Single station presses have almost no resale value, so you can probably save 50% on ebay,and even more with Craigslist offerings. There's very little to go wrong with a single station press, or the powder measure. The powder scale, I'd buy new, probably from Midway, The other stuff, case deburred, case holders, primer flippers,priming tool case lube, etc, etc, etc, can really eat your lunch, as in $200. So if you can get a package deal someplace, used condition, for about 50% of retail cost, snap it up and count yourself lucky. Be aware that if you use lube for sizing, you have to "de-lube" the cases after sizing, or run an unacceptably high risk of duds,squib loads cause the case lube contaminates powder and primers pretty easily. This is one reason guys like the dry graphite lubes and tungsten carbide expander balls, on bottlenecked rifle cases, and carbide sizer dies for straight walled pistol cases. I like Lee Precision dies, because for anything but benchrest shooting, they suffice, are half the price of RCBS and Lyman dies and the correct shellholder comes with the dies, saving another $6 or so.
You'll load only about 150 rds per hour on a single station press, while the progressives can maintain 3x that speed. Milsurp 223 ammo is so cheap, and the components so expensive, that i dont reload for it anymore, and it's my only rifle caliber. 9mm is my only pistol caliper, too. I went thru over a dozen calibers over the years and found that they just dont do enough for me to justify owning the rifles or bothering with loading for them. I shoot about 10,000 rds of 9mm per year, and so does the wife, so I cast for it and load it, saving 15c per shot.
if you use the Lanolin sizing lube, the best way to clean it off is with lighter fluid. Fold an old towel lengthwise. lay a double handful of cases on the towel, squirt on a bit of fluid, and then alternately raise and lower the ends of the towel, causing the cases to roll back and forth in the towel, removing the lube. A small brush or Q-tip is necessary for removing this semi-liquid lube from inside of the case necks of bottle necked cases.
check this out
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcMiHEIFLWM"]458 Socom Drops Deer At 450 Yards Shooting Subsonic - YouTube[/ame]
The Lee precision handheld priming tool is great, if a bit fragile. You can definitely break the plastic if you drop it on a hard surface, and if you're not paying attention, you can invert a primer now and then, too! :-) But it lets you prime cases while watching TV
If you get into much volume shooting, get a USED progressive loader, but not until you're very familiar with loading on a single station press. For handgun calibers, the Lee Progressive is a great machine, and great deals are common after xmas, on Ebay. Guys get them for presents and then don't want them. For bottlenecked rifle loading on a progressive, Dillion machines are where it's at, but they are expensive, as in $800 when all is ready, for several calibers.
You'll load only about 150 rds per hour on a single station press, while the progressives can maintain 3x that speed. Milsurp 223 ammo is so cheap, and the components so expensive, that i dont reload for it anymore, and it's my only rifle caliber. 9mm is my only pistol caliper, too. I went thru over a dozen calibers over the years and found that they just dont do enough for me to justify owning the rifles or bothering with loading for them. I shoot about 10,000 rds of 9mm per year, and so does the wife, so I cast for it and load it, saving 15c per shot.
if you use the Lanolin sizing lube, the best way to clean it off is with lighter fluid. Fold an old towel lengthwise. lay a double handful of cases on the towel, squirt on a bit of fluid, and then alternately raise and lower the ends of the towel, causing the cases to roll back and forth in the towel, removing the lube. A small brush or Q-tip is necessary for removing this semi-liquid lube from inside of the case necks of bottle necked cases.
check this out
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcMiHEIFLWM"]458 Socom Drops Deer At 450 Yards Shooting Subsonic - YouTube[/ame]
The Lee precision handheld priming tool is great, if a bit fragile. You can definitely break the plastic if you drop it on a hard surface, and if you're not paying attention, you can invert a primer now and then, too! :-) But it lets you prime cases while watching TV
If you get into much volume shooting, get a USED progressive loader, but not until you're very familiar with loading on a single station press. For handgun calibers, the Lee Progressive is a great machine, and great deals are common after xmas, on Ebay. Guys get them for presents and then don't want them. For bottlenecked rifle loading on a progressive, Dillion machines are where it's at, but they are expensive, as in $800 when all is ready, for several calibers.
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