in the past but sold it off during tougher times in our lives and when he went into more small bore competitions and such. Now, he is re-entering into large bore competitions and with the cost of bullets etc. would like the opportunity to reload his own. I would just like to do him a big favor and surprise him with some good quality equipment to get things going. I have, however, over the past few weeks, been pondering the thought of a nice gift certificate which would allow him to get the things he needs for himself and save me the headache of understanding it all. However, a team mate of his has a line on some reloading equipment and is going to get back to me this week with the details. So, if that pans out and his buddy says the stuff is good quality, I may be purchasing it second hand. Are there any worries I should have about second hand stuff? Thanks for your input guys, I really appreciate it.

 

[GAB]

Hi,

It sounds like you are doing your homework, and have someone else helping that knows their stuff. If you can buy it right and it looks in good shape, go for it.

Get a good bill of sale and make sure the person you are buying from is legit.
Dr lic # and all that stuff. If you are buying powder etc. make sure you know the powder. start on the low end an go from there dealing with the seller and the powder to be loaded in the shell. Some like to use Magnum primers and others don't it all depends on the way the powder is burning.

Don't do it like I have done in the stock market, buy hi and sell low you need to buy it right to make it work.

If you are lucky you will find someone who just wants to get out of the game and unload some stuff. Sometimes it can be tricky with precision stuff but more then likely your friend will know and it will be fine. If you know about something ask the person who is selling it the question, and see what they say as an answer...If it goes along with what you know, fine, if not beware.

Good luck.

Regards, Gary

 

[AC_Pilot]

Nalia, Why not either get a written signed agreement that the gear is in full working order and a 30 day warranty? Or have your hubby go over there and reload some ammo with the owner to see if it actually is in good working order.? You can round out what you don't get at the sources I linked above.

 

[dmax999]

I have a Dillion, and it is absoutly great! Only have done pistol rounds with it so far though, so no advice on the rifle rounds there.

Also have a freinds Lee press, and agree with AC_Pilot, its a bit flimsy. I use it to deprime brass before putting them in a tumbler. Works fine for that use, but would probably hate using it for everything.