Well I watched my brother in law today load 45/70 rounds on some OLD equipment- & It was really fun. I want to get started- 45/70 , 44 mag, 223, 308 is what I shoot. SHould I go with a progressive(Dillon) or Single (Rockchucker).....

Depends on how many rounds you anticipate cranking out at any one loading session.

If you contemplate mass production, then a turret press would be time saving.

If you think you'd load less than 40 - 50 rounds at a time, the single press would be most economical.

Been handloading now for over 46 years and have done every cartridge, rifle and pistol on single stage presses. Sometimes load up to 80 rounds at a setting. Never found the need for a progressive or turret.

Dogman,

I prefer the turret press, even though I use it primarily as a single stage. I currently have 2, a Lee 3 holer and a Lyman that holds 6 dies. I use the Lyman almost exclusively single stage for rifle rounds and I use the Lee semi-progressively for some pistol rounds. Works great for me.

SSB

I've been in the reloading business now for about the same time as kdub has. If your just getting started I reccomend a single stage press.

Get one Lee's anniversery kits, Lee dies for every caliber you want to reload and a couple of other reloading manuals and your set for very little money.

I just put a Lee turret presses beside my Lee single stage presses, not to speed up reloading, but because I can put a whole set of dies in an extra turret and not have to screw them in and out every time I change calibers.

I've taken the auto index out of the press and use it as a single stage press.

I'm retired now and reloading is and always has been a hobby into itself for me. Even though I've been able to load a couple of hundred rounds an evening, it's the quality of ammo I make not the speed that's important to me. I guess the years I spent shooting competition fostered that attitude.

My long time hunting buddy just brought down his RCBS electronic scale and powder measure and set them up on my bench. I've always loaded with a beam powder scale and a standard powder measure before. (Lee scale and Perfect powder measure or RCBS scale and Powder measure).

We loaded fifty rounds of 308 ammo for his old Rem 700 and after putting on new Leapold bases and rings and a Burris 3-9 balistic plex scope we headed to the range to sight in in.

My buddy set up his electronic scale and measure and started throwing loads for his 308. It was a bunch slower than my method and I kind of thought this isn't worth a dickens reloading this slow.

Well today at the range we set up the chrono and out of about 40 rounds the mean difference in velocity was 19 fps. Talk about an eye opener. Oh this 20 plus old Remington drops five shots in about a half inch group to boot.

Anyway If your going to spend any "large money" I would add this powder scale/powder measure to a Lee system. This was the best loads as far as consistancy I've ever seen.

I load:
Pistol/revolver
45 Long Colt
45 Auto
44 Magnum
41 magnum
357 Magnum

Rifle:
8mm Rem Magnum
308 Win
300 Savage
7mm Rem Magnum
280 Remington
243 Winchester

All of these are done with the Lee Anniversery Kit and Lee dies. My buddy and I cast bullets for all the pistol/revolver cartridges except for the 45 auto. We use Lee molds, liquid alox and the fine Lee sizers that go on the press.

There are a lot of fine reloading systems on the market and you would probably be happy with most of them. I'm just a really cheap old fella and have found that the Lee stuff is lots of equipment for the money.

I encourage you to get into reloading, it's just plain fun.

Even though I've been able to load a couple of hundred rounds an evening, it's the quality of ammo I make not the speed that's important to me. I guess the years I spent shooting competition fostered that attitude.
My long time hunting buddy just brought down his RCBS electronic scale and powder measure and set them up on my bench. I've always loaded with a beam powder scale and a standard powder measure before. (Lee scale and Perfect powder measure or RCBS scale and Powder measure).
My buddy set up his electronic scale and measure and started throwing loads for his 308. It was a bunch slower than my method and I kind of thought this isn't worth a dickens reloading this slow.
Anyway If your going to spend any "large money" I would add this powder scale/powder measure to a Lee system. This was the best loads as far as consistancy I've ever seen.
There are a lot of fine reloading systems on the market and you would probably be happy with most of them. I'm just a really cheap old fella and have found that the Lee stuff is lots of equipment for the money.
I encourage you to get into reloading, it's just plain fun.Bob, I do have to agree with you on the quality of the ammo is what's important, not the production speed. So what if we only turn out a couple hundred rounds an evening? They don't have crumpled casemouths, shaved bullets or mashed primers. I don't shoot to hear the bang but rather to punch out the X ring which is getting harder to do at my age. :(
At first, I also thought the electronic powder measure was a lot slower than the balanced beam scale until I realized that if I intended to weight each charge (regardless of handgun or rifle) the electronic measure wins hands down. Waiting for that balanced beam to stop oscillating even with magnetic damping is a pain. Now I will admit that using the electronic measure just to set the powder measure is a bit extravagent but if one loads both handgun and rifle and intends to measure each charge, it is a worthwhile investment. ;)
I never thought I'd see the day when you would suggest buying anything "green" as I know you are a dyed-in-the-wool "red" reloader! :p Will I ever see the day when you switch back? In all seriousness though, it really isn't a comparison between green or red, it's a comparison between powder measuring systems. For fast and accurate individually measured powder charges, the electronic is the way to go. :p
Finally hearing you admit that there are many fine reloading systems on the market made writting this reply a "must" and I don't believe for a minute that you're a cheap old fella. :D

Bob, I do have to agree with you on the quality of the ammo is what's important, not the production speed. So what if we only turn out a couple hundred rounds an evening? They don't have crumpled casemouths, shaved bullets or mashed primers. I don't shoot to hear the bang but rather to punch out the X ring which is getting harder to do at my age. :(
At first, I also thought the electronic powder measure was a lot slower than the balanced beam scale until I realized that if I intended to weight each charge (regardless of handgun or rifle) the electronic measure wins hands down. Waiting for that balanced beam to stop oscillating even with magnetic damping is a pain. Now I will admit that using the electronic measure just to set the powder measure is a bit extravagent but if one loads both handgun and rifle and intends to measure each charge, it is a worthwhile investment. ;)
I never thought I'd see the day when you would suggest buying anything "green" as I know you are a dyed-in-the-wool "red" reloader! :p Will I ever see the day when you switch back? In all seriousness though, it really isn't a comparison between green or red, it's a comparison between powder measuring systems. For fast and accurate individually measured powder charges, the electronic is the way to go. :p
Finally hearing you admit that there are many fine reloading systems on the market made writting this reply a "must" and I don't believe for a minute that you're a cheap old fella. :D

Darn Marshall you cought me. There goes my reputation. Next thing you know I'll have some green boxes of dies on my bench, whoops There are a couple already there.

Your absolutly right about that electronic powder measure/scale setup. We shot again today and over a course of ten shots there was only 9 fps veriation. That just leaves me astounded.

One interesting sidelight, my buddy emptied some old reloads with a compressed load of H-1000 and reloaded them with H4831 SC. As we were shooting a five shot string the report was considerably louder and he couldn't get the bolt open easily.

When we did get the bolt open the cartridge would not eject. I had to use a range rod to knock the case out of the chamber.

We had been shooting 140 grain Speer Grand Slams at around 3150 fps from his new Savage 7mm Rem Magnum.
When we checked the chrono it said 3654 fps. I saved that set of readings and am going to put it's pix and a story in the reloading section tomarrow.

When the case came out the primer fell out and when I picked it up off the ground it was completly flat on the back and had a rim about 1/64 inch all around the back edge. I'm really suprised it did not blow that primer.

It appears that some of the compressed load of H-1000 stayed in the primed case and we added the 4831 on top. There wasn't enough to see a high powder level, but enough to really overload the case.

I usually do the loading in steps and when all cases in a block have the powder in them I look at them under a strong light. Usually you can see if there are any powder variations. I did not catch this one and we were extremly lucky.

For starting out, I strongly recommend a single stage press. Even if you are going to load 1000's of rounds for pistol matches. You really should get a solid feel for every step in the process before moving to a progressive or turret system. And get the full "kit" rather than piecing it together, it really will cost less. The Lee aniversary set is hard to beat, the quality is good and the price is insane!

I started with an RCBS Master Reloading Kit (Rockchucker press) before the Lee kit was available. Had the Lee kit been available at the time I probably would have bought it, but only because of the price, the RCBS kit works perfectly and I am quite happy with it. I have changed to an electronic scale (RCBS measure/scale combo) for most loads, but still use the manual measure, beam scale and a powder trickler for the precision loads. I'm looking to replace the trimmer with something better, but it isn't a high priority.

As for dies, unless you are looking at SERIOUS competition, the Lee dies will work just fine in most cases. I do have some Redding competition dies for my "picky" rifles. I also use a set of Redding Titanium Nitride dies for .45ACP, which I load a bunch of (believe it or not, on the single stage press...). I have an odd assortment of dies from other manufacturers as well, either for specific purposes, they were the dies on the shelf, or because I wanted to try something specific. In all cases, I strongly recommend the Lee Factory Crimp Dies for any calliber you crimp (not all need to or even should, consult the manuals).

Once you have a solid feel for the entire process, then you can look at the progressives and turrets with better judgement as to what will fit your needs, IMHO... :)

For starting out, I strongly recommend a single stage press. Even if you are going to load 1000's of rounds for pistol matches. You really should get a solid feel for every step in the process before moving to a progressive or turret system. And get the full "kit" rather than piecing it together, it really will cost less. The Lee aniversary set is hard to beat, the quality is good and the price is insane!

I started with an RCBS Master Reloading Kit (Rockchucker press) before the Lee kit was available. Had the Lee kit been available at the time I probably would have bought it, but only because of the price, the RCBS kit works perfectly and I am quite happy with it. I have changed to an electronic scale (RCBS measure/scale combo) for most loads, but still use the manual measure, beam scale and a powder trickler for the precision loads. I'm looking to replace the trimmer with something better, but it isn't a high priority.

As for dies, unless you are looking at SERIOUS competition, the Lee dies will work just fine in most cases. I do have some Redding competition dies for my "picky" rifles. I also use a set of Redding Titanium Nitride dies for .45ACP, which I load a bunch of (believe it or not, on the single stage press...). I have an odd assortment of dies from other manufacturers as well, either for specific purposes, they were the dies on the shelf, or because I wanted to try something specific. In all cases, I strongly recommend the Lee Factory Crimp Dies for any calliber you crimp (not all need to or even should, consult the manuals).

Once you have a solid feel for the entire process, then you can look at the progressives and turrets with better judgement as to what will fit your needs, IMHO... :)
I agree with Stanger 73. Don't be concerned about what you will do with the single stage press after you go progressive. After you reload a while I think you will want more than one press anyway. I have a progressive and two single stage presses. I have found that presses of different design do certain steps in the reloading process better than others do. As you move on in your reloading experience you will fine tune your technique and aquire different tools (presses, trimmers, priming tools etc.) that fit with the way you do things. People are different and because of this we all like to do things a little different. That is OK as long as we end up with safe accurate loads.

Single stage is the way to go for startup in my opinion. I started with the RCBS Master Reloading Kit and still use the Rockchucker as well as the RCBS powder measure. Other stuff has been augmented, like the Wilson case trimmer and now I use Redding dies. RCBS kit is a good way to get started, though. --Mykal