Single stage or progressive for 308?

[winter5470]

I have been reloading 9mm for years on my dillon 550. I am considering reloading 308. My question is: should I buy a tool head, dies and powder dispenser for my 550 or just buy a single stage press? Any thoughts? I am guessing I would load 1,000 rounds of 308 per year.

Thanks

Kurt

[PKT1106]

Are you going for extreme accuracy, plinking rounds or what? I load my .308 on a Lee Single Stage because I like to be a part of every step in it. I am also loading for benchrest-type groups.

The 550 can, and is, used for lots of .308 loading. I wouldn't hesitate to load .308 on my 550, but I am OCD with my .308 loads. Remember you have to resize and tumble off the lube and then trim before you can load them.

[winter5470]

For now just plinking. I had been using portugese milsurp but that has just about dried up. Now,(if I have to buy new) it will be cheaper to reload. 308 is also even hard to find in plinking ammo - can not find PMC, white box or federal red box. I do have access to some free 308 brass. I am just looking in to loading 308. It looks like a lot more work (than 9mm) with repeated tumbling, resizing, cleaning the primer pocket/flash hole, etc. I am leaning to a single stage because i hate switching things around on my 550. It may be easier to just have a second press for 308.

[Cotys]

I have a Lee Classic Turret press I use to work up loads, bought it on sale for $99. Recently used it for 300 Blackout, 450 Bushmaster and .308 load development. I moved over to the XL 650 to make a run of .308 168 grain Hornady SSTs. I had been shooting South African military 147 grain for plinking.

I understand about switching things around, I always dread it. It turns out not to be that big a deal. I have a toolhead for every caliber (2 for processing some rifle brass). I considering leaving the .308 on the Lee turret, I finally moved it over to the XL 650 and realized the drastic difference. I could easily load a couple hundred in the time it took to load 20 to 40 on the Lee.

As soon as I had my 300 Blackout loads worked up, it went to the Dillon. I've done over 500 this week just tinkering in the evenings. There's no way I would be close to that amount on the Lee.

I say go with a new tool head and setup for the Dillon. It is a world of difference.

[Dirty Rod]

I started out loading .308 on a 550 using it as a single stage and eventually went to a SS. The ammo off the Dillon was good enough for 1" groups. I've gotten smaller groups off the SS but was/am able to shoot both pretty consistently out to 500 yards. I've noticed that the SS ammo has less runout and is a little more consistent (less flyers). That said, a few of the really good shooters in our matches use 550s to load their ammo shooting out past 1200 yards. Most of them use really good dies with the upgraded toolheads but one of the best shooters in the group can hold 1 MOA out to about 800 using a 550, Dillon dies, minimal case prep, and standard primers.

I'm still up in the air on whether the SS produces better ammo but the folks I shoot with are definitely able to win matches with ammo off a 550.

Edited May 11, 2012 by Dirty Rod

[jmorris]

If you have a lot of time and enjoy spending it reloading, you can make ammuntion just as good on a single stage as your Dillon.

[warpspeed]

Get the stuff to load it on the 550.

IIRC, David Tubb has loaded match ammo on a Dillon 550. Not sure anyone needs more accurate ammo than that.

[rrflyer]

If it makes you feel better I recently did a test.

I loaded 50 rounds on my Forster CO-AX and 50 rounds my Dillon 550 for my GAP 260 bolt gun. Using a set of Forster Bench Rest Dies. For all intents and purposes they were the same. Runout was actually less on the Dillon. Should setback was the same on the sizing process as well.

Good dies and how you operate the press make a huge difference.

The biggest downfall to loading rifle ammo on progressive is the powder measure. I use a RCBS Chargemaster and single weigh every charge.

[Religious Shooter]

I have a single stage for precision rifle. I found that setting up my 650 for .308 then setting changing it back to .223/9MM/40 was a bit of a hassle. So I just got a single stage for convenience sake. I just keep the .45 shellplate in and swap out the die whenever I want to load low volume .243, .260 or .308.

But if you do the 1000 rounds of .308 in one or two sessions I'd get the stuff for the 550.

[Alaskapopo]

Are you going for extreme accuracy, plinking rounds or what? I load my .308 on a Lee Single Stage because I like to be a part of every step in it. I am also loading for benchrest-type groups.

The 550 can, and is, used for lots of .308 loading. I wouldn't hesitate to load .308 on my 550, but I am OCD with my .308 loads. Remember you have to resize and tumble off the lube and then trim before you can load them.

I load on my progressives ( two 550B Dillon) and do quite well for accuracy.

Edited May 19, 2012 by Alaskapopo

[hgr2]

For 3 gun I prep the 308 brass on a single stage press and then run it thru like pistol ammo on a Dillon 550. So far so good.

[Boxerglocker]

I have been reloading 9mm for years on my dillon 550. I am considering reloading 308. My question is: should I buy a tool head, dies and powder dispenser for my 550 or just buy a single stage press? Any thoughts? I am guessing I would load 1,000 rounds of 308 per year.

Thanks

Kurt

If you decided to load .308 on your 550, remember it shares the same shell plate and pins as .45 ACP

If you have those you just need a B funnel and your good to go.... Kelly Alvarez had several B funnels for sale cheap in the want ads.

[RePete]

I prefer to load all of my rifle ammo on my old RockChucker.

My pistol ammo is done on a 1050.

[goldfish]

Wish I had this info over a year ago. My initial research was single stage for rifle (223 & 308) & 650 for pistol. I run rifle on the Single stage. Its starting to get tiring, i spend more time in the loading bench that i do in the shooting bench. I think I am going to setup ny 650 to run rifle too.

For precision accuracy is there that much difference in loads from single stage & progressive press?

[ncopenshooter]

Was using a Rock Chucker but after taking some training from Matt Burkett like a year ago, I'm doing my bolt rifle loading on a 550 but dropping powder via a RCBS Charge Master. 308 & 6.5 Creedmoor.

[goldfish]

Good I just purchased the RCBS chargemaster as a xmas for myself. I can powder charge with this and seat & crimp bullet on the 650. should i also use that to seat primers? Been doing hand priming with Lee, getting cramps with that.

[Alaskapopo]

I prefer to load all of my rifle ammo on my old RockChucker.

My pistol ammo is done on a 1050.

Why? You must not shoot much rifle. No way do I have the time to use a slow single stage on my rifle rounds even on my precision guns. It just too time consuming. You must have more time on your hands than I do.

Pat

[goldfish]

Was using a Rock Chucker but after taking some training from Matt Burkett like a year ago, I'm doing my bolt rifle loading on a 550 but dropping powder via a RCBS Charge Master. 308 & 6.5 Creedmoor.

On the finshed rounds, do you still need to run this on a case guage just like pistol rounds?

[rq375]

550 set up for long range rifle:

with the Redding comp dies, the ammo is just as concentric as if loaded on a single stage.

[Mike Morcillo]

I run all my ammo on a Dillon 550. I do all the necessary case prep work, with special attention to headspace on the rifle brass. The only difference is that I run the rifle brass one at a time when loading in order to feel the bullet seat pressure. Also use a Lee factory crimp die to keep neck tension equal.

On the 550, stick powders bridge in the powder die. To keep this to a minimum, polish the funnel die, 600 grit will do, then use simicrome polish to finish to a mirror finish.

[RePete]

I prefer to load all of my rifle ammo on my old RockChucker.

My pistol ammo is done on a 1050.

Why? You must not shoot much rifle. No way do I have the time to use a slow single stage on my rifle rounds even on my precision guns. It just too time consuming. You must have more time on your hands than I do.

Pat

I shoot a lot of rifle.

Why? Because that's the way I've always done it (over 30 years), it works and it ain't broke, so there's nothing to fix. Besides I've been retired for just over 4 years now.

[ncopenshooter]

Was using a Rock Chucker but after taking some training from Matt Burkett like a year ago, I'm doing my bolt rifle loading on a 550 but dropping powder via a RCBS Charge Master. 308 & 6.5 Creedmoor.

On the finshed rounds, do you still need to run this on a case guage just like pistol rounds?

Not for a bolt rifle.

[hrt4me]

550 set up for long range rifle:

with the Redding comp dies, the ammo is just as concentric as if loaded on a single stage.

that's very similar to how I use my own GenII Prometheus with my Dillon 550B for my match rounds...

[Graham Smith]

IF you are loading for maximum precision, you kind of want to load one at a time and measure your powder as you go. That said, there is nothing carved in stone that says you can't do just that on a progressive press. When it comes right down to it, loading one at a time on a progressive is no different than loading one at a time on a turret.