Equipment Question/Opinions Sought

[Chaparral]

Reworking my reloading bench and looking for opinions.

Bench is 86” wide and 30” deep.

I have a Lee loadmaster I would very much like to keep setup. May try and get a slide in base for it.

Have a MEC which would be nice to be able to setup.

Issue, I have come into a second single stage press. One is an ancient Lyman, this one is a Hornady Classic with most of the parts for the primer installation.

sooooooo

What are the thoughts on setup and what units? None of the bases are the same dimensions. Should I try and have both single stages set up? Is it too much?

 

[okierider]

At one point I had a single stages set up. It was mounted to a piece of 2x12 that when in use was clamped to my bench do to space issues.
Worked great.

 

[Rustygun]

Your bench is huge compared to mine. I have a Dillon 550 and a Dillon 650 setup with threaded inserts in the bench top. i use home made wooden wing nuts so if needed either one can be removed and reattached to the lower shelf without tools. I think my bench is 24” x 36” But it is dedicated to just reloading. I have another bench where guns get worked on or cleaned. The 550 is only on the bench top when I load 38/357 or 45 acp. All the high volume stuff is done on the 650 with the case feeder and it stays setup all the time. It seems like I use the front 12-16” to reload and the back foot or so just collects stuff. I put French cleats on the walls so anything can be moved to where it is the most needed or out of the way.

 

[rickm]

lol My bench is 24" x 36" and i have a single stage and powder dispenser, mec 600 jr and at times will fasten a lubesizer to it also.

 

[Chaparral]

Is there an advantage to having two single stage presses setup? I was thinking size, prime, dump powder, then bullet, then move to next prepped case. But would this gain me anything? Is it better to keep doing everything as one step then moving to next step?

 

[swampratt]

I usually load 20-50 rifle rounds at a time on my single stage press.
I will deprime all of them then clean.
Next up is lube and resize all of them.
The die stays in the press until all are finished that way all of them get the shoulder set back exactly the same amount.

But there will be a case or 2 that will sometimes not have the same lube amount on them or the brass is a bit different alloy and the shoulder Ogive will be in a different spot.

So if you are asking if you should complete 1 case at a time on a single stage I say no.
Takes too long to get the dies back exactly where they were.

Today I make darn sure every case is lubed exactly the same and I know where my rifles shoot best with a certain shoulder ogive and certain neck tension so I will resize a few hundred cases now before moving on to the next process. After the die is in the correct spot.

I label the container with all the prepped cases as to how they were prepped and which dies I used as I have multiple dies for the same caliber.

Some dies size the body just a couple thousandths smaller and that will make a difference in accuracy.

This handloading process will eat time and make you go into a deep hole searching for accuracy and there are many different ways to get there.

You do enough of it and you will figure out what works best for you.

I anneal all rifle cases before sizing
After I resize my cases they all get trimmed and chamfered and measured for exact size in a few different spots before they get primed.

My bench is maybe 18" by 24" and I have had 3 presses on it.
It is a roll around steel cabinet with wood top covered in formica.

Nothing fancy.

 

[Aries]

Is there an advantage to having two single stage presses setup? I was thinking size, prime, dump powder, then bullet, then move to next prepped case. But would this gain me anything? Is it better to keep doing everything as one step then moving to next step?

I don't see a big advantage other than not having to change dies... but that really only helps with rifle calibers, if you only load one rifle caliber you'd never have to change or adjust dies as long as you always use the same bullet. If you load multiple calibers, or any pistol calibers you're going to change dies occasionally. I do as described above, resize/deprime all cases, change dies, flair the mouth on all cases, etc., etc.

I had three presses for a little while, but only because I upgraded. Eventually gave one away. I'm down to a stationary press on the bench and a portable press on a stand (that I never use).

 

[Chaparral]

Awesome. I currently do all brass step by step on the single stage.

some of your notes have me thinking. Get two sheets of steel, drill out holes for two specific presses per sheet. Either clamp or put brackets on the bench to hold the presses. It might work. save me lots of bench top so I could do other things.

 

[Chaparral]

Swampratt, I was thinking of on press set up for seating bullet and one press for sizing or expanding neck slightly. All prep work done as a batch. ready brass the could go through the final steps one by one.

 

[swampratt]

I assume you are talking pistol ammo since you are expanding the necks.
I love my 3 and 4 hole Lee turret presses for that.
I disconnect the auto advance part and advance them manually.

When I did pistol on my single stage I would resize and prime then change dies and expand case mouths and then stick them all into a container when I got ready to reload them.
I still have a few hundred 45's primed and ready.