Reloading newbie

[Cowcatcher]

Don’t let the naysayers discourage you. The 550 is a great place to start.

 

[Buck98]

^^^^^^^^^

What Ahall said !!!!!

Then triple check everything!!!!

 

[BillM]

Don’t let the naysayers discourage you. The 550 is a great place to start.

If you need several hundreds of rounds all alike that is true. If you need five sets of five for a ladder test, not so much. Depends greatly on what you need. If you don't know what you're doing, a progressive press is a great way to load dangerously overloaded or underloaded ammo in great quantity. You should learn the basics first. Learn to make 50 rounds of consistent ammo suitable for the kind of shooting you do. Once you can do that repeatedly, THEN maybe you can get good use out of a progressive press. And you may find out that you don't need or even want one. Might also find them the greatest thing since sliced bread! In which case have a ball!

But starting on a progressive when you don't have the basics of reloading safe and functional rounds is asking for trouble. Financial and safety. You can go through a lot of increasingly expensive components very quickly with a progressive press. It's much harder to do with a single stage or smallish turret press. Get the basics first. Then you will have a clue.

 

[358norma]

First step for me, go get a good reloading manual, Lyman, Hornady, old Hogden, and read it! I know everyone wants instant gratification these days, but any reloading class you want to take is put on by someone that already has a system/bias for what they are doing. Reading a good manual lets you understand what is going on with the process, and let's you decide what you want to do. I'm kinda old school, and I don't care much for opinion, I can come up with that on my own. Give me the facts, I'll do the opinion.

The 550 is a good machine, there is a lot going on when you pull the handle on it. Make sure you understand what is going on with it before you start pulling the handle. If you get into it, I see a D750 in your future. I have a shop dedicated to reloading now, been doing it for 40 years, and it hasn't gotten any better for me.

I used to sell reloading stuff, I'll warn you it's a bad habit! You also won't save any money reloading, but you get to shoot a lot more!

 

[RidgeRunner45-70]

Don’t let the naysayers discourage you. The 550 is a great place to start.

Indeed it is!
I have a 550B, a 650 and an 1100 still in the box. 45acp, 556mm, and 9mm in that order.

 

[chazroh]

You can still use a 550 like a single stage. I’d say it’s a fine press to learn on

 

[SNAKE PLISSKEN]

Great advise guys, appreciate all facts and opinions. I'm going to take it slow easy until i understand and master each operation. My reason for wanting to reload is when ammo is hard to get or completely unavailable I want to have the means to get some. I recently went to my local sporting goods store and I was disappointed to say the least. None of my fav brands or ammo types were in stock. So no I don't plan on reloading thousands of rounds right away. But it's nice to have a machine that can.

 

[Cowcatcher]

The 550 can run exactly like a single stage. It does not auto advance. I agree that MOST progressive presses are not a good starter press but I do not believe that applies to a 550.

As for doing a ladder on the the 550. I run a powder funnel in the top of the powder die and powder charges are thrown by my powder dispenser then I dump them in the powder die.

So yes I would agree that running a press activated powder dispenser would make a ladder harder. However, I don’t load my “precision ammo” with the powder dispenser installed on the press. I don’t think the argument should be single stage vs progressive press it’s more case activated powder dropper (dropping by volume) vs weighing each charge before dropping into case.

At the end of the day I’m not saying a single stage is bad but I am saying if a guy finds a deal that entices him to buy a 550 for his first press he will be fine because it can run exactly like a single stage with the bonus of, (in my opinion), a superior priming system to any single stage.

 

[BillM]

Great advise guys, appreciate all facts and opinions. I'm going to take it slow easy until i understand and master each operation. My reason for wanting to reload is when ammo is hard to get or completely unavailable I want to have the means to get some. I recently went to my local sporting goods store and I was disappointed to say the least. None of my fav brands or ammo types were in stock. So no I don't plan on reloading thousands of rounds right away. But it's nice to have a machine that can.

Sounds like a good reason to me. Especially if you are prepping for the Zombie Apocalypse or something. You might want to check out the cost of a conversion kit for the Dillon 550. One of the reasons my brother has so many progressive presses is that he hates changing calibers on them. I don't have that problem with my Spar-T. Though I can't produce a lot of rounds in a short time, either. Using a three-die set I can have two cartridges set up. Two die sets I can do 3 cartridges. It's fiddly to get them set up. If I want more, I can get or make replacement turrets. Even buying the steel and costing the time at what I made when I was working, it's cheaper than a conversion set, IIRC. Looks like $75-90 per caliber on the Dillon site. Die sets are more, but I'm not sure if you need die sets with the conversion set. You'll need to figure that out yourself. Check and see if this person has a single stage press, too. Maybe grab both, and all the calibers you think you'll need in the way of dies and such. You'll still find you need more as you go, but it might save you some money. A new gun might need several molds and maybe a couple sets of dies...

 

[OHJEEZE]

I'm going to purchase a used Dillon 550 progressive press. The owner has past away and the wife is selling all his inventory. My problem is I don't know what all I need to start reloading. The basics I get, a press, dies, brass, primers, powder and projectiles. Beyond that I need some guidance. So starting with the basic 550, (there was not any accessories, or attachments on the press.) What is the basic necessities for making boolits? I will be doing rifle and pistol calibers. All feed back is welcome. As a thank you for you insight, once I have purchased all necessary equipment. I will share the rest of the loot with the group. I was told the husband had over $50,000 in reloading supplies and equipment. It's all going to be for sale after I get mine.

Buy it all!