Slowhand Bob, 24229 Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 Go over to youtube and check out those presses that have your attention. Most common presses will have multiple posts by owners giving their impressions and often great advice on set-up and use. With a little practice and a lot of attention you can get some pretty serious output with a turret press but you must be careful and not get careless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackey Cole Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 Powders are just hard to get right now for awhile it was primers now it is powder. Powders come in different uses some will load pistol only some will load pistol ans shotgun others are rifle only and others will load all three. That is the component that is personal powders burn at different rates the faster burn powders give a sharper recoil whereas a slow burn might be more like a push. For 38 I used red dot and tite group mainly for 45 colt and the xx-40s I prefer TrailBoss that was designed for light loads in large cases. 45acp I use unique and tite group iirc. I don't have my loading data with me as I'm in ga now. You can go to the powder manufactors web site and they have the data for each powder plus loading data for various cartridges but most don't have cowboy loads which are usually lighter than the posted light loads there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickel City Dude Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 I use Alliant Promo powder in my 44-40 loads. You can call Alliant and they will give you a recipe for you to use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoss Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 you can't go wrong with Bullseye powder for 38sp. Lee has a couple of different turrent pressses. the Classic is the best in my opinion. I have a loadmaster for my 38sp, but use the Classic turrent for loading pocket pistol 32SW & 38SW, 45-70 and 44-40. Titan Reloading has excellent prices on Lee products. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bad Jeemes Kelly Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 Thanks y'all. I'm starting to look more at the Lee Classic Turret Press as something that may fit my needs. The price for it is good, and it looks to be pretty compact. I ordered a Lyman's 49th Edition and will read through that. For actual reloading components, from what I read, powder is the toughest thing to acquire, correct? So if I happen to see some at a gun store, what powder companies should I go for? Are there pistol powders and rifle powders, or can some powder companies be used for both? My primary needs for now would purely be reloading .38 Special for cowboy action shooting. Here's another thing to keep in mind about presses - it's not like you get one, then sell it and move up to something bigger - no matter what press you buy, you'll want to keep it and add another. More presses just makes it easier to turn out more kinds of ammo. I went from single stage to turret to Dillon progressive, but they are all set up side by side and in use and I'd add more if I came across one at a good price. Powder is a little hard to get right now, but not impossible and when you are loading light loads in handgun cartridges it goes a lot farther than loading up big rifle calibers. I load very little rifle ammo, other than handgun claibers for my lever actions, for cowboy. When I load a rifle caliber, like .223 for an AR, I'm using a different powder, not suitable for handguns cartridges - when I load .44 Magnum for my marlin, that's handgun powder, the same as loading it for a revolver. I'm no great expert, but I don't think the powder for true "rifle" cartridges overlaps with pistol powders, ever. I have been using Trail Boss powder for my cowboy loads because I am reloading some .44 and I had problems when I tried doing a light load with Titegroup - the Trail Boss fills the case well enough to be reliable in a light load and to make sure I don't double charge one by accident. I guess that's what they make it for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackey Cole Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 But very good points on both topics. I to ENT the single to turret to progressive press route but I passed the Lee press on to someone who had the patients for it. If someone came up with a pickup tube priming system like they did for the rcbs Rock chucker it might not be such a pita to use but to deprimg and prime on a other press device. I used a universal decap ping die in my single stage Lee at the time to deprive my ammo after cleaning as i learned not to deprive then clean with a vibratory cleaner, media gets lodged in the primer pocket. Then prime the batch with a rcbs had primer then the brass finally went to the turret for loading. Now brass goes to station one of the dillon and come out the other side loaded four pulls of the lever later just like the Lee but after that I round comes out with every pull of the lever not on the turret it takes four pulls of the fever the a round is loaded then four more pulls of the lever and the next round is loaded. That on the 550 and smaller on the 650 it's five pulls to get the first round because of the powder check die setup of the 650. I nice feature. Also another nice feature when everything is working is the auto indexing feature of the 650 the casefeeder which is availbe for both but the 550 case feeder is as reliable as the 650 from my research. Some also modify a Lee bullet feeder to a 650 and add a powered actuator to operate the ram up and down. With all the bells and whistles the 650 can reliably produce ammo very quickly but I think the 1050 will beat it when setup with a powered ram. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt. Wild Willy McDonald Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 Thanks y'all. I'm starting to look more at the Lee Classic Turret Press as something that may fit my needs. The price for it is good, and it looks to be pretty compact. I ordered a Lyman's 49th Edition and will read through that. For actual reloading components, from what I read, powder is the toughest thing to acquire, correct? So if I happen to see some at a gun store, what powder companies should I go for? Are there pistol powders and rifle powders, or can some powder companies be used for both? My primary needs for now would purely be reloading .38 Special for cowboy action shooting. Here's a thread that I started that contains some good information on powders. I'm going with Bullseye which is made by Alliant. The good news is that, despite Trail Boss being a current favorite, there are a lot of other powder options out there. http://sassnet.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=232528 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston CAS Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 Lots of great info, thanks so much. Does the Cowboy Chronicle ever do reloading articles? Seems like an intro series in there would be a good thing to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Echeconnee Drifter Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 I'm no great expert, but I don't think the powder for true "rifle" cartridges overlaps with pistol powders, ever. This isn't quite true. The vast majority of pistol cartridges can't be loaded with rifle powder and vice-versa, but there is some bleed over. You'll sometimes come across load data for very powerful handgun cartridges like the .470 Linebaugh and up that include H4227. More commonly, you'll see small rifle cartridges like the .30 Carbine loaded with pistol powders like W296 or Lil' Gun. Some people also use pistol powders to make reduced power loads for some cartridges like the .223, although that's a bit dicey. You definitely don't want to fill a .223 up with Unique and touch it off! Edit: Of course, you might not consider the .30 Carbine a "true" rifle cartridge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrison Joe, SASS #60708 Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 Lots of great info, thanks so much. Does the Cowboy Chronicle ever do reloading articles? Seems like an intro series in there would be a good thing to do. An Intro to Reloading? The Lyman Loading Manual (and several others) do a real professional job. They explain it so well they are willing to stake their lawyers on it. The Chronicle - probably not so much, even with well experienced (but amateur) reloaders. Good luck, GJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Go West Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 I have Dillon Square Deal and 650 presses. The 650 is nice with the case feeder and is easier to handle because it is physically larger than the SD. It also puts out 2-3 times the ammo per hour. The SD's are inexpensive, no case feeder and a bit clumsier to operate for me with big paws. I've had one machine refurbished at Dillon and replacement parts sent or picked up free. It is a great company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Idaho Coyote' Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 Dillon 550 Simple, Accurate, Dependable You can not ware them out and if you do they'll send you the new parts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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