Thinking about selling my press, need advise.

[Boomstick308]

I bought a Hornady Lock N Load auto progressive press a few months ago and have not had the time to set it up. I expect to be able to set it up with in the next month and get going with reloading. I bought the progressive due to limited time to reload, but I'm thinking that I will only be able to get out and shoot 1-2 times per month and shoot about 200 rounds at a time. I'm thinking that this could be easily done with a single stage press.

Calibers I will be loading for:
9mm
.45acp
.308 Win for a bolt action, so not high volume.

Would it be a bad move to sell the Hornady LNL and get a single stage press? Now I would NOT get rid of it and buy a single stage kit that is only about 50 cheaper. I'm specifically thinking about the Lee Anniversary kit for about $89
I started reading some of the reviews on Midway and it seems like for the price it can't be beat. Will this kit get the job done?

 

[427Cobra]

Re: Thinking about selling my press, need advise.

Keep the LNL for pistol rounds, a RCBS Partner Press is all any of us need for 308 and lower rounds, I bought a used Partner Press for 40 bucks and I use it to load at the range,C clamped to a table I FL size 260 and 308 brass, I do all my rifle seating with a arbor press but the Partner will do just fine.

 

[Iamironman]

Re: Thinking about selling my press, need advise.

I'd keep the Hornady, and buy a good single stage

 

[gunsnjeeps]

Re: Thinking about selling my press, need advise.

Ditto. I started loading on a single stage. Bluntly put loading more than a handful of pistol rounds sucks on a single stage. At the time I shot about 50 rounds a week. You'll take three to four times longer to load on single. For rifle it doesn't seem as slow because of brass prep but for pistol ammo it gets tedious.

 

[Whiskey Tango Foxtrot]

Re: Thinking about selling my press, need advise.

sell it to me..

 

[dogmessiah]

Re: Thinking about selling my press, need advise.

I live in an apartment and have limited space. For that reason I only have room for one press. I made it a hornady lock n load. It will load the pistol rounds fast, and will load accurate rifle rounds. I can load rounds with it that are more accurate than I am. I am not sure what your financial situation is, but I would keep the lock n load.

Have you redeemed the rebate yet? If you have not I would redeem it for the 150gr SP 0.308" bullets, and then shoot hard cast bullets through the 45. Check out missouri bullet company for cheap lead pistol bullets.

 

[mscott]

Re: Thinking about selling my press, need advise.

Keep the LNL. The LEE is not even close to being in the same class.

 

[tylerw02]

Re: Thinking about selling my press, need advise.

Get a single stage and mount it to a board and C-clamp it when you can use it. Single-stage for precision loads for sure. But the LNL progressive will save you a ton of time and money for pistol ammunition and AR ammunition.

 

[turbo54]

Re: Thinking about selling my press, need advise.

If you plan to shoot more than 50 rounds of pistol ammo per week, keep the progressive.

I'd rather beat my head into the wall than load pistol ammo on a single stage.

 

[Queequeg]

Re: Thinking about selling my press, need advise.

You can load rifle ammo, just as you would on a single stage press, on a progressive.

I do it most of the time on my RL550. Handgun and some rifle rounds are run progressively while others are run one operation at a time.

And starting out slowly is probably the best way to start. Using a progressive at low speed helps prevent frustrating (Or worse!) batching errors.

 

[ejb]

Re: Thinking about selling my press, need advise.

keep the LNL and get a single stage for rifle

 

[EddieNFL]

Re: Thinking about selling my press, need advise.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">You can load rifle ammo, just as you would on a single stage press, on a progressive.</div></div>

You betcha! I can't imagine loading any serious quantities on a single stage. A good SS press definitely has its uses, but loading into the thousands each year ain't one of 'em.

 

[general_purpose]

Re: Thinking about selling my press, need advise.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: ejb</div><div class="ubbcode-body">keep the LNL and get a single stage for rifle </div></div>

What he said.

If you are starting out in reloading, you really should do it on a single stage. You have much more control over the entire process and you will learn so much about this interesting hobby. I really suggest that you get the single stage press, spend some time really learning about the reloading process, then when you are ready, move to the progressive.