Reloding

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Marksman
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For little money you can't beat the Lee 4 hole turret press. You use it as single stage or turret, it is well made and the cost is reasonable. I would say it is best bang for the buck for someone just starting out. My progressive press is RCBS and I can't give it a glowing recommendation like you will see for Dillon or Hornady, but it works, I have loaded thousands of rounds and it was cheap. I guess it all depends on how much you want to spend, how much you want to reload. My RCBS press is probably not anywhere near as fast as a Dillon, but I have tons of ammo that I reloaded ready to go that I made on it. Again, it all depends on what you want.

Yep, I started out on a 4-hole turret with aspirations to upgrade to a big dog dillon in the future. Well, here I am still using the Lee turret with the indexing rod removed. I like being able to set up my dies and swap calibers in seconds. I do have to fiddle with the settings now and then but that's mostly on the 9MM dies as I switch between 147gr and 115gr plinking stuff.

I also use a el-cheapo Lee measure that has worked superbly. It meters perfectly once setup and cost a fraction of the nice ones. Sure, i'd like to get one of those when it gives up the ghost but as long as it works I'll use it.

Biggest key is to start of with as little automation as possible. You can upgrade to speed up the process later. Sure it may be a little more out of pocket but a)you will have a back up when something breaks and b) you will beuild a greater understanding of the process and hopefully develop a methodical and safe reloading process. Don't go any faster than your knowledge-in loading speed and velocity.

With my 4-hole I can pound out 200 rounds for a comp in about an hour and a half if I have brass prepped. Just prime, charge, and seat.
 

turkeyrun

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RCBS Rock Chucker ............ can be tedious since it is single stage, but mine is 35 yrs old, still looks new, works like an Amish plow horse and I can load EVERY centerfire pistol and rifle I own on it.
 

okietom

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RCBS Rock Chucker ............ can be tedious since it is single stage, but mine is 35 yrs old, still looks new, works like an Amish plow horse and I can load EVERY centerfire pistol and rifle I own on it.

I started on a rockchucker but mine is only 31 years old. I am sure it looks 4 years newer than yours. JK I got it in 1982 and got my Dillon 550 in 1986. I still use them both but the Dillon gets the most use. I started with the Dillon as another poster suggested. Just the press and no extras. Then there were few extras. Mine wasn't even a 550B just a 550.

I needed both presses and still do as I don't have shellplates and toolheads for everthing I load. If you only load a few and don't do it often you don't need the progressive. I have recently bought my third press. I have one of the Lee hand presses that doesn't mount to a table. I imagine using my universal decapping die with it in the recliner while watching TV. I don't need the Lee, just wanted it. If you buy a turret press or a single stage you may need it even after you might upgrade to a progressive.
 

WessonOil

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Yep, I have a Lee 1000 Progressive loader I've had since the early 1980's which has had hundreds of thousands of rounds put through it, and required a $2.50 part several years ago.
The new part had an engineering change in it that solved the defect.
 

BadgerLB

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Yep, I have a Lee 1000 Progressive loader I've had since the early 1980's which has had hundreds of thousands of rounds put through it, and required a $2.50 part several years ago.
The new part had an engineering change in it that solved the defect.

How is priming on the 1000?... I've tried and wasted too many primers on the load master.... no matter how clean i keep that stupid tray and primer chute it still jams up
 

kd5rjz

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How is priming on the 1000?... I've tried and wasted too many primers on the load master.... no matter how clean i keep that stupid tray and primer chute it still jams up

I've got the same issue with my LM. I clean the primer deal every 1000 rounds or so and still get a crooked primer once every 500 rounds or so, which jams the whole thing up.
 

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