Dillon Presses or similar.

[dromia]

John, My one concern is consistency for an accurate load, the ability to throw to a tenth with spherical powder is one thing however with something like N140 or TR140 is another and +/- 3/10s would not work for me.

I can see the advantages with cowboy ammunition but .223/5,56x45 is something else and this is where some first hand experience is handy.

I am far more confident about getting +/- 1/10th of a grain drops on my progressives than I am hand throwing.

The Powder Cop type dies can also be marked for for slight variations especially in the smaller cases like the 223.

[ovenpaa]

Dromia, is that with fine or coarse powder?

[John MH]

You lose lots of the advantages of a Progressive when loading rifle bottle necked cases as they have to be lubed before sizing and then cleaned, so its not as progressive as pistol round loading. The Dillon's do have their advantages though and I know lots of shooters who use them for .223/5.56, they are not however looking high accuracy and would be happy with an average of 2 MOA (+/- 1/2 MOA) as they try to mimic military quality ball ammunition. If you are going to do that I'd rather just shoot milsurp and be done with it.

Problem with most progressives is that when using cut "cylindrical" powders as the cases index around the shell plate you get powder jumping out of the case if you are filling it to anywhere near the shoulder, that can't be good for consistency. You also lose a lot of the sense of 'feel' you get with a single stage press. I still own a few presses but the one that gets used the most is my Forster Co-Ax. I would have another 1050 tomorrow as I now have space for it and would use it for processing cases in bulk but I wouldn't load 'precision' ammunition on it.

Never had any issues with the consistency of the 'Drop' from a Dillon, it was the escaping powder that bothered me; a different powder may have solved the problem but choices are limited.

[dodgyrog]

Dave, I have 3 Dillon 450's, 1 550 and a 1050.
I wouldn't be without them. I still weigh each powder load for rifle ammo though on my Lyman DPS if I'm using a stick type powder (Viht 140 etc) but ball powder is very consistent.
HPS use 1050's that they have mechanised and driven electrically and get consistent powder charges as a result using Viht 140.
For making pistol calibre ammo the 1050 is unbeatable BUT you have to watch and feel each round and each stroke of the press to ensure that it is still working correctly. Absolutely no disturbance from people pets or radio etc.

[dromia]

Mainly VV N140 and N160 David.

John I've never had powder jumping from the case in my progressives in normal usage, the only time it has happened is when something else has jarred the cadence. I take my time and on the Ammomaster and LnL everything goes through the stations smoothly.

I Lee collet neck size my cases on the progressives so the lubing isn't an issue.

I also use the press for one time fired, first time reloaded brass, they are full length resized and they are spray lubed in a cardboard box, left to dry and away you go.

Progressives are not single station presses and in some ways they require a different approach and mindset to their use, comparing single station and progressives is like comparing apples and oranges.

I like my progressives and would be loathed to give them up however if I could have only one press then it would be a single station and it would be a toss up 'tween my Co-Ax and my Redding Ultramag, with the Ultramag probably coming out first as it is better suited to loading large BP cartridges and handling the larger dies. If I was only loading for 303 then it would be the Co-Ax.

[John MH]

Just my experience with the Dillon 1050, it was smoothly operated and all my cases were full length resized every time as they were for use in a straight pull shooting rapid fire so `neck sizing' was not an option.

I too have had many progressives, first was a Lee back in 1984, that was up graded to two Hornady Progressives (one for .38 Spl and one for .45 ACP) the Hornady was a fine press and made consistent pistol ammo. The .38 Spl Hornady was redressed for .40 S&W and the 1050 acquired to continue the .38 Spl production. After 1997 neither Hornady was ever used again and they were not included in the compensation scheme, both, sadly, were left to deteriorate in the garage and were disposed of in a skip a couple of years ago. The 1050 did not meet with my expectations for loading rifle ammo and I did not have the time or inclination to tune it, and to be honest didn't shoot the volume to justify keeping it.

Progressives have there uses as do Single Stage Presses, I'm more than happy with the quality of the ammunition mine produce and would only consider another progressive if I start to increase the amount of 300 Whisper (Blackout) that I shoot.

[dromia]

Progressives do have a "feel" to them too. Its just different from single stage "feel". However you still need to to give it as much cognisance as anything else in the reloading process, it gives you important information especially when there is so much going on.

[dodgyrog]

With rifle cases I use the Dillon 450/500 to size and deprime and then take them off the press to tumble again and re-prime by hand before putting the powder in. They are also trimmed at this stage on my Gracey trimmer.
I then feed them back into the press and complete the cycle.
Yes I do realise that is not using the press as a truly progressive but it's what I am comfortable doing.

[John MH]

Progressives do have a "feel" to them too. Its just different from single stage "feel". However you still need to to give it as much cognisance as anything else in the reloading process, it gives you important information especially when there is so much going on.

While they do have 'Feel' the mechanical advantage on a Dillon 1050 is so great that unless you have a serious jam you might not notice a problem until too late. Additionally walking back from a problem can be a protracted and fiddly process.

Horses for courses and 100% attention required for the operation of both.

[phaedra1106]

Much the same system as I use with the .44, works very nicely for me

When I (eventually) get the 300BLK I may look at loading subsonic for it on the progressive or I may use the turret depending on how much ammo I go through, with the .44 I used 350 rounds last week!.