Auto Progressive or Single

[Stone Cold]

I am starting to put together a list of equipment that I need to order to start reloading. I don't want to start with one reloader and decide that I need another type down the road.

My question is...........Does the Auto Progressive affect the consistency of the way the cartrige is reloaded good or bad? What is the good and bad of each type of reloader.

Thanks

start out with single stage. Trust me. You will get much more consistent loads, and seating depths. A freind of mine got this Lee 1000 progressive. He never loaded the first load in his life. He gave up trying to get it setup and gave it to me. The only way I was able to get it to work was my knowledge of doing it one step at a time with a single stage. I still have trouble with it with the priming. But without that initial knowlege of single stages, it is very difficult to start progressive loading without help from experienced people.

Then after you play with that for a few years, youmight want both as most people I know do. I load plinking semi auto handgun loads in a progressive and my accurate rifle loads on the single stage. I also load hunting 44 mag loads on the single stage also.

[Russ otten]

Used a Bonanza Co-Ax for 30+ years. Never had the desire to change. Loaded thousands of .38-357, just took a little time. Load about 10-20 rounds for my hunting rifles, most for sighting. Shoot only 2-4 times during deer season. This year I have one deer so far (one shot).

Russ

[Stone Cold]

From what I am gathering and what I was thinking is that unless I am planning on reloading a bunch of shells just go with the single.

My question is that the Rock Chucker is all people have been talking about. The kit is close to $400......the same as let's say a Hornady Progressive.

When you finish buying everything with the Progressive....sure you have spent a few hundred more but now you have a Progressive, incase you decide one day to turn out a bunch of shells.

I am looking for someone to tell me that there is something wrong with the Progressive....like it is not as consistant in loading or something to that nature so I can make up my mind. I am after consistency not quantity. Is there a difference in consistency in these two types of press'?

[handloader1]

Start with a single stage press till you obtain more handloading experence.

www.midwayusa.com has the RCBS Rock Chucker Supreme Master Kit (Product #646-599) for $249.98 + S&H.

www.grafs.com has the same kit (Product#RCBS09357) for $259.99 + $4.75 S&H. Good luck.

[Deleted User]

[Deleted by Admins]

[PaJack]

Single is the way to go,reloading is a hobby for me and I'm in no hurry...

[halcon]

I own both manual progressive and single stage presses at this time . I much prefer to use the single stage . I have also owned a few auto progressives and though they work great most of the time I wouldn't say any of them have been foolproof all of the time . They will turn out a lot of ammo but you have to rely upon a powder measure rather than checking each load individually . Kind of like factory ammo in my opinion.

[ktscontender]

ORIGINAL: Stone Cold

I am looking for someone to tell me that there is something wrong with the Progressive....like it is not as consistant in loading or something to that nature so I can make up my mind. I am after consistency not quantity. Is there a difference in consistency in these two types of press'?

I load quite a bit of ammo and 90% is on RCBS Special5 and Bonanza Co-Ax presses, shooting diffrent calibers in my contenders I'll only load 20-50 rnds for each one at any given time.
I also have an RCBS progressive, it can be switched to a manuel index but I have never used that feature. As far as consistency goes I'd say "Yes" there is a diffrence but, it depends on what powder your using with your loads.
For rifle ammo using an extruded or 'log' type powder the progressive just doesn't cut it in my book.
I like my charges perfect, and it is much easier to throw a charge in the scale pan and then trickle to the desired wieght rather than take the case out of the progressive, dump the powder into the pan, adjust the powder weight +-, pour back into the case, put back in the loader, seat bullet and do it all over again.
Now, if you want to use a ball type powder like I do with my pistol ammo, and some rifle,contender loads, and you shoot alot of it, then progressive is the way to go. I put the RCBS Micrometer adjustment on my powder thrower and then went to the trouble of weighing each charge on a batch of 500 9mm rounds. With no diviation in charge weight I was convinced.
Some people worry about 'double charges' being thrown and I say it is impossible to do, the press is 'progressive' meaning it rotates everytime you pull the handle. One would have to physically take the charged case out and reinsert back to the powder stage in order to get a double charge. I have a 'lock-out' die on my press for insurance, it detects 'over or short' loads and it will lock the press up if a double load or case that is empty goes thru it. With the loads I use a double charge can be detected because there will be powder rolling out of the case and all over the press/bench.
So in a nut shell, if you want to use 'ball type' powders for your loads (or, don't care if the charges are perfect using extruded powders) and shoot alot, the progresive would be the way to go. I personally don't use my progressive unless I'm going to load 500+ rounds of ammo. (After the 1st few 100rnds the progressive is very boring)
If your only going to be loading 20-100 rounds of ammo for any given caliber then the single stage is the way to go, you won't notice any diffrence in the time it takes to set up and load that many rounds no matter what powder you use.
Kind of long winded but I hope it helps.
Wes