Progressive or Single Stage?

[SniperJoe]

I have been loading my pistol ammo on a Lee Loadmaster with great results. Recently I have had the guys at Accurate Ordnance build my a gun in .308win. Up till now I have been reloading my 308 on a friends Dillon 650 but I want to start loading them myself. The question is, do I setup the Lee Loadmaster to reload the 308 or buy a Lee Single Stage to try to load for more accuracy? I spoke to Lee and they do not recommend using the Collet neck sizing die on a progressive, but from what I heard if you want to load for accuracy and only shoot the ammo out of 1 gun, then the Collect neck sizing die is the way to go. Am I over-thinking this? The longest range we have is 300 yards, but I want to put bullets through the same hole.

Joe

 

[Jedi]

Quantity = Progressive

Quality = Single stage

I run a progressive for AR and Single stage for bolt gun

Can a progressive be tuned/tweaked for match accurate loads ... sure
LTR David who used to post here has website with info on tuning a progressive
I dont have link to his site hopefully someone else will post

 

[308Hunter]

Quantity = Progressive

Quality = Single stage

I run a progressive for AR and Single stage for bolt gun

Can a progressive be tuned/tweaked for match accurate loads ... sure
LTR David who used to post here has website with info on tuning a progressive
I dont have link to his site hopefully someone else will post

This is right on. I run a 550 for both but use it as a single stage for on bolt guns.
It's all up to you.

 

[danish1911]

I would look in to either a Redding or RCBS turret press. It won't be as fast as a progressive but it will be faster than a single stage while making quality ammo.

 

[Hoser]

I am loading all my rifle ammo ammo up to 338 Lapua on a Dillon 550. I dont use the Dillon powder measure though.

 

[2Shots]

RCBS Rockchucker

 

[Captain Kirk]

As many above said, I use a Dillon 550B for volume loading such as ARs and pistols, but all of the precision rifle is done on a Forster Co-axial. With that said, I know a few shooters that do precision rifle on progressives, and have extremely good results. Remember, we are not doing benchrest here, figure if you can do precision rifle on a progressive and manage to still hold well under MOA with your rifle/ammo and load much more efficiently, that's not bad.

 

[Ramius]

How much do you want to spend? How many rounds do you expect to load/month?

I started reloading almost 30 years ago on a single stage press. The old "start with a single stage and move to a progressive."

If you are mechanically competent, I don't see any reason a person can not start on a progressive. So the real questions are how many rounds do you expect to load? and how much do you want to put into your setup?

Your longest range is 300, do you have access to anything longer within a reasonable drive?

For 300 yards, most modern progressives can produce rounds that will keep you happy.

If you were shooting 600 or 1000, we'd be having a different discussion.

You can also spend tons of time and money chasing a single bughole. If you are looking for that then stick to single stage.

I use a Dillon 650 & 550 for most of my volume reloading, even for 338LM out to 1200. Past that I use a single stage.

 

[MajorHeadTrauma]

Quantity = Progressive

Quality = Single stage

I run a progressive for AR and Single stage for bolt gun

Can a progressive be tuned/tweaked for match accurate loads ... sure
LTR David who used to post here has website with info on tuning a progressive
I dont have link to his site hopefully someone else will post

Anyone know the link to this site on tuning a progressive.

 

[J.A. Hamilton]

His site is no longer active. Sad to see it go. Lots of great information used to live there.