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I have been loading pistol rounds (9mm and 45) for about 2 years and have been having fun doing so. My current equipment is:
Lee Challenger SSP
Lee beam scale
Lee ‘Prefect Powder Measure’
Redding Dies
I would like to slowly ($200 per year) improve my equipment. What equipment upgrades would you recommend and in what sequence?
Thanks for the input.
Get rid of that beam scale and go digital.
Upgrade to a digital scale, get a case length gauge or a digital vernier caliper (can be used for a lot of things gun related), carbide dies (if your Reddings aren't), new or updated reloading manuals, or put it in a savings account to save up for a progressive reloader.
How about a tumbler to make your brass nice and shiney. If you are shooting a lot, you need to start saving up for a progressive press. If you want to stick with a single stage, then perhaps a manual powder measure.
a set of dial calipers are nice to measure the length of your loads.
If you're happy with your powder thrower and find it accurate enough, I would go with a lee turret press. I am very happy with mine. It bridges the affordability and output rate perfectly for me.
If you're happy with your output, I would recommend an RCBS Chargemaster.
If you're happy with output and charge consistency, I didn't hear anything for pulling bad rounds- how about a nice Hornady Collet Puller?
I just wash and dry my 45 brass. The tumbler seems unnecessary at this point.
A collet puller, new manual, and cheap digital scale will all land you under $100.
i kinda like lee presses and their dies
keep the ssp for depriming.
get a three hole turret....they can be found for well less than 80bucks
set it up for the other three sets in pistol cartridges. it is a manaul advance press...no auto indexing.
for pistol loads i also like lee's auto disk....it throws the powder as you expand the mouth.....they can be found for for around 25bucks...35 for the pro disk.
not sure if the auto disk works with the other dies...so maybe lee dies as well.
with the three hole and auto disk i can belt out 200-300 rounds an hour easily..
also agree with the digi scale....i have one of the "cheap" 30buck kind....works just fine for pistol rounds, and ok for rifles.
eta
it looks like you are priming on the press......that is so slow.
one of them hand priming jiggers work pretty slick too.
some times i'll just sit and watch tv(more of back ground noise thing) and prime a few hundred cases....then its just a matter of feeding the press.
this setup is pretty handy.
i went from just a single stage, to the single and the turret....i feel no need for a progressive.....as i still enjoy time just reloading and i do not see it as a choir.....i just wanted the time to be slightly more productive.
What are your goals for the next 3-4 years? If you are a competitive shooter, in the actions shooting sports especially, you need a progressive. On the other hand if you primarily hunt or enjoy loading maximum loads for target use, then precision and testing may be more important.
So what do you want to accomplish? Then someone can help you get there.
I would have to say that accuracy would be my primary goal. I must admit that speeding up the process a little would be a nice added bonus.
I did not mention earlier, but I also have a good array of hand tools and measuring equipment.
Thanks again.
If your happy with the ammo your making now why change anything? IMO if you want a bit more production a Lee Turret press is a step up ,and just me but I would upgrade to a better scale say a rcbs, besides those two items spend that extra 200 a yr. on powder and primers bullets ect.Quote:
Originally Posted by 22OnUp
Tim
As mentioned above, the action shooters need rapid production because we tend to shoot a lot of ammo 5,000+. If you are more interested in accuracy and precision, it stands to reason that you will want equipment that consistently provide the best compromise with the accent on accuracy. Powder measure is pretty critical, although not as much so as rifle. Brass prep is important with a pistol when looking for accuracy, but here again it is not as complex as rifle. You should have Calipers, I started with vernier, my dial is much easier to use and therefore less prone to user error. I may get a digital soon as I am lazy. Your single stage press is fine for accuracy and is even best for load development. When you know what load you want to use and then want to make a lot of ammo relatively fast you then will want to go progressive. If you don't shoot more than 1,000 of the same load I would save the money and stick to a single stage.
Before I got into action pistol event I used a single stage for a variety of calibers, rifle and pistol, hunting, plinking and self-defense, and felt that it was fine.