One last reloading question. (I hope)

I'll probably catch hell from the lee guys but buy anything but lee. I have equipment from Dillon, RCBS, Redding all good stuff I bought one set of lee dies sat them on the bench with all my other dies and the lee dies are the only ones that rust right before your eyes. Everybody is quick to say you get what you pay for about everything else and it's no different with reloading equipment.

 

I would purchase the rcbs kit. It comes with a ton of stuff to help you get started and the rock chucker is a great single stage. Since your not worried about speed get that. Later down the road you can upgrade to a dillon 550 to crank some rounds out.

 

Oh and the comment on lee dies are correct. They do get surface rust if left in press but it is easily wiped off and when I'm not using a set ill throw them in a ziplock. They work well for the money. I've got 1500 rounds through my 45 dies and haven't had an issue yet.

 

I have Lee & Redding equipment. There is nothing wrong with the Lee presses. I have a Challenger and a Classic Turret. They work fine. Admittedly, the Lee Scale & Lee PPM are a bit of a challenge, but they will work. They are a bit of a pain though. I replaced them with Redding products when I got around to it. As for Lee Dies rusting? My Hornady dies have a bigger rust issue (minor) than my Lee dies (none). I don't do anything but clean them with brake cleaner now & again.

 

I have 7 loading presses set up at this time. I have presses stored going back over many decades. I just can not pass up a loading press deal. I have Dillions, RCBS, Foresters, Mecs, Holly Wood, Old Texans, Lymans Etc. I was in Cabelas down in Utah last month. They had a deal on the LEE turret auto index press. I bought the little orphan and mounted it on the bench. Well after a number of hours and lots of cuss words it is working. I really like the little press for small runs of test loads. I would think it would be great for some one new to reloading.

 

For your hunting rifle needs the Rock Chucker will be your best bet. You learn to learn in batches and have better control over the process. YOu can also you it for pistol ammo..But where it does get tedious is with the long runs of pistol ammo or .223 ammo. So it becomes a gretter time commitment on your paert.


I dont know if this falls into your financial options,but...
The Lee classic 4 hiole Turret gives you the best of both worlds It will handle your hunting ammo as a single stage if you wish, then you can enguage the turret for pistol ammo runs (a couple of hundred rounds an hour is doable on the this Turret.

 

700 rounds per hour is doable on a Dillon 650!

And it will do rifle as well as pistol=======================================

Nitestalker-- I too have a Texan press. it was my first. I didn't know anyone even remembered them!

Do you remember Bair presses made in Nebraska???? I've always regretted not getting their very heavy Kodiak model. It was an awesome press.

 

I have never had dies if any type rust. but they are well cared for.

Chances are, that if you are going the budget route to get into it. The lee will do you just fine. I am sure that I you like the hobby, you will eventually move up to a progressive of some sort. Even then, you will still find that lee single stage useful for small batches and fine tuning.

 

I've had Dillons for over 30 years. But I still find uses for my old Texan and my Lyman "Orange Crusher."

 

Lee turret is the way to go on a budget (as i am) The scale and powder measure are a pain in the arse (as already stated) but doable.

The only problem i have with the Lee turret press is running 30-06 is a pain...there is just enough room to remove the loaded round.

My basement is a humid area and the only rust (surface) on my Lee carbides is on my .357 dies...that came with the press, used, many moons ago. I have loaded thousands of rounds with those dies without an issue.

 

To say anything but Lee is actually an injustice to the OP. Lee does makes excellent dies and hand tools so you may want to specify the parts that you don't like but to blanket it would be inaccurate in my opinion. Peace

 

I would go with the Rockchucker first off, and start out with one caliber for one gun then get dies and supplies for others as you learn. If you can swing it maybe pick up 3 or maybe 4 presses as that will give you more flexibility in the future and you can set up the dies in a production line of sorts this way.

also, I didn't see it mentioned, but many people (myself included) do not use reloads for defensive ammo, we use factory loads only. It is far less likely for there to be a bad round in a box of Hornady critical defense (or what have you) than there is to be a mistake in your reloads. It is not a big deal at the range, only slightly more of a deal when hunting, but in an SD situation a ftfire can cost you your life. This having been said you can reload for practice rounds at the range, but when you load up for carry or HD, put factory loads in.

 

Lee dies are GREAT. They are less expensive than other brands and perform the same exact function, the same exact way. The only difference is $$

The PM I have is finicky (or I am) it refuses to throw a consistent charge. I works better for some powders than others. It just depends how tight you want your powder charge to be...i tend to try to keep 'em exact, but when running large batches i will allow 'em to be 1/10 gr off one way or the other.

The scale is a pain in the ass to read and easily bumped from your 1/10th gr. setting.

I just bought extra turret plates. I set up my dies for a particular caliber, then just pop the plate in and out when wanting to run a different caliber. I am set up to run 9mm, .357, .44 mag, 30-06, 35 rem, .223 on a moments notice. Just drop in the correct dies, dump the correct powder in the measure and away i go with minor hassel.

 

Lee 3 hole turret press.

 

I can only tell you what i use. I have an rcbs single stage and a dillon xl650. Ive used the rcbs pretty nonstop since 1989 and the dillon i bought in 1999. The single stage i prefer for rifle rounds when making very accurate ammo as its easier to use micrometer type seating dies. The dillon is great for cranking out plinking ammo especially handgun ammo.

The issue with any dispenser is the three main types of powder ball, flake, extruded. Ball powder meters very well but isnt generally as accurate a powder as extruded. Flake is the middle ground and measures decently. Extruded stick powder measures very very poorly and often has a discrepency of up to .4 or .5 grains. Thats a lot.

If im doing mass loadings of extruded powders i stay well below max charges to allow for overage and well above minimal charge to ward off just as dangerous under charges. It doesnt matter what measure you use extruded is just difficult and time consuming to get accurate +-.1 charge weights.

My opinion rcbs is the best choice if you cant get a dillon. Their customer after the sale service is on par with dillon's.

As for dies you need to do research on each as each maker has different little idiosynchosies(sp?). I generally prefer dillon dies but they dont work in most other presses. Secondly my preference is for rcbs then redding then lee. No real super reason why they all seem to function just fine except i hate the lee lock rings and replace them with dillon lock rings. I dont like the rubber washer thing they got going on.

 

The Lee Perfect Powder Measure is the one I have. (I have no experience with the Autodisk) It can be fussy. Accuracy with flake powders can vary. I found that I couldn't use Unique to an acceptable level of accuracy (for me.) +/- .3 to.5 gr is unacceptable with a 3.5 to 4.0 gr charge. In something with a 10 or 12 gr charge you will likely be fine. It did fine with Bullseye, AA#5 & 2400. IMHO, the design of the Lee PPM is pretty good. The execution is a bit lacking. It leaks with fine powders. Not a horrible thing, but annoying nonetheless. I would like to see the design done to a high standard, machined out of metal, with a decent micrometer design, then they would be on to something. The hopper design is well done. I like being able to shut it off & detach it.

The Lee scale is, IMHO, hard to use and hard to read. It's built to a price point and it shows. I used mine for an afternoon and that was enough. I bought a Redding scale. It just works better.

 

I have an RCBS press and hand priming tool. I used RCBS dies but had a lot of pins break so now I use lee.
My best investment was a Redding match universal powder drop.