Selecting a Press
 

I was reading into different kinds of presses and was over whelmed by all the different kinds of units, hand press, bench press, turret press and so forth. From what I have read I believe that the Turret design would probably be best for me but I was wondering if i should just get a press and get all the other things seperate or should I just by one of the Deluxe Kits offered online. I dont want to spend too much money, but I understand its an investment so what do you think?

what kind of "deluxe Press Kit" would you recommend for some one who will eventually load 6 or so different calibers... and also 12g shells?

What companies/designs do you like? which would you advise against?

what are some of your setups?

just eager to know as much as possible... thank in advanced everyone

RE: Selecting a Press
 

The LEE is the least expensive Kit and has most of the basics to get you going and will give good results .
IMO personaly I prefer RCBS its about twice the money for the same tools butyour grand kids will still be using them .
Add a case trimmer and a tumbler to either of the above and your off .
MECisa fine product for shotgunning and have about all the gadgets one could ask for . if you are loading more than 1 ga get a press for both it's worth it .

RE: Selecting a Press
 

Badger, presses for rifles and pistols come infour flavors. The "C" press. The "O" press. The Turret Press. And the "Progressive."

The C press is the cheapest, is easy to use and will work reasonably well on most cartridges. It's main problem is it's not very strong. If you consider the C.......you realize one side of the thing is open and unsupported. This allows the press to do a lot of flexing even if it's built of good steel. A reloading press generates many thousands of ft lb of force when resizing cases. The "O" press costs more but as you can see almost totally eliminates any flexing...although there is some give even with the "O" design, believe it or not.

The Turret press is a glorified version of the C. It's not particularly strong, plus it adds the additional "slop" of a revolving head. It's only advantage is it's a little bit faster...but very little.

The progressive presses today are variations of the "O" design. Basically a big "O" press with all the dies mounted above and it's the shell plate below that revolves. These are good solid presses and considerably faster than all the above. And they build as good a ammunition as any of the above. But the progressive has some serious drawbacks as well. First, they are much more expensive. Secondly, they can be tedious to set up or adjust most things. Thirdly, they aren't versatile. Because of the commotion involved with setting them up and adjusting things, they are NOT a press for the experimenter or guy who likes to continually try different combinations of bullets, powders, etc. A progressive press is for the guy who wants to make one thing and make lots of them.

For anyone starting out reloading, ask yourself how serious are you about guns, hunting and reloading. If you just want to try it and dip your toe in the water, get the cheapest Lee "C" press. They will work fine starting out and you can likely sell it later if you really get into reloading.

If you are seriously a gun nut and hunter, I suggest you get a good "O" press...........the RCBS RockChucker is probably the most popular. It's very strong and you won't live long enough to do it any harm or wear it out. A turret press really offers no significant advantage to anything.

I would NOT start out with a progressive press. The vast majority of all reloaders get a good "O" press and live happily ever after.

Hope this helps.

RE: Selecting a Press
 

My reccomendations:

If you want a single stage press that will handle anything that you can throw at it for pistol or rifle reloading: Lee Classic Cast press- they run around $75. RCBS, Lyman, and Redding offer pretty much the same press with the same features for 2-3x the price.

Turret: Lee classic cast turret. Its a very strong press based on the Lee Classic Cast press. It has auto-indexing so that you can reloadd in a semi-automated fashion unlike other turret presses that are pretty much a single stage press that holds several dies.

I completely disagree about this other than the standard 'old' Lee turret press wasn't the strongest and isn't the best for rifle reloading. Reloading with an auto-indexing turret is very fast- I can and have reloaded 100 rds of 30-06 in an hour- and these were cast loads where there is an extra case mouth belling step and extra care has to be taken with handling the bullets.
The 'slop' is not an issue if the dies are set correctly. If you set the dies up so that all of the 'slop' is taken up at the top of the upstroke, everything will be perfectly aligned- there is an advantage to this as unless you use a perfectly machined die set up perfectly square to your ram, something is going to be forced out of alignment in a rigid setup. People curse Lee for using their O-ring lock rings and 'sloppy' turrets, but they serve a purpose towards self alignment of the tools as a case is pushed into a die and just as importantly as its pulled back out. The only big improvements that can be made is to throw away the spring clip that retains theshell holder and replace that with a o-ring, and place an o-ring under the expander ball locknut on a resizing die- which I do both on my sizing dies and presses.

RE: Selecting a Press
 

RCBS Rockchucker. You will never wear it out, and it has the strengthto reform brass to different calibers if you desire. IMO it is the strongest and sturdiest of them all. There is no aggrivation with setting it up, and once set, nothing moves besides your arm. Have fun. I know that I do.

RE: Selecting a Press
 

I second what Briman said. The Lee Classic Cast press is the way to go if you decide to start out with a single stage press. I was told to go the single stage route as well when I started out. I have one it it is bomb-proof. I reload 22-250 the most and it does the job perfectly. I do reload 25-06 and 7mm Rem Mag and it handles the long cartridges just as easy. You can getstep up to the Lyman Crusher or Redding Boss cast single stage press but they are anywhere from$30-$50 more in price at least. Just my 2 cents worth.

RE: Selecting a Press
 

thanks for the advice guys i appreciate it :)

RE: Selecting a Press
 

Badger, looking at presses in a store is one thing. They all work about the same and thebiggest difference seems to be the price. Where you will notice a big difference is in actually working with them. A solid "O" type press like the Rockchucker takes noticeably LESS effort to do everything simply because of the strengh and compoundleverage built into the design.

But any of the above will build you some good ammo. I would never imply otherwise. It is going to boil down to how much you want to spend and your personal preferences. Best option would be to play with several different presses and see how each feel to you.

Welcome to reloading. Follow the rules and pay attention and you'll have a great time.:)

RE: Selecting a Press
 

As stated elsewhere, I would go with an "O" style press. More accurate and stronger and not really any slower to use than a "C" type press because there is more clearance around the ram on the "O" press.

Unless you are going to load huge volumes of shotshells at one time, you can't go wrong with a Mec 600 or a 650 progressive. Both will last you a lifetime with a little care.

Most important, buy loading manuals from different powder manufacturers. Lee puts out a good one, as does Hodgdon. Don't use anyones "miracle home brewed load" and you'll be safe. Enjoy!!

RE: Selecting a Press
 

I would go with the lyman turret press.I have used mine for years now.

You can add extra turrets and have things all set to load another

caliber...

RE: Selecting a Press
 

well speaking of turrets, how many diesdo you all use on your presses?

there the resizing- die (full length and/or neck)
theres the powdercharging die
the seating die
and the crimping die
...

Ive seen some presses with a single die, other with a pair of die other with turrets of 3, 4 and 6. what is the point of a 6 die turret what other dies are there that you would recommend? I know that you explained the difference between the presses and I realize the difference between a regular and a progressive press but its the dies that I would like to know more about.
You usually find them in kits of 2 or 3 but how many other kinds are there and how many and which do you all use?

thanks... glad to be aboard :-)
hope i dont drive you all crazy with my newb questions

RE: Selecting a Press
 

With out starting any arguments all I'm going to say is I have a Lee progresisve press, a Dillion progressive press and a RCBS Single Stage if your going to load a littleSingle, fairly often Turret, all the time Progressive, as far as equipment you get what you pay forBUT what will cause the arguments is this statement, The Lee equipment is built two-three times stronger than you will ever need, Dillion,RCBS, Redding etc is built 12-18times stronger than you will ever need that is your price difference, I look at each item and buy the one you like best and don't think it all has to be the same color!! Good Luck

RE: Selecting a Press
 

If loading pistols get all four dies and make sure they are carbide if loading rifles you may want a full length sizing die or only a neck sizing (collet die) if you prefer to fire form your brass, and the other three, you may not need the crimp die depending on what your loading but some believe you will get more accurate ammo if you crimp....

RE: Selecting a Press
 

Badger, Bigpappa makes some good point about the dies. Rifle die sets are traditionally a 2 die set. One does all the sizing and the other all the seating. Pistol dies are traditionally a 3 die set because you need to bell the case mouth prior to seating the bullet. But do yourself and get a 4 die set that includes a Carbide sizing die. These are so hard and slick that you can almost eliminate having to mess with lubing the cases. This saves a lot of slop.

It might help us help you if you told us what cartridges you plan to start reloading for. Some cartridges have different needs or quirks that others don't have.

RE: Selecting a Press
 

i have a lee classic turret press. i love it. it's inexpensive and does a fine job. :)

RE: Selecting a Press
 

I have a turret press and I like it when I am loading for pistol and such cartridges where I am not interested in the most accuracy I can get from my rig. There is always going to be a little bit of play in the turret press.

If you do not have a single stage press then that is the one I would buy first. You can not beat their strength. The Lyman Orange Crusher, or the RockChucker are the best IMO. They are both basically the same press. Go to the Lyman web site and the RCBS web site. A lot of times they will sell presses with blemishes for a discounted price. I just bought a new Lyman for $60. It was a steal. I can not find a thing wrong with it.

If I were you I would not buy a kit. I would buy each piece, and get the best you can afford each time you purchase an item. The most important thing you can buy is 3 or 4 manuals. Tom.

RE: Selecting a Press
 

Ditto what Tom said. A lot of stuff they put in kits today is crap. And I never load anything without consulting at least two different reloading manuals to get a "feel" for how a powder/bullet combination perform together. Nosler and Speer are my favorite manuals. Sierra is a good one as is Lyman. The rest I'm not so sure of.

RE: Selecting a Press
 

I have found the Lee manual to be accurate...at least so far. I also buy the powder manufacturer manuals..Hodgdon for one. It gives bullet choices by weight, and occasionally by manufacturer. There tends to be more loads per cartridge listed compared to the bullet manufacturer manuals. YMMV

RE: Selecting a Press
 

The Lee that I use has 4-hole turret heads.
For rifle I use a Sizing DIe, A powder charging die (A Lee Perfect or Disc measure sits on top of the die) and a seating die. For reloading for the AR-15, I add a factory crimp die, with cast rifle loads I have either a Lee neck flairing die or a Lyman M die to bell the case mouth before the bullet seating die. All other rifle setups have 1 empty hole which with one extra pull of the laver indexes past it and back to the sizing die. I leave the dies permanently set in the turrets- you simply tist the turret about 1/8 turn or so, pull it out, store it in a turret box, then snap the next one in and you're pretty much ready to reload a different cartridge (You might have to change the primers or change the powder measure- I just keep an extra Lee disc measure on the .45 acp turret, since they are cheap enough.

For pistol, I set it up with a carbide sizer, powder-through charging/flairing die, seating die, then taper crimp die.


There are older 3-hole turret presses made by lee that also had 3 holes that were meant for reloading .223 or 7.62x39. They aren't worth buying- for $20 or so more, you can get the cast Turret press which is infinately better.

Lyman and Redding make presses with up to 7 holes in the turret. These are ok if you just want the convenience of reloading for 1 or 2 different rifle cartridges and don't want to bother with setting up dies every time. Extra turrets cost upwards of $40, where extra Lee turrets cost about $10 each.

RE: Selecting a Press
 

Here's a good and fairly technical review of the Lee Turret press.
http://www.realguns.com/archives/122.htm

Turret press videos from Lee

http://www.leeprecision.com/html/HelpVideos/videos/Turret%20Press/loading%2045%20case-1.wmv
http://www.leeprecision.com/html/HelpVideos/videos/Turret%20Press/loading%20on%20turret-1.wmv

I wouldn't be such a cheerleader for this press unless I thought it was just plain incredible. These things cost under $100 and are better than any similar product made by RCBS, Redding, or Lyman at many times the price. If these were designed by someone else and had a green or orange paint job, they would be selling these for $300 and would probably selling nearly as many as LEE is. Unfortunately LEE has a reputation of making cheap products, a few of which are poorly executed which makes people shun the company. I personally never had much of a positive view of LEE equipment until I started using Lee dies for obscure calibers that would cost me $100 or more to buy tools from RCBS for. Ther classic turret press might be by far their best design and implementation of a product yet.

RE: Selecting a Press
 

Briman, I'm a big RCBS fan but let me say this about Lee products. First, I've got a few sets of Lee dies and some of his more specialized gadgets. All of them work pretty good. Some of Lee's accessories are almost genius and a few I never load anything without using.

I for one think Lee products are good and worth the money. The only criticism I can offer against his presses is their strength. Many of his presses are pretty light in every department...which is not to say a guy can't build good ammunition on them and live happily ever after.

Lee is good stuff. Not many knowledgable reloaders blow them off as junk. They work.

RE: Selecting a Press
 

thanks everyone you have been very helpful... the more I read about it the more fun it seems. Eventually I plan to reload for .223, .6.8spc and would like to produce those in larger quanities but also the .270 Win, .30-30 Win and finally the .30-06 .

Im gonna start with one, probably the .270 win and then the .30-30 wingradually add more on in time...

RE: Selecting a Press
 

270 and 30/06 are both great places to start. There can be a few "quirks" to loading the 30/30. The /06 and 270 are both very easy to get along with and nothing is more versatile than the /06.:)