Progressive press worth it?

[Camo]

Been shooting more lately. Reloading 223 mainly and 300 blackout, always used a rubs single stage so everything I own is green.

Considering upgrading to a multistage unit and start reloading 9mm as well, only other caliber I reload is 308.

Anyhow is a progressive press worth the investment?

 

[dennishoddy]

Been shooting more lately. Reloading 223 mainly and 300 blackout, always used a rcbs single stage so everything I own is green.

Considering upgrading to a multistage unit and start reloading 9mm as well, only other caliber I reload is 308.

Anyhow is a progressive press worth the investment?

One has to shoot a ton of ammo to justify a progressive, but if one is flush with some cash I think it's a pretty good investment especially if you're getting into volume pistol shooting like competitions.
Straight walled cartridges are a breeze to run through a progressive, but the bottle neck cartridges as you well know from a single stage take a lot of prep to resize, deburr, de-prime and so on before getting into the press.
Shot a ton of .223 through the AR in matches over the years, so I would take a week every evening to prep a thousand cases and a few hours to run them through the progressive.
Then a couple minutes to expend them all.
Amazing how that works! LOL.

 

[XYZ]

Keep an eye out for a used one.

I picked up a couple for a great price.


Economics are purely based on volume of shooting. Prices have definitely increased over the past 5 or so years. So jumping into in buying new stuff can get pricey.

 

[Hooper]

You can always finance a Dillon as low as $28.95 a month on up to $60.00 plus.
Load 4-800 rounds an hour.

I have a Lee single stage cost me $140 new. $30 to $40 spent on dies per set. Plus resizers and stuff.
Have loaded thousands of rounds different calibers rifle and pistol.
I move like a turtle probably 100 rounds an hour at top speed, not counting case prep time.
I would be like a Chicken with a fox in the hen house trying to run a progressive press.

All that said, you can always set up multiple presses for each step, to cut down adjusting after every step, which for me seems pretty economical. In fact I have two presses, but just use one. For me Powder measuring seems to take the most time, of course it is one very critical step. Speed might cause a problem in that area.

I don't shoot every day so I always have rounds ready to go. I can shoot 4-500 rounds at times on a day out.
I can see if a fellow shoots an AR and a pistol a few times a week where you might need a speedier process for reloading.

 

[Rustygun]

I run a Dillon 650 and a Dillon 550. The 650 is used just for 9mm and is almost as good as having an ammo factory in the garage. Easy to make lots of good quality ammo in very little time. Over three sessions each lasting less than two hours I loaded 1000 rounds of FMJ 124 grain 9mm for around 17 cents a round.. This included setup before and clean up after each session.

I have not purchased factory ammo in close to a decade so I don’t know how this compares to the cost of factory ammo. Note that in the past decade I have never experienced ammo availability issues or big swings in the cost of ammo.

There is a certain satisfaction to making your own custom ammo and the enjoyment of the reloading process. If you don’t shoot very often it will be difficult to justify the cost of a progressive.

 

[XYZ]

I picked up a Square Deal and a 550 used. I think total cost was about $250. Don’t use them as much anymore because I don’t shoot as much. Not sure what a new one cost but I’d bet way more.

Probably give to the g’kids in the next decade. But any how they both paid for themselves real quick.

 

[swampratt]

I like the progressive for pistol ammo.
Even if it is a slow 3 hole it sure saves time twisting dies in and out.
Buddy got a Lee Pro 4000 and still loves it.
6 months of use on it and many thousands of rounds and it works great.

That is an inexpensive press compared to many on the market.
Get it dialed in and he has not hat to touch it.

Lee Pro 4000

Buddy got one and he is new to reloading. Not new as in a couple years but new as in only loaded 3 rounds of 9 mm. He loved it and got to searching for presses and liked the old 4 hole Lee turret press and bought a 4000 kit. I have not even heard of the 4000 and I got to use it and it does...

www.okshooters.com

Some people do not have good luck with Lee stuff though.

I have a progressive I will loan you or let you load some on it here at the house. I have it set up to manually index but it does make things go quicker and then you can decide if a progressive is for you.

I have the Lee old powder disc setup to fill cases and it puts the charges right on the money.

I have tweaked it a bit and can show you those tweaks.
Basically tightening up the tolerances.

 

[XYZ]

I don’t have a Lee Progressive but I have friend's who use one. Like swamprat said get it dialed in and they work. Pretty much the same with all of them.

I do have and use lots of Lee products. Snooty people look down on them because they are inexpensive. But I haven’t had any issues/problems with any of my stuff.

Matter of fact I think all my casting stuff is Lee. No issue with any of them.

 

[rickm]

I have been running a Lee single stage for close to 20 years using all Lee dies even thou i have a 550 sitting in the floor that i picked up 5 or 6 years ago for $75 i have never used it, i can load more ammo in a weekend ( not counting all the prep since i do it in small batches when i get the brass) than i shoot in a year or more now that i dont shoot much anymore even thou i had planned on doing more when i retired but things got in the way that is taking up most of my time now days than i had planned on.

 

[WoodsCraft]

I own multiple progressives which I am not using, the cost of components has made bulk production of range ammo not economical. I've done the math a lot and there is no savings anymore , ven if you bought the components before covid price spikes you can't replace those pre rona components for the same prices. Everything I am loading now is for obscure / hard to obtain and expensive calibers . If its 5.56, 7.62 or 9mm I am just buying it.

In fact I am seeing lots of progressive presses that have come up for sale pretty reasonably . To each his own but I am not tossing dollars away to save pennies. A good example is primers $89 - 99 plus tax buy all you want . in 2019 those same primers were 1/3 cost .


Assuming you have usable cases already to load you're going to spend .48 cents at today's pricing to load a single round of 5.56 with a 55 grain FMJ bullet. I can buy 5.56 in bulk for .46 cents a round and I can buy match grade ammo for just under $1.


I buy reloading components in bulk it's either 8 to 16 pounds of powder at a time or none , and primers in the same fashion. If you're not doing it that way then you're doing wrong because you're not saving even pennies over just going to the store and buying it.

The golden days of loading bulk ammo are gone but each their own .