Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Progressive Reloader???

I've been using a Rock Chucker and Mec products for 40 years with no complaints. I might load 10 boxes of shotshells every other year and usually sit down and load 300-400 pcs of 45, 44, 357, .270 and .223 every couple of years.

To those of you that have had different brands, who make the best progressive set up for the money - pistol/rifle setup... TIA

I bought a Dillon 550c about a year ago, and love it. It’s the best shooting investment that I’ve ever made. Taking my time, I can load 300-350 rounds of 45 ACP or 10mm an hour. Sure beats the hell out of my RCBS and Redding Single stage presses.

could I load .223 on it in addition to pistol fodder??

Dillon does make a carbide 223 die set

Hornady Lock and Load AP.

In stock here.

500 free bullets with purchase.

Link for bullets.

What 257Deland said

I have been using a single stage reloader for a few years now - various pistol and small rifle cartridges. I am rather particular about consistent weights of powder charges and weigh each charge with an electronic scale. Quite often I will need to adjust the powder charge by one or two tenths to get it right. How accurate are the powder throws using these progressive loaders? It just seems to me to be a real potential problem. I guess it would not matter much if a grain plus or minus did not matter? Please educate me, as I have had zero experience with progressive loaders. Thanks.

Worth it's weight in gold. I also have an original RCBS Case Kicker but they're almost impossible to find.

https://www.rcbs.com/on/demandware....iles/rcbsPdf/CaseKicker_Instructions.pdf

The powders that I use in 10mm and 45 ACP, A #7 and WST, meter +/- .1 grains on my Dillon. Moved from a scale to a Uniflow years ago for single stage reloading, I save the scale for rifle.

Dillon. Mines 550B and it's still going strong.

Gets my vote. I have used Dillon, it's a good product but Hornady has much better features and 5 stations. And you have to a 650 Dillon for five stations.

I have a Dillon 550b with different caliber conversion kits. I can get 400 rounds an hour very easy. I have Dillon 223 carbide dies and run carbide RCBS pistol dies. No issues.

I recently picked up the Dillion 550C, and like it a lot.

Dillon Which ever one you decide on
I have a 550B for 15 Calibers.

It really depends on the powder. Ball powders measure very well while "Flaky" and extruded powders don't, although there are exceptions like Varget.

You have to experiment to find out how reliable a particular powder will be, I have very good results with Winchester 296, H335, and Varget in a Hornady L&L powder measure.

All that said I still measure "Max" loads individually.

I have a Dillon 550, a Dillon Square Deal B, and the Hornady Lock- n-Load progressives for metallic cartridges and MEC Grabbers in 12, 20, and 28 ga and a 9000 in 20 ga for shotshells.

I wouldn't be without a progressive for shotshells as I easily go through a thousand rounds of 12 and 20 ga shells a year with 28 ga not being far behind. I really need a progressive for 410 and 16 ga as punching out several hundred a year gets tedious. When I was actively competing I would go through as many as 15,000 rounds of just 12 ga so one needed a progressive to keep up. Powder drops are plenty close for real life use with all but a couple of powders and one of them, Alliant Steel, should be individually weighed anyways as steel shot reloading is a very precise discipline.

For the metallics, I have the Square Deal B for 38 Spl and 9mm Parabellum. I load a bucket full of brass at a time as it can be a little difficult to switch back and forth. It replaced a Lee 1000 that worked kind of well when the primers would drop from the tray. It felt and looked cheap but I put out a lot of 38 Spl rounds before I replaced it. Powder metering is good except with some bulky powders which I tend to not use in pistols. Everything else runs through it fine.

The 550 is used primarily for rifle and 45 ACP. I like it for pistol but rifle gets a bit tedious as one needs to lube cases in some manner if using as a progressive. I don't mind so much when punching out 308 or 30/06 but for some reason 223 is problematic and a case sticks now and then. For that reason I use my Lyman turret press for 223 except plinking ammo. As mentioned, some of the larger stick powders can be a pain but the short stick and spherical run fine.

My Hornady is an early model and there were some teething problems. I set it aside for a few years as it frustrated me. After reading of how others ironed out the issues I took it up again. I got it running well and use it for 40 S&W ammo. I like it now and have plans to expand to other pistol cartridges in time. I'll see how the inserts will work then. I don't have any powder drop issues as I run mostly ball powder in it. The flake powder I have used did just fine and would have no qualms using it again.

If loading a couple hundred rounds a year one might not need a progressive press, If loading a couple hundred or more a week, then a progressive may be needed.

Dillon for .223 and handgun, Hornady loack & load another fine press, and Mec makes a decent shotshell press.....so does RCBS and also Ponsness Warren.

I have all of them and don't use any of them anymore.....just the MEC 600 JR and the rockchucker.

The only progressive I really liked was the Dillon.....great machine.

You want to shoot more? Get a progressive. I'll load more in a few hours than you're doing in two years.
Zero savings, just ammo that fits and works better in your guns at a higher volume.
I have Dillon and Hornady progressives. They all have a learning curve, no shortage of info to read up on.
Shoot more! Have fun.

If you can't afford one of those Dillons, look into the Lee Loadmaster. That model has had a good reputation compared to their cheaper counterparts.
Another thing going for them is that you can reload rifle too! The carbide dies have had consistently high reviews too.

Find one on sale. Watch videos.
Unless you have a bit more discretionary income or looking for a competition sponsor, it might be intimidating going progressive press rifle AND pistol calibers.

PS:
Just went back and re-read your post. With the infrequent use, you might want to check into a used press from a reliable/guaranteed source.

Seems most guys settle on Dillon or Hornady, but not both.

From reports the Hornady holds its own for precision rifle rounds.

I'm a Dillon 550 guy and wouldn't go out of my way to try the Hornady mainly because I've had Hornady reloading stuff, had issues and I didn't like their attitude when I've called for support.

Dillon on the other hand has been 100% amazing.