When does it become worth it to go "Progressive"?

[REDLINE]

I know a bunch of you reload.  In your opinion;  At what number of rounds do you consider it worth it to load on a progressive press as opposed to a single stage or turret press?  Like especially when a press isn't dedicated to a single load and things need to be switched over to load a different cartridge?  I only have one single stage press at this time and between rifle and pistol rounds I generally don't load up more than 200 rounds at a time, much of the time only 50 - 100.  So far for me it hasn't seemed worth it to go to a progressive.  But then I think if I had a progressive I might go ahead and load more rounds at a sitting.

So if you have to start out loading a specific cartridge by switching everything over on your progressive press, as opposed to just using your single stage or turret press, is there a general amount of rounds you have to be loading to go to the progressive to consider it worth it?  I hope you guys can tell what I'm asking.  I feel like I'm having a hard time figuring out how to ask what I'm trying to ask.  Hopefully it's clear enough.

[ShadeTreeVTX]

I agree - I went straight to progressive and than went to single stage - I let myself get sucked into all those different type loads ( 7 different powders and 7 different bullet heads )- now I've gone hybrid - setting the powder drop on the progressive machine is a pain in the a**  and I've had problems with the primer set up,( upside down primers ) cant see them till the end product. So I full size and prime on the single and bell the top and power drop than use the last two stages on the progressive to seat and crimp. The only time I go full progressive are for runs over 200 with the powders that flow real good through the progressive powder drop.

Now in my case I only load 10mm and 40 S&W - 3 different 10mm's to load for - 10mm Mech-Tech( carbine ). G20 6.6"barrel hunting gun. G29 EDC.
The 40S&W I load for my son M&P full size and my daughter's M&P Shield.( change out the head for the 40S&W I have a Dillon 650 )

I have a card file for all the loads I use and am going to try - the only way to keep track of them. I use to have all my load data on the computor - than it went belly up and I lost the hard drive, new putor now and I keep a hard copy on my loading data.

Doug

[tommac919]

snip...  I only have one single stage press at this time and between rifle and pistol rounds I generally don't load up more than 200 rounds at a time, much of the time only 50 - 100.  So far for me it hasn't seemed worth it to go to a progressive.  ...snip....

For the amount you load, IMO, I would say go with a Lee Classic Turret but not a full progressive. 
The LCT can change out calipers in a matter of seconds ( with the extra turret disks, all set up with dies/powder drop )... While it takes about 15-20mins to reset my progressive to new calipers. When running loads(pistol) on the LCT , I can get around 175-200 per hour time ( more if I use pre-primed brass )

So, In the time I take to change over, I can run close to 50 rounds on the LCT.  From your statement thats close to the number you usu make at one time. 

Since you've worked with a single stage, the LCT will be very comfy in use compared to current unit.

BTW, if you do decide to go progressive anyway, I wouldn't recommend the Lee pro 1000's  ... some do like them/ others hate them.  I have one too and can say tho it does work well when running, it's very finicky to keep running without problems... mine only works fairly well cause I was very careful setting up, clean it often, and don't change anything !!!
I just use it for one plunking round I shoot the most and that's it.

good luck

[The_Shadow]

Here is what I do on the single stage RCBS Big MAX;  Case preparations mostly
I pass through size all 10mm, 40S&W, 357Sig, 9x25Dillon, 45ACP cases  (I have done as many as 1000 case plus in a sitting)
I also do all my sizing and depriming of the rifle cases because of the extra leverage with this press.

The RCBS Jr. gets the most work because it has a shorter stroke and I can feel whats going on...
Size and deprime all pistol cases  (sometimes as many as 1000 case plus in a sitting, working on one specific cartridge only)
Case expansion is also done many cases at a time, in the effort to have cases ready they are labeled and bagged as prepped.
When I load, I am hand priming with either the RCBS or LEE hand primer units.
With all the cases prepared ahead of time, I am only doing the power measures (hand weighed) and then seating to proper COAL without any crimp in this step. After I dump the scale pan into a casing, I drop another powder charge in the pan an let it settle on the scale while seat a bullet in the charged casing.  This gives me another look at the powder in the casing.
The next step is running all those cases again, this time crimping ONLY to finish!  I even wipe them down before bagging.

When you are only working on one step at a time there is less confusion even with occasional distractions.

Now the pull-downs are a different process, because I take one down, and go through all the steps, except depriming, to keep it all together.(I resize them without depriming, the case neck expansion to provide good bullet tension)   Yes, this takes some time, as I have to change and adjust the dies as I work on different bullet styles.
Hey, its what brings us all this great info that is posted in the pull-down sections here!   

But I can say that the Dillon 550B is about to be put to work doing some target/play ammo...for now it sits in waiting...

My main challenge is taking everything out of my reloading room and reorganizing and replacing some shelves that couldn't handle the weight...

[gandog56]

When you shoot a WHOLE lotta bullets! Unfortunately I tried a progressive once and it just never did work right for me so I went back to my single stage. Now if I would have had the bucks to get like a Dillon, maybe. But I'm gun shy now.

[sstewart]

Learned on hornady LNL. Seems logical to me to make bullets assembly line style. I do hand weight (trickle) .308. Have loaded 9,40,45,10,308 on this press.
Use single stage to pass thru 40 & 10mm.
Highly recommend progressive. Maybe I just don't want to work so hard.

[Osageid]

Gandog  has it right, whole lotta bullets.  There has been range sessions that I will shoot 500+ bullets and will do that several times a month.  Now that does not seem to sound like much but I don't have that much time to reload what I shoot so I load on two dillon 650's. One for small and one for large primer. Works well for me.

[Geeman]

One of the big Dillon machines with all the bells and whistles does have a "Tim the Toolman" draw to it!!!  What's not to love with all the gadgets doing their own things in perfect sync.

For me, at least for now, I'm changing bullets, charge weights, OAL lengths, and I'm a bit too fussy with the "within a tenth of a grain" accuracy.  For now its my RCBS Chargmaster measuring for me and a Forster Co-Ax single stage press.

Somewhere down the road the XL650 may win out, but I'll need quicker access to a range (out the back door would be GREAT) and I'll have the perfect round for each caliber figured out for my volume hungry rounds before it would make sense.  For now the time spent reloading is easier and more relaxing that loading up the equipment and driving an hour to get to a decent range.  It puts a big hole in the day to be sure!!!

Greg

[sqlbullet]

When you have this much brass to process:

[ShadeTreeVTX]

You need 4 Dillion 1050's and lots of help at least.

Doug

[Geeman]

When you have this much brass to process:

Hmmm, Cement and brass in the same shot.

Another use for the cement mixer, doubles as a brass tumbler!!!

Greg

[sqlbullet]

You need 4 Dillion 1050's and lots of help at least.

Doug

On the list (two at least)

Hmmm, Cement and brass in the same shot.

Another use for the cement mixer, doubles as a brass tumbler!!!

Greg

Also on the list.

[REDLINE]

Thanks for the replies so far.  They helped.  I'm in no hurry to do anything different than I already am but I have been contemplating moving forward to a turret or progressive for quite some time now.  It won't happen in the immediate future but I'm thinking my next step up will be the Redding T-7 turret press.  I figure unless I start loading a whole lot more rounds than I currently do there simply is no need to go all out progressive.  Always fun thinking about it though.

[shootz]

I started with a Rockchucker and still use it for rifle and 44mag and 50ae.
Went to a Hornady Pro7 when I was loading pistol for 2 people.
My buddy bought the Pro7 about the time Dillon came out with their progressive, but who ever heard of Dillon right.
The Pro7 had a poorly designed priming and indexing system but it worked ok for a while.

The bullseye shooters in my club all bought Dillon Square Deals years ago.
Most bought 2, one for 45acp and one for 32sw or 38spl. I still have a STAR progressive in a box somewhere setup for 38spl.
That was a cool machine.

Now I have a Dillon 650 with a feeder, I usually load 600-1000 rnds before switching (pistol) calibers.
1000rnds takes under 3hrs including switching the caliber and resetting the powder measure.

[Pinsnscrews]

My wife bought me a lee turret press kit last year. I wanted a single stage, but saw the major advantage to the turret press. I used it strictly in single stage all last year, manually rotating the head through each stage. I prime off the press at the couch using the Lee Prime Tool.

A note about the lee thru die powder measure. As long as I did my part, and not rush the powder stroke, it dropped exactly 9.6gr Longshot in 600 cartridges...(checked initially every 10th cartridge for the first 200, then every 20th after that) it does however leak powder out the sides of the discs.

About August of this 2014, my wife talked a shop into letting me have the Lyman Turret Mag press kit(powder measure. Case trimmer, balance beam scale, digital scale, case prep tools) 9 die sets and a heavy bench grinder table that the press was mounted to for $200.

It pays to keep your eyes open. That Lyman has turned case forming for my Herret and removing the bulge from 10mm so much easier because it has no flex in the head. That flex and shift in the turret head can bother me sometimes, I feel it can, and does, throw off bullet seating or case forming. I can adjust for it when seating bullets, but when case forming, it has cost me a couple of peices of brass due to visibly being bent, and I couldn't get the rounds to load right with the bend in the case. I was able to straighten one by resizing it on the Lyman. But the other I had cut down for a project.