Given up on my LGS

The 550 is supposed to do 550 an hour. That's flying not a lot of checking anything. Three hundred an hour on a 550 is a comfortable speed to produce quality and checks for control.
In 15+ years I’ve never come close to 550 per hour.
 
In 15+ years I’ve never come close to 550 per hour.
Me neither I do controlled and comfortable. That's their claim to fame and where the machines get their names. I think the harder and faster you push just makes plenty of room for error.

I agree 100 in twenty minutes is doable safely 300 in an hour. Better safe than sorry.
 
And to think I was annoyed during the first great primer shortage when the shop broke open the cases and sold them in units of 1000.

Word of the shortage was just starting to spread, so I said "I'll take the SR primers". How many? I meant I will take the primers - all of them plus any you have out back. And then shared the wealth (at cost) with some friends.
 
Me neither I do controlled and comfortable. That's their claim to fame and where the machines get their names. I think the harder and faster you push just makes plenty of room for error.

I agree 100 in twenty minutes is doable safely 300 in an hour. Better safe than sorry.
It also assumes everything is perfect - no crimped in primes, perfectly conditioned brass, every bullet placed perfectly on the brass before pulling the handle, etc. The claimed speeds (DIllon once mentioned Rob Leatham doing something like 900 in an hour on a 1050) were likely achieved with new brass.
 
It takes 20 minutes to reload 100 rounds? Serious question, I have no idea.
Depends upon what kind of press and if you include loading the primer tube. I can do 100 rounds 9mm after loading primers in about five minutes.

I have four primer loading tubes so i usually load them all and use them all before reloading. Takes me maybe five minutes to load all four.

Going back to first statement, I’m using a 650 - a “progressive” press as compared to a “single stage”.

Edited to add:
Hmmm, reading other’s comments, I wonder if I’m underestimating the requured time. I’ll run a stopwatch next time i load and get a measured time.
 
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A shop nearby where I l’ve bought a few guns in the past I had lost faith in and won’t be returning. I don’t think fudd is the best way to describe the owner, but we certainly do not share a mutual understanding. Asked if he had small pistol primers. He offered to sell me only 100 because he wanted to stretch them out. WTF good would 100 do me? There were other things and this just isn’t the shop for me.
This is nothing new , even in good times most MA gun shops where awful at stocking anything in bulk or even willing to work with you on getting orders in.
40 plus years ago my dad was trekking north for ammo and reloading supplies,
Heck I got back into reloading because I grew tired of driving to 5 shops just to stock up on a few k rounds of 45 223 and 22lr

Now back when I drove to get reloading supplies
If I went south it was Heritage Coin in RI but its been years and with the cost of gas awful traffic I do mail order now.

Its rare I go into a gun shop and leave with less money than I walk in with. They just never seem to have what Im looking for
 
Depends upon what kind of press and if you include loading the primer tube. I can do 100 rounds 9mm after loading primers in about five minutes.

I have four primer loading tubes so i usually load them all and use them all before reloading. Takes me maybe five minutes to load all four.

Going back to first statement, I’m using a 650 - a “progressive” press as compared to a “single stage”.

Edited to add:
Hmmm, reading other’s comments, I wonder if I’m underestimating the requured time. I’ll run a stopwatch next time i load and get a measured time.

Starting out with a prepped press - 100 bullets in the tray, more than 100 cases in the casefeeder, more than 100 primers in the tube, powder in the cannister - it took me 6:27 to load 100 9mm bullets.

So, way less than 20 minutes.

However - that doesn't take into consideration the time needed to refill the various component feeders, which I usually do as I go along, (primers take longer than anything else), nor does it take into consideration that this is "raw ammo" - I guage check every round before they go into a box to be used. The guage checking doesn't take too long, I've got a 100 round guage for the 9mm, but it does take a couple minutes.
 
Me neither I do controlled and comfortable. That's their claim to fame and where the machines get their names. I think the harder and faster you push just makes plenty of room for error.

I agree 100 in twenty minutes is doable safely 300 in an hour. Better safe than sorry.
400 an hr is easy with straight walled pistol on a 550.

Then again at the time i also sorted headstamps as well.
This is nothing new , even in good times most MA gun shops where awful at stocking anything in bulk or even willing to work with you on getting orders in.
40 plus years ago my dad was trekking north for ammo and reloading supplies,
Heck I got back into reloading because I grew tired of driving to 5 shops just to stock up on a few k rounds of 45 223 and 22lr

Now back when I drove to get reloading supplies
If I went south it was Heritage Coin in RI but its been years and with the cost of gas awful traffic I do mail order now.

Its rare I go into a gun shop and leave with less money than I walk in with. They just never seem to have what Im looking for
Most of mass sucks with shops the sales tax doesn't help.... but there are still decent ones if you build relationships and bring a stack of cash instead of plastic.
 
It also assumes everything is perfect - no crimped in primes, perfectly conditioned brass, every bullet placed perfectly on the brass before pulling the handle, etc. The claimed speeds (DIllon once mentioned Rob Leatham doing something like 900 in an hour on a 1050) were likely achieved with new brass.

If you sort headstamps and cull problem brass it increases speed and kills problems. Eventually the amount of sorting i had to do dropped precipitously.... with some headstamps going to "just discard this crap at the match" status. 🤣
 
I can’t see rationing anything. Money talks bull poop walks.

Most shops dont, primers come in, they might ration 1000 per person till theyre gone, thats about it, just in the interest of avoiding the "so and so told me he bought all your primers now hes flipping them for 3x the cost" whine fest etc.... when the last shortage happened it hit so hard and fast it didnt matter much.
 
This is nothing new , even in good times most MA gun shops where awful at stocking anything in bulk or even willing to work with you on getting orders in.
40 plus years ago my dad was trekking north for ammo and reloading supplies,
Heck I got back into reloading because I grew tired of driving to 5 shops just to stock up on a few k rounds of 45 223 and 22lr

Now back when I drove to get reloading supplies
If I went south it was Heritage Coin in RI but its been years and with the cost of gas awful traffic I do mail order now.

Its rare I go into a gun shop and leave with less money than I walk in with. They just never seem to have what Im looking for
I've been in the same boat for a while. It's rare for any gun shop to have a gun I've had on my list in stock, they might have a similar model, but not the one I wanted. I stopped by my main one a few months ago after hunting season started to see what they had for percussion caps (not surprised they had none) but saw they had a Taurus Tracker .22 LR/Mag used for a fair price in matte blue, but the barrel was longer than I want and clearly Taurus does matte stainless way better than matte blue.

It was on consignment and I think it's getting close to the 60 or 90 day mark before he has to pay the shop a fee, so maybe I should call the store and tell them to ask the seller if he'd accept $75 less. That'd be money in his pocket from the sale vs no sale and $20 to the shop.

Anyway, when I picked up my .45 Hi Point (stop laughing) I didn't have any ACP on hand and didn't feel like loading any, so I asked what they had and they didn't have a single 50 rd box of .45 ACP, just 20 rd gimmick defense ammo.

Unless it's .22 or 9mm, I'm not even going to bother asking shops for ammo because they're not going to have it. All the handguns they've got are Heritage revolvers or poly strikers that I have enough of or overpriced Smiths and Ruger wheelguns.

The only use I have for gun shops now is for them to do transfers and consignment sales. That's it.
 
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