what is the best press to load 9mm efficiently?

Mr. Friendly

Mr. Friendly

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I've just bought a whack of 9mm pistols and realize I may wish to consider reloading.

I can get reloaded for a pretty good price, but if my friends numbers are right, he reloads, there's still substantial savings to be had.

I am thinking I'd want a progressive that would de-cap, cap, size/neck, seat and then crimp. none of that silly one stage stuff. :rolleyes:

tyvm. :cool:
 
..or if you are sure you only want to load pistol calibres and don't mind Dillon proprietary dies, you may want to consider a Dillon Square Deal B. For my money, a 650 with a case feeder is the way I would go if you're willing to invest that much.
 
I use my Hornady LnL and it does 9mm very well, super smooth no problems. I have a micrometer insert for the rifle powder thrower and it does 4gr of TG for my 9mm very accurately.
I also use it for 223 and 30-06
 
Mr. Friendly said:
I've just bought a whack of 9mm pistols and realize I may wish to consider reloading.

I can get reloaded for a pretty good price, but if my friends numbers are right, he reloads, there's still substantial savings to be had.

I am thinking I'd want a progressive that would de-cap, cap, size/neck, seat and then crimp. none of that silly one stage stuff. :rolleyes:

tyvm. :cool:
Click to expand...

I reload on a Dillon 550...Some people complain about it's manual indexing, but I look at it as being another type of reloading press: a single stage....It comes in very handy for reloading Black Powder cartridges like the 45-70...
 
I'm using Hornady Lock'N'Load progressive, it does the job fine. Brand loyalty is just that when talking about the main reloading presses (Hornady, Dillion, RCBS, Lee, etc.): if one was markedly worse than the others in quality, that brand would have gone out of business long since.
 
I have both the Hornady and Dillon 650. If I had to pick which one is a better system to start with, I would say the Dillon 650 as it can be bought as a ready to run kit set up from the factory with dies and case feed. A Mr Bulletfeeder in the future will really make you haul the mail on this.
 
+1. this is the exact reason I bought my 550. Love it. load 9mm to 44mag with ease. use lee carbine 4-die set with Dillon powder measure(Dillon powder die). it's cheaper and more accurate on powder measurement.

Airwolf said:
I reload on a Dillon 550...Some people complain about it's manual indexing, but I look at it as being another type of reloading press: a single stage....It comes in very handy for reloading Black Powder cartridges like the 45-70...
Click to expand...
 
650 with feeder. Best you can get for 9mm. Terribly nice and reliable

I do sharpie marks on the toolhead, die and lockring. That way I know that a die did not go loose and out of adjustment. Its so fast that it just sucks to realize that you loaded 1000 rounds out of spec in an hour and a half....
 
I have the square deal in 9mm to feed my pistols. Suits my needs and budget. If I shot more I would upgrade to a 650 with case feeder. Square deal, 550, and 650 are all great and all have strengths in certain areas
 
I have both a Dillon 550 and the 650. I use the 550 for low round count such as .44 mag & .454 and some rifle load. The 650 is for 9 mm and .38 super. If you want to load pistol semi auto round and a lot of it.. The 650 is the way to go.
 
650 is better for high volume, 550 is cheaper and good enough if you do a lot of little batches of multiple calibers.

But you asked "what is the best press for volume 9mm".

Some would say 1050, but I don't see the real advantages especially for pistol. If you do commercial reloading of 223 ammo that might be something else, but even for a few K a year of 223 the 650 is plenty good... especially with the uniquetek swager during the processing toolhead. All that's missing is the priming on the downstroke, and I could care less, I prefer to feel the primer on the upstroke.
Only use I see is for automation, might be easier if it's all on the downstroke.

But if you are looking at the 1050 with a motor, + bullet feeder, then you are not into the same price range. (and it wouldnt be better for a few K a month of 9mm anyway)
 
I'd buy case lot 9mm before I bought a progressive just for that purpose... The $1000+ beans it'll cost you to get into it buys a sore trigger fingers worth of 9mm...

Buuuut I'm not one to do things that way either so I bough a 650 and loaded lots of 9mm with cast and played bullets... But I use it primarily for .223 these days.

If you load a lot of caliber's you'll be way farther ahead with a 550B in the cost of conversion kits alone, if you just want to load pistol rounds then look at the SDB...

Nobody "needs" a 1050... Or a Porsche... Or... Or... Or...
 
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