Low-cost, high speed handloading for handguns

by John Robinson
Australian Shooter October 2004

Reloading ammunition for target pistols is a necessity as the cost of shooting factory-loaded centrefire ammunition is not affordable for most pistol shooters.

Once the novelty of reloading wears off, the need to load as many rounds as possible in as little time as possible becomes more important. Pistol shooters are now prepared to pay for reloading equipment that can provide higher productivity as the 21st century provides us with more money and less time to spend it.

There are many types of loading tools available, from the simplest Lee hand tools to fully automated reloading equipment that can only be justified for commercial production.

Semi-progressive presses are now available for less than $1000 that can load 400 rounds per hour or more, but these may be beyond the budget of many shooters, or simply be too productive for practical gain.

There is a middle ground with less expensive reloading tools that have good flexibility and productivity, which will meet the needs of 90 per cent of pistol shooters.

All reloading procedures consist of decapping, sizing, forming, seating and crimping in separate steps. Single stage presses do this one operation at a time while high performance presses do all operations simultaneously.

The intermediate solution can be found with a manual turret press. A turret press allows each of these processes to be done in sequence without removing the case from the shell-holder, provided there is a facility on the press to prime the cases.

With a turret press, fitted with a simple manual primer feeder and a powder thrower on the turret, it is quite easy to load more than 200 rounds per hour. These presses can be set up quickly for a calibre change, requiring only that the shell-holder be changed, the new dies screwed in and the powder thrower adjusted and you are back in business.

This set-up is also very safe, as each stage of the loading cycle is visible and inspectable, and each cartridge is loaded progressively, one step at a time. I have loaded tens of thousands of rounds of ammo on a press of this type and have never had a dud or overcharged round.

Some organisational steps make higher production rates possible with a turret press set-up. These include having all your empty cases close at your right hand, along with a lube pad (unless you use carbide dies), with the projectile supply close by on the left.

Each loaded cartridge should be dropped straight into its ammo box. I use 50 or 100 capacity plastic storage boxes and move them out of the way when full. If the loaded cartridges are dropped into a bulk container, and then boxed, it simply adds to the handling and the time.

I have used a Redding Number 25 turret press for more than 25 years and while it lacks the leverage of some of the bigger O-Frame presses, it is fine for most handgun handloading operations. Simplex also makes an excellent locally-made Master series press, along with powder thrower and dies to suit, and can also be highly recommended.

So, for about half the cost of a progressive press, one of these turret presses will load ’em faster than you can shoot ’em, in most cases.