School me please

[upnover]

I have three presses,
RCBS older rock chucker, single stage
Lee Breech loader single stage
and a Lee Loadmaster

Al of these presses push the case up into a die for what ever function. as far as the presses are concerned, when they all go through the same motion to do the same thing, what's the difference in them as far as the outcome of the product?

 

[Toprudder]

Probably less to do with the presses themselves, but more to do with the dies. An individual press may have alignment issues, but that is not limited to any brand of presses. If there is any one press that produces better results, it might be the Forster Co-ax press.

 

[Silver_Bullet]

I have three presses,
RCBS older rock chucker, single stage
Lee Breech loader single stage
and a Lee Loadmaster

Al of these presses push the case up into a die for what ever function. as far as the presses are concerned, when they all go through the same motion to do the same thing, what's the difference in them as far as the outcome of the product?

Progressive presses are faster, good for high quantities of ammo used for plinking or comps.

Single stage you slow down and do one thing at a time, good for quality ammo, like for precision shooting or hunting.

I've had good luck with a Lee Turret Press. An RCBS single stage just feels more solid than the Lee. In the Progressive Presses the difference is reliability.

 

[upnover]

I am just wondering if you had three rockchuckers or a mix of several, would the outcome be different? I want tree singles for some loading, but will still use my Loadmaster to mass produce mainly for pistol rounds

 

[Beef15]

Progressives make ammo faster. All progressives suffer some level of shellplate deflection, this effects primarily OAL, but can mess with sizing (esp. headspace of bottlenecks) and run-out. The variances deflection cause can be somewhat reduced case sorting by headstamp, and lubing cases.

My old Lee Challenger absolutely deflects visibly when sizing rifle cases, the old Rock Chucker I learned on surely did, but not visibly.

Now, what's it matter? Well loading for auto pistols if there is enough variance in OAL or how far down my brass gets sized I end up with bullets jamming the lands and/or failures to go fully into battery, one's obnoxious, the other could be dangerous, just things you have to check for and tune to acceptable. If I shot bullseye competition or benchrest pistol I would be more concerned as the variances would equal sacrificed precision.

For the single stage, press deflection has caused me an occasional issue of not bumping the shoulder back far enough, and surely some inconsistency when it does. My rounds probably also have some run-out, less than my eyes measure. If there's some wild difference in brass I can have some seating issues from the difference in neck tension. That said if your loads are not refined to the point that you consider +/- 1/4" in group size at 100yds a substantial change it's probably not worth worrying over as long as the headspace is swinging dangerously. Still if you have "better" equipment for your end goal use it, can't hurt.

 

[Charlie]

I dug out my old Lyman Spartan press from the 1960's last year to try to make a portable reloading station that I could carry to the range. I loaded many thousands of rounds on that press before I got a Rock Chucker. I was surprised by how loose the old press is. I can't help but think that the slop in that press would have translated into reduced uniformity if I had actually started loading on it again. The fact that it is a C-type press also reduces uniformity since it can flex more easily than can a press with a supported front.

Would the old Spartan and the Rock Chucker give the same results? I suppose it depends on how much inconsistency you can accept. You probably would not notice the differences among loads unless you looked real closely. I did not put the old press back into service and will get a new press if I ever again want to try to rig up a portable station.

I do have a Dillon 550 with heads for 223, 308, and 30/06 as well as for a bunch of handgun chamberings. I still do all my case prep for the rifle chamberings on my Rock Chucker.