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Suggestions for getting started in reloading


cnwfan3

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I will second the Dillon square deal B set up. I bought it several years ago and never regretted it. It auto indexes so a double load is almost a zero chance of happening. I have a separate deprimer (Frankfort arsenal I think) and I deprime while watching tv. I didn’t like tumbling for several reasons so I used an ultra sonic cleaner. Very quick but I prefer the primer pockets be empty when I put them in the ultra sonic cleaner. I prefer to spread the wet clean cases on a towel to dry overnight and I fear there would be liquid cleaner trapped in the cases if the primer pocket wasn’t empty. It also cleans the primer pockets if they are empty. I bought a single stage first but haven’t touched it since I got the square deal b.

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Thanks for the offer, but I just bit the bullet (so to speak) and bought some super inflated priced federal primers I found on gun broker. Even at the inflated prices, it's still much cheaper than buying factory ammo (if you can find it) now and days. I only bought 1000 just so I can get my feet wet (I'll wait until prices come down before I stock up). Thank goodness powder and bullets are still available at a reasonable price. I've been saving my brass for years so I have plenty of one fired brass. I'm all ready to go as soon as the Square Deal gets here. I'm still waiting for Dillon to ship the press, but hopefully it will come soon.

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These are the things that will direct you towards which type of press you should get.

 

Which cartridges do you load, and how many rounds will you need to reload?

 

For higher volume, you want a progressive press like a Dillon 650/750.

 

People recommend the 550, but those are considerably slower than a 650/750 with a case feeder. You also have to manually index the shell plate which adds time.

 

With a Dillon 650/750 and case feeder, you can comfortably do 500 rounds per hour without breaking a sweat.

 

If you don't need to load that many rounds in a sitting, then a turret could be a good option. The rounds per hour will drop significantly, but that won't really matter if you don't need massive volumes of ammo.

 

A good, realistic estimate for a turret would be somewhere between 100-200 rounds per hour.

 

A single stage could even be an option if you don't see yourself loading a lot of ammo. I think even on my best days, 100 rounds an hour was pushing it on my single stage.

 

I have a single stage, T7 turret, and a Dillon 650.

 

I use my single stage to deprime brass, and work up custom loads or test loads.

 

I use my turret for the cartridges that I don't need massive volumes of, or want a bit more precision for certain long range loads.

 

I use my Dillon 650 progressive for all of my high volume reloading needs. I load 9mm, .40 s&w, 45 acp, and 55 grain 223. With the exception of 45, I probably load anywhere from 6-10K per caliber every winter for the next season.

 

First establish what your needs are now, and what you foresee them being in the future, and then make a decision on which press.

 

A single stage requires you to set up a new die every time you're doing a different operations.

 

A turret like the Redding T7 and I'm sure others are similar, but you can buy a whole toolhead and set up two calibers, swap the toolhead, and load two different calibers. You set the dies up once, and don't really need to touch them again. Toolheads run about $80ish.

 

On a Dillon 650/750, caliber conversion, dies, toolhead, powder measure, and other accessories can run you anywhere from 250-400 depending on specific dies. You can also use one powder measure and share it across toolheads, however, you'll need to dial it in every time you want to load a different caliber. I just keep each caliber and toolhead with its own powder measure so that it takes less time to convert from one caliber to the other.

 

Hope this helps.

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Thanks for the offer, but I just bit the bullet (so to speak) and bought some super inflated priced federal primers I found on gun broker. Even at the inflated prices, it's still much cheaper than buying factory ammo (if you can find it) now and days. I only bought 1000 just so I can get my feet wet (I'll wait until prices come down before I stock up). Thank goodness powder and bullets are still available at a reasonable price. I've been saving my brass for years so I have plenty of one fired brass. I'm all ready to go as soon as the Square Deal gets here. I'm still waiting for Dillon to ship the press, but hopefully it will come soon.

Just got a Dillion catalog in the mail. It say the square deal will do 500 loads per hour. Maybe it can with 5 loaded prime pickup tubes along with experience to handle cases and bullets after chugging a couple red bulls.

200 is tops for me. I stay relaxed starting time with filling a pickup tube. When dropping primers into machine listen to the primers dropping then tap pick up tube making sure there are no stuck primers. I guarantee they will unstick once you remove tube. This drastically slow production.

I work the press slow both feeling everything and looking in the case just charged with powder. I hesitate at top and bottom handle stroke. I will occasionally check the powder weight.

To use an old saying "Slow is smooth......

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  • 2 weeks later...

Square deal is going to be a problem with any glock bulged 9mm only takes dillon dies which do not do a resize far enough down. Would recommend at least a 550 and if you are going to do a 550 might as well do a 750. Only other advise I have is find someone you know who is very knowledgeable on reloading you will need help no matter which press up front. I also would recommend that you get a friend with a chrono only way to be sure what you are loading is safe.

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