Best 9mm Reloading Press

[smithra_66]

Dillon Press Lover please stay with me on this;

1. I DO NOT WANT ANOTHER PROGRESSIVE PRESS. I ALREADY HAVE ONE.

If I decided I need a large volume of 9mm I will simply change the shell plate and dies for it. Since I already have the dies I will only need to buy a shell plate from Lee for $20.00 (which actually might be a good idea anyway).

2. I am not new to reloading. I have been reloading for around 40 years.

3. I have thousands of empty cases, bullets, powder and primers. I have a lead pot and lot of lead so I can cast my own bullets. (Lead bullets work fine in 9mm). As for running out of primers I have a friend that literally has 100,000 primers on hand. (That's why not to laugh at preppers).

4. I am considering a turret press as I think it will meet the quantity of 9mm I need.

5. Although I want to leave it setup for 9mm a turret press will let me switch calibers using my loading dies should I want to.

6. Probably most importantly DILLON does not make a turret press.

7. Please respect this topic and leave DILLON out of it.

Your original post was sort of hard to follow. Your post's title is "Best 9mm Reloading Press." You want to "step up" from a Rockchucker but you only want a turret? You have a progressive already? Okay then just use that!

Why did you make this post? Most of us told you what we think the "Best 9mm Reloading Press" is.

Obviously asking for reloading advice, you're going to get a lot of replies, some even saying it's just worth it to buy factory ammo.

You seem awfully flippant to people simply trying to give you advice and your OP was not that clear/.

My advice: Use your pro 1000. Who the heck would want to load lots of pistol ammo on a turret press? That's not that much better than your single stage. Spend the money on the caliber change for the pro 1000. That should be a no-brainer. You asked for our advice. I've loaded pistols on a turret press and a progressive. I'd NEVER recommend a turret to someone when a progressive is available. That's truly my advice.

When you start having problems with your Lee, buy a Dillon. I'm sorry for mentioning it again. That seems taboo to you.

On a message board, sometimes people bring up things outside the bounds of your thought process that may be valid, but which you didn't think of.

You're acting like we're putting you out by simply replying with collectively probably hundreds of years of reloading experience from lots of perspectives.

Good luck.

 

[venomballistics]

Dillon Press Lover please stay with me on this;

1. I DO NOT WANT ANOTHER PROGRESSIVE PRESS. I ALREADY HAVE ONE.

If I decided I need a large volume of 9mm I will simply change the shell plate and dies for it. Since I already have the dies I will only need to buy a shell plate from Lee for $20.00 (which actually might be a good idea anyway).

2. I am not new to reloading. I have been reloading for around 40 years.

3. I have thousands of empty cases, bullets, powder and primers. I have a lead pot and lot of lead so I can cast my own bullets. (Lead bullets work fine in 9mm). As for running out of primers I have a friend that literally has 100,000 primers on hand. (That's why not to laugh at preppers).

4. I am considering a turret press as I think it will meet the quantity of 9mm I need.

5. Although I want to leave it setup for 9mm a turret press will let me switch calibers using my loading dies should I want to.

6. Probably most importantly DILLON does not make a turret press.

7. Please respect this topic and leave DILLON out of it.

So basically, you're just here to troll.
Rgr Wilco
I'm out

 

[jsbethel]

I have reloaded many 9mm rounds over many years using a Lee classic turret press with great results. Eventually, I got a good deal on a used Dillon SDB and sent it back to them for a factory refresh and set-up. The thing is I was so used to my routine with the turret press, I never took the Dillon out of the box.

 

[LostintheOzone]

Why do you not want a Dillon? I have a Dillon Square Deal B set up for 9mm and it is the best I've used...and I've used a lot of them. It's not much more, if any, money than competing setups.

Progressive presses can be a headache. Lee makes a great product for certain things, but I've had nothing but headaches the few times I've used their progressives.

The Square Deal is pretty tough to beat for a (relatively) inexpensive setup for high volume handgun calibers.

So it doesn't load rifle ammo? Just asking because I don't know.

If it doesn't and you load rifle ammo, that means you have to buy two presses.

 

[BE Mike]

And your off-topic comment has what to do with selecting a reloading press?

I suppose we didn't know that you were so experienced and flush with components, especially 100,000 primers. You should be able to figure it out on your own!

 

[BSA1]

Moderator please delete or close this thread. Because I do not want a Dillon Progressive Press I am now being called a troll by venonballastics. There is no reason for that.

To the others that have made turret press suggestions I thank you for them. I will be checking them all out.

It is regrettable that this thread turned so ugly and apologize for bringing this subject up.

 

[LostintheOzone]

I can see some of his argument.
figure after you get all tooled up for this and gather all the components, you'll be hard pressed to break even over bulk factory ammo .... at least at this time.
It's really not the best time to jump into this.

But assuming a better tomorrow where sanity returns to the land, all reloading seems to accomplish is higher volume.
If you spend $100 in factory ammo per month now, you will still spend $100 reloading .... you're just going to shoot more.
That said, bite the bullet and go Dillon. You might not be able to justify it looking at your current situation, but you can count on that changing.

It's going to change, no doubt about it. Now isn't the time to jump into reloading. Maybe a year from now components will be less expensive and available. A press would be the least of my worries today. A few hundred bucks more for a Dillon doesn't look extravagant when primers are $100 a box and powder is $35/lb.

 

[Paul in Nevada]

Well it sounds like you already had your mind made up when you started the thread. The Lee Classic 4 Hole Turret is a great press. The problem with it is the priming system. The priming system just plain sucks, to be blunt. if you feed them one at a time it's fine but then why not batch prime off the press. Then there's the powder measure. Maybe the disc one works. The Autodrum I had would bleed fine grained powder all over the place. If you had a working primer feeder and case activated powder measure the Lee Turret would be the ultimate poor man's progressive. As is, it's a single stage press with four dies. That's not a total deal breaker. It has a small foot print on the bench, lots of room to see what what you are doing, cheap tool heads to keep your dies set up and you can switch cartridges in seconds.

As for true progressive presses, Dillon is the top contender for a lot of very good reasons. I am sorry your heart is dead set against Dillon because it means you are excluding some excellent machines. You would probably love the RL550C. It's a much smarter buy than the Square Deal. The 550 is probably more press than you need at your current shooting volume but maybe you would shoot more if you could crank out 300-400 rounds an hour.

I can't comment on the Lee progressives, having no experience there. Lee products get bashed unfairly on gun forums. Their dies are the best value of any reloading product on the market. Some of their other products are very innovative but I feel like they make some things a little too cheaply which leads to a lot of frustration. Read the reviews of any progressive press and look carefully for comments on the priming systems. The primer feeder is the weak link of every progressive.

As for component prices, they aren't going any lower. This is the new price floor.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

 

[reddog81]

IMO if you're going to reload for 9mm the only logical way to go is a progressive. Why not buy a shell plate for the existing press? Any time spent changing out calibers will be made up for after loading a couple dozen rounds.

 

[mikld]

If reloading was only about money, I might consider purchasing 9mm by the case. But bottom line, I like reloading!

 

[STORMINORMAN]

Waaa!

When one asks for opinions and advice one should consider that some responders may not always agree with preconceived notions or limitations...?

P.S. Perhaps it might be wise to reconsider a caliber change on a press one already owns and is familiar with...?

 

[rkittine]

I too like reloading and it is less about the momey. I agree that 9mm is cheap enough that unless you shoot a REAL lot of 9mm Reloading is not about cost savings. I would also agree that a Dillon would make a good choice, but if you are only going to load 9mm, I would go with a rebuilt STAR. I have one of those in each of my high volume calibers, 9mm, .32 S&W Long, .38 Midrange Wad Cutter and 45 Semi Wad Cutter.

 

[BSA1]

Well it sounds like you already had your mind made up when you started the thread.

Only that I do not want another Progressive Press.

The Lee Classic 4 Hole Turret is a great press. The problem with it is the priming system. The priming system just plain sucks, to be blunt. if you feed them one at a time it's fine but then why not batch prime off the press. Then there's the powder measure. Maybe the disc one works. The Autodrum I had would bleed fine grained powder all over the place. If you had a working primer feeder and case activated powder measure the Lee Turret would be the ultimate poor man's progressive. As is, it's a single stage press with four dies. That's not a total deal breaker. It has a small foot print on the bench, lots of room to see what what you are doing, cheap tool heads to keep your dies set up and you can switch cartridges in seconds.

Thank you. That is exactly the kind of information I am looking for. Your opinion of Lyman?

 

[Tom S.]

There is one aspect that no one has touched on here and at the risk of raising the OP's ire, I'm going to state it because I feel it's important.

9mm are small. When I switched to a progressive press, which was a Lee, BTW, it was as much for ending having the handle or perhaps mishandle is a better term, those small cases as it was to speed up the process - and in fact the two were connected. While the numbers of a few thousand are relatively small, a turret press, while certainly faster than a single stage, is still going to be slow, and if your mitts are the same size as mine, you too will soon grow frustrated, even if only doing a few hundred at a sitting. Yes, the blue press is nice, but there are several other progressive presses available in green and red that will suffice for less money, including the Lee line of progressives. Plus you can always shop the used market and save even more.

Turret presses are great and yes, I do have one (a Lee), but for small cartridges like the 9mm and it's baby brother the .380, I would go progressive even if it was without all the bells and whistles like case collator, bullet seater, etc.

Just my $.02 on a view not mentioned.

 

[Paul in Nevada]

Thank you. That is exactly the kind of information I am looking for. Your opinion of Lyman?

I have had a chance to inspect a lot of presses at work but I have only personally used a few of them. The Lyman turret press looks decent and the price is good. If you lined up the Lyman, Redding, and RCBS turret presses you might have a hard time picking one if you didn't know the prices. My subjective opinions: The Lyman priming system is third place. It gets a lot of negative reviews. Otherwise, the Lyman seems like the better value. The Redding turret has the least deflection and greatest leverage. If you planned to reload any rifle cases this press might be a better choice. The RCBS turret looks like a good quality press if you don't mind having the fewest stations of the three. The RCBS six hole heads to cost more than the Lyman eight hole heads while Redding's heads are the most expensive at a ridiculous $100 each. My only suggestion would be to read a lot of reviews on each product's priming system before buying. You could always prime off press if the priming system sucked.

 

[Paul in Nevada]

Also, here is a wildcard. Extra turrets are only $20!
Herrell's Tooling

 

[venomballistics]

There is one aspect that no one has touched on here and at the risk of raising the OP's ire, I'm going to state it because I feel it's important.

9mm are small. When I switched to a progressive press, which was a Lee, BTW, it was as much for ending having the handle or perhaps mishandle is a better term, those small cases as it was to speed up the process - and in fact the two were connected. While the numbers of a few thousand are relatively small, a turret press, while certainly faster than a single stage, is still going to be slow, and if your mitts are the same size as mine, you too will soon grow frustrated, even if only doing a few hundred at a sitting. Yes, the blue press is nice, but there are several other progressive presses available in green and red that will suffice for less money, including the Lee line of progressives. Plus you can always shop the used market and save even more.

Turret presses are great and yes, I do have one (a Lee), but for small cartridges like the 9mm and it's baby brother the .380, I would go progressive even if it was without all the bells and whistles like case collator, bullet seater, etc.

Just my $.02 on a view not mentioned.

You're not wrong here.
While I do my load development on a single stage, any auto pistol cartridge goes straight to progressive for production.
The volume is just one dimension.
The size plays a part as well. Particularly case length.
They do get annoying
I find 223 to be somewhat in both worlds.
I'll likely migrate it to progressive

 

[JDBoardman]

I have an older Lyman All-American turret press that is set up for .38 specials using 146 grain wadcutters. It works just fine for that, and that is all I use it for. I have another semi-progressive press I use for all of my other loading. I probably shoot 1000 wadcutters a month, and the turret press can handle this OK. Since I shoot 6 other pistol calibers, the ease of changing shell plates and heads with dies pre-installed and already adjusted saves me from a lot of fiddly work. If you are only shooting one caliber, a turret press will do just fine.

 

[BSA1]

I have had a chance to inspect a lot of presses at work but I have only personally used a few of them. The Lyman turret press looks decent and the price is good. If you lined up the Lyman, Redding, and RCBS turret presses you might have a hard time picking one if you didn't know the prices. My subjective opinions: The Lyman priming system is third place. It gets a lot of negative reviews. Otherwise, the Lyman seems like the better value. The Redding turret has the least deflection and greatest leverage. If you planned to reload any rifle cases this press might be a better choice. The RCBS turret looks like a good quality press if you don't mind having the fewest stations of the three. The RCBS six hole heads to cost more than the Lyman eight hole heads while Redding's heads are the most expensive at a ridiculous $100 each. My only suggestion would be to read a lot of reviews on each product's priming system before buying. You could always prime off press if the priming system sucked.

Thank you for sharing your opinions. It will be helpful for me.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

Dies are a once in a lifetime purchase. When you buy the press you get one set. The beauty of these types of dies is that you keep them all adjusted on the removable toolhead and they take up very little space. They are also a dedicated 4 station die set, where crimping is done separately of seating. Most carbide die sets that people have for handgun calibers are only 3 piece, where crimping and seating are done together.

How many different handgun calibers do you have and how much were you going to spend replacing dies?

Cranking out thousands of rounds of handgun ammo with almost no headaches is WELL WORTH spending what, 50 bucks on top of the cost of your existing dies to "replace" them?

You'll save that much in a week of using the press. Plus you'll have a spare set of dies to use on your single stage that you can adjust separately.

The "integrated" nature of the dies is one of the reason I think the SDB works so well. The designers made the press around one single set of dies. They don't have to account for variances of any old dies that you can screw in.

"Dies are a once in a lifetime purchase"........Not so. Until I went to carbide. I wore out 2 RCBS standard(steel) sizing dies. One 357 and one in 9mm. Every case that went through was thoroughly lubed......Yet they wore too large to size the cases to fit multiple guns.