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What is a reloading press?
When you start reloading, a reloading press will be the first thing to buy to actually be able to call yourself a bonafide reloader. It’s the base around which all your reloading activities will gravitate. A lot of the reloading actions will require quite a bit of force that you just can’t do by hand. The ammo reloader, as the reloading press is often named, will let you handle these activities, requiring little force of your own, while exerting great force where needed.
An example? Well, take sizing a case. A spent case is disformed a bit because of the explosion that has taken place inside. It has expanded a bit, getting stretched in both width and length. A die will press the case back to its original sizing and as you can understand, you really can’t do that by hand. A reloading press, with its leverage, will be a very welcome and very necessary tool.
What does a reloading press do?
So, there are two types of reloading presses: single stage and progressive (multi stage) reloading presses. Sometimes people talk about a bullet reloader or a pistol reloader, but they’re all different words for the same thing; the reloading press. What’s different for pistol cartridges and rifle cartridges, are the dies you use in the press, that’s it.
A single stage reloading press will take one shell holder, a little plate into which a case with a certain calibre can be clamped. This will enable you to work on this case with different dies and tools that you can mount onto the press. You will decap the case, size it, press a new primer into place, fill the case with powder and seat the bullet.
In a progressive reloading press, a shell plate is placed, a rotating disk that will hold multiple cases with a certain calibre. This will enable you to perform multiple actions in one go, you just need to rotate the shell plate one step after every time you pull down the lever. Progressive reloading presses can be bought in different guises. Ranging from a simple one with five or seven stations up to automated reloading presses with ten stations, where cases, primers and bullets will automatically be loaded into the system and where spent primers and finished cartridges can be collected automatically too. Needless to say a reloading press of the latter kind, will take up quite some space.
Buying a reloading press
In our store, we’ve got lots of different reloading presses for sale. They’re from the best brands, so you don’t need to worry about quality. You only need to make a choice, which is: if you want a single stage or a progressive reloading press. Do you shoot a lot, like semi-automatic with a pistol, then we strongly recommend a progressive reloading press to save you a considerable amount of time. However, if you don’t spend a lot of cartridges, like with a bolt-action rifle, a single stage reloading press will often do just fine and save you a bit of space too.
Please do note to make certain the reloading press you plan on buying, is actually suitable for the calibres that you use. If you’re in any doubt, please contact our experts in the store or contact our customer service. They’ll be glad to help you find the best reloading press for your needs.