To answer your question you can go cheap and not have the Dillon unit, "BUT" if you have a lot of cases to do by hand you are going to have some very sore fingers. The problem is you have to hold the case to remove the crimp by hand and after doing three five gallon buckets of .223/5.56 brass my fingers and hands were very sore.
Below is just one five gallon bucket of .223/5.56 brass and I will "NEVER" do that many by hand again no matter how much the Dillion unit costs.
Below is what I used to remove the primer crimps, I would use the VLD tool to remove approximately 50% of the crimp and finish with the RCBS crimp remover made for their case prep station. The bottom front reamer was just used as a GO NO-GO gauge to see if enough of the crimp had been removed.
Below is a closeup of the RCBS crimp remover, please notice the reamer is tapered and never touches the primer pocket walls. Meaning it can't damage or make the inside diameter larger and only removes the crimp. The reamer is also beveled at the top and slightly rounds the mouth of the primer pocket just like standard non-crimped ammunition.
Below the RCBS reamer makes the primer pockets look like the factory "rolled" pocket.
Now heads up, the Dillon unit displaces brass and does not remove brass so you end up with tighter primer pockets overall. It is fully adjustable and you do not have to hold each individual cartridge case and apply pressure with the reamer.
Bottom line, if you have a lot of cases to do and use a hand reamer your fingers will be so sore you will not be able to pick your own nose and your reloading experience will be totally buggered up.
On the other hand the Dillon unit works slicker than snot on a door knob.
The choice is yours, if you have the money then buy the Dillon unit and don't look back...................and looking at the buckets below makes my hand and fingers think of pain and worn out automotive gloves.
