Need Advice on Presses

[Harry]

I realize this is subjective. I'll be reloading 338 Lapoa's, 300grs. I have an old 50's vintage Lyman EZ-Loader that I load 30-30, 30-06, 38sp and 357's and 40 S&W's. It does these fine, but I don't think it will do the 338, even if I could get the adapters.
I don't need a multi stage, just something like a rock chucker or similar that can handle the 338 Lapoa cases. Anybody chime in with opinions...

Thanks,

Harry

[versifier]

You just said it: a Rock Chucker. Any similar heavy "O" frame single stage press from any of the major makers will do what you need, though, I'm just partial to RCBS presses.

[Xringshooter]

The Rock Crusher, the Lyman Crusher II and others would do the job. You could even go to a Dillon Progressive if you want to. The RL550 will handle the .338 Lapua without any problems.

[Huntercro]

Try LEE breech lock classic cast press which is enough for 50 bmg

[noylj]

I would look at Hornady L-N-L classic with the die bushings.
If not that, then a Lee Classic Turret and you remove the auto-indexing.
Or, you can buy Dillon's .50BMG progressive press.
I think Hornady has an adaptor so you can use their bushings on the RockChucker.
If it is big enough, then there is no finer single-stage press than the Forster Co-Ax.

[versifier]

The thing about the whole LnL idea that I don't like most is that I have over 40 different die sets. I am not about to buy adapters for all of them. Neither am I too lazy to screw dies in and out of my turret or ss press. If time is that precious, then one should find another hobby: a hurried loader is an accident waiting to happen. There are always new gimmiks they are trying to sell you. Most of them don't last very long on the market.

Forsters are great presses, but it is the operator not the tool that determines the quality of the ammunition produced. Most production rifles are not accurate enough to benefit from and most handloaders are not skilled enough (maybe in too much of a hurry) to produce super accurate ammo. Records have been set with little Lee Loaders.

But all he wants is a decent single stage so he can retire an ancient and likely well worn model with one that takes standard dies. Not everyone is thrilled by turrets and progressives, and the plain truth is that most of us really don't need them for the amount of shooting and loading that we actually do. A lot of folks get easily sucked in by advertising claims and buy a lot more press than they need.

Am I a conservative in my loading practices? Yes, of course I am. It took me over thirty years to need enough ammo (1000+ rounds/month testing cast bullets and loads) to move up to a turret, and as I don't shoot in competition I will never need a progressive, though they are interesting machines and do serve a real need for some shooters. I teach reloading and will only start students on single stage presses. Peroid. Learn the basics, forget the gimmiks, be safe, live long, and pass on what you've learned to the next generation. The simpler your routine, the less chance of a mistake, and as we only get ONE big mistake reloading, it's better to keep things as simple as we can and NOT to make it in the first place. :wink:

[Tom W.]

And the Other Green company, Redding, and their Big Boss press is good, too. My son has one and it's nice, altho I prefer RCBS...