Am I crazy?

[ZeeCatnip]

Hey everyone,

I've done a little reloading in the past with the presses of friends and relatives and I feel the need to start up something of my own. Looking around at the various kits and add-ons that are available, I got to thinking that instead of buying piecemeal I'd jump in at the deep end and get a Dillon XL 650 http://www.dillonprecision.com/content/p/9/pid/23803/catid/1/XL_650

Am I crazy for getting something that large straight away, or should I just stick with a starter kit for the time being?

Any and all comments are welcome.

 

[Springfield 1911]

It is very, very adviseable to start with a single stage. Just by you having to ask makes me lean in that direction. I am old school though. I just feel you need to start with the basics by reading a manual and finding out why the stuff you are using works and how it works. Using a single stage will allow you to catch issues before you leave the bench, most times. Progressives are nice and Dillon is known as an industry leader but for my money I'll just keep my Lee single stage presses.

 

[acmech]

My Uncle pointed me to the Lyman T-mag press over 20 years ago and I still use it. Dillons are nice and I may get one someday, but keep this in mind, 90% or more of the presses returned to dillon were purchased by first time reloaders. A buddy of mine who has several Dillon 1050's said thats what dillon told him. There is so much going on that it overwhelms most first time reloaders as they try to wrap their minds around the process, and when and if they start "adjusting" their new Dillon it'll never work right until the factory re-adjusts it.

 

[Chuckdog]

I'm not thinking many here are qualified to answer your question?

Sanity and learning to handload quality safe ammo aren't quite the same thing.

Two have already given fairly sane answers, so I'll leave it at this. CD

 

[RamRoddoc]

Hey everyone,

I've done a little reloading in the past with the presses of friends and relatives and I feel the need to start up something of my own. Looking around at the various kits and add-ons that are available, I got to thinking that instead of buying piecemeal I'd jump in at the deep end and get a Dillon XL 650 http://www.dillonprecision.com/content/p/9/pid/23803/catid/1/XL_650

Am I crazy for getting something that large straight away, or should I just stick with a starter kit for the time being?

Any and all comments are welcome.

If you are unsure then you may want to consider a single stage press (kit) first then work up to a progressive. However if you plan on shooting a bunch of ammo the progressive will make this much easier. Dillion has really a decent set-up. You won't go wrong with a Dillon set-up (Sq. Deal, 550 or 650).

 

[Constitution Hour]

In my not always so humble opinion, it depends on what you plan on reloading for. I have a Lee single stage and a Dillon. I load for my .308 and .338 Lapua on the Lee. I load for my AR10 on the Dillon and may load some .45 acp in the future. Since you are just starting out I would advise the single stage and get familiar with loading your calibres, once you have it down to a science you might find your desire to spend $$$ on bigger/(not always better) presses has faded. I find using the Lee single stage is more enjoyable but that is just me.

 

[Flashover16]

I echo what the others have said!
as a begginer I would suggest using something othe than a progressive.
While progressives are great for turning out larger quanity of ammunition in the same time span as regular presses, mistakes/jams/etc are also much easier to occur.
Figure that the biggest problem with reloads that most have is either an undercharge or no powder at all both ending up in a squibb then its easy to see how that can happen with a progressive.
I have used single station, turret and progressive presses over the years and settled on the turret press, not as fast as a progressive, but not as slow as a single station, a good alternate and can easily be checked for proper function as the process goes on.
I am just really big on checking powder drops 2 -3 times before seating the projectile.
and of course i am not interested in running Winchester or Remington out of business as a competitor, I simply want to produce good quality ammo.

 

[Retread]

How much brass, primers, powder, lead etc do you have on hand? We may all be shooting slingshots in a few years. Could be a valuable resource. Years ago, I had an RCBS Partner, a basic bolt down Lee and a Turret press. Used the basic Lee the most. After the chaos cools, I'll be looking for a new setup.

 

[Retread]

How's availability of components right now? I thought about buying some brass the other day, but they didn't have any primers or bullets, and I didn't recognize either of the powders they had.

 

[SpeedyR]

give it a few weeks and I don't think anyone will have issues getting components for making ammo. the only thing I've heard any rumor of would be hi-cap mags and such. never has there been any talk of ammunition and components.

as for the original question- it mainly comes down to what you know and what you want to do with the setup.

if you have done some handloading and know the basics, there's no reason to not get a dillon. if you haven't loaded before I wouldn't recommend it.

if you are mainly going to load high volume (9mm, 45, 40, 223, etc) then it's fine. if you are reloading rifle rounds and need 100 of them it's overkill and would take you more time to do the setup on the bigger machine and you'd have WAY more money in it if you plan to do multiple calibers...

I think almost every single person I know that has a dillon also has a single stage (or turrent) press for low volume loads, and the dillon for high volume loads. but maybe that's just me.