progressive press for riffle

[snake32]

im trying to decide if it is worth the effort to set up a progressive press for rifle ammo. im not looking to buy a new press i already have a progressive and a single stage press. im looking to hear feedback from shooters that load rifle ammo. does anyone load rifle ammo on a progressive press and get reliable and accurate loads out of it? if so please post your procedures. the way i see it loading pistol on a progressive is great and at the range we shoot our pistols the ammo is accurate enough. with rifles it is a little different. how do you use a progressive press and clean primer pockets? or trim brass? or guarantee the exact amount of powder is in each and every round loaded? this would be for accurate ammo at say 200 yards and under. im not a bench rest shooter and i know the procedures for loading for bench rest guns is very time consuming and will be done with equipment that i do not own. do i just use my single stage press and take my time or can it be done on my lnl progressive? tell me what you think.

[smokshwn]

There are many here that do exactly what you are asking about. But to put to rest the notion that you cannot load accurate rifle ammo on a progressive press, David Tubb uses a 550 to load his ammo.

With a couple of searches you can find several different procedures/ setups to take care of brass prep, and powder check in the reloading section, specific to the press you have.

[Chills1994]

If your Hornady Lock-n-Load progressive press has a casefeeder, I would highly recommend getting a Dillon 1200 toolhead/ press mounted trimmer. No more handing each piece of brass by hand.

If you don't have a casefeeder, then I would highly recommend the Possum Hollow Cutter/Trimmer which you chuck into a drill or drill press.

And I would highly recommend coupling that with RCBS X-sizer die. Trim once...for example, for .223, trim to 1.73" instead of the usually 1.75". Shoot that brass, get THAT brass back, then reload it with the RCBS X-sizer die's mandrel screwed down.

BUT!

Before you go through all that rigamorale I would highly recommend what you can get the imported .223 (ASSuming it is for an AR) at the gunshow.

Then see what you can get the brass, primers, powder, and bullets for to reload. Then compare that total components price per round to the price per round on the imported stuff.

Edited December 9, 2011 by Chills1994

[oddjob]

I use my 550 for 30-06 loads (Garand) and my 1050 is used for my .223 loads.........I have no complaints at all......Go for it..

[biggdawg]

I load my rifle rounds on my lnl ap and i have several different loads that shoot sub moa.

for 223 this is what i do.

deprime all cases with universal decapper.

clean cases in my home built wet tumbler 14lbs at a time = 1000 cases

lube cases station 1 blank install dillon 1200b in station 2 only with primer tube removed,I have it set up to barely touch the shoulder.

station 3 blank, station 4 redding sizer die set to bump shoulder .002 with carbide expander ball. 5 blank

clean again for an hour in my wet tumbler and dry, store for loading.

loading

station 1 universal decap

station 2 blank - seat primer

station 3 powder measure

station 4 redding seater die

station 5 blank or lee fcd depending if i am going to crimp.

i also have the case feeder which makes the case prep go much faster.

if i have to remove the crimp on military cases i use a rcbs crimp remover in a drill that i mounted to a board then i screw the board to my bench, makes quick work of it. also use the same set up if i am chamfering my 7.62x40 cases. 223 cases i don't have to debur or chamfer.

Edited December 9, 2011 by biggdawg

[GregJ]

I load my 223 on my LNL AP, similar to what biggdawd described. If I do my part, I can get 1/2 MOA or better at 100yds out of my RRA AR.

Here's my abbreviated process

- tumble brass

- lube cases

- deprime/resize with only Hornady decap/resize die in station 1 on my LNL

- trim with Possom Hollow trimmer in my bench top drill press

- chamfer/debur

- tumble again

- take sizing die out, put powder drop in station 2 and seating die in 4

- load powder and primers

- loadem up

I have a Hornady concentricy gage coming, but that's for a different thread.

[Graham Smith]

I happen to like a turret press for precision rifle, but there is no reason why you cannot load on something like a RL550. You don't have to use a powder dispenser, you can measure and pour your powder. You also can cycle through one round at a time.

[snake32]

thanks for the replies. this is getting me in the right direction now.

[Graham Smith]

BTW, reloading is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. There is a big difference between loading rifle ammo for 3-gun and for 1000yd precision.

Loading 3-gun ammo on a progressive is definitely the way to go because minor variations are not that critical and you need a fairly good volume of rounds.

For long range rifle, where you may only be making up 50 rounds at a time, you want to control things much more which is why people often turn to a single stage or turret press. But you can also use a progressive and simply cycle the round though one at a time without giving up that much in precision.

[Chills1994]

smokeshwn wrote:

....David Tubb uses a 550 to load his ammo.

I have his reloading video. It is so old it is on VHS videotape.

From what I can recall about that video, he uses the Dillon progressive press for his ammo say out to 600 yards. Then after that ...again...if I can recall correctly, he uses a single stage press. He takes the just seated bullet....what we would call a completely loaded round for our purposes....lowers the press, gives the round a third of a turn, then runs the round back up into the bullet seating die. He lowers the press again, gives the round another third of a turn and runs the round back up into the bullet seating die.

What he is looking for is concentricity.

That's what these gadgets are for:

which for 3 gun is way...WAY! over the top.

Edited December 10, 2011 by Chills1994

[pjb45]

I loaded .223 on my 1050. The procedures are posted on this forum.

Essentially I use VV powder, LC brass, and Federal primers.

Out of JP barrel, I get 1/4 MOA and the Sabre Defence I get 1/3 MOA. The accuracy was more a limitation of my shooting ability and an 8x scope.

If you are doing bench rest shooting then your reloading technique is a whole of heck lot different than if you are shooting 3 Gun or stuff at under 400 yards. With the right glass, I suspect I could be fairly accurate out to 600 yards with my loads.

I am really lazy, I like loading thousand of rounds at a time and I do not have much free time. So the 1050 was the only way to go. I would almost say, that prepping your brass is almost as important as loading it.

[jmorris]

I think setting up a progressive is worth the, less effort, it takes to load. After cleaning, I machine anneal, trim on a 650 and load on a 1050.

[dnmccoy]

I got my 550 for 9mm but also for my 30 carb and eventually 30-06