Reloading speed

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Since the question comes up every now and again, I thought I might time myself.

I use a single stage press and admittedly, a bench primer. I also utilize 5 Gallon buckets with lids, don't forget the lids, on smaller projects.
Recently, I decided to load some 9MM for my sister. In 80 round batches over the course of several weeks, I timed myself. This was not a speed run kind of thing, just every couple of days, loading 80 rounds. Minus tumbling, start to finish, including small breaks for whatever reason, it took on average 39 minutes a batch. This was from the time I looked at the clock, 4 die changeouts to recording the time. With no rush this is right on 120 rounds an hour. Rifle cases, if not requiring huge trimming and again minus the tumbling, load at about the same rate as there are only 2 die changes.
 
Since the question comes up every now and again, I thought I might time myself.

I use a single stage press and admittedly, a bench primer. I also utilize 5 Gallon buckets with lids, don't forget the lids, on smaller projects.
Recently, I decided to load some 9MM for my sister. In 80 round batches over the course of several weeks, I timed myself. This was not a speed run kind of thing, just every couple of days, loading 80 rounds. Minus tumbling, start to finish, including small breaks for whatever reason, it took on average 39 minutes a batch. This was from the time I looked at the clock, 4 die changeouts to recording the time. With no rush this is right on 120 rounds an hour. Rifle cases, if not requiring huge trimming and again minus the tumbling, load at about the same rate as there are only 2 die changes.

I basically have timed myself for loading on the sinlge stage. I have since changed my ways of reloading.
Rather than try to load as much as possilbe in the least amount of time I just schedule time to reload.
I will go on weekend binges for cleaning and sorting and go from 10pm to mid night and do as much as possilbe fri,sat night... Then resize and trim if needed the next weekend, I then will just spend 1.5 hrs every other night loading for 2 weeks. I usually load up enough to last me a seasons worth of shooting.

Although recently I decided to buy a lee pro 1000 to load up all the 223 plinking ammo 55 gn fmj and surplus powder and random cases ..... 3600 rounds ready for plinking... at the amount i shoot lately this could be 4 years of plinking...did the same with 30 carbine and 9mm I was moving along nice and smooth and getting 200 rounds a hour out of the pro 1000
now i will set it up for 45 acp and finally load up all those free hornady bullets from the press and die promotions..
 
After decades of loading rifle on a single stage press I just started loading 9mm. A single stage is WAY too slow for the amount of 9mm I can shoot so I looked into faster presses. Here's what I learned:

Progressive Presses: really fast, but expensive and tweaky to set-up. Only get one if you are loading like 500/wk.

Turret Presses: Simple to set-up and not much to go wrong. You can easily load 150/hr with it, and 250/hr if you get into a rhythm. I just got the Lee Classic. Not a high-end one, but I don't think I need anything better for what I have planned(9mm & .45). Haven't got it all out of the box yet, but I can tell I'll be able to fly through the rounds with it compared to loading with a single stage. This press may be a little wimpy for .308(or not?) but could easily crank out a lot of .223 too. It's also got some plastic parts that I can tell won't last 10 years, but for the price it's really hard to beat.
 
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After decades of loading rifle on a single stage press I just started loading 9mm. A single stage is WAY too slow for the amount of 9mm I can shoot so I looked into faster presses. Here's what I learned:

Progressive Presses: really fast, but expensive and tweaky to set-up. Only get one if you are loading like 500/wk.

Turret Presses: Simple to set-up and not much to go wrong. You can easily load 150/hr with it, and 250/hr if you get into a rhythm. I just got the Lee Classic. Not a high-end one, but I don't think I need anything better for what I have planned(9mm & .45). Haven't got it all out of the box yet, but I can tell I'll be able to fly through the rounds with it compared to loading with a single stage. This press may be a little wimpy for .308(or not?) but could easily crank out a lot of .223 too. It's also got some plastic parts that I can tell won't last 10 years, but for the price it's really hard to beat.

if you run the press smoothly and dont force anything you will be surprised how long some of those plastic parts hold up
 
After decades of loading rifle on a single stage press I just started loading 9mm. A single stage is WAY too slow for the amount of 9mm I can shoot so I looked into faster presses. Here's what I learned:

Progressive Presses: really fast, but expensive and tweaky to set-up. Only get one if you are loading like 500/wk.

Turret Presses: Simple to set-up and not much to go wrong. You can easily load 150/hr with it, and 250/hr if you get into a rhythm. I just got the Lee Classic. Not a high-end one, but I don't think I need anything better for what I have planned(9mm & .45). Haven't got it all out of the box yet, but I can tell I'll be able to fly through the rounds with it compared to loading with a single stage. This press may be a little wimpy for .308(or not?) but could easily crank out a lot of .223 too. It's also got some plastic parts that I can tell won't last 10 years, but for the price it's really hard to beat.


While there can be issues with progressive setups.i took my dillon setup 9mm 1050 mounted it on an autodrive and it made usable ammo out of the box at1200rds per hour...my rifle 1050 press not so much, it arrived damaged.. but it didnt take much to get it worked out.

while expensive initially if you shoot alot the equipment pays for itself very quickly.

For rifle It'll never be as accurate/consistent as hand loading though
 
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I made 5000rds of pistol ammo this weekend on my XL650, and I'd say once you factor in the time required to fill up primer tubes, the casefeeder and the bullet tray, as well as emptying the completed bin and clearing any jams or hangups, realistic output is around 700rds/hr.

If you pre-filled like 10 primer tubes and ran into no issues you could bump that up. 100 in 6 minutes is easy -- 1000 in 60min is not.
 
Multiple primer tubes are great, if you have the vibratory primer tube filler it sure helps....then you can also fill your primer tubes via a cut down primertube end to use as a funnel.

i run the clutch on the case feeder very tight and overfill it, holds a ton.
I really run the clutch extremely tight on casefeeders that handle wet brass.


Thormx538, good for you thats good speed out of a 650 and i love seeing people doing bulk runs like that.
It sure is nice being able to crank out ammo it makes the shooting so much better.
 
It takes me about an hour and 15 min to casually load 500 rounds of pistol ammo on my Dillon RL550. I say casually because I don't "rush" and use a digital scale to check powder weight approximately every 20-25 rounds or so.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I don't focus on speed, more the efficiency of the round i am loading. I do spend the $ on all the devices i can to reduce effort. The 1050 and 650 with a bullet feeder and auto primer filler, looking 1,000 hr for normal Pistol with normal stoppages. 1 moa 556 plinking rifle ammo is slower as for the 2 steps , but you are running at the same rate, just 2 sessions.

Single stage for precision rifle, auto primer filler, bench mounted primer, initial 90% powder thrown from standard powder measure, reduces time, then rcbs powder auto measure does the last few grains. Single stage has an auto ejector into a bin, so round is handled once. Customized powder funnels. Even at single stage I still move along for match grade ammo.

Just be efficient, it will lead to speed, just going fast will lead to errors.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk
 
My single stage days I could load 100 rds an hour by doing each step in batches. My 650 I can load 100 rds of pistol ammo in 15 min on average.
 
After decades of loading rifle on a single stage press I just started loading 9mm. A single stage is WAY too slow for the amount of 9mm I can shoot so I looked into faster presses. Here's what I learned:

Progressive Presses: really fast, but expensive and tweaky to set-up. Only get one if you are loading like 500/wk.

Turret Presses: Simple to set-up and not much to go wrong. You can easily load 150/hr with it, and 250/hr if you get into a rhythm. I just got the Lee Classic. Not a high-end one, but I don't think I need anything better for what I have planned(9mm & .45). Haven't got it all out of the box yet, but I can tell I'll be able to fly through the rounds with it compared to loading with a single stage. This press may be a little wimpy for .308(or not?) but could easily crank out a lot of .223 too. It's also got some plastic parts that I can tell won't last 10 years, but for the price it's really hard to beat.

Once I'm set up on my turret press I can kick out about 200/hr. Which suits my needs just fine.
 
if you run the press smoothly and dont force anything you will be surprised how long some of those plastic parts hold up

If there's anyone who's figured out how to make stuff out of plastic that works, its Lee. (and Glock)
 
I made 5000rds of pistol ammo this weekend on my XL650, and I'd say once you factor in the time required to fill up primer tubes, the casefeeder and the bullet tray, as well as emptying the completed bin and clearing any jams or hangups, realistic output is around 700rds/hr.

If you pre-filled like 10 primer tubes and ran into no issues you could bump that up. 100 in 6 minutes is easy -- 1000 in 60min is not.

This sums it up for my setup also.

For me, rifle ammo requires two passes through the press and a trim in between, so that drops considerably.
 
Question for you old time pistol reloaders. How fussy are you about checking and trimming case lengths?

I always check/trim new brass. After that when I pick up my 9mm brass at the range I always get some other brass mixed in. I kind of feel like I should check ALL of it just to make sure a long one didn't get mixed in, but that slows the process quite a bit.
 
Question for you old time pistol reloaders. How fussy are you about checking and trimming case lengths?

I always check/trim new brass. After that when I pick up my 9mm brass at the range I always get some other brass mixed in. I kind of feel like I should check ALL of it just to make sure a long one didn't get mixed in, but that slows the process quite a bit.

I've never checked pistol brass before - well excluding 7.62x25 tokarev brass since it's a bottleneck case. But for rifle I always check.
 
The trim length possibly matters if you are going to roll crimp the thing, since you get different amounts of material rolling into the bullet. However I have never trimmed a piece of pistol brass and results seem fine.
 
I've never checked pistol brass before - well excluding 7.62x25 tokarev brass since it's a bottleneck case. But for rifle I always check.

The trim length possibly matters if you are going to roll crimp the thing, since you get different amounts of material rolling into the bullet. However I have never trimmed a piece of pistol brass and results seem fine.
Great to know. Thanks!

I'm loading coated bullets and doing just enough crimp to take out the flair. I'm loading coated bullets with a seating/crimping die and any real crimp causes the coating to pile up in front of the case mouth.
 
I just got the Lee Classic.

Great choice on the press. I can't vouch for the kit though. Make sure you use Lee dies for 9mm (otherwise getting that powder measure to work will be a big project). Since you'll be loading coated bullets, get the 4-die set and seat and crimp with separate dies.

BTW, it's plenty strong enough for .308.
 
Question for you old time pistol reloaders. How fussy are you about checking and trimming case lengths?
i've never checked length or trimmed pistol cases. i don't feel the need just making ammo to bang away on the range. is it right, wrong or indifferent? don't know, works for me.
 
Since you'll be loading coated bullets, get the 4-die set and seat and crimp with separate dies.
I guess I'm learning the hard way. I was going to use my RCBS 3 die set, then realized how the powder measure works and bought the Lee "powder through" expander die. Right now with the RCBS seating/crimp die it's set so it only takes out the flare. Coating doesn't pile up in front of the mouth, but there's no real crimp. Since this is for a snappy little LC9s I think I had better have a crimp. Oh well, by the time I add a separate crimp die I'm almost up to the cost of a 4 die set.[rolleyes] Should'a done more reading first[laugh]
 
I think I had better have a crimp.

No. You're applying the right amount of crimp now. On a rimless case like 9mm, .45 ACP, .40 S&W, etc, the crimp does NOT help to hold the bullet. The case tension around the bullet does that. All the crimp needs to do is flatten out the flare so that the round will chamber.

As long as you don't have coating piling up at the edge of the case mouth, you're fine with the dies you have. For now...

Here's what can happen though:

Each time you reload your cases, they get a bit shorter. In time, you'll probably find yourself adjusting the expander die a little deeper (to keep put the same amount of bell on a shorter case), and lowering the crimping shoulder in order to apply the necessary crimp to the now-shorter cases. Then, when you inevitably get a longer case mixed in, it'll load OK, but you'll end up applying more crimp than usual, which can cause the coating to pile up at the case mouth because you'll be crimping while the bullet is still being seated.

You might want to get a separate crimp die, and use your RCBS seat/crimp die just to seat.
 
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It takes me about an hour and 15 min to casually load 500 rounds of pistol ammo on my Dillon RL550. I say casually because I don't "rush" and use a digital scale to check powder weight approximately every 20-25 rounds or so.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wow, I must the the slowest reloader on here. Between 5 primer tube full ups and 20 times (by your numbers) that I have to stop the process, weigh the powder and then get back to a rythem, there isn't a hope in hell I can produce 500 rounds in a hour and 15. Even moving fast I seem to be at the 300 per hour with much less powder weight validation on my 550.
 
You had me confused with the title.

I always thought this was the fastest reloader...............

 
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