Researching the LNL and 650

[Lonestar grips.]

I have my dad's square deal B. for years it had been sitting in an old truck getting sun baked and slightly rusty. I called Dillon and they said send it in. they completely re-built it for me and didn't charge me a dime. when it comes to progressive reloaders they will always get my business.


as others have said the only bad thing about the square deal is it takes it's own kind of dies. but if you only want to reload pistol calibers and only have a few calibers to reload for then the square deal is hard to beat. I have 45acp and 44 mag/spl dies for mine and over time I plan on getting 38super, 357mag/38spl, 45 colt and 32H&R dies for it.

as for rifles I have 4 or 5 single stage presses. if you have the room for it you can set several of these up and use a different die for each press. that makes things a little quicker.

[DaFadda]

Hard to believe that such a benign post has generated four pages of discussion. Let me add.... Whatever platform you choose...single stage, turret or progressive Lee, Hornady, RCBS, Forsner, Redding... you will invest in that platform. The longer you own that platform, and build upon it, the more invested you are in THAT platform.

IF IF IF... the PERFECT progressive press was invented... there are likely a bunch of Dillon, Hornady or RCBS owners that would choose not to buy, but only because they are so heavily invested in the product they own. And that investment is both financial and emotional. Read threads on reloading and people are flat out "passionate" about their reloaders.

[pitor]

It has undoubtedly been a very enlightening thread. I appreciate all the education and advise. In the meantime I'll keep researching and learning more and more about reloading. I'm collecting all the 45 ACP brass I can find and getting ready. I gotta be honest the more YouTube videos I watch about reloading the more the Lee turret makes sense to what I'm trying to reload.

One last question for Padre. You said you like to use your Lee turret in batch mode. What does that mean exactly?

[DaFadda]

When I have enough... 500 or so... .45acp.... I spend an hour or so depriming and straigtening the cases. That's batch one. A night or so later, while watching tv, I hand prime those 500 cases using a RCBS hand primer. I don't like the desktop primer thingy they sell. A couple nights later, when I have some free time.... I spend an evening sitting in front of the tv, or talking to my Mrs.... while I prime. All of these are "batch" exercises. Then I spend an hour flaring the cases.... and put them in a plastic coffee can ... ready to powder charge and finish. Each process is a "batch"... The logical stopping point is once they have been flared and primed. Currently I have about 1000 in that condition. When I am going shooting, I'll take 100-200 and powder charge and seat bullets. That final process will take about a half hour or so. And I'm off to the range.

[Rick McC.]

Do yourself a BIG favor; save a little more, and wait for a 550 instead of anything Lee makes. As you gain more experience; you'll be glad you did.

I visually check the headstamp on every case (for caliber and to ensure it isn't Berdan primed), and visually check the powder level in each case as it's moved from station two to station three, and still manage to load 100 rounds every 20 minutes.

My 550 is "stock;" no case or bullet feeders.

I keep a swaging die set up in my Rockchucker for when I run across military brass in my range pick up stuff.

[skosh69]

Originally Posted by DaFadda

When I have enough... 500 or so... .45acp.... I spend an hour or so depriming and straigtening the cases. That's batch one. A night or so later, while watching tv, I hand prime those 500 cases using a RCBS hand primer. I don't like the desktop primer thingy they sell. A couple nights later, when I have some free time.... I spend an evening sitting in front of the tv, or talking to my Mrs.... while I prime. All of these are "batch" exercises. Then I spend an hour flaring the cases.... and put them in a plastic coffee can ... ready to powder charge and finish. Each process is a "batch"... The logical stopping point is once they have been flared and primed. Currently I have about 1000 in that condition. When I am going shooting, I'll take 100-200 and powder charge and seat bullets. That final process will take about a half hour or so. And I'm off to the range.

See, that was my point in my earlier post. Working on a single stage or a turret, you have to do EVERYTHING manually, 1 step at a time. HOURS, HOURS I say.

Where as with a progressive, 1 pull, 1 bullet. Instead of hours to complete a simple task, it's done in minutes.

Call it the youngster in me, but I just don't have the time nor the patience to do it that way. That's why I'm all for a progressive.

Now if I were making small test batches or going for accuracy, yes, a single stage is what I would want to use.

[Riverpigusmc]

Originally Posted by AFJuvat

The only suggestion I would make, and this is purely my opinion, is to invest in a decent digital scale. Frankford Arsenal makes a decent one for about $70 that is very accurate and has a quick response time.

I'll argue that a little bit. I have that scale, and while nice, I don't set my powder thrower with it. I have an RCBS 502 I got from the Colonel, a set of Lyman check weights, and the digital scale. I set up the 502, check it with the check weights, set the Little Dandy with that, check the digital scale with the check weights to make sure it coincides with the beam, then use the digital to spot check every so many rounds. Always trust gravity over electronics

[Lonestar grips.]

yeah I wouldn't trust a electric scale.

[DaFadda]

Originally Posted by Rick McC.

Do yourself a BIG favor; save a little more, and wait for a 550 instead of anything Lee makes. As you gain more experience; you'll be glad you did.

I visually check the headstamp on every case (for caliber and to ensure it isn't Berdan primed), and visually check the powder level in each case as it's moved from station two to station three, and still manage to load 100 rounds every 20 minutes.

My 550 is "stock;" no case or bullet feeders.

I keep a swaging die set up in my Rockchucker for when I run across military brass in my range pick up stuff.

As I have said, everyone has their preference and is passionate about what they use. And RickMc is surely correct in that you will like the 550. I would too. But I'll still stand by my contention that someone who has never reloaded before is better served by using a single stage or turret press to learn on, especially if they are learning the process on their own. In his last line, Rick mentions that he uses his Rockchucker for swaging. I'm not a betting man, but if I were... the Rockchucker was probably his first press.

Time doesn't mean much to me any longer. Being retired is good.

Da

[skosh69]

''Tis the beauty of choice...... make the right one that eorks for you Pedro.

Slow and time consuming or quick and productive.

I listened to the old timers and my press now sits idle, no more money or time gets put into it, at all.