RCBS pro 2000

[Brassjunkie]

I'm looking to start progressively load a few cartridges and was wondering anyone's thought on the pro 2000. I can get a new one cheap and all the shell plates and turrets are available. I guess it uses a strip priming system that I'm not familiar with. A friend of mine has a bunch of new strips, large and small.
   Thanks for any help

[AlinMi]

I had one when they first came out, only complaints I had were loading the primer strips and manual indexing.

Ended up selling it and ponied up for a XL650.

[Brassjunkie]

I would go Dillon but really only wanna load 38spl and 9mm in bulk.
   Anything will be quicker than my single stage.

[Rotten]

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.

[The_Shadow]

Well you don't have to use it as a progressive press as you can work from each station individually.  You can size everything then prime.
The hand held primers can work well to allow closer inspections.
You can expand the case mouths either while adding powder or not.
You can then seat bullets to depth and then crimp...

[Brassjunkie]

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.
   

[Rotten]

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.

[sqlbullet]

I do not have, nor have I used a Pro 2000.  I am a big fan of RCBS's customer support though and have several other RCBS products including a rock chuck press.

I have two progressive presses, both from blue.  I have a Dillon 550 with a bunch of caliber conversions that I got for a steal of a price, and a Super 1050 that I paid full pop for.  I would not have purchased a 550 at full price, for reasons I will get into below.  I also had a square deal B on my bench for a while.  It belonged to a friend who obtained it at a garage sale.  For pistol only, it is a fine press and I have loaded several thousand 357 and 44 mag on it.

Looking at the Pro-200 it has one advantage over the Dillon 550 and several disadvantages.

Five stations is huge.  My 550 only has four, and when loading anything I want a strong crimp on, this is a handicap.  Having a fifth station allows you to separate seating and crimping, and results in ammo without any lead or copper where the case mouth digs in as it moves during seat/crimp.  If you load only proper FMJ ammo, this may not be an issue. You can work around this limitation most of the time with very careful adjustment of the seat/crimp die.  A fifth station also gives the option of a powder cop as well.

Priming strips I see as a bit downside.  They appear to be more difficult to load than a primer pickup tube and don't have the capacity of a tube based priming system.  I have not used them, but on the face of it I would not be a fan.

The location of the powder feed station outside the turret plate is also a downside. Setting up the powder throw every time you change calibers seems like a pain.  Perhaps that have this solved.

The manual index is not nearly the nuisance I thought it would be when I got my 550.  I am pretty conscientious about checking powder each time, and I have to reach in there to place a bullet.  Adding a spin of the base plate is really a non-issue.

I gotta say, for around $400 I would probably get a 550.

[Pctechdude]

I have had a pro 2000 for around 7 or 8 years now, and it's reloaded at least 100k rounds.

I got mine from a co-worker who got out of reloading. He used it maybe 4 or 5 times then it sat around. I got it for $225.

The uniflow powder measure did have the micrometer meter adjustment which makes adjusting the metering system a breeze. Last I knew this was a $100 add on part.

Personally, the primer system I like, it comes with a loader, you put your primers in, put a strip in, as you move the loader around, the primers fall into place and you push the lever down to push the primers in the strips. I can load 1000 primers in the strips in about 10 minutes.

Mine was the manual index, my wife bought me the auto index head and the Hornady bullet feeder. Absolutely turned into a better workhorse.

The downside is no case feeder available for this press.

I did replace the original handle with a inline fabricators ergonomic roller handle and it's awesome.

You can purchase the expander inserts for the powder dispenser, which helps, but ensure you clean the cases as if they are dirty they stick.

My setup goes as this, first stage is full length size, 2nd stage is primer, expand drop powder, 3rd stage is bullet feeder, 4th stage seat, 5th stage crimp. I don't like seating and crimping in the same step.

I have looked at other presses and used others, have even thought about getting a Hornady lock and load, but I just can't. The pro 2000 fits everything I need. Changing over is a breeze, the RCBS customer service is top notch if you break a part, etc...

My personal opinion, one of the most underrated presses released.

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

[Brassjunkie]

Thanks guys. Appreciate the input.
  I'm am not new to reloading by any means. I have multiple dies for all the cartridges I load and then some. This is just a way to do the loads that don't change quick.
   I have pages and pages of my pet loads.

[Brassjunkie]

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.

Well the press is $300 leaving me $100 for some shell plates and turrets. It comes with a good powder measure, if not I have 3 others.
   Yeah I do batches of 250-300 during the winter when I can only shoot once a week. It gets very boring tho single stage

[sqlbullet]

pctechdude that is good info I didn't know about both the powder measure and the strip primer system.  You may have swayed me.  The extra station over the 550 is a BIG win.  If the primer system is that easy, I can agree that some good notes on the micrometer powder flow will get you on track in a hurry.  Probably offsets my two concerns.

[Pctechdude]

pctechdude that is good info I didn't know about both the powder measure and the strip primer system.  You may have swayed me.  The extra station over the 550 is a BIG win.  If the primer system is that easy, I can agree that some good notes on the micrometer powder flow will get you on track in a hurry.  Probably offsets my two concerns.

When I get home, I'll take a picture of the primer loading tray for you. The uniflow powder dispenser comes with just a adjustment screw like the Hornady unit does.

I looked online for the micrometer and it's dropped in price to 49.99. It makes it easy to adjust, especially if you run the same loads. I've remembered mine so I can switch over fairly easy.

With the primer tray, you can have 200 primers on there to load into strips, depending on what brand you use. Winchester, CCI or any smaller tray are good, federals the plastic tray is too big so only a hundred.

Plus I know Midway has the CCI primers that are preloaded into the strips available, others may too.

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[Pctechdude]

The primer system alone is why I haven't upgraded to the new 7 station press from rcbs.

I know the first ones after introduction had some issues, but they've worked those out and it still hasn't swayed me.

I guess I'm my wife's right, I'm stuck in my ways [emoji848]

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[Pctechdude]

If you get the press and it doesn't come with this, let me know. I have a spare I can send you. It has a warped piece of plastic around the edge where the clear lid goes on, it functions fine but rcbs sent me a new one. And I never really used the lid anyway lol

Here's what the APS strip loader looks like

Each strip holds 25 primers, and you can link them together as they are feeding into the press. You can take them apart after they exit, or if you have multiple empties sticking out they will just detach themselves. Sounds odd until you see it.


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