Progressive vs Turret Press Accuracy

Swaim13 · Mar 30, 2020

I am getting ready to pull the trigger on a new reloading press. I have been using a rockchucker for 2 to 3 years. I only reload rifle rounds.

My question is will a Redding turret press be able to create more consistent ammunition vs a Hornady LnL or a Dillon 750? Is it worth the extra money (approximately 280) to get a Dillon vs the hornady?

Pinecone · Mar 30, 2020

Turret presses like the Redding I am seeing online, are not as consistent as a single stage or most progressives.

With the Redding, there will be some rocking of the turret.

The Dillon, the die plate is held stationary on 3 sides. And the shells index against the plate, which is fixed.

John from MD · Mar 30, 2020

Swaim13 said:
I am getting ready to pull the trigger on a new reloading press. I have been using a rockchucker for 2 to 3 years. I only reload rifle rounds.

My question is will a Redding turret press be able to create more consistent ammunition vs a Hornady LnL or a Dillon 750? Is it worth the extra money (approximately 280) to get a Dillon vs the hornady?

If you are looking for a strong solid turret press, take a look at the Lyman All American. While I have Dillon progressives, I still use the Lyman turret press to load .30 cal and up rifle rounds. The Lyman has a solid arbor and is designed so that the turret can't flex when putting upward pressure on it. The current model has 8 stations which means you can set up several calibers.

I do not use the primer seater as I use a hand seater for my rifle rounds.

PowPow · Mar 30, 2020

Forster Co-Ax is probably one of the best presses out there as consistency goes. If I really needed that kind of consistency, that is the press I would buy.

erwos · Mar 30, 2020

What kind of rifle rounds? The 750 doesn't have a built-in swager. This makes it pretty difficult to use for 5.56x45 and 7.62x51, because a lot of cases have crimped primer pockets. The 1050 does have support for these, but is rather more expensive. You CAN use a 750 for rifle rounds otherwise, but realize that to make it really worthwhile, you need the case feeder, you will need the trimmer, you will need another die holder, etc. It is a lot of money, and switching between calibers will be time-consuming.

A turret press could probably be worthwhile. I am skeptical that the amount of play is going to make a difference to anyone but serious benchrest shooters who are trying to hit 1/4 MOA groups. Single stage with quick change bushings is probably the way to go. IIRC, the Rockchucker can be made to support the Hornady LnL system if that's something you're interested in.

Swaim13 · Mar 30, 2020

I am primarily doing 223 and 6mm Creedmoor in bolt guns. My rockchucker is set up with the LnL bushings. I am currently consistently getting 1/2 to 1/4 moa groups with my 223. My 6mm creedmoor, not so much.. I am using Lapua brass so I am not worried about swaging the primer pockets. Not sure which trimmer you are referring to erwos.

Essentially I am trying to help speed up the process a little but maintain the same accuracy. I am still planning on weighing every charge but am trying to think of other ways to speed it up. I like the idea of the Hornady due to cost and that my dies are already in the LnL bushings. I keep hearing great things about Dillons but just wasnt sure if I would see the same accuracy as what I am currently getting. I am planning on still depriming on my rockchucker, tumbling, annealing, and ultrasonic cleaning the cases before throwing the brass into this press.

Scrounger · Mar 30, 2020

First the caveats. I have a Dillon 550 that I purchased back in 1986. I have not used a 750 but have looked them over and like what I see. So, my bias is with the Dillon. With that said.

When it comes to accuracy the Dillon 550 press can load as accurate ammo as any other machine. The Dillon 750 uses the same system. The only limitation is the power measure. Certain powders do not meter well in the powder measure, and truth be told most powder measures have the same difficulties. If one is weighing every charge the point is moot.

For switching calibers there is something to be said about pulling two pins, sliding out the tool head, inserting the new one and done. Changing shell plates takes about two minutes. Changing primer bars takes about three minutes.

To process once fired military 5.56/.223. Clean the brass. One can lube the brass beforehand and use a universal decapping die or use a RCBS lube/ decap die in station one. Then use a Dillon size/ trim die with the trimmer in station three or four. Clean the brass of lube. Then use a Dillon swage tool to remove the crimp.

The question is “what is your time worth”. Yes, the Dillon stuff cost somewhat more. Most people don’t lament or even remember a few hundred extra dollars spent years ago. However, they do say I should have bought that one instead in the future.

One further thing on accuracy. I used to shoot High Power Rifle Service Class. All my ammo was loaded on a 550 and would hold the X ring at 600yds.

Pinecone · Mar 30, 2020

Swaim13 said:
I am primarily doing 223 and 6mm Creedmoor in bolt guns. My rockchucker is set up with the LnL bushings. I am currently consistently getting 1/2 to 1/4 moa groups with my 223. My 6mm creedmoor, not so much.. I am using Lapua brass so I am not worried about swaging the primer pockets. Not sure which trimmer you are referring to erwos.

Essentially I am trying to help speed up the process a little but maintain the same accuracy. I am still planning on weighing every charge but am trying to think of other ways to speed it up. I like the idea of the Hornady due to cost and that my dies are already in the LnL bushings. I keep hearing great things about Dillons but just wasnt sure if I would see the same accuracy as what I am currently getting. I am planning on still depriming on my rockchucker, tumbling, annealing, and ultrasonic cleaning the cases before throwing the brass into this press.

If you are doing all that, AND weighing charges, you are not going to gain much with a progressive or turret.

For my precision rifle rounds, I do batches of cases. Do each stage of the prep on 100 or 200 or whatever cases. So deprime the batch. Then tumble the batch. Then size the batch. Then trim the batch. Then prime the batch.

Then charge and seat.

I load my 5.56 plinking rounds on my Dillon 650. For once fired mil brass, I clean, the do a pass that deprimes and sizes. Then I clean the lube off. Then swage the primer pockets.

Then later, I run a second pass on the 650, that primes, charges, and seats bullets.

Swaim13 · Mar 30, 2020

Pinecone said:
If you are doing all that, AND weighing charges, you are not going to gain much with a progressive or turret.

For my precision rifle rounds, I do batches of cases. Do each stage of the prep on 100 or 200 or whatever cases. So deprime the batch. Then tumble the batch. Then size the batch. Then trim the batch. Then prime the batch.

Then charge and seat.

I currently load in batches of 100-200 like you were saying. Do you think I would be better off going with a faster powder thrower vs upgrading the press? I currently use a chargemaster lite as I read it was better for the extruded powders (no McDonald's straw

). I have heard great things about the autotrickler and the matchmaster but haven't pulled the trigger as I was thinking the press would accelerate things more than the powder thrower

Pinecone · Mar 30, 2020

You need a second Chargemaster.

Actually, that is the biggest bottle neck in my loading. I pour in the powder, put the pan back to drop the next charge, seat the bullet. Pick up the next case. Fit the drop tube, and WAIT for the charge to finish. And yes, I have reprogrammed to be faster.

Magnumite · Apr 2, 2020

I have loaded 223/5.56 on my Dillon 550. They were plinking, 'see how it works' rounds. Without weighing the charges, I was shooting just under moa with a 4x scope in a 20" RRA hbar.

When building match ammo in pistol with it, and if I do in rifle, I run the progressive as normal. The exception would be after sizing and before seating the primer, I remove the case and do the necessary steps on it. Then I reinsert it back into the sizing station and seat the primer. If the powder movement through the measure isn't as precise as I need, I set the charge from the measure a little light, remove the case at that station, empty the powder into the pan, trickle finish it and funnel it back into the case.

As someone said this is not fast using a progressive, but it is faster than a turret press or a single stage simply because the cases are handled less. Building precision ammo takes many steps so no matter what press you use, its time consuming. If I can, I will always opt for using the progessive for a couple of reasons besides the time factor.

Progressive vs Turret Press Accuracy

The #1 community for Gun Owners of the Northeast

Member Benefits:

Swaim13

Active Member

Pinecone

Ultimate Member

John from MD

American Patriot

PowPow

Where's the beef?

erwos

The Hebrew Hammer

Swaim13

Active Member

Scrounger

Active Member

Pinecone

Ultimate Member

Swaim13

Active Member

Pinecone

Ultimate Member

Magnumite

Ultimate Member

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Latest threads

Forum statistics

Share this page