Question for loaders using multiple single stage presses

upnover

upnover

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So, you have multiple single stage presses, to complete the process(mainly interested in rifle loads), from beginning to end. How far apart do you find you need them spaced for both comfort, and streamlining your operation?
 
I don't know anyone who does that. If I had that many single-stage presses I'd probably trade up. I'd do one cheap press for decapping, one good single-stage and a progressive, with at least 2' between them... if I had that kind of space to work with.
 
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What I am thinking is, set it up. Run a minimum powder charge. Go test 4 or 5, and proceed up if needed. Then when I find the sweet spot, go through the process faster without having to change dies.
 
I use two Lee single stage presses set about 12" apart center-to-center. The first one is a "D" shaped press with the quick removal dies, the second one is a "C" shaped older press (My first one) that the dies just screw into. I have locking rings on the dies so they are set where I need them. I use the first press to deprime and size the rifle case, then slip it into the second press to flare the mouth. After that the cases get pockets uniformed, then trimmed for length, then hand primed before hand filled with powder. The second pass through the press is with the bullet seating die in the first press and the factory crimp die in the second press. It's a little bit longer process, but I know each round is properly loaded.
 
I have never heard of anyone doing that. Keeping a single stage set up with a universal decapping die in it makes sense and I do that , but have never considered setting up multiple presses with sizing, and seating dies. I understand what you are tying to do, but I am not sure that resizing on one press and bullet seating on another is particularly good for concentricity. If one of press is aligned differently than the other, then your resizing and seating will not be concentric. At the very least it introduces more variability into the loading process.

It may be no big deal, just my thought on it. It still doesn't answer your question, but it's the best I can do with it.
 
Charlie R said:
I have never heard of anyone doing that. Keeping a single stage set up with a universal decapping die in it makes sense and I do that , but have never considered setting up multiple presses with sizing, and seating dies. I understand what you are tying to do, but I am not sure that resizing on one press and bullet seating on another is particularly good for concentricity. If one of press is aligned differently than the other, then your resizing and seating will not be concentric. At the very least it introduces more variability into the loading process.

It may be no big deal, just my thought on it. It still doesn't answer your question, but it's the best I can do with it.
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That is actually a point of view that I have not considered. BUt I am thinking concentricity wouldn't be a large factor, when you would also have to consider each die may or may not be perfectly centered, and being threaded, may change the center ever so much with a minor adjustment. But saying the dies are perfect, once inside the dies, the dies centers the case as the shell plate is designed to allow that to happen(certain amount of slop) At least that is how I see and understand the designs. Am I wrong in this thinking? Now if the ram has slop in it, and the function happening at the top of a stroke, I could see some possible damage to a case if it pushes up crooked once the force of the function is applied.
 
Upnover,

All are valid points and the reason that I say "may" cause concentricity issues. Load up and check them. Only way to know.
 
More than one single stage would not do me any good since I batch load and like to do one operation at a time to all the cases in the batch. I do case prep on the rifle cases and then run them through the case cleaner to get off the lube. I prime them with a hand primer and then do all the charging and seating.

I really like to be able to double check each step, especially the powder charging step, and doing one step at a time allows me to do this with greater certainty.

I do have about 10 inches between my single stage and my progressive. That seems to work just fine. Neither gets in the way when I am using the other.
 
Even without quick change bushings, all you need are locking rings for each die. They screw in to the same spot every time.

upnover said:
What I am thinking is, set it up. Run a minimum powder charge. Go test 4 or 5, and proceed up if needed. Then when I find the sweet spot, go through the process faster without having to change dies.
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If that is what you are interested in, then try this. Have all your brass prepped to the point where it is ready to drop powder, IOW, all sized and primed. Then all you have to do is drop the powder and seat a bullet. If you have a manual powder measure, or if you trickle each charge, just drop it in the case and seat a bullet and go shoot.

I have thought about doing this very thing so that I can work up loads at the range. I have a Lee hand press that I can use to seat bullets. I can easily play with charge and COL.

Another thought is to get a turret press. Problem solved.
 
Toprudder said:
Another thought is to get a turret press. Problem solved.
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I do have a Turret press already. I will most likely use it for just mainly pistol loads, so I don't have to buy and change as much stuff. And The number of rifle loads I will do is nothing compared to the pistol loads. I have two single stage presses already. Now something I don't have and I keep seeing mentioned is the hand primer, that is something that I can see very useful if my hands will be able to do it
 
Zedhound said:
you will soon come to learn that BB is like tits on a bull.
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LOL around here we say tits on a boar hog, but I get the meaning.

But I do get a lil bent out of shape when I ask one question, but get an answer, that doesn't answer. Like Can you tell me the correct firing order for a SBC, and I get an answer like buy a Ford, or the manual trans gives a lot less problems.
 
If you're determined to try this out I have an extra single-stage I'll sell ya :)
 
upnover said:
I do have a Turret press already. I will most likely use it for just mainly pistol loads, so I don't have to buy and change as much stuff. And The number of rifle loads I will do is nothing compared to the pistol loads. I have two single stage presses already. Now something I don't have and I keep seeing mentioned is the hand primer, that is something that I can see very useful if my hands will be able to do it
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I use my Turret press for rifle loads, just like a single stage, with the auto-indexer removed. Need to change from the seater to the crimper? Simple twist with the wrist.

I have a hand primer, I tried it and decided I preferred priming on the press. If I was not going to prime on the press, I would get one of the bench mounted primers.

I guess if I was only going to prime 10 rounds at a time, a hand primer might be ok, but for 100 rounds at a time it gets old real quick. JMHO.
 
Toprudder said:
I have thought about doing this very thing so that I can work up loads at the range. I have a Lee hand press that I can use to seat bullets. I can easily play with charge and COL.
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For the money and convenience, if you just added Hornady L-N-L die bushings, this would be a very hard set up to beat for working up loads and playing seating depth at the range.
 
Charlie R said:
For the money and convenience, if you just added Hornady L-N-L die bushings, this would be a very hard set up to beat for working up loads and playing seating depth at the range.
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The Lee hand press has the breech-lock feature. But even so, doing what I suggested earlier, I would only need the seating die and would not have to swap dies at all.

FWIW, I have quit using press mounted seating dies for a couple of my rifle calibers (.223 and 30-30). I now use the Wilson chamber style dies - you can seat bullets using either an arbor press or just a mallet. I get less run-out and less variance in COL with those dies.
 
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I have 2 Rock Chucker but only on setup. I bought the second one just in case I need to rerun a case and do not want to pull the die that I am using. When I reload, I do it in stages, all my brass is resized and deprimed (might have a couple 1000 in the bin). Then I will use the RCBS hand primer to prime the cases that I going to reload then expand the cases (could be a couple hundred, I have 4 reloading blocks), then charge the cases and finally seat and crimp the bullet. The last stage is where the 2nd press I though would come in handy because I use a 4 die set when reloading pistol ammo.
 
Toprudder said:
FWIW, I have quit using press mounted seating dies for a couple of my rifle calibers (.223 and 30-30). I now use the Wilson chamber style dies - you can seat bullets using either an arbor press or just a mallet. I get less run-out and less variance in COL with those dies.
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Oh, now you are going to make me feel bad. I have been working to reduce runout in seating and ran across the Wilson seater a couple of months ago, but have not chased it yet. Still working with the press and dies, rubber washers, etc.

But hey if it doesn't work, just more toys to acquire. Good thing birthday is next month and I have a pragmatic wife when it comes to presents!
 
Charlie R said:
Oh, now you are going to make me feel bad. I have been working to reduce runout in seating and ran across the Wilson seater a couple of months ago, but have not chased it yet. Still working with the press and dies, rubber washers, etc.

But hey if it doesn't work, just more toys to acquire. Good thing birthday is next month and I have a pragmatic wife when it comes to presents!
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I had a particular problem with 30-30. The Lee rifle seating dies have a floating stem that work well with pointed bullets, but not with blunt round or flat nose bullets typical of 30-30. I ended up shimming the stem, basically making it NOT float, and that solved most of the problem. But I found out about the Wilson chamber dies and decided to try one. After trying it, I immediately ordered one for 223, and have not looked back. I will still use my press mounted seating die if I am making plinking ammo, but for any precision loads I am going to use the Wilson die.

You are right about acquiring new toys. There are so many shiny gadgets for reloading that I never knew needed. :eek:
 
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I have three set up next to each other and will measure a bit later. Mine are rather large compared to most since I use them to make bullets. Using multiple presses set up for single operations is very quick and does get you very consistent batches. Overkill maybe for reloading but the concept is sound. You might consider getting a Co-ax press instead. No need to adjust dies and you can easily swap them out for different operations.
 
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