Looking to get into reloading.

[bnewt3]

A little background: the only reloading I have done is shotshell on a Lee Load-All II. I mostly want to reload as a hobby. I will be loading 6.5 CM mostly for match/LR (some 308 for hunting) but nothing too serious or high volume, I doubt I'll do any pistol loading. I plan on this being the only press I get.

I'm a Lefty so I want either a coax press(such as M-Press, or Forster), or one I can swap to Lefty (such as Rockchucker, Summit, or Rebel)

I like the idea of the universal shell holder of the M Press, and I like the idea of a hard stop vs camover but with no experience, I have no idea if those really matter or not.

Thanks for lending your experience.

 

[TaperPin]

Most of what companies say about their press being better than a simple O frame like the Rockchucker, whatever Hornady calls theirs, or Redding calls theirs, is just mumbo jumbo to sell what they make.

What does make a huge difference with a single stage press is how easy it is to cycle from your reloading bench and seat. Reach way up in the air 1,000 times to cycle the M-press or one like it and you’d want to stand up, or get a different press. A heavy duty press is overkill for most things short of case forming, so the long heavy handle is over kill and you might like a shorter lightweight one, or a lighter weight press altogether. Extra long stroke presses like the extra heavy Redding waste a lot of the stroke if you’re only loading short cartridges.

Another type that used to be popular are the C presses. The Lyman would be any easy to use new model, almost the only new C press. Old Pacific presses (Pacific was purchased by Hornady) still work well and are dirt cheap. The little Sinclair press is for short action cases.

The Rockchucker is a safe bet that works for everything, but maybe other lefties will chime in if it’s well suited for left hand use.

All the new presses are pretty good so in many ways you can’t go wrong.