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Small Reloading Press Recommend

Grego13

Hello Gents,

I will be hand loading .41 magnum for the foreseeable future. No other caliber. I have a limited amount of space. I am looking at smaller presses. In no particular order: Sinclair benchrest press, Harrell's turret press, Buchanan hand press. Any others you would recommend.

This is my first experience with hand loading, and I want to build the most accurate round possible. Would appreciate your input. Thank'ee.
 
I think I would go with the Harrells Turret. I have not used one but it looks like a good place to set and leave your dies. I would just cover it between uses if it were mine.

Regards
Rick
 
I find that a O press is more comfortable to operate than a C press, being right handed my left thumb develops s bit of tendentious
 
A simple Lee turret will do the job on a budget, if you want better fit and finish the Harrel turret is a very nice press
 
The .41 Magnum is a pistol cartridge. You will need to decap, resize, prime, throw powder, seat bullets, (maybe) crimp. You won't need a lot of leverage. If you can fit a turret press you can hold all the dies conveniently. The Lyman turret was a great deal last week, but you can shop around. The Harrell's turret would be excellent too!

weekdeal19sept23lyman.jpg


I preferred pistol reloading on a turret before I switched to a progressive

If you want to go small, real small I recommend the Lyman C-Press, or or RCBS Partner press. The Lyman is very strong for a small open front press. ON sale right now at midsouth.

015-7726500.jpg


https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item/000157726500/brass-smith-ideal-c-frame-press
 
If small and budget are your main concerns, then any of the main companies open face or small O type will serve you very well for years. However with just a small amount of added space, a good RCBS Rock chucker would be better and last a lifetime.
 
Thanks for all the valuable inf and forum leads Gents.
I did some research prior to the post. Wilson is very good, but does not have dies for 41 mag. However, they have two very good case measuring gauges. The Harrell turret looks very good. Redding has a micrometer bullet seating die that should help with accuracy. They also have a micrometer crimp die, but not for 41 mag. i'll call them.
Presently plan to prime by hand with Sinclair primer seater, use a Harrell powder measure. Haven't selected a die set yet. Thanks again for your help.
 
Accuracy standards for pistols seem quite different to rifle standards.

I think any good press will get you there.

Reloading does take some space and a lot of people run multiple presses. A turret press or a quick change die setup like Hornady Lock-N-Load or Lee Breach Lock can let you get away with one press but eventually you might want to segregate different reloading tasks to different presses.

In terms of size, the differences aren't big. Some people choose by the size of the biggest cartridge they are likely to reload. A Lee Classic Cast will load .50 BMG but it's only a bit more bulky than the smaller O type presses, probably less bulky than most turret presses.

In my opinion it's better to err on the side of big because you get more rigid, bigger bearing surfaces, possibly more leverage, etc.

Look at the Lee 90932, it's about $90, at has a four hole turret so you can set up a four die set and leave it. It has auto index so you can do semi progressive loading if you want to try to make the process faster. The thing that I think is probably best is that the bars are set up so they are on either side of the press ram, like an "O" press, that should make the press bend less than a "C" type or a turret like the Lyman above (but the big casting on that style turret press might make that bend minimal).

A friend of mine only buys a press if he can get his hands on it first. He was telling me he looked at one of the new Lyman "O" type presses and said the slop in the ram bushing was too much brand new.

Another friend of mine ordered a Lee Classic Cast and the ram is nice and tight on that.

It's not a big enough sample size to say anything but you don't want slop in the ram and you want the ram concentric to the die threads (harder to do with a turret).
 
Forum Boss said:
The .41 Magnum is a pistol cartridge. You will need to decap, resize, prime, throw powder, seat bullets, (maybe) crimp. You won't need a lot of leverage. If you can fit a turret press you can hold all the dies conveniently. The Lyman turret was a great deal last week, but you can shop around. The Harrell's turret would be excellent too!

weekdeal19sept23lyman.jpg


I preferred pistol reloading on a turret before I switched to a progressive

If you want to go small, real small I recommend the Lyman C-Press, or or RCBS Partner press. The Lyman is very strong for a small open front press. ON sale right now at midsouth.

015-7726500.jpg


https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item/000157726500/brass-smith-ideal-c-frame-press
Click to expand...
This little Guy is Great and a good Buy ! I was surprised at the Quality ! Outstanding ...
 
Reloading for accuracy in pistols is kinda chasing your tail imo.
Yes bad reloads well cost you accuracy but there is only so much to do to a pistol round.
You'll work yourself to death with a single stage and you'll soon go to a turret ..Buy once ....
Dies sets include seater.
Forum boss laid it out ...
Brass, powder, bullet is the biggest decision ....
 
Forum Boss said:
The .41 Magnum is a pistol cartridge. You will need to decap, resize, prime, throw powder, seat bullets, (maybe) crimp. You won't need a lot of leverage. If you can fit a turret press you can hold all the dies conveniently. The Lyman turret was a great deal last week, but you can shop around. The Harrell's turret would be excellent too!

weekdeal19sept23lyman.jpg


I preferred pistol reloading on a turret before I switched to a progressive

If you want to go small, real small I recommend the Lyman C-Press, or or RCBS Partner press. The Lyman is very strong for a small open front press. ON sale right now at midsouth.

015-7726500.jpg


https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item/000157726500/brass-smith-ideal-c-frame-press
Click to expand...
 
+1on what the Boss says, you can't beat the Barrels turent press or the Barrels fokes to do business with, Linwood is one hell of a nice guy. Been loading the 41 for years and got started with an old CH Pistol champ and never changed. But if I was starting over I would go with the Barrels.....IMG_20191005_162128068.jpg
 
I load thousands of handgun ammo with a Lee Loadmaster,5 hole head and it won't break the bank.

edit,,if he lived A LOT CLOSER I would help him out on a lot of it.
 
I started reloading with my first pistol: S&W 66, .357 mag da. I used borrowed equipment. The single stage press was bolted to a 2X8 and C-clamped to a table in my livingroom. Everytime I needed another 50 rounds I would borrow the press & scale, set up in the living room and reload. I washed the brass and dried it in the oven.

I suggest:

Turret press. Larger ones are easier to use. I like the Redding, the Lyman looks like a great deal.

I would use the press to insert primers. Dillon flip tray.

Scale to set & check your powder thrower. Mechanical I would go Dillon. I like how the sliding weight is secure. The Redding type is easily/accidentally moved, causing errors.
Electronic & pan. I think any will work.

Carbide dies with crimp
 
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