Quote from: Brassjunkie on July 08 2019 02:07:35 AM MDT
I shoot around 500-1000 rounds a week normally. I would say 40% of that is 38 spl, 25% 9mm. The remaining 35% is 5 other cartridges. I spend 25-30 hours a week reloading, 53 hour a week working.
    My 38spl loads are always the same, 140gr pctc, 3.3gr competition, same with 9mm- all the same.
   I'm just thinking with a rather small investment, $400 or so I could actually have some free time to relax. My friends all have Dillon 650s with case feeders and all the gadgets. I loaded 500 9mm in 1.5 hrs as he loaded 1000 45acp- he has two 650s and a  Hornady.

Getting set up to reload 2 primary and 5 secondary cartridges is going to run you a bit more than $400. Cutting you reloading time significantly would really require IMHO a dedicated press for each cartridge. And even that will only work best if you have pet loads and don't experiment.

Gotta keep this short now as I have to get to work. Start with the indexing progressive of your choice in 38spl, just drop the coin and get it out of the way. Use it dedicated and then later get everything to do a caliber conversion, then decide if you need/want another dedicated press or if doing a caliber swap on just one press is good enough.

Something else to consider is batch reloading. Instead of loading 7 or even 2 different cartridges every week run batches of significantly larger quantities for one caliber to save swapping out calibers so often. Hope that helps, gotta run.

Defining bulk for yourself might be the first step. This will help determine how much of an investment you want to make. Auto indexing is something I would consider mandatory for any good production speed. Personally I use a Lee Classic Turret which means 4 pulls of the handle for a loaded round, as it is auto indexing it is faster than it sounds but I don't get in a big hurry so I can avoid mistakes. Knock on wood been lucky for 30+ years.

Anyway the one time I tried increasing production I tried a Lee Loadmaster and as much as I love Lee products that was a disaster. I have looked at getting back into high production and the Hornady Lock-N-Load AP and the new Lee Auto Breech Lock Pro both look very intriguing. Having seen one of the Hornady presses in action I can say that fully decked out it is a very impressive machine. If you're talking competition level quantities then the Hornady can be automated I believe. To be fair I know Dillon has some impressive machines but I have never seen one in person.

Picked up one of the extendable ones that gets to about 6' or so. Use it when checking loads for accuracy mostly. Works great with all my pistols, revolvers and rifles. Wished I had it back when I was hunting.

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Hello all,
My name is Trace, new to this forum but have visited several times before joining. Why join now? Well a friend who heard me talking about guns I used to have and praising my S&W 1006, that I used to carry on duty over 30 years ago but sadly had to sell, called me a couple of months ago. He had traded into a NIB SR1911 10mm and offered it to me for $400. Needless to say I am now the proud owner of said SR1911 10mm. I do like that it is on the 1911 platform as I can use my RIA 9mm and STI 45 for practice and carry the 10mm. I'd practice with the 10mm more but as a reloader losing that much brass consistently would break the bank. Working on some plinking loads for it now and will get around to some SD loads. I don't plan to push my loads to the max but as with my 41 mag I do enjoy the occasional full house load. I live in the Texas panhandle and though I work for the state I am no longer LEO.

Have a great day!