Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters What was the first die set/press you owned?

First press used was a C-H owned by a friend, later started using Lee
loading kits. Still have them - first press I owned was RCBS Rockchucker.
I bought in 1972 at local gun store for $79 including set of '06 dies. Still
using it about every week.
Old Cuss

Lee Loader for my 16 guage in 1972, followed by an RCBS Jr press and RCBS .44 magnum steel (not carbide) dies in 1975.

Steve Redgewell: My family was poor when I was a child and yet I fell in love with shooting Rifles.
I taught myself to "re-load" Rifle cartridges starting when I was 12 years old (1959)!
My mentor was a fellow at the local sport shop in Renton, Washington (Stan Hickoks then he moved to Seattle Sporting Goods).
He gave me a set of "hand dies" (Lee IIRC) in caliber 30/06 which was the only centerfire Rifle in my family at the time.
I do remember my first pound of surplus powder cost me 99 cents!
Anyway handloading was even cheaper back then than the very affordable prices (compared to today!) of factory ammo.
Started out with and stayed with Nosler Partitions in that family 30/06.
"Handloading" has been a very rewarding, relaxing and at times necessary "hobby" for me.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Still have it. Old school Lee Loader for my 243. Bought the dies at the Gibson store in Sidney MT, must have been around 1977.

I had a Winchester 670A in 243, with a Tasco 4X scope. My first rifle.

First press used was a C-H owned by a friend, later started using Lee
loading kits. Still have them - first press I owned was RCBS Rockchucker.
I bought in 1972 at local gun store for $79 including set of '06 dies. Still
using it about every week.
Old Cuss

My first press was given to me by my mentor in handloading. It was something from Herters that represented the total daily output of a foundry somewhere. My first dies were from RCBS.

RCBS partner press and mixed Lee and RCBS dies. I got into reloading by buying a batch of equipment and components off of someone getting out of it. Still have the press but rarely use it for anything except my universal decapper.

I bought this press when I came back from overseas. It still works. These days, I just use it to deprime cases.



This is an old ad for the Lee 2001 Challenger that was guaranteed until the year 2001.

Mine was a Dillon press for 45 acp, but I sold it off years ago.

MontanaMarine, we had a Gibson's in Glendive too, but my Lee Loader came from Buttrey's grocery store. They had a great sporting goods section.

Good stuff. I left Sidney in 1979 right after high school when I joined the Marines. Visited back in Sidney in 1983, but haven't been back since.

Passed through Glendive a few times along the way when taking leave from Camp Lejeune or Quantico, and heading to Montana.

Nowadays, live near Helena, and don't get too far east other than Glasgow area for the Icebreaker now and then, or spending some time on our property near Cat Creek.

My first press was a Cougar and Hunter, not to be confused C-H. Cougar and hunter was a Weatherby dealer in Flushing, MI that had their own line of reloading equipment. The store sold motorcycles by all the Japanese brands along with guns and sporting goods. Even had a cool under ground range and a test track out back for motorcycles. About heaven for a young country boy.
Unfortunately they went out of business when the owner passed away.
Sadly I do not know what happened to that press. I would sure like to find another. My grandfather's tool and die shop actually did machine work for them and applied and baked on the crinkle paint to the presses.

Bair press, powder measure and scale. Probably the dies also. I still use the powder trickler. I got them in 1970.

Lee Loader in .30-30 and .45 Colt at age 12. First powders were IMR4895 and HP38, with Sierra .308 125 FNHP's and Lee .452 250 SWC's. This was in 1982.

Then Lee Turret Press and RCBS dies in .22-250 at age 14, followed closely by RCBS 30-30 and Lee .45 Colt dies. .22-250 got the same IMR4895, and Sierra .224 55 BTHP's. This was 1984.

In all cases, that's what the LGS had on hand.

A used RCBS single stage from about 1970 that I picked up at a local gun range. It is now used for all my rifle bullet seating with Forster dies as it is dead nuts straight with no slop to this day.
First rifle die set was for .30-30 from Redding.
First revolver pistol die set was .38 / .357 mag from RCBS.
First auto pistol die set was for .45 acp from Lee.

Still have all of the firearms they were bought for and still have all the equipment.

Rockchucker bought in '72 with '71 stamped on the casting. 22-250 dies I think are still on the shelf. The second set was 300 magnum and they are still on the shelf. I have more than a few sets of dies in the old green RCBS plastic case. I got to where I don't get rid of the dies with a gun. Be Well, RZ.

First ever loading tool was a Lee whack-a-mole for my .30-30, seemed to load mildish loads but they did kill.

First press was a Lee Challenger. I broke the linkage on it within the warranty period, called Lee and they sent a new linkage with a nasty-gram showing in detail how it was to be installed....to avoid breaking the linkage.....

Meanwhile I replaced the Lee with a RockChucker. I still use it 30+ years later. It still loads straight ammo, according to the concentricity gauge. I gave the Challenger to someone I disliked.

First progressive was an RCBS Piggyback II, loaded about 1000 rounds of .45 ACP with it, tired of its' fussiness real quick and put it on the shelf, it's still there 23 years or so years later, hasn't been used since.

Present progressive is a Dillon 550C, use the hell out of it for 5.56, 45 ACP, and .30-06 for my M1 and 03A3. Separate toolheads and standardized loads expedite cartridge changeovers.

I don't know where the Whack-a-mole is, probably got thrown away. Clutter irritates me and sometimes things go in the garbage can.

RCBS Jr. & RCBS 22-250 dies. 1974

My 505 scale is tan & marked Ohaus, just before they were green & labeled RCBS. Still using it as a primary.

Lee Loader in 30-30 for a pre-64 and 308 for a Savage 99. That was in 1973.

A year later a RCBS Rockchucker loading 270's and a 6mm Rem for a pair of 700 BDLs.

Ohaus 10-10 of which I still have and use.

My first one was a single stage from Herters, that I picked up in the early 60"s, dies were 30:06 from RCBS. I still have both. Except that I now have three of the press's and several more dies, most RCBS