I have an RCBS Pro2000!!!! I would say let that go!!!! It is not a bad press per say; but it is kinda difficult to set up if you do not use it very often.

Go with the other ones out there i would love a Hornady progressive! However my 2K was birthday present from my dad about four or so years ago.

Going ot get it out of the burned up house this weekend and moved into my garage here at the apartment along with my 20 year old 007 Hornady single stage that I can do anything with.

I haven't loaded any bottlenecked cartridges on the progressive yet. I was sort of planning to resize and decap on the single stage then tumble to clean. Then I would prime, charge and seat on the progressive.

stovepipe wrote:

Hey Chambered, what kind of divot tumbles completed cartridges? Sounds like a great way to blow something up, during and after the process.

The kind that wants really shiny cases when they're done !!!

stovepipe wrote:

I've heard some go really nuts and actually match/machine the pocket floor depth and stuff. And, match the primer flash hole too- that makes sense though

I clean my primer pockets on my rifle cartridges before re-loading.......... I just happen to have Sinclair primer pocket uniforming tools to do it with.

chambered221 wrote:

The kind that wants really shiny exploding cases when they're done !!!

Fixed.

Pumpkinslinger wrote:

I haven't loaded any bottlenecked cartridges on the progressive yet. I was sort of planning to resize and decap on the single stage then tumble to clean. Then I would prime, charge and seat on the progressive.

Thats what I was figuring on doing. Even when I use One shot I still tumble them .

Joe

Have Dillon SDB that I load 10mm,40S&W on. I have a Dillon 550B that I load 223rem, 243win, 30/06, 25/06, 22hornet, 41 mag, 44mag, 50ae, 7mm mag, 22PPC, 308Win, 45acp, 45-70 (smokeless only), 444 Marlin.
I also have a LEE CCT that I use in the semi proggresive manner to load 22 KHornet & 357 mag.
My BPCR cartridges, 45-70,45-90,50-70. are loaded on a old Lyman Spartan press.
For loading ALOT of ammo in a short time they are great! they are also capabal of loading VERY accurate ammo, My 223 ammo with 40 grain hornady Vmax bullets regularly shoots .5" @100yds. the 550B is also a good press to work up loads with, The shell plate moves only when YOU move it, the Dillon powder measures are very VERY consistant.
Would not trade my Dillon progressives for anything..............other than a 2010 Dodge Challenger SRT8 Hemi.
I use Dillon case lube, I put my cases in a large zippy bag, spritz 2 or 3 times in the bag of cases, swirl them around in the bag to coat them then dump them into a old clean cookie sheet to dry and load! once done loading, I simply wipe them down with a few paper towels while boxing them up.

stovepipe wrote:

Hey Chambered, what kind of divot tumbles completed cartridges? Sounds like a great way to blow something up, during and after the process.

I hove post tumbled thousand of loaded rounds in my day. I'm actually more worried about my tumbler motor burning up and starting a fire than any type of blow up from a primer hit. I just don't see that happening. You only need to tumble for 15 minutes max to get lube off. I clean the cases as soon as I get home from the shooting range because I want them clean before running them thru the dies. Look at the primer hit that takes place on and AR during normal cycling and they still don’t go bang unless you’re using Federal primers. I’ve never seen any dimples left on my primers from a post loading tumble.

I have some more progressive loading tips. Precheck your cases for length and separation. I don't worry about case length loading straight wall cases, just bottle neck cases. Take some cases that are shot and not resized. Measure a sample lot for length and then run this sample thru your size die and re-measure. You will see that they are now a little longer. How much will depend upon your rifle’s chamber size and your size die. Get an idea for how much they grow after resizing. Now you can determine how long is too long prior to resizing. Say the cases grow .004 after resizing and your working with 5.56 with a max length of 1.760 and a trim to length of 1.750. If they grow .004 after sizing, you will need to trim any case that is over1.756. Also you will need to trim to 1.746 if done before resizing. Any batch of cases that are shot over 3 times are always checked for incipient case separation before loading. This is especially true for loading for semi autos.

I have some loads that work great run thru a Dillon as a single process. All of my pistol loads and some of my rifle loads. It just depends how finicky they are. I use Dan Newberry’s theory of optimal charge weight OCW to find stick loads that are not finicky so they do run thru a progressive while maintaining accuracy. Ball and flake powders naturally drop very even. The issue of a load being finicky is always a load issue. It can also be the gun.

This has been a great thread with many people with varied experience/equipment.

I don't think there is any concern about a round going off due to a primer strike in a tumbler. The concern is that tumbling loaded rounds may damage the powder or powder coating, resulting in problems when fired.

Pumpkinslinger wrote:

I don't think there is any concern about a round going off due to a primer strike in a tumbler. The concern is that tumbling loaded rounds may damage the powder or powder coating, resulting in problems when fired.

This is the real concern when tumbling loaded rounds. I wish I could lay hands on the article concerning this issue that I read several years ago, but it did an extensive job of comparing different powders' characteristics before and after tumbling. Damage was found in each case ranging from degradation of performance (powder burn rate became inefficient and pressures dropped off as the powder was broken down by the process) to burn rates speeding up (due to coating loss as Pumpkinslinger suggests) which caused some loads to become up to 15% hotter, depending on the powders. It just isn't a good idea no matter which way it goes.

Extensive tests have been conducted by people on THR and have found NO DIFFERENCE between untumbled and tumbled loaded rounds. One test was an "over night" tumbling. No change.

The tests used various tumblers including drum and vibrator types. Tested over a chronograph. Velocities did not differ from non tumbled and tumbled rounds. The purpose of the coating on the granuals is to retard or control burn rate and to protect the granuals from abuse such as rolling around in the floor boards of a pickup or bouncing around in the glove box or manufacturers rough handling, shipment other careless handling.

Keep in mind that people that load rifle and lead for handgun usually tumble their loaded rounds to remove the lube with no ill effects.

I guess until we hear from a major powder manufacturer that tumbling their powders in completed cartridges is a good idea, everyone is pretty much on their own.

I think I read the same article SSL is talking about !!!

Bushy, what is "THR"?

www.thehighroad.org

A large collection of know-it-alls, don't-know-it-alls, those-that-want-to-know...And thoes-that-think-they-know-it-all....

"experts", "non-experts", "beginners" and "story tellers"...

You DO know what an "expert" is don't you?

He's a drip now...