newbie

[South Devon Cattleman, SASS #59003]

Where are you from? There might be someone nearby that will help you out.

[Guest Winchester Jack, SASS #70195]

My Dillon Square Deal B arrived yesterday

[Bart Solo]

First of all go to a few shoots and find a mentor, preferably one who has more reloading experience than just CAS. Personally I get a little nervous when I see some of the advise on this forum. A good friend of mine got hurt when his full primer tray blew up recently, from a company mentioned several times in this thread alone.

 

 

Funny, I haven't seen any bad advice in this thread yet.

[Christopher Carson]

When loading on a single stage press, what difference does it make if it takes 20 seconds to screw out one die and screw in the next? The majority of the time on a single stage is spent running one shell after another through the dies, not changing dies. That's why even though my two progressive presses are Hornady presses, I have never felt the need to invest in a Hornady with the Lock & Load collets for single stage loading. As I said earlier, changing dies just consists of screwing one die out and replacing it with another die. There is no resetting involved. My old Lyman Spartan press is fine for when I feel like Single Stage loading. I still use it for 303 British and 45-70, and a few oddball obsolete cartridges that Hornady does not make a shell plate for anyway.

 

When the time came that I wanted to up my ammo production I went right to the Hornady Lock & Load AP. I now have two of them, one stays set up for small pistol primers, the other stays set up for large pistol primers. That one is also the one I load all my CAS Black Powder loads on.

 

I admit it's simply a matter of convenience for me, including storage organization. BTW, I forgot to add that I usually keep a powder measure on these various turrets, too, at least for the cartridges I load in moderate to high volume... just more convenience.

 

FWIW, I tried to use the "automatic" indexing feature on the turret press, spinning to each die successively until a loaded round appears. While that eliminated multiple insertions and movements of a single case for each step in the process... I didn't much care for that method. Also FWIW, when I switched to a progressive it wasn't at all about speed, but rather about reducing shoulder pain by eliminating strokes-per-round.

 

-Chris

[Marshal Barks Fuller]

Hello everyone,

This was a great thread, one I have revisited time and time again over the past month. Thanks to this thread, I've gotten my hands on "The ABC's of Reloading", "Lyman Reloading Handbook, 49th Edition" and "Lee's 2nd Edition Reloading Manual" is in the mail! I've also signed up for an NRA reloading class in a few weeks. Still deciding on presses, but I did have a question. Are the dies interchangeable on different manufacturer's presses? Say, for instance, I had a Lee Classic Turret Press, would I be able to set up RCBS Cowboy dies on it? I've read the importance of using "Cowboy Dies" when loading lead cast bullets to give that extra bit of room so as not to shave off some of the lead when seating the bullet, but aside from RCBS Cowboy Dies, and from what I've read, the Lyman "M" die, does Lee have something similar? I've scoured many sites, and these questions have been stickin around in my head unanswered!

 

Thanks, in advance for the responses to come, and thanks for all the great knowledge that has been shared in this forum topic already!

 

- edited to not repeat the signature -

[Buckshot Frank]

Hello everyone,

This was a great thread, one I have revisited time and time again over the past month. Thanks to this thread, I've gotten my hands on "The ABC's of Reloading", "Lyman Reloading Handbook, 49th Edition" and "Lee's 2nd Edition Reloading Manual" is in the mail! I've also signed up for an NRA reloading class in a few weeks. Still deciding on presses, but I did have a question. Are the dies interchangeable on different manufacturer's presses? Say, for instance, I had a Lee Classic Turret Press, would I be able to set up RCBS Cowboy dies on it? I've read the importance of using "Cowboy Dies" when loading lead cast bullets to give that extra bit of room so as not to shave off some of the lead when seating the bullet, but aside from RCBS Cowboy Dies, and from what I've read, the Lyman "M" die, does Lee have something similar? I've scoured many sites, and these questions have been stickin around in my head unanswered!

 

Thanks, in advance for the responses to come, and thanks for all the great knowledge that has been shared in this forum topic already!

 

Happy shooting!

Barks Fuller

 

Most die sets are interchangeable as long as they are the same thread size. Some will perform the various reloading steps in different combinations, which could make a difference if using a progressive or turret press (i.e. powder through expanding die).

 

I use the Lee carbide 4-die sets for all of the pistol calibers that I reload for. I like the carbide dies because you don't need case lube, and I have always had good results using the Lee Factory Crimp Die. I just bell the case mouth a little more when using lead bullets to avoid shaving. Plus, the Lee Classic turret press has four holes, so I need to fill them anyways .

[Marshal Barks Fuller]

 

I just bell the case mouth a little more when using lead bullets to avoid shaving.

 

 

Thanks for that!

 

This is done with an adjustment to the Powder Through Expanding Die?

 

(and I completely understand the need to put something in that fourth hole on the turret! Who could live with an empty one??)

 

[Buckshot Frank]

Thanks for that!

 

This is done with an adjustment to the Powder Through Expanding Die?

 

(and I completely understand the need to put something in that fourth hole on the turret! Who could live with an empty one??)

 

 

Yep- The farther you screw the expanding die in, the more it bells the case mouth. I usually only bell the case mouth just enough for the bullet to sit relatively straight on top of the case. For lead bullets, just a touch more if they are shaving.

[Marshal Barks Fuller]

Yep- The farther you screw the expanding die in, the more it bells the case mouth. I usually only bell the case mouth just enough for the bullet to sit relatively straight on top of the case. For lead bullets, just a touch more if they are shaving.

 

Thanks Buckshot! I sure do appreciate your help!

 

[Bart Solo]

The tendancy is to over bell. That shortens case life. Just a tad more than needed to insert the top of the bullet into the case without shaving lead will do you fine.

 

I have been using a Lee Turret Press for a while now. The only bad thing about it is the priming tool. I am forever picking up primers off the floor. Because of the problem with the priming tool I can never get much more than 75 rounds an hour. Other than that it works fine. I am thinking about moving up to a Dillon 550.

[Buckshot Frank]

The tendancy is to over bell. That shortens case life. Just a tad more than needed to insert the top of the bullet into the case without shaving lead will do you fine.

 

I have been using a Lee Turret Press for a while now. The only bad thing about it is the priming tool. I am forever picking up primers off the floor. Because of the problem with the priming tool I can never get much more than 75 rounds an hour. Other than that it works fine. I am thinking about moving up to a Dillon 550.

 

Do you have the Lee Classic turret? I don't have any issues out of the primer feed except the rare occasion (1 out of 100) when it doesn't drop the primer into the cup on the first try. Maybe you have something out of adjustment on your press?? I know that it took awhile to get mine lined up just right.

 

I have been extremely happy with the Lee Classic turret. I can comfortably do about 100 rounds an hour with it. I am also considering a Dillon just because I don't seem to have the time to reload as much as my wife and I are shooting now. Other than that, I wouldn't have a reason to switch. I love the spent primer system (through the ram into a long tube that can be capped off or run into a trash can)!

[Bart Solo]

Adjusting the Safety Prime properly is made difficult by the Auto Disk. If the Safety Prime was a half moon shape instead of a disk there wouldn't be a constant collision. Another real problem is the primer jumping out of the little tray as I crank the bullet out of the sizing die when I am loading small primers. The problems don't happen every time, but they do happen more than one in 100 primers. Enough to be annoying. I have started putting my thumb on the little tray as I pull the lever. That is not a good idea for a couple of reason, but necessary. Also on the small pistol Safety Prime the last primer never dispenses. I have to load that one by hand. Like I said the only problem I have with the Lee Turret Press is the Safety Prime Tool. As a result I can't achieve a production rate of more than 75 rounds per hour.

[Barks Fuller]

The tendancy is to over bell. That shortens case life. Just a tad more than needed to insert the top of the bullet into the case without shaving lead will do you fine.

 

I have been using a Lee Turret Press for a while now. The only bad thing about it is the priming tool. I am forever picking up primers off the floor. Because of the problem with the priming tool I can never get much more than 75 rounds an hour. Other than that it works fine. I am thinking about moving up to a Dillon 550.

 

Thanks Bart, good info. Would hand priming speed up that 75 rounds an hour? Or would it be even lower for you?

[Bart Solo]

Thanks Bart, good info. Would hand priming speed up that 75 rounds an hour? Or would it be even lower for you?

 

This evening I took Buckshot Frank's advice and revisited my press. I discovered it wasn't quite right. I made a couple f adjustments, moved the SAFETY Prime about 1/16 of a inch and installed the right part for small primers in the press, and suddenly I was able to load about 110 rounds in an hour with minimal primer problems. The wire does serve a purpose after all.

[Marshal Barks Fuller]

This evening I took Buckshot Frank's advice and revisited my press. I discovered it wasn't quite right. I made a couple f adjustments, moved the SAFETY Prime about 1/16 of a inch and installed the right part for small primers in the press, and suddenly I was able to load about 110 rounds in an hour with minimal primer problems. The wire does serve a purpose after all.

 

That's awesome! I've learned a lot, and I'm going to keep this in my head when I set mine up! Thanks for coming back and giving that info! It's helped me make decisions!

[Smithy]

Although the same thing can be done with machine priming, with me and my single stage press set up, I use the "hand priming" time as an opportunity for careful and close case scrutiny. Flash holes, case splits, burrs, general overall case condition. It may take a little longer, but I feel better in the long run about the job that I'm doing. Smithy.

[Buckshot Frank]

This evening I took Buckshot Frank's advice and revisited my press. I discovered it wasn't quite right. I made a couple f adjustments, moved the SAFETY Prime about 1/16 of a inch and installed the right part for small primers in the press, and suddenly I was able to load about 110 rounds in an hour with minimal primer problems. The wire does serve a purpose after all.

 

Great to hear that it is working right now! I was going to suggest that you check or replace the primer arm because a primer should not be able to pop out of the cup, but it sounds like you got it figured out now.