Turret vs Single Stage

[Doc. Holiday]

So I have been told my several that when you begin to reload, avoid a progressive press as it can be a little overwhelming for someone who hasn't reloaded (which makes total sense) and that if you are doing precision loads, NEVER do a progressive and always do a single stage.

My question is the reason you are supposed to avoid a progressive press is due to "the process being too quick and not given the proper attention to detail" or does it have to do with tolerances? I ask, because I am going to avoid a progressive press as I want to do precision loads for my .308, but I do plan on reloading .223 and 300 blackout in mass. I thought a good compromise would be something like an RCBS turret press or the Dillion turret press. Keeping my .308 process nice and slow, but having a press that can also bang out mass loads that don't need to be as precise as the competition .308 loads. (hope that makes sense)

Would a turret press be a good route to go with this thought processes? Or should I stick with a single stage press only?

[Gödel]

There is much to be said about learning the business of reloading before going to a progressive. But if your goal is mass production and you are reasonably mechanical, you could jump right in to a progressive.

Additionally, many progressives can be deconstructed into a turret. So you could just get what you want, assemble as a turret and go to progressive function when you're ready. That would be cheaper than building up a progressive compatible turret piece by piece.


Personally, I don't think turret presses are much faster than a single stage if you do each stage in lots (50 expands, 50 primes, 50 powder drops, etc.)


Consider buying a used .223 single or turret set up off Armslist locally as a starter. Could be cheap.

[boombotz401]

I started off on a single stage rock chucker and used it for years.

I now load bulk 9mm on a pro chucker progressive however I still use the single for my match rifle ammo

Point is get a single and learn the steps, then add a progressive....you'll always have a use for a single




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[cswpsi]

I started off on a single stage rock chucker and used it for years.

I now load bulk 9mm on a pro chucker progressive however I still use the single for my match rifle ammo

Point is get a single and learn the steps, then add a progressive....you'll always have a use for a single




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^^this

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[Lefty223]

There is a middle option, sort of - the turret press. With the Lee 3 or 4 hole turret press all dies for the caliber are right there. Of course this isn't progressive by any stretch, but when loading pistol calibers I'd run them a box of 50 at a time, moving 2 cases at a time through each step - size/deprime - belling the case mouth - then prime off the press using a handheld priming tool - followed by powder by an RCBS Lil' Dandy (uses rotors) - then seat the bullet and crimp using a taper crimp die. I could easily knock out premium handloads in no time.

I even use the same turret press for the milsurp and precision rifle loading. All I'm really saving in time is moving the dies around. Using the 4-hole turrets, on a caliber like 308 I can have full length sizer, a collet neck sizer, the seating die and the Lee factory crimp die. That crimp die is phenomenal for consistency in chronograph numbers and with the collet die, I don't need to full length size the bolt guns. And even in the turret, the runout is negligible to none.

[signal4l]

I've been using the Lee Auto indexing turret press for several years. It is slower than a progressive. It's much faster than the Lyman T mag turret i used to use. The Lee turret press is very good. The primer feed is the best I have used. I would start with this press. If you need to load 300 rounds in an hour you will need to upgrade

[gunnerblue]

I recommend to friends who are interested in reloading to start with a good quality turret press. It could be used as a single stage for someone who is just starting out, while enabling bulk ammo to be loaded at a much higher rate than a strict single stage. Depending on how much ammo is used, a progressive press may not even be necessary further down the road. FWIW, I use a Rockchucker and a Hornady Lock-n-Load.

[sjoliat]

I think a lot of this depends on just how fast you are looking to load. Personally, when I load my bulk loads, I can more than double my output by only using the powder thrower vs throwing and trickling like I do for precision loads. Have never timed it, but I swear it seems like I can do all the other steps in the same time it takes to weigh and trickle a charge. As far as the inherent precision of the press, I don't have a turret press to test against, but i have a hard time believing that a turret is as consistent as a fixed single stage. I hope to need something like a Dillon 650 one day, but for now my dual Rock chuckers do pretty well.

[Lefty223]

As far as the inherent precision of the press, I don't have a turret press to test against, but i have a hard time believing that a turret is as consistent as a fixed single stage.

I can only speak to precision 'neck sized' cases for use in a bolt gun, but my brother is a benchrest shooter and I've checked my turret produced loads on his NECO concentricity gauge and where the cases are fire-formed to the chember, runout is indeed zero to negligible.

[darr3239]

Reloading is a great hobby, and one that has it's pleasures. Eventually you will probably end up with both a single stage and a progressive.

I have a Forster Co-Ax for low volume/precision/test loads, and a Dillon 550 for volume. The Forster is a very good press, and doesn't require different shell holders for all the different cartridges you may load.

A big advantage of the single stage is working up test loads, where you are changing powder weight every 5 or 10 rounds, or when trying different bullet weights during the same session. The reloader's obsession is finding "that" accurate load! Also, since I don't load a thousand rounds for any hunting load, I use it for low volume work. For a beginning reloader, the single stage screws with your head less when you are learning, since progressives can be a real pain with test boxes.

The advantage of a progressive is once you have all your load data figured out (powder amount and bullet seating depth), you can just start rocking high volume. There are successful rifle competition shooters who use a Dillon to load their ammo, so they are capable of very accurate loads once locked down. If you take your time to set up a progressive they aren't hard to use. Some guys, not me, turn their progressives into a single stage and only do certain operations one at a time. Anal is as anal does.

So........ for a press to get going with, if I were making the decision, I would choose the type of press I'd be using the most. I.E. low volume, vs. high volume. In the end you will want both.