If you’re like me you like it when you can get the most out of a tool or piece of equipment. When it comes to progressive reloading, some equipment is more specialized and some is more “general purpose”. When it comes to versatility, it’s hard to beat the case rim design that’s common between the 45 ACP, 30-06 Springfield, .308 Winchester, 22-250 Remington, 243 Winchester, 270 Winchester, and many other cartridges.
Why does this matter for the reloader? With shellplates costing upwards of $30 each, it’s nice to get some mileage out of them. In addition, you’re using a common primer size for the cartridges talked about here (large), and that means if you’re changing between these calibers you can leave the shellplate and priming system alone. All you really have to do is potentially change parts on your case feeder (if you use one), change out the dies, and adjust your powder measure for the load you’re working on.
If you’re a real hard core reloader, you can tailor your firearm selection around common reloading equipment and components. Somewhow I doubt very many shooters would actually do this, but hey- why not consider how you’ll be reloading when you purchase firearms?
**Note that for the Hornady shellplate #1 45 ACP will fit slightly loose. If you load a lot of 45ACP, try the #45 shellplate.
The most common rifle cartridges I load for right now are 22-250, and 30-06. It’s really nice to have efficient workflow when loading progressively. If I’m going to switch to 45ACP, it’s again very easy to perform the switchover. If you have multiple progressive presses, you can still benefit from this type of enhanced workflow- and that’s one thing I really like: “smooth workflow”.