Dillon vs. Lee for Ammo Quality?

Siggy Stardust

Siggy Stardust

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Hey all,

I've been rolling my own for about 15 years here and I have a Lee Pro-load 1000 progressive press that's served me very well for loading my 9mm in that time. I also have a Lee single stage turret press that I've used for nearly the same amount of time for loading a bunch of other stuff - .357, .303, .270, etc.

I've always heard good things about the Dillon reloading gear as being the cream of the crop. I saw a Dillon 650 press today set up for 9mm for over $700 and nearly gagged. I guess the deal is that the thing can put out nearly 1000 rounds/hr. compared to maybe 150/hr. for my Lee but speed really isn't my concern as I enjoy the whole process for what it is.

That being said, I was wondering if the quality of the ammo you produce with the Dillon would be any better than the Lee. I've noticed when I'm loading any pistol rounds on either the progressive or single-stage that the ammo coming isn't perfectly concentric, leaving a little bit of a shoulder or bump on one side of the case. Of course, I've run factory ammo through all my guns and never seen anything other than perfect concentricity as far as bullet seating. That being said, I can never seem to quite match factory ammo as far as accuracy (Played around a lot, BTW - different loads, powders, depths, etc. over the years).

So....

Is this just a quality thing as far as Lee goes and getting a Dillon would eliminate this, or am I missing something else here? Is having perfect concentricity even a concern or issue for handgun ammo? Anyone I know with a Dillon swears by it, I was just looking for some thoughts or advice before I go and drop a bunch of $$$ for new setup in the hopes improving the quality of my ammo.

Thanks, Gang.
 
no diff in the quality , that's all down to the nut behind the wheel . as far as perfect concenricity is concerned , i've never found it that important , [ in 50 yd pistol ammo ] , you can improve the look by using the lee fact crimp die , but this doesn't give you better ammo , i've ransom rested a lot & never proved it matters . you should be able to @ least match fact ammo for accuracy , [ in most pistols ] , same as rifle reloads . dillon will give you more speed with less hassle , but if 150 / hr is good for you why switch , to get the full potential out of the 650 you'll need the case feeder & if your greedy a bullet feeder .
 
"Which one makes concentric pistol ammo?"

Neither, It all comes down to the operator placing the bullets squarely onto a properly flared case so the seating die can push the bullet down evenly without canting.
 
I use the 650 for rilfe ammo if I was going with just pistol I would of done a lee press instead. Cost wise it's a better deal it's not that much better in the end. For rifle ammo the 650 is a better press but for pistol ammo not so much. I have swappable heads for each caliber I reload so I just swap it out and it works well doing that for a quick change takes about 8 minutes if you have to change the lower parts as well.

Get a Mrbullet feeder and you can really crank out the rounds now for all the add ons you can add to the 650 you might as well get a 1050
 
haha49 said:
Get a Mrbullet feeder and you can really crank out the rounds now for all the add ons you can add to the 650 you might as well get a 1050
Click to expand...

but then all your caliber changes are going to cost you 450$ instead of 250$..... thats an issue if you reload 5-6 calibers.
 
Quality - no difference. I have made some very nice ammo for both HG and my AR on my Lee 1000

QUANTITY - Dillon for the win. The Lee 1000 is a fussy machine but can work well for a period of time. Then somethings falls off the wheels and you have a slow down to fix.

If slow and steady is what you want, the Lee will suffice.

If you want to make buckets of ammo, Dillon and get lots of extra primer tubes.

Quality of ammo has more to do with the dies then the press. If the dies are working properly and set up properly, the ammo comes out ok.

If you have bulges in the finished ammo, the seater is not working properly or the bullets are too big or the cases are grossly oversized.

The press just provides the mechanical up and down.

For the Lee 1000, there is a plastic thingy that indexes the plate. Buy a bunch and change them often. This is a wear item and will start to loose accuracy after a few thousand rds. Keeping this part new goes a long way to ensure plate and dies stay aligned.

Primer tray full and trough clean. Keep all powder out of the moving parts and the Lee works nicely... if not in a leisurely way.
Jerry
 
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