Hornady or Lee reloaing press

[scruff]

Which would you choose a Hornady reloading press or a Lee reloading press. The kits don't seem to be that expensive. I am starting to shoot a little more and it is starting to cut into the vacation fund. Any comments?

[Boxerglocker]

Which would you choose a Hornady reloading press or a Lee reloading press. The kits don't seem to be that expensive. I am starting to shoot a little more and it is starting to cut into the vacation fund. Any comments?

Things to consider before making a choice....

Calibers required to load and number of rounds a month, budget, personal time to dedicate to reload...

[chadbag]

I assume you are talking single stage?

As was mentioned, rounds per month, time you have to reload, etc. all factor in. While I would not touch a Lee progressive with a 10 ft pole, I have heard good things about their classic line of single stage presses though I have no personal experience with them.

[scruff]

I am leaning toward the Hornady progressive press. I will be reloading 5.56, 9mm, and maybe 40cal. But mostly 5.56. I have 2 maybe 4 days a month to deicate to reloading. I figure if I get a progressive loader that I can do more loading in less time, therefore more shooting.

[mizer67]

I am leaning toward the Hornady progressive press. I will be reloading 5.56, 9mm, and maybe 40cal. But mostly 5.56. I have 2 maybe 4 days a month to deicate to reloading. I figure if I get a progressive loader that I can do more loading in less time, therefore more shooting.

If you're mainly reloading 5.56mm in any volume, I'd say you're money will be better spent on a medium volume powdered trimmer like the Giraud:

http://giraudtool.com/

Progressive reloading 5.56mm without stopping is only possible with a Dillon Rapid Trim, however, on a full-up progressive like a 650. It doesn't work well on the LNL AP because the bushings will back out. Either way, it's an expensive set up.

So Giraud + Lee Classic turret I think would be the best way to spend someone else's money unless you buy both the LNL AP and the Giraud.

[scruff]

If you're mainly reloading 5.56mm in any volume, I'd say you're money will be better spent on a medium volume powdered trimmer like the Giraud:

http://giraudtool.com/

Progressive reloading 5.56mm without stopping is only possible with a Dillon Rapid Trim, however, on a full-up progressive like a 650. It doesn't work well on the LNL AP because the bushings will back out. Either way, it's an expensive set up.

So Giraud + Lee Classic turret I think would be the best way to spend someone else's money unless you buy both the LNL AP and the Giraud.

So would a single stage press be better for 556? Would the turrent press be okay for 9mm?

[mizer67]

So would a single stage press be better for 556? Would the turrent press be okay for 9mm?

I'd say a turret press is best for low to medium volume of both. Single stage has it's uses, and I still use one regularly for precision rounds, but if I only had one press for low to medium volume, it would be a turret. You don't need both to load accurate rifle and pistol ammo.

For rifle rounds, the time is spent or saved in brass prep getting the brass ready to load.

Unless you have a Dillon Rapid Trim, 5.56mm has to get sized / deprimed on the press, then taken off, tumbled to remove the lube and trimmed, camphered and deburred. Then the brass gets put back on the press again to prime, powder, seat a bullet and crimp if desired.

You really don't gain a lot of volume in 5.56mm from a progressive press over a turret press like the Lee Classic Turret. You'd really cut your time down more, IMO, if you could trim, campher and debur in one step with a 3-way cutter like the one that's on the Giraud.

9mm in any volume greater than ~100-150/week you're going to want a progressive, though, in my opinion, unless you have a lot of time on your hands to reload.

[Clarkm]

Which would you choose a Hornady reloading press or a Lee reloading press. The kits don't seem to be that expensive. I am starting to shoot a little more and it is starting to cut into the vacation fund. Any comments?

Lee stuff works but it feels chinsy. My dad has a Hornady press that works great.

[scruff]

I'd say a turret press is best for low to medium volume of both. Single stage has it's uses, and I still use one regularly for precision rounds, but if I only had one press for low to medium volume, it would be a turret. You don't need both to load accurate rifle and pistol ammo.

For rifle rounds, the time is spent or saved in brass prep getting the brass ready to load.

Unless you have a Dillon Rapid Trim, 5.56mm has to get sized / deprimed on the press, then taken off, tumbled to remove the lube and trimmed, camphered and deburred. Then the brass gets put back on the press again to prime, powder, seat a bullet and crimp if desired.

You really don't gain a lot of volume in 5.56mm from a progressive press over a turret press like the Lee Classic Turret. You'd really cut your time down more, IMO, if you could trim, campher and debur in one step with a 3-way cutter like the one that's on the Giraud.

9mm in any volume greater than ~100-150/week you're going to want a progressive, though, in my opinion, unless you have a lot of time on your hands to reload.

Why do you have to do more for a 5.56 round than 9mm rounds?

[jmart]

I'd say a turret press is best for low to medium volume of both. Single stage has it's uses, and I still use one regularly for precision rounds, but if I only had one press for low to medium volume, it would be a turret. You don't need both to load accurate rifle and pistol ammo.

For rifle rounds, the time is spent or saved in brass prep getting the brass ready to load.

Unless you have a Dillon Rapid Trim, 5.56mm has to get sized / deprimed on the press, then taken off, tumbled to remove the lube and trimmed, camphered and deburred. Then the brass gets put back on the press again to prime, powder, seat a bullet and crimp if desired.

You really don't gain a lot of volume in 5.56mm from a progressive press over a turret press like the Lee Classic Turret. You'd really cut your time down more, IMO, if you could trim, campher and debur in one step with a 3-way cutter like the one that's on the Giraud.

9mm in any volume greater than ~100-150/week you're going to want a progressive, though, in my opinion, unless you have a lot of time on your hands to reload.

You most certainly do. Turret = one loaded round per four ram strokes. Progressive equals four loaded rounds per four ram strokes.

Your point about case prep is valid. For volume, or sheer convenience, I'd recommend a Dillon 550 or 650, with dedicated toolheads, one for prep and one for loading.

My process starts off with depriming on a SS after coming back from the range. Then the cases go into the tumbler.

My 550 has toolhead #1 setup for resizing & trimming using Dillon's Rapid Trim, and I have a convential resizer two station later that's backed out a couple of turns that's used solely for bring the neck back up to proper dimension by running the case over the expander ball (the Rapid Trim die squeezes it down more than necessary IMHO). The cut of the carbide trim blade is extremely clean, probably based on rpm's it turns at, something like 5,000 or 6,000. I don't bother chamfering and deburring unless the mouth looks a bit ugly, but I'd guess that's maybe 5-10% cases max. The rest just get loaded up as they come out of the trimmer.

I then tumble the lube off as you mentioned, then I hand prime them using a Lee Auto prime. The key is prepping a ton of cases so you always have a thousand or so of prepped cases on hand ready to load at a later time.

Toolhead #2 has a flaring die, a charging die, a seater and a crimper. Once I start loading, I can really crank them out, much faster than I could with my previous turret press. Cranking out 250 is maybe a 40 minute proposition, but granted, you had to invest in the case prep time as well. But once you get that pool of 1,000 - 2,000 (or more) of prepped cases to pull from, the reloading goes quickly. The case prep and priming part can be done in winter time when you're not shooting that much.

Now to the OP's original question, both Lee and Hornady SS presses are fine. If you are on a budget, Lee's Challenger will load .223 and 9mm cases just fine, there's plenty of power and leverage available. If the idea of an aluminum frame bugs you, upgrade to their Cast Classic. It's cast iron, every bit as stout as a Rockchucker, and you'll save several bucks along the way. But SS presses aren't the best for volume, so if you intend to shoot even a moderate amount, I'd look toward either a turret press at the minimum, or better yet, a progressive. And as e-guns said, if you go with a Lee progressive press, it is a roll of the dice. I've read so many mixed reviews on Lee progressive presses, that when I made the decision to go progressive, I went straight to Dillon based on their reputation. This, even though I was a satisfied Lee customer having used both their original 3-hole turret press and their Challenger SS press.

Good luck whichever direction you go.