It is a progressive press, but it is not auto-indexing. That actually makes it easier to use (IMO) when working up loads for rifle ammo. YMMV.

You likely will not detonate a bad round with an inertia puller - I have used one for years - and it is almost shot itself - never a kaboom - but I still wear safety glasses to reload - ALWAYS.

I have a collet puller as well for all calibers - RCBS makes this and it is a great tool for pulling a mass quantity of ammuntion -

I picked up some factory ammuntion that was loaded with the wrong charge - charged for a 150 gr bullet and they seated a 180 over it - Sold as scrap for alike a $1 / box with the promise that it was for components only - took me a while but I pulled all of that ammo - and I have some really dandy reloads from it after some load development - there were like 100 boxes of this stuff - this was all 180 gr Sierra Boat Tail GK's in Match brass - this is now premium ammunition - it was loaded with ball powder - so it reloaded really fast -

Good investment that collet puller - and a bunch of hours to pull all of that ammunition. My arms are still tired from that one.

Allow me to introduce myself. I bought my 1st pistol (9mm Browning) for $114.50 in 1971, and discovered shortly after that 9mm ammo was freaking expensive. $8 a box in 1971 dollars?? Shortly after that I bought a Lee $7.56 reloading kit where you hammered the case into the size die with a plastic mallet, but you could load ammo for about 20% of list, and if you cast your own bullets you could get the price down even further. Moved up to a Lyman Spar-T press, wore that out with 25 years of use, and got another Lyman turret press about 5 years ago. I have tended to shoot the big and exotic stuff later on in my reloading career, so I have never wanted to go to a progressive. A lot of newbies keep asking the question of "will I save moeny by reloading", and for any caliber that is sold in bulk in the Cabela's catalog, the answer is probaby NO. If you factor in the cost of all the stuff you get over a 20,000 or 40,000 round lifetime, the numbers just don't add up. IF, however, you want a fun hobby, handloading is its own justification. Despite the cost (and I have NO, ZERO, NADA, ZIP idea of how much I have spent over the years,,,), I think these days I am in the black as far as money is concerned, but that's only because of the hideously expensive calibers I shoot.

50 AE - $1 a round
50 GI - $1 a round
500 S&W - $2 a round
.338 Ultramag - $2.50 a round
.440 Corbon Magnum - $1.75 a round
10mm Norma factory spec - whatever Doubletap charges
45 Super - Who knows what that costs??
308 match tuned to my AR10 - not available

According to my calculations, I apparently have been handloading for 35 years now. Jeesus, am I older than dirt, or what???

You go into the black faster than that -- I actually put together a spreadsheet for all the calibers I load for. 10mm and .44 Mag are faster than .45 ACP, but even .45 auto pays for itself after about 10-15 cases (depending on bullet choice).

It's still a net loss in the long run, though, since you can justify buying expensive guns that shoot expensive calibers....

"It's still a net loss in the long run, though, since you can justify buying expensive guns that shoot expensive calibers...."

Jeesus, that rationale ALONE is enoughto make EVERY gun owner start handloading, and I only started to save money on 9mm ammo in 1971.

Besides which, money for handloading equipment comes out a different budget allocation than money for buying guns. It's kinda like the difference between DOD spending for weapons, and making your own $800 toilet seat from a piece of wood. Who WOULDN'T make their own toilet seat if you could save $800??

This one is an old myth, by the way. What happened was, the Pentagon solicited bids for manufacturers to come up with fiberglass shrouds for entire toilets on board a particular aircraft. It may have been the B-1, but I'm not sure of that.

The winning bid was $800 apiece. If you think about doing it yourself, manufacturing a whole new fiberglass enclosure, tooling and all, it is a pretty expensive undertaking. The unit price would have gone way down if the total were in the thousands, but it was for a lot less than that -- a couple of hundred, maybe.

A reporter picked that up, and being no smarter than most reporters (I speak with some knowledge here) assumed that "cover" meant "seat cover," and an urban legend was born.

You forgot one other item in the price of the toilet seat, the request to the manufacturers included the "Mil-Spec" requirement. As this seat/cover was for an aircraft, it inadvertently had the mil-spec requirements attached to the RFP, this requires that the item pass among other things, a crash test. These kinds of extra requirements cost serious money.

LOL

A crash test for the toilet seat on a B-1. This is TRUE military intelligence. If you're on the shitter when the plane crashes or get hit by a SAM (not me, the missle...) you want the toilet seat to remain intact, even though the crew will probably be dead.

Hey Sam, I think we were born near the same dirt pile I got my first single stage press (a Herters) in 1970, I loaded .38, .357 and .308. I loved doing it. As time has passed I now have two Dillon 550's, one is set up just for .45 acp and the other loads 9mm,38/357, .223.

I am Sure I have been saving money all these years, but if I have not saved anything, I have learned a ton about ammo, ballistics and what it takes to really make a rifle shoot well. My handgun ammo has always worked and I enjoy the time spent working on it. I still use the old single stage for rifle (243,308,7mm08,338) and find that I can make any gun shoot better. Match up a bullet that the rifle likes, with power it craves, and get the sweet spot set up as to how close to seat the bullet and WOW!

I have also been able to use David Tubb's Final Finish bullets on a couple of rifles and they were very impressive. Has anyone used his bullets in a handgun? I am thinking of trying a set of 45 acp.

Gunnerbmg wrote:



I also have a Herter's single stage press and it still works for me.

Is your's the "O" frame style press like mine?

It has worked great for me for years. Made an adapter to use RCBS shell holders with it rather than the Herter's. I also modified the primer drop channel so the de-capped primers fall into the catch pan without jamming. Very rigid (and heavy). I can't began to estimate the number of times I've pulled the handle.

Use a Dillon 650 for pistol ammo now.

It is a labor of love as much as a $$$ saver

There is nothing like making 100 PERFECT rounds of ammunition that YOU spent the time making - Shooting tiny groups when you do everything right is the perfect conclusion to your efforts.

Hey westhope...my Herters is the old round type with the open front, I got the adapters for the rcbs shell holders a number of years ago. I had the shell holders for 38's and the 223 and 308, that has worked well as the 243 and 7/08 all worked. Then I got the 338 and was worried about where to find shell holders. I am glad RCBS picked up the ball. I picked up a few more shell holders to load for my buddies and it has been fun. Thats a good idea for the primers. Mine always fall down into the lower part of the press and fall all over or jam things up once in a great while. I just put a can under the press and let er rip! I resize the 223 on the herters and then use the dillon to load. I was always worried how the groups might grow, but I have to say they are right on the money....

I just recently started reloading using a Dillon 550 press which was given to me new, in the box. I'm already $350 ahead of the game. My first attempt at reloading was exciting but I soon realized that I reloaded about 300 rounds with the wrong charge (about 4 gr when it should of been 8gr). I then sought the advice of this forum, and the guru of reloading (in my opinion) Pinnacle, suggested I go out and get me a kinetic bullet puller. So I did (only cost $12.00 at Cabela's), and spent several hours pounding that hammer looking like device on a peice of wood to recover my jacketed bullets (my arm still hurts). It worked awesome and now I have an additional 300 rounds that are the correct charge for 45 ammo. As far as Accurate powder - I use AA #5 and Sportsman's Warehouse in Coon Rapids has it. Cost about $18.00. As everyone else has expressed, reloading is a great hobby and the Dillon 550 ROCKS!!!!!