What's the best set up to get? New or used?

[Hefights]

The Rock Chucker is the gold standard for a heavy duty, long lasting basic, beginners or mainstay single stage. Mine has been going strong for years, and I still load several calibers on it.

Another press I have for high accuracy ammo is the Bonanza COAX, which has an advantage of excellent alignment of cases into the die, and some nice features.

[Sunray]

RCBS' warrantee covers used RCBS kit. Other manufacturers warrantees do not.
Do not buy ANYTHING on E-Bay. They fund the people who want to take your firearms away from you.

[Parashooter]

RCBS' warrantee covers used RCBS kit.

Not any more, unless you're the original purchaser. Here's the current info from RCBS -

Limited Lifetime Warranty

Reloading Press, Die, Manual Case Trimmer or Bullet Mould

Your reloading press, reloading die, manual case trimmer or bullet mould is warranted to be free from defects in material or workmanship for as long as the original owner owns it. This warranty is extended only to the original consumer purchaser. This warranty excludes any electrical components or products. All RCBS products are intended for non-commercial use by hobbyists. Any other use of these products will void the warranty. Should you believe that your reloading press, die, manual case trimmer or bullet mould is defective in material or workmanship, you must return the reloading press, reloading die, manual case trimmer or bullet mould to Ammunition Accessories Inc. through its Oroville operation (hereinafter "Oroville Operations") postage paid for evaluation. If defective, the product will be repaired or replaced at Oroville Operations' option, at no charge.

Send a dated proof of purchase to Oroville Operations along with the product information and reason for return to:

Ammunition Accessories Inc., Oroville Operations
605 Oro Dam Blvd
Oroville, California 95965

Warranty services cannot be provided without meeting the above requirements.

[Allen]

What can go wrong with a press, especially one that will not get a lot of use? If money is an object go with a used RCBS Rockchucker or even the Junior for 50-$100 and don't look back. It wouldn't be worth the postage to send back to the manufacturer if it did break at these prices. I have a Lee Anniversary and a larger Lee 50BMG press. They do the job but are made of aluminum and have a thin (steel) handle the flexes when used so I don't recommend these. There are other good presses on the market such as Lyman, Pacific, Hornady and etc.. but the RCBS seems to be the most plentiful to find if buying used. If you go with the Lee (which I wouldn't) buy only new. "O" frame is better than "C" frame for strength. If you don't want to buy off of ebay check Gun Broker.

If buying new Widener's and Midway have good prices.

[PhillipM]

Dillon, Dillon, Dillon. Lifetime no BS warranty no matter if you are the original owner or not. A 550B will suit all your needs and load great ammo. US Army Marksmanship unit uses Dillon, they found better consistency with it than the single stage.

I decided to load 50 45 ACP rounds on my old Rockchucker because I didn't want to break down one of my tool heads on the Dillon. It was torture!

Steps with single stage

1. deprime and size
2. prime the cases with my hand primer
3. flare the mouth
4. carefully charge cases with lee dipper and funnel on a loading block
5. seat the cast bullet
6. crimp the bullet

That was 200 pulls of the handle plus all the time fooling with a loading block and hand priming!

Steps with Dillon

1. Load primer tube
2. Set up powder measure
3. pull the handle 50 times

For rifle ammo, it's used semi progressively most of the time.

1. I size and deprime,
2. trim off press
3. tumble
4. Back on the Dillon, prime, charge, and seat!

I invested in some RCBS X-Dies for my 3006 and 223. After the initial trim, I do run rifle ammo fully progressive and then just tumble the live ammo a few minutes to get the lube off.

Some say it's a rewarding pastime to do it single stage and don't care how much time it takes. I would rather be shooting or spending time on CSP

[Allen]

Agree with Phillip on the Dillon if you have the money. Probably the best but most won't go for the extra cost.

Something else to consider when starting out is having a designated "wife free" climate controlled space to set up your bench. This isn't something you pack up or fold up every time you're finished. The bench probably needs to be at least 4' (bigger is better) because you'll need elbow room and space to set your loading tray, powder measure, scales and loose items. Presses are made sturdy for a reason, it takes stress to resize cases and bullets so your bench will need to be secure as well. It is best to attach the bench to the wall but this may not be doable if placed in your bedroom or such. At the least the bench should be heavy to counteract the pulling on the press. Some people set their benches up in their garage but care will be needed to oil and cover the press when not in use and keep your primers and powder inside and dry when finished.

[Jim in Salt Lake]

I bought a used Dillon 550 about 20 years ago. As Phillip said for warranty, they don't care who is the original owner. Dillon has replaced many parts on mine as they wore out, including a complete, new powder measure. What really made it a good deal were all the extra tool heads, powder dies, 8 caliber conversions, and other pieces included in the deal. All those extras made it seem like I got the press for free. You don't get all that with a new press.

[psteinmayer]

I use an old Lee Challenger (without even the locking collars) and I can do 50 rounds of .45 ACP in less than an hour. I'm not swimming in wealth, and I have no use for spending needlessly (such as an overpriced Dillon press). The ole Challenger has never failed me in 30+ years now...

Incidentally, why use a funnel in the loading block? Don't you use the powder-through expander? Flares the mouth and allows for the charge in one motion. Also, I threw my Lee dippers in the garbage. Charges can vary by as much as 1.5 grains with the dippers... and with a powder charge as small as you would use in a .45 ACP load, that can spell disaster! I ALWAYS weight my charges!

[Former Cav]

I loaded from 1979 to 1997 with a single stage Pacific/Hornady 007 press.

50 rounds of 45 in one hour vs 300 to 400 in one hour on the dillon!!!

I bought a dillon 550 back about 1997 and loaded about 100K rounds through it.
I brought it to dillon to have them rebuild it back around 2010 or so.
(I NOW live about 3 miles from them)
they called me 10 days later and said my press was in.
they GAVE me a NEW press with THREE of my old parts on it!!!! NO CHARGE.
Like Philip above said...
I've loaded rounds for NRA highpower for 200, 300, and 600 yards, and 800, 900, and 1000 yards for PALMA on my Dillon. They GO INTO the X ring for even this "crippled old phart"
I KNOW of some guys who go to Camp Perry annually and they use either the Dillon 550 or the 650. One of these guys shot 772 out of 800 and took FOURTH place!
If you buy one USED, they still give you the NO BS warranty.
I've spent the money as I shoot a lot for Caliber changes.
I can go from .308 to .45 ACP in about 2 minutes. Pull 2 pins, remove a rod clip, slide out the .308 tool head and slide in the 45 tool head, replace 2 pins and clip. DONE!!
If you mess around changing from one caliber to the next, you are wasting your time. It is just like changed calibers over on a single stage press, a pain in the very lower extremities.
the longest tool change for me is where I have to change the shell holder and primer tube, like if I went from .308 to .223 or .308 to .357, etc.
but this is doable in 5 minutes. Pull 2 pins, remove rod clip. unscrew one screw to loosen and replace shell holder, put different diameter pins in shell holder, (drop 3 of them in the hole), tighten one screw. unscrew two 10-24 SOC HD CAp Screws and remove and replace primer tube from large to small or visa versa.
tighten two cap screws, slide in tool head, put 2 pins back in and rod clip. DONE.!
I load 38, 357, 41 mag, 44 spc & 44 mag, 45 acp. 223, 243, 308, 6.5 x .284. It is WORTH the dough!!

[psteinmayer]

I guess I'd understand the need for loading 300 to 400 rounds in an hour if I actually shot that much... but I just don't. To me, that's just too much money to throw down range (and money is extremely tight for me). My single stage is plenty for the 200 rounds of various pistol I shoot every couple months, and 200 rounds of various rifle I shoot in competitions every month.