Northeast Ohio in Ashtabula County. Furthest Northeast you can get until PA.

__________________
Beware the man with one gun

Hello from an Ashtabula city resident. Perhaps we could get together and meet somewhere.

The 38spl/357mag's are my favorite cartridges that I've reloaded since the mid 80's. While not an expert by any means I have cast, swaged & bought bullets for reloading both calibers.

Send me a pm if you're interested in meeting and I'll pm you back with my phone number.

StakeOut, brother Skeet 028 pretty much summed it up. Loose tolerances make it possible to get everything to line up because they can be moved around. They don’t seem to stay in adjustment long for the same reason… loose tolerances. The plastic and aluminum parts also introduce a wear factor.

BTW SO, which Lee Hand Priming Tool gets a “meh” from you? I’ve been less than impressed with anything called “Auto Prime” but the original hand priming tool from the old Lee Custom days is a personal favorite. I collect priming tools and other than the so-called Pope Style re- and decappers for loading at the bench during Schuetzen matches, the original Lee tool is “da bomb” and for loading off of a progressive press, it gets the nod virtually all the time.

Friend Sevens, the Star presses are not quite dead! Bruce Williams in NJ is now the owner of the name, intellectual properties, and literally tractor trailer loads of parts. He’s not making any new presses (yet) but can rebuild virtually any Star press you send him. Of course Magma has taken over the Star luber/sizer department. I currently have an early Star Progressive (available in 38 Spl only) but am dreaming of a Universal to load my beloved 32s.

Your Phriendly ‘Phibian

A couple of thoughts from a former but now newly restarted reloader:

Other than a couple of die sets from a couple of decades ago, I had no equipment.

Minconrevo is correct. The Dillon 550 can be operated one case at a time, one station at a time if you wish. It’s how I re-learned how each die worked.

Unless you have a local mentor who can put his hands on your equipment, buy new if your buying a progressive press. My Dillon, and I’m sure all progressive presses, came with everything needed (except three dies) plus set up directions that assume you have no experience and are invaluable to a new to the program reloader. “This part that does x here, that part which does y there…” just reading the manual and looking at all of the (required) unassembled parts was really helpful.

The opposite was the case when I looked at second hand presses. Damn if I could tell if they were complete or in proper working condition. If I’d had a local mentor to walk me through the equipment and process, my choice might have been different.

Buy what you’ll want eventually first.

Bought a 550B Dillon when they first came out...like throwing good money down a rabbit hole. Sold it as soon as I could and bought a RCBS and Lee.and that was almost 40 years and I haven’t looked back.

I have been reloading for 57 years. I have a RCBS Jr press, Redding T7 press, and a Dillon 550C. The 550C was purchased new about 4 years ago. I have no experience with Lee products. My Dillon 550 is a pretty remarkable press. I waited a long time to get it and was well worth the wait.

Looks like you got something for your Dillon, so it wasn't a total waste of money. Progressive presses aren't for those who don't shoot a lot. They are great for those who want to load a lot of the same ammo. I shoot a couple hundred of pistol rounds each week. I can sit down and pump out 500-1,000 rounds in a few hours.

For loading the occasional 20 to 100 handgun or rifle, my RCBS Rockchucker is perfect, be it slow. It’s at least 50+ years old and will easily last another 50+.

__________________
FBINA 213th Session

Dillon 550 is the way to go. I think the 550C is the latest model.

That said the RCBS Rockchucker can be a handy thing to have around. I've had one for years. Other than for loading some rifle I use it mainly for bulk depriming and sizing range brass. I do use it sometimes for working up maximum loads. That way I'm careful, slow and deliberate and weigh each charge.

For that matter a Lee Hand Press is a great tool for certain occasions. I just checked and the Hand Press has gone up in price. They're not $15 bucks or so anymore.

My only other experience with lee presses is one of their progressives, which IMHO was trash. But that was quite a few years ago. It would crank out ammo like lightning, when you weren't working on it, which was most of the time.

I have a Dillon 450 and a 550. I've had the 450 since about 1982. Both are great but you want the 550 unless you get a real steal on the 450.