Discouraged

[stringcheese]

I agree with the above posts. But, we all had a learning curve and paying attention to your press is important. In the beginning while making mistakes it is important to make mental notes of what a poor primer seat "felt like" or how you made a double charge or whatever.

I have owned my RCBS Pro2000 for about 5 years now and there are still times that I just take all the shells off and start over. This always seems to happen when I have a friend over who is asking me 2000 questions or trying to help. One good word of advice to new reloaders to progressive presses is, empty the loaded ammunition tray often. I had a bad hiccup when I was learning and had 200 rounds in the tray and dumped a bunch of whoops material into the finished tray....an hour and a half later I finished hammering with my bullet puller.

Trust your equipment, and when a mistake is noticed, do not be overwhelmed. Take each shell, one at a time, off your press and do a visual check and replace it back in the position it was in. Then move onto the next shell. I pretend that there is one shell in 5 presses. This allows my mind to concentrate on one problem rather than being bombarded by 5 at once.

Reloading is very rewarding. And your right arm probably needs the excercise.

[98sr20ve]

Don't be discouraged. But I am going to tell you the truth about reloading. And it's counter what you are thinking now. Your thinking the slower you go, the more you measure, the more you check and recheck the safer you are. The opposite is true. You have a very safe press. It's your interaction with the press that caused the problem. It's far more important to get in a rhythm. Far more important to let the machine do what it was designed to do. As soon as you start checking powder drop, OAL, etc your introducing the possibility of you making a mistake. The machine will not make a squib. It was you putting the case back in the wrong station or forgetting to recharge the case after measuring the powder drop. Don't ever take more then one case out of the press at one time. NEVER EVER leave powder in your powder pan (that way you know it's a problem if you see powder in the pan when you are loading). Only check Powder drop once every 100 rds at the most. I don't even check that often. Check OAL on a discharged case not a case from the shell plate. Start the session with 10 drops in a clean case with a upsidedown primer. Notice the height of the powder. Weight the 10th charge and make sure it's right (dump the others with out weighting). Then start loading and weight the next case you drop powder (be sure to tap the junk out of it after sizing and priming). It should be within .1gr. After that just load and only stop when you hear the buzzer. Dump the load bin every 100 rds after doing your powder check (not before).

Btw, Unique meter poorly. You might need to accept .2 gr variance. Don't worry about it. Just don't load max loads. It will vary more the more you stop the process/routine. It metered to .1 gr on my 550 if I always used the machine the same every time. The more you stop, the worse it will appear to meter.

Mods, I think this needs to be a sticky or a "Must Read" for all beginner reloaders.

I know it would have saved me a lot of grief, and I might still be reloading.

Wish I had been sooner.

Edited April 14, 2011 by 98sr20ve

[jph437]

My start was very frustrating, I ended up pulling close to 100 bullets the first night (not enjoyable). Once i got my rhythm and a complete understanding of the machine, reloading became much more enjoyable. I check a few charges and a few case lengths before i go into "production" and once i am in that mode the only way a cartridge is leaving the machine is when it is discharged as a complete cartridge. If you are concerned your powder measure didn't throw a load tap the cartridge to see the powder moving. Or ideally have a great lighting setup.

Stick with it once you remove your uncertainty in your own ability you will enjoy it thoroughly.

I have only been doing this for 2 months now.

[whistlepig]

If you are using the SD and Dillon dies, skip the potential case lube problem all together. Cases that are halfway clean and the Dillon dies will go all day long. Dillon stuff, in pistol calibers, doesnt need it.

[ChristianHE]

If you are using the SD and Dillon dies, skip the potential case lube problem all together. Cases that are halfway clean and the Dillon dies will go all day long. Dillon stuff, in pistol calibers, doesnt need it.

+1 big time.