What would be the easiest to use and cheapest (but effective) complete set up for reloading .45 acp? Also how much powder should I use on the .45? also what brand of powder should I use?
Good points. It seemed like I was forgetting something.ksJoe forgot the calipers.
And the priming tool.
And the safety glasses.
I started with Lee scale and powder measure they didn't last a day get something good I went with rcbs only because my dad has one he's had for close to 20 years. I recommend a kit its cheaper in the long run than piecing it even getting the component on sale still over payed. I love my rock chucked rcbs. Only gripe is I have to use a hand primer because it does only one at a time on the press rather than the tube set up. If you get into rifles I'd get a trickler I thought it was a waste of money until I used it.[Soap Box] Be sure not to go cheap on your powder measuring device. Get a good scale, and I do not like the Lee Dippers, they are not accurate at all unless you grind them down and even then not that good.
Remember, a blown up gun or medical bills will make the cheap option mighty expensive. Go Single stage with a good kit, never scrimp in reloading.
[/Soap Box]
Bill
I am getting ready to start again after a long lay off but one of the things that bothered me back then ( I don't know if it still goes on) was the people always putting the emphasis on how many rounds per hour. I bought the Dillon 650 as my first press although just about everyone recommended single stage. I took pride in the fact I probably was the slowest person to ever use a 650 because I checked and double check each stage and I used the progressive as if it was a single stage press. Take your time with what ever machine you buy but get something you won't out grow and will meet your future needs ( O am referring to a quality machine rather than progressive or non progressive).If you reject those four basic notions, then what explains the fact that millions of reloaders over the last 50 years have used the basic equipment from every manufacturer to successfully learn the craft of reloading? The basic stuff works if you let it, and you can learn successfully if you want.
- Nearly every manufacturer makes a Starter Kit that offers a pretty good deal on basic equipment.
- Every manufacturer makes good quality basic gear that a beginner can learn on.
- Stick with the basic stuff to learn your craft, not the specialized accessories and gear that us experienced reloaders desire.
- The basic stuff from each manufacturer works, if you let it work the way it was made.
Steel, somewhere along the line you picked up some misconceptions about progressive presses and how they operate that may have affected the choice you made in what to use.If I may offer my opinion with reasoning.
I too am just starting the reloading venture myself.I have not loaded a single live round yet though.I chose the lee classic turret.Why?The ability to use it as single stage and as a auto indexing press.And you are dealing with a single round at a time either way.With a progressive i fealt it to be too much of a burden to get a reliable,safe setup and dealing with 5 rounds vs 1 round just adds to the burden.While you are checking the powder in the casing you can see before setting the bullet on the case,you have to worry if the case in slot 1 got primed correctly etc..You are also feeling 5 cases being lifted into dies at once.It is harder to detect a defect early before it becomes a bigger issue that way.And removing a single defective case out of a progressive can be a pain to some as(I guess)it throws off the cycle.
Im not trying to justify anything.I made my choice from my research and from a beginners standpoint.I do not like giving false info so let me explain and lil better and we can pinpoint where im wrong.And If Im wrong I'll remove it.
Ok let me address this in order if I can.
I may have a misconseption on the reliability and ease of use.As my research was done on presses with the attachments.And the headaches that those bring-case feeders and primer feeders had the most horror storys.Again from my research.And dont most complete kits(like the OP asked about) come with alot of these attachments?
Not necessarily. Most basic progressive kits do not include case or bullet feeders. Every press I know of has some sort of primer seating mechanism. Efficiency of that system varies from press to press.
Yes.Once dies are set in a progressive they are set-just like the turret.I mentioned the die changing of the single stage.I didnt mention the dies changing of a progressive as I had no first hand knowledge of them.
OK. No problem. You accomplish the same basic purpose with a turret by swapping turrets with a complete die set. The quick change inserts are still faster and easier.
Never said you couldnt use a progressive as a single stage.I can also take 4 spark plugs out of my engine and make it a 4 banger.Those dead 4 cylinders are still going through the full motion they were intended to do-just like the progressive.And a progressives I researched need a full up stroke to work and a full down stroke to progress.Taking into account that most progressives I researched had the case loading from the right which is the same side as the handle.Do you have to take your hand off the handle to feed the next case?Or do you reach around?Or Is your press setup the opposite?Also the turret and single stage do not need a full down stroke to move on.Id say a single stage would be faster than a progressive used as a single stage.A experianced reloader can pull the case and drop it into a bin/bucket while reaching for the next.But that is beside the point.
The Hornady LnL AP loads from the left. Station 1 where you insert the case is at about 10 o'clock. The press also uses a system where half of the cycle is on the downstroke and half on the upstroke, so there is no more motion involved than there is on a single station or a turret type. The half-and-half structure also makes it unlikely that any case will be out of alignment when it enters the sizer die/powder measure/seating die. I've loaded several thousand rounds on my LnL thus far, and can count on one hand the number of misaligned case I had to stop for, and there was no question where the stoppage was when it did. 99% of the time its rather obvious. I have also had just as many if not more such misalignment errors on single station presses (I stopped counting the number of loads on that type system at 100K, and that was a long time ago).
And yes progressives are built for speed.When set up and maintained correctly they can pump out some rounds.But would you really recommend speed to beginner?A single stage or turret is much less confusing from my standpoint.And yes you are still dealing with 5 cases at a time no matter how you want to try to explain it.
There is no rule that you have to try to crank out 500 rounds an hour just because it is a progressive. You can go as fast or as slow as feels right to you. I can't address what is confusing to you. For me, it isn't an issue. The only operation any given case is involved in is confined to the station it is under. A turret press is no different in that regard, except that YOU have to turn the turret instead of the press doing it for you.
And just because I havent loaded a LIVE round yet doesnt mean I havent ran this press through it paces.And I had a few issues with brass lining up with the dies that had to be hand guided up and in.Much harder to tell that problem exists till the ram locks or you have already damaged something with a progressive.You are feeling 1 case get sized and deprimed,1 case expanded and working the powder dispencer,1 bullet being seated,and 1 bullet getting crimped all at the same time.If you do happen notice a pressure change-which case out of those 5 is the suspect?Just like my engine example-you have 5 cylinders firing and one starts to miss-which one is it?Now if its a single cylinder,I already know which one it is-which to me is more what a begginer needs.Not just staring at a powder cop die.Are you going to focus on ever round going through that press at the same time?If so,how do you do it?Or are you just watching the powder cop?
What can I say here? This is more about your mental state of mind when you're loading than it is about any inherent problem with a progressive press. I must also note that a turret press embodies the same set of problems you attribute to a progressive except that you are turning the turret on each stroke of the handle. I still get the feeling that you simply don't trust the progressive process which is odd because the only real difference between it and a turret is the manual aspect of rotating the turret.
And by being out of cycle i meant mental cycle.The reloaders that watch the powder cop trying to turn those rounds out at speed get out of cycle when a case needs removed and nothing moves that powder cop when it comes to the empty shell holder.Also most complained about the mess when a failure happens and a cartrige needs removed.They never specified so I wont either.
Sorry, but you don't get 'out of cycle' that way. Watching the powder cop is a no brainer. It may seem awkward at first, but by the time you've actually loaded 25 or 30 rounds, your brain has already adjusted and you monitor it without thinking about it. The only mess involved is when you forget to seat a bullet and it drops the case and powder into the bin. Again, a irritant, but not a big deal. Removing a cartridge is also very simple. You just pull the case out enough to clear the shell plate against the spring and lift it out. Very easy, very simple to do.
But all I gave was the reason I chose what I did.More than a few pushed the progressive like you seem to be doing now.I still chose the turret.There is more going on at one time with a progressive,and thats why I didnt choose it.Instead of trying to call me out,maybe you should give the reasons why you chose the progressive?We are still talking about a beginer that maybe hasnt done enough research into reloading to even look at press kits and costs or what is even needed or not to reload.Learn to crawl before you walk?
I'm not pushing anything. All I'm trying to do is correct some misconceptions on your part, and point out what appears to be an inordinate fear of complexity when using a progressive. That simply isn't the case. I think anybody that told you that you should avoid a progressive because it is too complex for beginners did you a big disservice. It isn't any more complex than that turret. As I have said repeatedly, the only difference is that it gets rid of some of the repetitive manual motions you have to do with a turret or on a single stage.
And I gave a beginners standpoint on MY views from the research "I" did,and MY standpoint and MY descission and why "I" made that descission.And i stressed the "MY".Like all things read on the inet,you cant believe most of it-so its the researchers job to weed through it all and discern which you thing is telling you the right info.If it helped him-good-and thats all that matters to me.
Well, I suppose you should take what you find on the net with a big grain of salt, but that depends on how good you are at discerning BS from the real deal. Some are better at it than others. However, you came to this forum looking for help, and I'm sure you found that a lot of people here have a lot of knowledge to dispense. Whatever your comfort level is with regard to that information they give you is something you need to determine for yourself. All I can say is, if someone gave me information that said X and somebody else said Y, I would assume the answer was probably somewhere in between, and it would behoove me to do more digging before making a decision. That's just me. Your mileage may vary.
As I said, I'm not raggin' on you at all. I just want to make sure you make your decision on objective facts and not somebody's personal preferences
And if say I hate the movie because I dont like the title of the movie.It does not say at all that the movie is crappy.
Never judge a book by its cover!