Looking into a progressive reloading setup

[DDRiller]

I have loaded on a RCBS Rockchucker for years.  Finally bought a Hornady LNL for loading 9mm after my wife and daughter started shooting.  500 to 1k rounds a week was just too much for the single stage.  I still de-prime all my brass on the RC and hand prime them before running the LNL for sizing, powder, bullet seating, and crimp.  Never have liked seating primers on the progressive.

[Kenk]

Thanks DDRiller

Ken

[riggeek]

I use a Dillon 550 for all of my handguns.

All my rifle rounds are done on an old Lyman spartan press that was given to me from my father in law. I just recently acquired a RCBS summit press but have yet to use it.

Only rifle round I would consider on a progressive is a 556/223.


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[sep]

I loaded pistol and rifle ammo for years on my RCBS single stage press. I still use it for hunting ammo for both rifle and pistol. For pistol volume reloading, for plinking rounds, nothing beats a progressive press. You can crank out a lot of ammo in a comparatively short period of time. I use a Dillon 550B I converted to a 550C.

A few weeks ago, a guy at work gave me a box of 155 grain Hornady bullets he bought thinking they were loaded rounds. Since he just bought a G20 and didn't have any ammo to shoot through it, I loaded up his bullets using some extra cases, primers and powder I had available.

Just for fun, I thought I would time how long it took to crank out some rounds. I loaded the first round verifying powder charge weight, bullet seating depth and crimp. Once I was confident I had everything set correctly, I loaded the primer tube with 99 primers. I then proceeded to load the rounds as usual. I finished cranking out the 99th round and looked at my watch. It took 13 minutes.

Of course, it takes longer when you factor in press setup time, filling the powder dispenser and filling the primer tube. I would not load full power, maximum hunting loads on the Dillon press because I'm far too anal to operate that way with precisely loaded ammo but for plinkin rounds it works really well. I normally load 500 rounds at a session. It would take me quite a while to load 500 rounds on my RCBS single stage press.

With the amount of ammo I have loaded over the years, I have easily saved enough money to pay for the press as opposed to buying factory ammo. Some would argue, I haven't really saved any money because I wouldn't have spent that much money buying and shooting factory ammo. I'm not to sure about that as I have done some pretty stupid things in my time.                          

[Kenk]

Thanks Sep!

[glennasher]

Many years ago, when I was shooting IPSC, I won a Dillon 550B at a match in southern Indiana. I set it up, and used it for many years, and still have it (in storage at the moment).
One really nice thing about it for me, using a lot of different cartridges, was that the same shell-plate for 9mm, also worked with .38 Super, .40 S&W, 10mm, and all the .223 clan, with a simple change of locator pins, (although you DO have to change primer size for 10mm). That did simplify things a lot.
Although I probably shot and loaded more .45 ACP back then than anything else, it did make it darned handy when fooling with other cartridges I shot a lot. Using a 550B, I could load 400 rounds an hour if I really wanted to do so. That makes it easy to pay attention to powder charges and the priming setup, I can't recall anything worse than an upside down primer now and then, which I usually caught before it was a real issue.
I don't think it is any real headache to use a progressive, IF YOU PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU'RE DOING. Shouldn't you be doing that anyway?

[Kenk]

Absolutely, analness is your friend when it comes to reloading

[gadabout]

Hey Kenk, I almost bought a Dillion at a gun show last weekend. I don't know which one it was and the guy selling was busy between a lot of customers and his phone. It came with all the attachments except the case feeder but couldn't get a price so gave up. I not sure I could of carried it out to the car anyway!! Craig

[Kenk]

Thanks Craig 😊

[gnappi]

I had a flowchart I once made from this text, and it's a bit easier for office workers like I was to read but it's gone.

Anyway... For the inexperienced or easily distracted, a progressive can make a LOT of ammo, both good AND BAD REAL F-A-S-T.

Those who came from a single stage press REALLY will do better than the newbie IF...

You setup ONE stage at a time. A single stage press allows you to "feel" every nuance of the operation. A progressive stacks all of those 3,4,5 or 6 operations into one pull of the handle. Not knowing what the press should feel like when it's operating correctly leads to misteaks (misspelling deliberate)

Station 1 Size, decap, and prime. Typical problems here are:

1. Wrong shell plate
2. Size die not sufficiently far enough down to fully resize the case. (Will fail plunk test)
3. Decapping pin gets stuck in the deprimed case, and the rest of the loads are not deprimed
4. Primer not fed.
5. Primer flipped over
6. Primer not seating all the way in. (will likely cause cartridge rotation being difficult)

----------------------------------------------------------

Station 2. Bell mouth, neck expand and powder dump.

Typical problems here are:

1a. No mouth bell.
1b. Insufficient mouth bell
2. Incorrect or NO powder charge.

See 3 below for problems in the NEXT station

---------------------------------------------------------

Station 3a. Bullet seat
   OR
Station 3b. Bullet seat and crimp
  OR
Station 3c. Powder checker

3a. Bullet shearing off due to 1a or 1b
3a. Case crushing (will fail plunk test)

3b. Bullet seats too far, does not meet min COAL.
3b. Insufficient bullet seat depth, bullet past MAX COAL
3b(1). Excessive crimp possible crush / deformed case  (will fail plunk test)
3b(2). Insufficient crimp,bullet setback in auto, bullet slips forward toward cylinder gap in revolver causing jam.

3c. From station2... No / insufficient powder, leads bullet lodging in barrel to K'boom after second round is fed and fired.
3c. From station2... Excessive powder leads to K'boom

--------------------------------------------------------

Station 4. Case crimp

4a. See 3b(1), and 3b(2)

Other suggestions...

Try to use once fired brass, and make only a few rounds, Plunk test them all, and range test one at a time to look for obvious issues like slide failure to latch on last / only round, flattened primers, case splits, case bulges.

NEVER time yourself, it's stupid AND dangerous.

OK, you're GOING ignore me and do it anyway, but remember... loading primers, replenishing powder and empty brass are bound to the REAL time it takes to make a box of a hundred. Those who report delusional 3 minutes to load a hundred rounds NEVER take into account press maintenance. Remember it's not supposed to be a chore, stay focused.

Grab a case that's split and put it your palm with other good cases, get used to the clinking / chinking sound that the split case makes when mixed with good brass.

Get load data from powder makers, leave "recipes" to those who are bent on self destruction.

Finally... LEAVE THE GORAM PHONE IN ANOTHER ROOM!!! No beer, or (perish forbid) smoking, and make a Do not disturb sign for your loading room / garage door.

Stay safe

Any additions are welcome :-)

[The_Shadow]

Good chart Gary!  Then there are the expensive tools, die plates, shell holders, dies, etc that are needed for each cartridge or caliber setup...

[jazzsax8]

Dillon has always made great equipment but, most owners set-ups loading multiple calibers have multiple heads with powder measures etc. due to the extensive procedure it takes to change them out.  After I got my Hornady 5 hole and figured out how easy it is to change calibers, my friend with the D 550 sold his and bought one like mine.  Its easy to get over $2K in the Dillon 550 where the Hornady would be about $650 for multiple calibers.  I use the quick change bushing kit in my single stage that the Hornady has and set them both up for the same length so nothing needs adjustment going back and forth.  I have used the auto priming feature but really prefer to prime by hand negating some of the benefits of a progressive.  I do auto prime with most all lighter target loads in 9 & 10mm.

I feel pretty good loading hotter 10mm loads using 9.0gr of longshot but if I needed a max load closer to 9.4gr would weigh each load.  Some powders like 800X are a no go along with Varget for .223 as the case gets too full to keep from spilling but a powder like TAC works great.  New load testing of 20 to 50 rounds always gets done on the single stage. 

[Kenk]

Great info, Thanks jazzsax

[gnappi]

Dillon has always made great equipment but, most owners set-ups loading multiple calibers have multiple heads with powder measures etc. due to the extensive procedure it takes to change them out.  After I got my Hornady 5 hole and figured out how easy it is to change calibers, my friend with the D 550 sold his and bought one like mine.  Its easy to get over $2K in the Dillon 550 where the Hornady would be about $650 for multiple calibers.  I use the quick change bushing kit in my single stage that the Hornady has and set them both up for the same length so nothing needs adjustment going back and forth.  I have used the auto priming feature but really prefer to prime by hand negating some of the benefits of a progressive.  I do auto prime with most all lighter target loads in 9 & 10mm.

I feel pretty good loading hotter 10mm loads using 9.0gr of longshot but if I needed a max load closer to 9.4gr would weigh each load.  Some powders like 800X are a no go along with Varget for .223 as the case gets too full to keep from spilling but a powder like TAC works great.  New load testing of 20 to 50 rounds always gets done on the single stage.

It's good to see you're satisfied with the Hornady, they stay in business for good reasons.

[Kenk]

Really like my green machine but is so slow...probably what it best