Just starting out with reloading

[dromia]

Some forum advice, not about reloading.

Coming here and asking questions is absolutely fine and is a good way to start, however there is also a wealth advice and views already here and many of your question have been already answered so along with your post using the search facility is a good adjunct. Some of these historic posters may not be here any more so the only way to get the benefit of their opinions is to look back through the past posts.

Getting good information isn't instant and can involve some effort. Both in time and intellectually.

The single v's progressive discussion is one regularly covered so a little searching should uncover the views on this until someone decides to come along with a fuller explanation.

I thought 1066's post to be quiet clear but if you need further information on the whys and wherefores then it behoves you to ask, because unless you do people will rightly assume that you are happy with it

[Yogibear]

Thanks, I know I have a lot more researching to do. Your time and effort is apperciated

[rox]

I get it from the posts that some people dont regard ammunition machines being for people starting out in reloading, but offered no explanation as to why.

On a single-stage press you can learn the subtleties of each step in isolation. You can learn the 'feel' and force and sound and other feedback of what happens when the step goes right, and when it goes wrong. These characteristics will help you to detect problems (e.g. insufficient lubrication) before it's too late. When all of the steps are happening simultaneously you face a much more challenging task to pick out the information from the noise of all the overlapping feedback.

On a single stage press when things go wrong the worst that's likely to happen is wasting a piece of brass. When things go wrong on a progressive, they go wrong fast, and recovery from problems can be much more difficult. Bent and broken parts are not uncommon, and you might be facing a 2 week turnaround for spares. Your single-stage press is an essential backup in these situations.

Progressives need much more maintenance than single-stage presses, and more careful setup than single-stage presses - they are many times more complex. There is also interplay between the dies, which can complicate things. Imbalance in force and resistance across a toolhead can induce variations, which simply isn't an issue on a single-stage press.

Don't imagine that a progressive press will arrive in a box ready for you to start loading. Your requirements will be specific to you, and you will need to design a process that meets your needs. The progressive press is a flexible tool, but designing an effective process for it requires a detailed understanding of the individual steps in order to combine them. When you do combine those steps you'll see different behaviours than when they are performed in isolation. You'll need to understand how brass reacts to force and how it resists force; how to form it and cut it; how much and how little you can move it in one step; how to effectively measure all of the key dimensions.

On a single stage press you can get started quickly and build your knowledge and skills whilst being productive.

For info, I load for TR & 300m competition and training using Lapua, GGG & RWS brass mostly on progressive presses.

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[1066]

Yogi - If your original post said - I've been shooting gallery rifle for a while now and that's all I'm really interested in. I'm thinking about loading my own .357's. I shoot about 50-100 rounds a week - What press would be my best bet?

I may well have said a Lee turret press would be your best bet. A straight walled pistol calibre case, used with carbide dies and a through die auto measure is fairly easy to understand and will produce a reasonable round, perfectly adequate for gallery rifle, reasonably quickly.

You asked about loading .308 and 6br - not particularly difficult cases to load but a little attention to detail is required.

The choice of calibres infer you are looking for accuracy rather than quantity - I shoot various calibres including 6mmbr, I have both turret and single stage presses and can't imagine that I would want to ever load a 6mmbr on anything other than a single stage press.

(I've been reloading since 1973)

Here's an interesting thread;
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=805341

[SmithSights]

Josh, are you seeing good accuracy and expansion with the SST's on soft targets? I used the Interlocks for a while however they did not work for me accuracy wise.

Hello,

About 1.5moa. The rifle is capable of slightly under 1moa when I'm having a good day, with 174gr SMK bullets and slow powder.

Regards,

Josh

[Yogibear]

Thanks for the advice, all digested.
1066, I'm looking initially to make a lot of training ammunition in both 6br and .308 but not looking to spend huge amounts of time doing it. I want to reload as a route to keep me shooting, not reload where reloading becomes a new spare time hobby. Ideally I will be loading 6mm within the next couple of months, aiming to have about 1000 rounds. I would then like to be reloading .308 over the winter ready for the start of next season and again to have roughly 1000 rounds. Wont be reloading regularly, so when I do I anticipate it would be big batches (although I may deprime, clean and resize as I shoot them).
Ultimately I would be looking to reload for accuracy also, but at the moment I would be content with good training ammo with a not too onerous system.

[bradaz11]

not looking to spend huge amounts of time doing it. I want to reload as a route to keep me shooting, not reload where reloading becomes a new spare time hobby.

good luck with that. If you were doing straightwall cases you'd be in with a hope...

when doing batches, remember your ammo limit on ticket. If you have more brass than your limit, it can be easy to get carried away and do lots, potentially going over it

[1066]

Understood Yogi. However, 900 odd rounds is a lot to pull when you discover that you start getting blown primers or the bolts a bit sticky to lift when the weather get warm, or maybe find that you have let a couple of rounds slip through with no powder when the measure has bridges over. A primer on it's own has just enough power to make things difficult.

Hope it goes well for you.

[Alpha1]

As the man said 1000 rounds is a awful lot of ammo to dismantle if you get it wrong. May be you should buy it.

[Yogibear]

I understand what you are saying. I'm buying ammo at the moment and accumulating a lot of fire formed brass of the same make, with the possibility of purchasing more of the same headstamp.
Once I have found the correct recipe I don't plan altering from it. Stick with the same combination for as long as possible. I should have said that I don't plan on doing big batches straight away. That would be a recipe for disaster.Find a load which works for me, iron out the bugs, get the daft rookie errors out of the way etc .
Ammo limit on my ticket is not an issue.
Bradaz, yes I think I may be being a bit optimistic about the time which I am really going to be spending on this, especially when my OCD kicks in and I start meticulously doing everything to the Nth degree.