Need Progressive Press....But Which One?

c-fbmi

c-fbmi

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I just completed the rather arduous task of loading 1000 45 ACP on my single stage RCBS Rock Chucker. I have decided I NEED a progressive, but which one? I have done some research and the unbiased reports conclude the Hornady is as good as the Dillon in almost every aspect and better in a lot of ways (talking LNL AP vs 650 XL). They also mentioned the cult that Dillon has assembled over the years and not to be swayed by that fact alone. The testing also included some Lee junk, but it fell short in almost every aspect except ease of priming. One I am trying to find more info on, but have yet to be successful is the upper end RCBS (can't remember model number)

Criteria;

I will not be loading rifle on it.
I want to load several handgun cartridges. 45 ACP, 10mm and possibly 38 spl/357, 45 LC.
If not at the beginning, I want to be able to add case and bullet feeders.
Cartridge change over ease is an issue (not a huge issue, but an issue)
Reliability is paramount, as is repeatability.
Speed is not critical, I don't need to make 1000 rounds an hour, but the 12 hour ordeal I just went through is pure BS !!!! I love loading but that was just not efficient use of my time, and at this juncture in my life I have more money than time.

So there is a question coming........of you gentlemen who use progressives, which do you use and why? Have you ever tried different ones? Please don't inundate me with Dillon cult phraseology, I've heard it before, let's just stick to technical qualities and why one feels one make excels over another. Hornady has a definite price edge and has glowing reports from what I have read so far, and seems to be significantly smoother to operate than the Dillon, due to a 2 part rotating device which works 1/2 on the up stroke and 1/2 on the down stroke as opposed to the full rotation being done on the up (or was it down) stroke.
So gentlemen please tell me what you use and WHY you chose it and like it. I have never owned a rotary progressive so I have no preconceived notions nor do I know anything about them, except what I have read this morning. I have an old C-H inline specifically for 38 spl WC loads, with 2.7 gns of Bullseye..........when it works it work well but it's like a DE Havilland Beaver, it need 2 hours maintenance for every hour of flying.......It was fine when I had a lot more life in front of me than behind and I didn't mind tinkering with it and figuring out how it all worked..........now I just want one that works at least 100 hours for 1 hour of maintenance or better.
 
ive only had my dillon 650 for about a month now.. a buddy of mine who helped me get it and set it up loves his. What i really like about the dillon is that if you want to lets say switch from 9mm to 40 all you need to do is to pull out the toolhead that holds your 9mm die and powder disp and take off the 9mm shell plate and put in the 40 shellplate and toolhead... that easy.... i have never changed the primer feeding system from small to large but apparently it take "10-20 minutes" to do.... i really like the casefeeder and the cv-2001 monster tumbler that dillon sells will easily do 600+ rds of 9mm in a sitting.. now if you had 45acp brass that used small pistol primers and you got the 650 from the factory set up for 9mm.. all you would need is to buy the toolhead, the dies, the powder dispenser, the shell plate for .45acp, spend 5 min swapping the parts and that it. i havent tried swapping anything yet but i wouldnt be surprised if i get into IPSC standard ( im just about to start in production)
 
I got an incredibly generous deal on a Dillon 550 from one of my wife's coworkers. I love it. I don't have a point of reference to compare it to other progressives though. Dillon is an outstanding company to deal with. The press was missing a small piece for the primer system. I looked up the part and called Dillon, they mailed it to me free of charge.

One other thing about the Dillon, it's very easy to set up and run. I found it to be so anyway. There is a 3 way progressive press comparison thread on here some where. If you can find it, it'll give you an unbiased knowledgeable comparison of the major players.
 
JDForBrkFst said:
I got an incredibly generous deal on a Dillon 550 from one of my wife's coworkers. I love it. I don't have a point of reference to compare it to other progressives though. Dillon is an outstanding company to deal with. The press was missing a small piece for the primer system. I looked up the part and called Dillon, they mailed it to me free of charge.

One other thing about the Dillon, it's very easy to set up and run. I found it to be so anyway. There is a 3 way progressive press comparison thread on here some where. If you can find it, it'll give you an unbiased knowledgeable comparison of the major players.
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Read an 18 page one this AM and he actually concluded the Hornady was a better set up for several reasons. I have heard a lot about Dillon and know a couple guys who love them but I've never heard from a Hornady owner/user. Would love to hear their set of pros and cons.
 
Years ago my first progressive was an RCBS 4x4 - worked great for a number of years. Then some things started to wear and go problem I had was that RCBS discontinued it and my only source for parts and stuff was eBay. Eventually upgraded to a Lee Load Master ... had it about 5 years now. There was a little bit of finicky stuff getting it set up - some great youtube videos and such that helped. After that I've worked great. Using it to load 9mm, 38/357, 44 Mag, 45 ACP and .223/5.56. Changing over takes ~10 minutes.
 
There may be a slight edge of users that own Dillons and I'm one very satisfied.

The Hornady is an excellent platform and I may have chosen it save I got a great deal on a lightly used 650..

Switching calibres in the Hornady seems a bit easier and less costly but I'm glad with my final choice as Dillon support has been nothing short of amazing and accessories for the press seem to be more readily available.
 
dillion 650 with brass feeder can do an honest 800 rnds per hour, great warranty, parts and accessories everywhere
 
For me, my budget was a deciding factor and i ended with the Hornady LNL AP. I lucked out an got a used one for a really good deal and all that was needed was a light tune up with the pawls and primer assembly. I don't have the automated case or bullet feeder but I did buy the bullet feeder dies for 9mm and 45acp. I use the "poor man's" bullet feeder option ie. plastic tubes prefilled with bullets inserted into the bullet feeder die.

Caliber changeover takes about 5-10mins. I bought extra powder measure inserts for each caliber so I don't have to keep adjusting them to speed up the process.
 
I only load 45acp and use a Hornady lock and load, also have the older projector, same unit basically, the L&L press will load quickly, at this time I do not have the case or bullet feeder but lots of home made ones on the google box and some simple to build.

500 per hour is doable if you get a rhythm, the primer switching from small to large is the biggest pain as most 45s are large primer I do small primers by hand then in the press with the knockout pin removed, the case activated powder drop is a great feature having worked with the earlier model, you do need additional die bushings and shell plate to change calibres.

with several years use out of the older model any parts that needed replacing Hornady always sent no charge so outstanding service and these parts are the odd spring pins, a couple springs and a replacement primer arm. maintenance as yet is a decent cleaning and lube every 10000 rounds.
 
crfx04 said:
dillion 650 with brass feeder can do an honest 800 rnds per hour, great warranty, parts and accessories everywhere
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Agreed on this one, only thing you have to do to increase to about 1000 an hour is have lots of extra primer tubes full. I've had mine for about 8 years now, approx 30,000 rounds loaded on it and I've had only very minor (small plate indexer broke) issue that was immediately covered by Dillon. I've looked at and played with the hornady a little, nice press but I'm happy where I spent my money.
 
JDForBrkFst said:
I got an incredibly generous deal on a Dillon 550 from one of my wife's coworkers. I love it. I don't have a point of reference to compare it to other progressives though. Dillon is an outstanding company to deal with. The press was missing a small piece for the primer system. I looked up the part and called Dillon, they mailed it to me free of charge.

One other thing about the Dillon, it's very easy to set up and run. I found it to be so anyway. There is a 3 way progressive press comparison thread on here some where. If you can find it, it'll give you an unbiased knowledgeable comparison of the major players.
Click to expand...
:dancingbanana::agree::dancingbanana:
 
c-fbmi said:
I just completed the rather arduous task of loading 1000 45 ACP on my single stage RCBS Rock Chucker. I have decided I NEED a progressive, but which one? I have done some research and the unbiased reports conclude the Hornady is as good as the Dillon in almost every aspect and better in a lot of ways (talking LNL AP vs 650 XL). They also mentioned the cult that Dillon has assembled over the years and not to be swayed by that fact alone. The testing also included some Lee junk, but it fell short in almost every aspect except ease of priming. One I am trying to find more info on, but have yet to be successful is the upper end RCBS (can't remember model number)

Criteria;

I will not be loading rifle on it.
I want to load several handgun cartridges. 45 ACP, 10mm and possibly 38 spl/357, 45 LC.
If not at the beginning, I want to be able to add case and bullet feeders.
Cartridge change over ease is an issue (not a huge issue, but an issue)
Reliability is paramount, as is repeatability.
Speed is not critical, I don't need to make 1000 rounds an hour, but the 12 hour ordeal I just went through is pure BS !!!! I love loading but that was just not efficient use of my time, and at this juncture in my life I have more money than time.

So there is a question coming........of you gentlemen who use progressives, which do you use and why? Have you ever tried different ones? Please don't inundate me with Dillon cult phraseology, I've heard it before, let's just stick to technical qualities and why one feels one make excels over another. Hornady has a definite price edge and has glowing reports from what I have read so far, and seems to be significantly smoother to operate than the Dillon, due to a 2 part rotating device which works 1/2 on the up stroke and 1/2 on the down stroke as opposed to the full rotation being done on the up (or was it down) stroke.
So gentlemen please tell me what you use and WHY you chose it and like it. I have never owned a rotary progressive so I have no preconceived notions nor do I know anything about them, except what I have read this morning. I have an old C-H inline specifically for 38 spl WC loads, with 2.7 gns of Bullseye..........when it works it work well but it's like a DE Havilland Beaver, it need 2 hours maintenance for every hour of flying.......It was fine when I had a lot more life in front of me than behind and I didn't mind tinkering with it and figuring out how it all worked..........now I just want one that works at least 100 hours for 1 hour of maintenance or better.
Click to expand...

LAUGH. I did the exact same thing several years ago (around 2007), 1000 rounds of pistol on my Rock Chucker! I took the cheap route and purchased a Lee-1000 with .38 Special dies and enough spare parts to do a second press in .40

Press history
RCBS RC
Lee Pro-1000 (.38 Spec/.357)
Lee Pro-1000 (.40 S&W) Sold
Lee Pro-1000 (.223 Rem) Sold
Hornady LNL-AP with case feeder

I switched over the the LNL in 2010? It was a thing I never once regretted. I still kept the one Lee in .38 because it works so flawlessly with rimmed cases (In my experience).

I no longer shoot several thousand rounds a year that I used to (kids got bigger and required more attention), but still love the Hornady.
 
Oh I guess I never did mention why I love my Hornady.

Simple really. It is simple. I mean simple. Parts that are screwed down that need to be removed with tools once setup? Shell plate, Primer seater, Primer tube tower.
Dies are installed in a simple turn/twist locks, with the micrometer adjuster for powder throws, you can keep a listing of powders and settings for what volume throws they give (Make sure to measure for settings).
 
If you plan to only load 3 calibers, and want simple, it is hard to beat a Dillon 550.

In fact, I had a 550 and a 650. I now have 2 Super 1050's and a 550.

I found the 650 a little complex. When running well, it ran well. But it was difficult to figure out some days.

The 500 is like an anvil. So easy to run, and keep running. After 10 years, I have only replaced the primer feed lips.

The 1050's, well, they are sublime. But caliber conv kits are spendy (so I bought 2 presses lol) and they run and run. Easy to set up, and easier to keep running than a 650 IMHO.
 
I used to reload with my Father using a Lyman G press - so when I got back into shooting, I had knowledge of the subject. I knew I would be reloading 100s at a time (not 1000s) so looked at progressives and selected a Dillon Square Deal B. It won't meet your criteria of adding case and bullet feeds (off the shelf anyway - there is a YT video of a home brew SDB Case Feeder). It has been a good decision and I like it. Mainly, because once set up - (and the dies come set up to get you started) I have not needed to adjust them - at all - unless I change bullets or change the seating depth. I clip along at 250 per hour pretty steadily - and have loaded up to 400 per hour - but precision is more important than speed (for me anyway). Changing from small to large pistol primers is a bit of an irritation and you can see my video of changing calibres here http://youtu.be/pCH1svAMndY. The Dillon parts 'NO BS Warranty' is as it says - a primer got stuck in the pickup tube - they replaced it and gave me a ton a space primer dispensers as I managed to crunch a couple (my fault).

It does what it 'says on the tin' simple to use and a much cheaper option than the larger progressives (btw - I am not - to my knowledge - one of the Dillon Cult.. ).

So - that's the decision I made when I was in your situation and it has worked out pretty well.

Good luck!
 
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http://ww w.dillonaero.com/

There is a space to remove in the above link. Take the time to check out the other stuff Dillon manufactures. It will help you understand the standard of precision that their machinery is built to. Please. Check it out.
 
Like you I had it with spending a day and a night loading pistol rounds on my RockChucker single stage press.

I didn't have a clue about progressive presses until a week ago. Did my research and found the Hornady LNL AP the choice for me. Cheaper than a Dillon 650 and will accomplish the same thing. I got a chance to try both out and the Hornady is a lot smoother.

The only thing I like better is the Dillon 1050 press, but too expensive for me.
 
Well I "bit the bullet" as they say (forgive the pun) and ordered a new Horn LNL AP c/w case feeder and set up for 3 calibers to start with. Will put the bullets on by hand for now, see how lazy I get in the near future. Got the large and small case wheel for the feeder so I should be all set. Just waiting for Henry to ship 'er out to me and I'll let you know how I like it.
 
I found adding the Mr Bullet Feeder really sped up my throughput, and I could just focus on doing a visual check on the powder levels in each case, and keeping an eye out to make sure the next case fed in properly to station #1. The added benefit was the bullet was always set squarely in the belled case ready for station #4 to press it down to the correct OAL. I found it reduced my rejects from case gauging from ~3-5 per hundred down to <1 per hundred.

c-fbmi said:
Well I "bit the bullet" as they say (forgive the pun) and ordered a new Horn LNL AP c/w case feeder and set up for 3 calibers to start with. Will put the bullets on by hand for now, see how lazy I get in the near future. Got the large and small case wheel for the feeder so I should be all set. Just waiting for Henry to ship 'er out to me and I'll let you know how I like it.
Click to expand...
 
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