I would appreciate any insight and or recommendations on purchasing a press. First of all, I have relaoded shotgun shells for over 25 years, but have never reloaded rifle or pistol cartridges. Im also not opposed to spending a little more $$ upfront on a reloader,- im more into quality than anything else.

I recently purchases a Marlin 45-70 rifle and have enjoyed shooting it. But have started to figure out the cartidges are fairly $$, and Im guessing ( other than my time commitment) I could probably relaod at a fraction of the cost of factory loads. I also plink around with my dads WW2 issue 45 ACP, as well as a SW 44mag pistol - so Im wanting a reloader ( if its possible) that I could relaod 45-70, as well as the 44 mag and possibly the 45acp

On this forum I had read a great article on reloading 45-70 cartridges. That gentleman liked using a redding ultramag press ( single stage if my terminology is correct). Looking at in on line it looks like a very quality built press.

So my questions to you are:

1) For what Im trying to do ( 45-70, 44mag and maybe 45acp) will the ultramag press meet my needs, ie- can pistol cartridges be reloaded with than press also??
2) is that press way overkill for what Im trying to do? If so do you have another recommendation?? Possibly pne in the redding line??

Thanks for any input

RR

Any of the good, strong presses will fill your needs. I have two old RCBS Rockchuckers and have loaded thousands of rounds on them from 9mm to 375H&H.

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Young guys should hang out with old guys; old guys know stuff.

I will second this rcbs is all I have used and I am very happy with the quality and durability. My dad has a old rockchucker that has unknown thousands of rounds through it. The rcbs special 5 is a inexpensive quality press too but I prefer the rockchucker

Reloading presses (aside from fully progressive presses) are not marvels of science. With that said, quality among the leaders (Redding, RCBS, Lee, Hornady, Dillon, etc.) are going to be comparable. What's going to be different is the price.

Lee Classic Cast if you want a single stage press.

Lee Classic Turret if you want a turret.

You will NOT be buying an add-on insurance policy with the above two presses.

Aside from that, you could pretty much flip a coin or close your eyes and do one of the "eenie meenie minee moe" things and point to a press. You couldn;t go wrong either way.

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Stretch ®

"If you are a reloader and you don't know Lee, you don't know Jack" - Floydster

DON'T BE SCARED©

Hornady has a special offer of 500 free bullets with the purchase of one of their presses. Their single stage press is high quality an costs about $120. With 500 free bullets you would just about break even. Ilike my Hornady press. You will not be disappointed with any of the name brand presses.

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A truely successful life is mostly based on how well you handle PLAN B.

All the major brands of presses are compairable. I'd stay away from any press that's not cast iron. Mine is a RCBS rockchucker. Had it since the late 70's. Load thousands of rounds a year on it and shows no wear. My first press was a Pacific Power C. After three or four years the ram was getting noticably looser, so there are good and bad designs out there.

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Still Learnin' as I go!

NRA Life Member

I suggest you get the RockChucker kit, it is one of the best presses you can buy, the 5-0-5 scale that comes with the kit is the standard by which others are judged, the powder measure is so good Hornady copied it. You will never out grow it even if you get a progressive later.

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THE AMERICAN HANDGUNER

Rcbs is the best way to go.

My Rockchucker is 40++ years old. Same on dies...RCBS. And you will have no problems.

I never buy or recommend anything Lee. too many personal bad experiences with their low end equipment.

What you might want to do, is get a basic inexpensive single stage press, and basic components until you get a feel for reloading. Then you'll know better which direction you want to go. Even if later you end up with a progressive press like a Lee or Dillon, or a turret press or whatever, You'll always use the single stage. And there's no reason to be brand specific. I've got Lee, Dillon, Lyman, RCBS, Hornady, and several other brands of components in my stuff. You might check around locally too for used stuff. I lucked into a huge assortment of stuff for cheap when an older friend decided he wanted out. I wish Craigslist was more gun friendly. That would be so handy.

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Professional Thread Killer

Whenever someone poses this question, on this forum and others, I always give the same, standard advice:

If you're loading mostly pistol rounds, but shoot less than 500/mo, get the Lee Classic Turret, as Stretch already mentioned.

If you're loading mostly rifle rounds, and several different full-length rifle rounds, get the RockChucker kit.

I like most of the Lee reloading equipment, but I DO NOT like their scale. For this reason, I don't recommend their kit. If you could get the Lee Classic Turret with the RCBS kit, that would be ideal. IMHO

If you're shooting more than 500 rounds of pistol per month you probably need a true progressive. In that arena, the Hornady LNL and the Dillon 550 are the two presses to look at.

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What Stretch said covers it pretty well. I have a Rockchucker and a Lee Classic Turret. If I were to replace the 'Chucker tomorrow it would be with the Lee Classic Cast.I am very pleased with the LCT.

Agree, Lee Precision Classic Cast or Classic Turret or if you decide to get a progressive Hornady Lock-N-Load or Dillion 650.

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"Had his shooting been as good as his running, he might have given a better account of himself."
James. C. Henderson

just went to Ebay wow theres a lot of reloader stuff on there

I have also had great success with The Rockchucker by RCBS.

It is a heavy duty press with a strong lever handle.

You can order most dies from Cabela's.

Midway is generally cheaper than Cabellas.

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Professional Thread Killer

First of all, you did say quality, so, Go to Dillons website and see what they offer. BTW, if you can find a used Dillon press(and I would suggest a 650) at a good price it can be send to Dillon for a "tuneup" at little cost; they have a no questions life time warranty. And don't let anyone talk you into a press that is" suited to how much you shoot", I guarantee your shooting will increase.

Yeah, Dillons customer service is awesome, and they're stuff is first rate. There was a story a while back, maybe on here, where someone found one of the presses at a garage sale, or in a barn, or something. The press was rusted solid and had been trashed. They called Dillon, and Dillon sent them a new press. Maybe kinda overkill for a beginner. I think I would still get a inexpensive single stage first.

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For folks who enjoy reloading, and don't shoot a whole lot, a single-stage or turret-style press is great. You may very well shoot more after you start reloading, but that doesn't mean you will want to rush how quickly you reload. That's like saying someone who takes up fishing as a hobby is going to want the fastest bass boat on the water. For some folks, it's all about slowing things down and enjoying the process...whether it's wetting a line or loading up some ammo.

So, for many shooters, it really IS about the number of rounds they shoot. If you don't shoot more than a couple hundred a month, and you want to take your time reloading, a true progressive is probably the LAST thing you would want.

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Ask me about QDMA.

I have 2 presses: an RCBS single stage and a Dillon 550 multi-stage. The advantage to the RCBS is that it will load "custom" loads in small batches. For instance I shoot both 45-70 and 45-90. The 45-90 are black powder as are some of my 45-70 loads. I load such calibers as .350 Rem Mag, 338 Win Mag, 7.63x25 Mauser, 348 Win. It isn't worth the expense to load those cartridges on my Dillon, with the cost of shell plates, etc. On the other hand, I'd have to quite my job in order to have the time to load 45 Colt or 38 spl for Cowboy Action.

If you go with Dillon (and their customer service is second to NONE), go to Brian Enos. He puts together a package for you (through his website) and pays shipping. The only name-brand I have had trouble with (and very poor customer service) is Hornaday.

I load 45-70, 204ruger, 45acp, and 500jrh. i end up using my lyman turret press alot more than my Dillon. The turret presses are nice because you don't have to swap dies out for every action, just turn it to the next one. I really enjoy reloading. Sometimes it seems like I go shooting just so I have more to reload.

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