Please advise me.

Darkhorse

Darkhorse

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I’m wanting to reload .44 and .357 mag.

What setup wild you buy. I like quality precision and durability.

I’m toying with the idea of starting out with the aforementioned calibers and maybe adding more.

TIA
 
As long as we're spending your money, a Dillon 1050 is probably the peak of all three curves.

I reload both calibers on a Lee Turret and have no complaints at all, but there is some variation in OAL and powder charge due to the press design.
 
What's your budget
What production volume are we talking about?
Can't go wrong with Dillon products, but you can get it done cheaper and simpler.

I always recommend a single-stage press for those new to the hobby. Any of them will do for pistol rounds, but RCBS seems to be the sweet spot for quality vs cost.
 
10-15k is a lot of handle pulls on a single stage. I did it for a few years, but you are talking about a lot of time. My recommendation would be to buy a cheap lee single stage so that you can learn the different steps. Then pick up a hornady progressive press and go from there. Dillon makes a great press, but I don't think it justifies the cost unless you plan to automate. That's just my .02.
 
Me. said:
No-brainer. This is 100% the correct answer.

Now you just need to decide which one.



You also have to decide how realistic that amount of magnum shooting is per year. Year after year.


In my experience, reloading does not save money. It just increases how much you shoot.
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Good info
 
5k-7.5k 44mag per year, that’s some serious shooting. I second the Dillon, though it doesn’t have to be the 1050, you will surely appreciate each pull of the handle producing a high quality round. 30-40 rounds a day out of those will be both fun and expensive, make sure you get good brass.
 
Jimbob78 said:
5k-7.5k 44mag per year, that’s some serious shooting. I second the Dillon, though it doesn’t have to be the 1050, you will surely appreciate each pull of the handle producing a high quality round. 30-40 rounds a day out of those will be both fun and expensive, make sure you get good brass.
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I should have been more specific (not all are .44 mag) although my youngest would love that I have an 1894 and he asked everyday almost to hold if he can’t ahoot it 😂

The number is probably total of different rounds we would be shooting I have two sons and a daughter and want them more involved in shooting sports.
 
Me. said:
In my experience, reloading does not save money. It just increases how much you shoot.
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I think reloading is a hobby that appeals to people who love keeping records. Developing loads, tracking accuracy and velocity with various powders, primers and bullet types and weights, tons of possibilities for spreadsheets and data. Having a notebook with tons of information from years of reloading is something a lot of people just love the thought of.

That's not me, but I see it all the time here.


slow is slow said:
Dillon makes a great press, but I don't think it justifies the cost unless you plan to automate. That's just my .02.
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That's why I said as long as we're spending his money, he might as well go for the best. Hornady makes a really good press too, but nobody beats the blue, and prices reflect that.
 
I will say that the price for switching calibers a lot can get quite high with more advanced presses like the Hornady and Dillon. You either pay in the time it takes to dial everything in properly (it takes a lot of tuning the first time you change everything out) or you pay in money and space dedicated to storing whole toolhead sets that you switch out. The more feeders and hoppers and gubbins are hanging off the press, the harder switching calibers gets.
 
I have 2 Dillons, 1 Square Deal B, and the other is a 650. Both could easily handle the volume of rounds you are predicting. In the past, when my son and I were shooting a lot. I have loaded 10K a year of 9mm on the Square Deal B. The 650 would definitely be faster, especially decked out with a brass feeder and some other goodies. The 650 has been replaced by the 750. I believe the only difference is an upgraded primer system on the 750.
 
Used press prices are coming down, watch for a Dillon 650.

I’ve bought a bunch of stuff used and have spare toolheads setup not just for caliber bit in same cases for the caliber and projectile.

I had a Hornady press, sold it. Had a Lee press, threw it away and then pulled it out of the trash for someone that wanted it. Dillon isn’t perfect, and their customer service pissed me off recently, but it’s still what I’d buy.
 
Average Joe said:
believe the only difference is an upgraded primer system on the 750.
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Upgrade is open for discussion, they modified the 650 to use the primer system from the SDB and 550. It’s a fine primer system, but I really like the priming system on the 650.
 
GymB said:
Used press prices are coming down, watch for a Dillon 650.

I’ve bought a bunch of stuff used and have spare toolheads setup not just for caliber bit in same cases for the caliber and projectile.

I had a Hornady press, sold it. Had a Lee press, threw it away and then pulled it out of the trash for someone that wanted it. Dillon isn’t perfect, and their customer service pissed me off recently, but it’s still what I’d buy.
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Do you mind sharing your customer service encounter? Beginning of the year, I was planning on sending in my Square Deal B for service.
 
I've been loading 44mag for years with Lee carbide dies, I'm looking into the Redding Next-Gen dies, they're the newer version of their dual carbide ring dies. My brass gets overworked, they look like coke bottles, and split in the middle of the brass. I don't even load at max pressure.
You can really see it with the nickel cases, look at the base of the brass.
IMG_2408.jpeg
 
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I’m packing up my SDB today for a factory refresh. I hope Dillon CS isn’t slipping
 
I'll go against the grain here. If you've never reloaded, start with something simple and not super expensive to learn on. A Lee turret press will save you money, not require constant die changing, and allow you to learn at a controlled rate. Take the indexing rod out initially and use it as a single stage for your first 40-60 rounds to get a feel for it. Don't get in a hurry early on. A simple mistake can cost you a firearm, an eye, or a few fingers. Then replace the indexing rod and speed up your progress when you get the hang of it. Starting with an expensive progressive isn't a good idea. Too much room for mistakes while learning, and a large investment in the event you decide reloading isn't for you. The first thing to buy, even before a press or any equipment is a reloading manual. Lyman, Lee, Hornady, etc. all have books out there with a lot of good information for a new loader. If you decide you like it and want more capacity after learning and becoming comfortable (not complacent), then go for a Dillon if you wish. Most reloaders have more than one press. I have 2 myself. Never hurts to have a second one set up for misc duties (bullet sizing, depriming, primer pocket swaging, etc).
 
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Namerifrats said:
I'll go against the grain here. If you've never reloaded, start with something simple and not super expensive to learn on. A Lee turret press will save you money, not require constant die changing, and allow you to learn at a controlled rate. Take the indexing rod out initially and use it as a single stage for your first 40-60 rounds to get a feel for it. Don't get in a hurry early on. A simple mistake can cost you a firearm, an eye, or a few fingers. Then replace the indexing rod and speed up your progress when you get the hang of it. Starting with an expensive progressive isn't a good idea. Too much room for mistakes while learning, and a large investment in the event you decide reloading isn't for you. The first thing to buy, even before a press or any equipment is a reloading manual. Lyman, Lee, Hornady, etc. all have books out there with a lot of good information for a new loader. If you decide you like it and want more capacity after learning and becoming comfortable (not complacent), then go for a Dillon if you wish. Most reloaders have more than one press. I have 2 myself. Never hurts to have a second one set up for misc duties (bullet sizing, depriming, primer pocket swaging, etc).
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Ditto!!!

Starting of with a progressive can't lead to issues right away. You miss the fundamentals of reloading when starting off with a progressive.
 
Get Off My Lawn said:
You can really see it with the nickel cases, look at the base of the brass.
View attachment 691987
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I think you can fix it by working on the crimp step of your process. Not going to thread drift with that here - start another one and you'll have 20 suggestions on what to do.
 
Catfish said:
I think you can fix it by working on the crimp step of your process. Not going to thread drift with that here - start another one and you'll have 20 suggestions on what to do.
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I did tweak the crimp. That didn’t effect how much the brass is overworked ~1/8” from the base.
 
Get Off My Lawn said:
I did tweak the crimp. That didn’t effect how much the brass is overworked ~1/8” from the base.
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You’ve got a couple things going on, but it seems that you have a relatively large chamber and a relatively small sizing ring. Can’t do anything about the chamber, but you can get use some diamond paste to lap the die up a bit. But first, measure the brass and send Lee a note asking if it’s in spec…they may just send you a new die.

Get Off My Lawn said:
I've had a 550 since '99 with nothing but excellent service, or guidance when something seemed amiss. What hapened?
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Average Joe said:
Do you mind sharing your customer service encounter? Beginning of the year, I was planning on sending in my Square Deal B for service.
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ColKurtz said:
I’m packing up my SDB today for a factory refresh. I hope Dillon CS isn’t slipping
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Ya’ll will be fine. My issue was with a batch of large pistol primers getting stuck in pickup tubes and primer feed tubes. Of course it’d be foolish to pound out a stuck primer, so I needed to replace 7 or 8 pickup tubes and 2 feed tubes. The guy on the phone was working hard to make me out to be an idiot, like there is a wrong way to use a primer pickup tube that will cause the primers to jam. Was on the phone for maybe 45 min with him berating me for not stopping when the first tubes jammed (he never said and do what) and I needed to get going so just told him to warranty the feed tubes and I’d just buy new pickup tubes…that made the ****head happy.

So then I ran the remaining 3,500 LPPs through an RCBS bench mounted primer. It did double feed once, but otherwise no problems.

Now I don’t know if I can use LPPs on my 650 or not. Really don’t want to talk to them again.

But, that’s all clearly an exception to the rule, their service is usually very good.
 
cold1 said:
You miss the fundamentals of reloading when starting off with a progressive.
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I'm not sure I agree. The steps are all still the same, they're just done quicker. Sure, the potential exists for things to go way off the rails, but honestly the same thing goes for a single stage with the added complication of processing in batches leading to possibly messing up a significant number of cases before you learn. If you screw up sizing cases on a single stage, you might mess up a whole batch of however many before you try to seat bullets and find out your did it wrong.
 
GoWolfpack said:
I'm not sure I agree. The steps are all still the same, they're just done quicker. Sure, the potential exists for things to go way off the rails, but honestly the same thing goes for a single stage with the added complication of processing in batches leading to possibly messing up a significant number of cases before you learn. If you screw up sizing cases on a single stage, you might mess up a whole batch of however many before you try to seat bullets and find out your did it wrong.
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I guess it boils down to individual preferences. Getting a cheap Lee single stage and running a couple 100 rounds thru it just to learn the basics one step at a time, doesn't seem to be a bad way to learn the basics to me.

I equate progressive presses to power tools, you can screw up twice as bad in half the time when using them.
 
Just .50 worth of advise (adjusted due to inflation. )

Disclaimer: I will not comment of Lee Products other than the APP press and the old round tray Autoprimes. As thats all I have.

Progressive Presses whether Blue, Green, Red, Black, Pink, Rust colored, all need tweaks somewhere, all have their Pros / Cons, and of course their "Followers" all produce a completed round if "you do everything right and setup properly " with that said......

Single stage presses .. would be where I would start. While the amount you state is high it still would be a place to start one process per handle pull, less can actually go wrong vs. Progressive.

I've done "batch mode" as mentioned, case prep, hand prime, etc. with single stage, everything has it's place, prime only what you plan in a sitting to completely finish, so from that point prime, charge, seat, and or crimp
At one point in time I had several Rock Chuckers for my version of progressive as they were out of my reach cost wise. One size, one seat, one crimp. " we" would get together and have a "reloading session", bring your brass, primers, powder, bullets.
Single stage for you, start / load development, etc. Progressives it may take a little time to figure out what went wrong. Things can go wrong with just about any press / operator

Progressives... increased production and saves what everyone is so stuck on "time"
You can get into "added costs" most with Dillons have xtra tool heads to save time and make the "swap" easier, where as Hornady uses a "bushing" system, twist and turn to insert dies and remove them. So tool heads vs. Bushing system.

The above is basically up to the reloaders wants / needs.. determine that for the present and the future down the road.


Dies. Depends... use RCBS dies mainly, then Mighty Armory, and Redding.

Could go on about other things..but just some thoughts.

Presses, Texans, Hollywood's, Stars, CH, Dillon 550 / 650, Hornady Pro 7 / Projectors / LNL-AP', RCBS, Redding, Forester, and the ole Ideal-Lyman "nut cracker" out of all the presses it would be my Stars first. Just a well built piece of machinery.


Bottom line its what works for you and what your comfortable with, personally I dont care who makes it, its what works for me for almost 60 years.

To add:
Find somebody who will let you "pull" the handle on different presses and go from there.
Get several reloading manuals that would be a great help. As they may not agree. If your loading Hornady bullets use the Hornady manual, if your loading Sierra bullets use their manual, The Lyman reloading manual covers a lot different bullet brands, lead bullets, etc. I won't go into the details..but just because the bullet weights are the same and the description is the same, but are different manufacturers, re-think your loads

-Snoopz
 
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I don’t have much to add, other than to add I agreed with going with a single stage press to start. I have an RCBS roc chucker and have learned a lot about reloading since. One piece of advises I will pass on is check two soures for power info. That is one thing the former member baileyboat drilled into us at his class.
 
Get Off My Lawn said:
I've been loading 44mag for years with Lee carbide dies, I'm looking into the Redding Next-Gen dies, they're the newer version of their dual carbide ring dies. My brass gets overworked, they look like coke bottles, and split in the middle of the brass. I don't even load at max pressure.
You can really see it with the nickel cases, look at the base of the brass.
View attachment 691987
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Without hijacking this thread.
Some mentioned:
Over sized chamber
Dies out of spec..find someone, have them size a couple.
Re-visit, the seating, case flaring, and crimp. Shell holder.. just some quick things

In all the decades of loading 44 have never encountered anything that bad, thats from even using the ole "steel dies" maybe a little at the base and maybe a "bulge" from Cast lead bullets at the case mouth ..

-Snoopz
 
Starting with a single stage or progressive press?

Learning to tell Time from an Analog or Digital clock?

Learning Math with pencil and paper or a calculator?

Both methods will get someone in the game.

Foundations.jpg
 
Snoopz said:
Progressives... increased production and saves what everyone is so stuck on "time"
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If you really want to save time, buy your ammunition and go shooting. Reloading is a time suck no matter how you do it.


One thing about starting with a single stage, you'll find out if you really love reloading or not, because it sure isn't very enjoyable from an abstract view.

I really don't see how there is less room for error in a single than progressive. An untrained orangutan could do them both just as wrong, the steps are all the same and the final product is supposed to be the same. Recovering from a mistake might be a little easier I suppose.


Loading your own ammunition is a useful skill to develop, but if it turns out that you don't enjoy it save your effort and just buy loaded ammo. Life is too short to spend it doing something you don't enjoy just to pinch a few pennies.
 
Darkhorse said:
I’m wanting to reload .44 and .357 mag.

What setup wild you buy. I like quality precision and durability.

I’m toying with the idea of starting out with the aforementioned calibers and maybe adding more.

TIA
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Find someone close to you and see if you can watch them or teach you. Best way to learn.

Get a single stage. Screw that advice. Go buy a press use it for a little bit the it collects dust. Stupid idea. Minimum get a turret press set up all your dies and maybe 2 calibers and use that. I still use my turret press even though I have a 650 & a 750.

Can’t start on a progressive press. More BS. That’s what I learned on. You can use it as a single strange to. I do that for every new caliber. If you are somewhat mechanically inclined you can do this.

But it can get expensive real fast. Like I said see if someone by you has a setup and is willing to teach you.

And for the guys that say I have been using my single stage for years. Good for you. I don’t see anyone loading that many rounds in a year on a single stage.
 
^what he said is 100% accurate. Find someone close by that will let you help and teach you, don’t just watch. It really isn’t that complicated
 
falconew said:
And for the guys that say I have been using my single stage for years. Good for you. I don’t see anyone loading that many rounds in a year on a single stage.
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Single stage is a tool for the advanced reloader interested in squeezing every last speck of performance out of a cartridge, not the beginner learning the motions.
 
GoWolfpack said:
Single stage is a tool for the advanced reloader interested in squeezing every last speck of performance out of a cartridge, not the beginner learning the motions.
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I get the use of a single stage. I have a coaxial press for my 338. But I hate hearing oh your a beginner you NEED to start on a single stage.

I mean when you first drove a car did you parents put you on a big wheel then move you up to a power wheels No you hopped in the car with some directions and off you went.
 
I got started with a Dillon 550 progressive press. I still have it and use it for my semi-auto pistol rounds and 223 plinking loads. I have a Lee Classic Turret (LCT) that use use for almost everything else. If I could only have one press, that would be it.

The LCT uses inexpensive turrets that make caliber changes quick and easy. With the auto-index installed, and a press mounted powder measure, it is easy to crank out 200-250 rounds per hour - about half that of a progressive but much faster than a single stage. Without the auto-index, it operates as a single stage, which is how I normally run it. The press is not expensive, and if you do upgrade later to a progressive, you will still find uses for the LCT.
 
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