How fast can you reload?

laisterr

I want to get into reloading, and was wondering how many rounds everyone here can produce in a certain timeframe using a progessive press? Was thinking of 9mm or .45ACP

Tailgunner1954

Speed costs money, how fast do you want to go?
Camdex has some fairly rapid reloading equipment IE 4,400 rounds/hour and packaging equip that puts 10K rounds/hour into there boxes. http://www.camdexloader.com/products.htm If that's not fast enough, there are used comericial ammo production lines for sale[:o)]

As your starting out, don't worry about the quantity of ammo loaded, concentrate on the quality of the ammo loaded.

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Some guys like a mag full of lead, I still prefer one round to the head.

1911a1-fan

100 rounds {.45} in 11 minutes safely in my Dillon 550, that's getting a visual on all powder charges, but i usually take a bit more time

richbug

I run 5-600 per hour on my lee loadmaster checking each powder charge visually, inserting bullets and cases by hand. It could go faster, but would start spilling powder all over when indexing.

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bobski

never could understand progressive loading. loading was suppose to be a pastime event. a study of sorts, instead, its turned into get it done fast and gee, i dont know what i did, but i did it.
if all you want to do is burn up ammo making bang noise at the range, the estimates posted are accurate. if you want to be safe and learn as you go, the 100 in 11 minutes is a good time.
single staging them all? one hour for 100.

former air operations officer SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 2. former navy skeet team, former navy rifle/pistol team member. co-owner skeetmaster tubes inc.. owner/operator professional shooting instruction. NRA certified instructor.

ContacFront

400 to 500 per hour via Lee Pro 1000 in 45ACP.

Grunt2

About 50 rounds of 45ACP in 4-5 min. with a well worn C&H...

"No arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.
- Ronald Reagan

Colonel Plink

I think there's a big difference between handloading and reloading. I hand load. Since I don't compete, I don't burn ammo at that great a rate. When I load, I do it on an old RCBS single stage. I can load a hundred pistol or about fifty rifle in an hour. That's if I've already done some case prep.
Now if you DO compete, this will be a frustratingly slow process, and I"d recommend getting a whiz-bang speed-record-setting progressive press and buy powder by the keg.

But if you're just getting started, buy some used reloading manuals, READ THEM, and get a single stage press.
Thanks for letting me give my opinion.

"When the going gets weird, the Weird turn pro"
Hunter S. Thompson"

sandwarrior

Start to finish I can load 50 rds. on a rockchucker press in just under an hour. I can do 100 in about one hour ten minutes. So it depends on hour you are set up and what you load with. If you put a lot of rounds downrange a progressive is the way to go. But, you still need to follow the basic safety procedures so you don't make a mistake and seriously damage something...namely you. Never get so into bulk you get disorganized and forget safety. Stay organized and stay with your safety procedures. Do your pre- and post inspections of the rounds at each step. -good luck

We have the second amendment so that all the rest are secure....UNK>

dennis47_1

I have a Dillon 550B and I reload all my pistol rounds on the Dillon because the powder drop on my Dillon will drop to the grain. I generally check every tenth round on a Lyman electronic scale and as I indicated the weights check to the grain. At moderate speed, I can load, about 350 rounds an hour. But all my rifle round I use a Lyman T-Mag which is basically a single stage press. I do all the prep work, resize the case, decap, trim, re-prime, then I weight each charge using the electronic scale, then press the bullet in place. I guess I can reload about 50 rounds a night of reloading (about 3hrs), what I like about reloading rifles is to see how accurate I can make them.[^]

Warbirds

I have progressive presses but I try not to see how fast I can reload, I prefer quality over quanity, but with 12 gauge shells I can do several hundred an hour easily, and with handgun ammo probably closer to 400 an hour. I'm there to relax not to rush though so I don't really keep track.

R/

Dave

People everywhere confuse what they read in newspapers with news.

-- A. J. Liebling

1911a1-fan

quote:never could understand progressive loading. loading was suppose to be a pastime event. a study of sorts, instead, its turned into get it done fast and gee, i dont know what i did, but i did it.
if all you want to do is burn up ammo making bang noise at the range, the estimates posted are accurate. if you want to be safe and learn as you go, the 100 in 11 minutes is a good time.
single staging them all? one hour for 100.

bobski, i shoot 500 a week in practice, then extra for competitions, typically take around 15-20 minutes per 100, making sure every round is correct, then case gauge every round, if i had a single stage i would spend every waking hour loading, therefor i would not be able to keep up my practice

perry shooter

Hello BOBSKI I agree with 1911A1 fan in some ways but you do have a point allways go for quality over speed. As far as reloading as a past-time [xx(][xx(][xx(] I load 400 an hour of match grade on my 50 year old STARS .When I loaded on a single station press I would cut my practice short because I knew how much time it would take for me to replace each round I shot.If you ever use a star you will never go back to anything else.If you shoot alot cost of ammo is a big item and then reloading becomes a must for most of us . If you shoot normal amount then you are trying to get the best load possible with pistols IMHO I load on star and have also tried to load and treat it like bench-rest loading "trimming cases sizeing flash holes weighing cases ETC" out of my pistols and ransom rest nothing I do on a single station press beats those loaded on my star.

Paul Campbell

I could load 50 rounds of 38WC in 15 min., using Dillon 550B

superblast

I use the Dillion 550 too and can load 150 rounds ease in less than an hour.Thats checking every 10th round to make sure powder charge in running at what I set at. Could do more but like to have fun doing it.It's better to be safe than sorry when loading. Most guys have 50 to 100 rounds and no need to speed load..

jasonjennings

I use a rock chucker and can resize, trim, clean the primer pocket, re-prime, measure powder and press bullets at the rate of about 100 per 90 minutes. Don't rush, yuo will be more consistent is everything is as close to the same as possible. good luck!

GUNFUNCO

I can usually reload rounds a lot quicker than I can reach into my wallet to pay for factory loaded rounds.[8D]