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Best place to purchase a press and "other stuff"?

drew_235

drew_235

Sergeant of the Hide
Full Member
Minuteman
May 22, 2019
470
228
Minnesota
#1
I'm not exactly new to reloading - I've got several Ponsness Warren progressive shotgun presses, but I am new to metallic cartridge reloading.

After all of my reading here, I think I'm going to try to purchase a Dillon 550 or 750 and jump head first into the world of progressives. My goal is to reload 9mm, .223 (2 loads - precision and plinking), and eventually 6.5 Creedmoor.

I know that I'm not likely to save a ton of money reloading 9mm and .223 plinking ammo for AR's, but I was thinking it would be a good way to hone my craft. Is there a preferred vendor from which to buy a press, dies, etc.? I've already got a dry tumbler and have been saving my brass for the last couple of years.
 
#5
I've gotten quite the deals from Natchezss.com for reloading items in the past. Mid south shooters, and Midway usa. If you watch the sales, all have their good times.
There are alot of good presses from the classic rcbs rock chucker, to coax, to the progressives. Many will tell you start out with a single stage so you can refine and learn a piece at a time. But often what's overlooked is that a progressive can be used as a single stage when broken down into process. Start slow, be careful, and buy multiple books. You'd be surprised some of the difference in the Lee modern reloading, and the Hornady, or barnes, or...
And don't understate your cost savings in reloading 9mm, or .223. How often have you gone plinking and not picked up your brass? You'll be amazed how much free brass is awaiting at the range begging to be adopted and taken home. But, be careful to start slow. Just cause range brass says .223 on the case, doesn't mean it's not been cut down 300 b.o.
(As a side note. When your .223 brass neck is bed, hello 300 b.o. then the the 300 is done, another chop makes what I call a 9mm max [like a .38 maxim ] for 9mm long birdshot in a revolver for rabbits. Then, normal 9mm, and I never make it to .380).
 
#9
GTOJOSH said:
I've gotten quite the deals from Natchezss.com for reloading items in the past. Mid south shooters, and Midway usa. If you watch the sales, all have their good times.
There are alot of good presses from the classic rcbs rock chucker, to coax, to the progressives. Many will tell you start out with a single stage so you can refine and learn a piece at a time. But often what's overlooked is that a progressive can be used as a single stage when broken down into process. Start slow, be careful, and buy multiple books. You'd be surprised some of the difference in the Lee modern reloading, and the Hornady, or barnes, or...
And don't understate your cost savings in reloading 9mm, or .223. How often have you gone plinking and not picked up your brass? You'll be amazed how much free brass is awaiting at the range begging to be adopted and taken home. But, be careful to start slow. Just cause range brass says .223 on the case, doesn't mean it's not been cut down 300 b.o.
(As a side note. When your .223 brass neck is bed, hello 300 b.o. then the the 300 is done, another chop makes what I call a 9mm max [like a .38 maxim ] for 9mm long birdshot in a revolver for rabbits. Then, normal 9mm, and I never make it to .380).
Click to expand...

I haven't had my 2nd cup of coffee, so maybe I'm not reading this correctly - you're saying you reload .223 and instead of annealing them, you trim them to 300 b.o., reload a few more times, then trim them again to a 9mm long, then regular 9mm? How many total loadings do you think you're getting between trimmings?

I've spilled several pounds of #8 shot on the floor of my basement before, so I know just how quickly progressives can go from "that doesn't look quite right" to "Oh $sh!t." In the end, it's fun to reload.
 
#11
The only press I own is a Dillon 650. They make aftermarket parts where you can use it as a single stage press. I load everything on it. Best press for the money in my opinion. Plus a progressive is not hard to get use to. Don’t waste your time and money going with a 550 or buying the hornady progressive. I could never get the Hornady running correctly even after sending it in several times. If you stuck with one caliber it’s probably a great press.
 
#12
Another Dillon fan, since the mid-1990s. Tens (or hundreds) of thousands of various pistol calibers loaded. More recently, I run my RL550B like a single-stage press for 6.5CM. I'm still working out how I load precision vs. "bulk" .223 - more on that below, especially the "gotcha" that got me.

My $0.02 on where to buy the press, dies, etc: those items single-purchase ones; buy once and done. So if you pay X dollars more Right Now for a set of dies you like and then find them on sale for $20 less two weeks later, does that matter when you're still using the dies in fifteen years?

Regarding .223. Reloading it carries the same annoyance as loading any bottleneck rifle round: The brass has to be cleaned, trimmed, lubed, loaded, then cleaned again. Annealing comes in there someplace. Some guys I know buy prepped brass and load it like pistol ammo. Eliminating the brass prep steps saves probably 80-90% of time required.

The .223 "gotcha" for me was twofold:
  • I learned that primer selection matters a lot and I ended up with thousands of primers barely usable for intended purpose.
  • I ordered Dillon small-base .223 dies (the only ones Dillon makes). Great for AR bangbangbang ammo but so-so for precision.
Primers: I ordered CCI 400 SRPs intending to use them for .223 55gr "bulk" ammo and 75-77gr "precision" ammo. I found those primers bleeping near crawled out of the pockets of new and once-fired brass, they were so flattened with even the lightest recommended loads of three different powders. Turns out ALL the load data I consulted specified primers with thicker or harder cups than the 400s. I'll probably end up using these primers for pistol loads, knowing now that CCI 400 SRPs are essentially the same as their small magnum pistol primer. Fortunately, I had also ordered a couple thousand CCI 450 magum SRPs for use with SRP 6.5CM brass. The 450s don't flatten until they would be expected to flatten.

Dies: I wish I had ordered a two-die precision set with micrometer seating instead of the 3-die small-base set. I have found the crimp die to be useless for 95% of my loading - for every round I fire from a gas gun, I fire dozens from a bolt gun. All my loads go through a case gauge after loading anyway - I learned hard way to do that, although I now know that brass first fired from my own firearms - all of which have tight chambers relative to cheap AR platforms - barely needs resizing at all.
 
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#13
I still load most rifle with a single stage Hornady. Hornady auto thrower, and usually Hornady dies. I do have Forester micrometer seating dies for some, and bushing sizing dies for some.

I have a 550 set up for 223. I have a 650 that gets transferred between 9mm, 357, 38.

I found that I don't really like the Dillon thrower for extruded powders and if I'm throwing charges on the auto thrower I'd just as well use the single stage.
 
#14
drew_235 said:
I haven't had my 2nd cup of coffee, so maybe I'm not reading this correctly - you're saying you reload .223 and instead of annealing them, you trim them to 300 b.o., reload a few more times, then trim them again to a 9mm long, then regular 9mm? How many total loadings do you think you're getting between trimmings?

I've spilled several pounds of #8 shot on the floor of my basement before, so I know just how quickly progressives can go from "that doesn't look quite right" to "Oh $sh!t." In the end, it's fun to reload.
Click to expand...
That's the main point- in the end it is fun to reload. I should've elaborated more, I only trim down what I'd not consider reloading for 223. A top dimpled case, dented, etc where it can be trimmed and used into a new caliber. That said, I scrap alot of bad brass too if its not safe. My trimming is more of a shtf "because I can" experiment than a standard.
Imagine In a future distopian world years from now, your ar's are all trash (like some started, but different thread for that) and all you have left is 1 round of 9mm, a ruger Blackhawk revolver with a 9mm cylinder, and 1000 rounds of .223 ammo. (Things could be worse, may only have a hipoint. And yes, I'm really streaching here). You should barter some of that ammo for parts, or more 9mm, but in the meantime you "could" turn some of that .223 into 9mm if you'd tinkered with reloading. If you experiment now, you're ahead later.
Do I believe any of that is going to happen? Not likely. Which is why I have only done maybe 50 rounds in 300b.o. around 50 from virgin 300b brass to 9mm long, and 25 into 9mm. But is it fun reloading and seeing what you can do with it? You bet it is. Is it fun seeing the look on folks faces when you smoke a running rabbit from the hip with your 9mm like it was nothin' because it was with your 9longs? Yes. Telling them your pistol shoots .223, and showing them the case? Reckless until you explain, and yes again.
Reloading is an excellent source of therapy. As a side note, I anneal very little actually. It's a personal preference, and in some instances a waste of time in my opinion.
Again, to the OP- start slow and safe. Eventually you'll be crazy like the rest of us, with your own way of doing things so why rush it :D
 
#15
Jrb572 said:
The only press I own is a Dillon 650. They make aftermarket parts where you can use it as a single stage press. I load everything on it. Best press for the money in my opinion. Plus a progressive is not hard to get use to. Don’t waste your time and money going with a 550 or buying the hornady progressive. I could never get the Hornady running correctly even after sending it in several times. If you stuck with one caliber it’s probably a great press.
Click to expand...

What is the aversion to the 550? I know it does not auto rotate, but what other annoyance am I not thinking of yet?

And I ask that very specifically because I just stumbled upon this deal from a local gentlemen that is getting out of the reloading game:
Dillon 550B press, Extra toolhead with Dillon RT1500 case trimmer w/.223 trim die, new in box Deluxe Quick Change Assembly, conversion kit for 9mm and .223, Light kit for the press, new never used GS Custom primer pocket Swager, 2 MR Dials for better powder measuring, upgraded spent primer system, 4 extra small primer pickup tubes, Dillon Bench Wrench,.223 case gage, 9mm case gage, 2 Lee Decapping Dies with 5 extra pins, Lyman Neck Expanding Die, RCBS AR .223 die set, RCBS .223 FL die set, Dillon 9mm Carbide set, Smart Reloader brass tumbler, Smart Reloader media separator, corn cob media, Hornady Reloading Manual, blocks, scale, digital caliper" and a mountain of 9mm and .223 brass.
$950

I know the swager is a bit of a dog from my research, but the rest of the package seems to be quite the collection for a good price.
 
#16
The 550 is a great machine. It just doesn’t auto index. You can produce a lot of Ammo on the 550. I just found myself wanting the auto index shortly after owning the 550.
 
#17
^^^^ This. Personally, I have never wanted auto-indexing on my metallic or shotshell presses. Personal preference for me. Everyone I know who owns a 650 loves it. I'm good with my 23-year-old 550.
 
#18
Thoughts on my post above for an entire setup with a 550, rt1500 trimmer, 223 dies, 9mm dies, all for $950? I came up with ~$1600 worth of stuff, and the only thing that didn't look great was the swaging setup.
 
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