Upgrading- Progressive or Turret?

NorthernCX

NorthernCX

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I already reload for my rifles, and have a pair of Lee single-stage presses to do that with. I'm now starting in on semi-autos and handguns, with a Tok on the way, a .223 in the cabinet and I am absolutely going to take up CanadaAmmo on the Norc 1911/1000 rds ammo deal- I do not look forward to reloading .45 ACP one at a time.

So options seem to be limited right now, and I'm not sure how much shooting I will actually get done. So far, I've found a Lee Classic Turret for about $125, Hornady L-N-L for $500, or a Dillon 650 for $650. As I've already got Lee dies, I don't relish the thought of finding Hornady LNL dies. For the extra $150, the Dillon seems to be the best deal for a progressive. Will the Dillon use Lee dies (in case I want to crank out a few hundred .30-06 rounds) for sure? If I'm guessing right, it will. When I do reload, I don't always have a whole lot of time- the production speed of the Dillon looks like a plus.

So, knowing what kind of discussions these sometimes turn into, I'd be interested in advice/opinions or even other options. If I understand correctly, the Lee can be made into a progressive with an adapter of some kind, but that !125 disappears when you add all the other bits to get the same type of setup as the Hornady or Dillon. How hard is the changeover on the progressives? The Dillon comes set up for one calibre, minus dies, correct? What's involved in switching? My pistol ammo will likely be limited to .45 and 9mm (maybe reload some Tok ammo) for a while, but no bets on it staying that way.
 
Hdy uses die bushing so 15 secs to change dies. Shell plate another 20s (undo/redo one bolt). Changing primer tube small/large primers takes about 1 minute.

Hdy still has their free 500 bullet offer. 20 bucks for 500 XTP bullets, ~150 bucks worth.
 
Definitely Progressive. I use a Turret for my rifle loading aka My Single stage. Not aware of the progressive adapter, my turrent has a Cam that turns the heads. This means that you still need 3 or 4 pulls per bullet.

45acp and 10mm on progressive a must, at least for me. Dies are interchangeable. I use a hornady LNL with case feeder. Forgot to send in for rebates. Dillion is nice press had older 550.
 
I have a LEE Loadmaster. It can be finicy,especially the primer feeder but LEE has come out with a new primer feed assembly that suppose to be great.
 
I was in same boat. I bought a Lee Classic Turret, sold it 4 days later and bought a loadmaster.... But I really liked that turret and plan on getting another for my larger rifle reloading. I read the Loadmaster was finicky, but I've had no issues. I load 10mm and .40 and I bought the .223 shell plate which is as big as it loads. So ill get a turret later for the .308 semi loading. I'm still picky so my single stage is used for the quality stuff that matters, like the 50 rounds of new Lapua brass with 170 grn Naturalis on N540 with crimp and sealer I use for moose and elk in the bush. What a pretty bullet.
 
I would (and did) go progressive. I use a Dillon 550. It loads for pistol nice and fast - much faster than a turret. It will also load most rifle calibres.
 
I started with a single. Moved up to a progressive then ended up with a Lyman turret. I really like the turret, but I only reload for rifles. If I were loading for pistols, I'd go progressive.
 
If the "extra $150" for the Dillon doesnt scare you off, that tells me price point alone isn't an issue. That tells me to recomend the Dillon to be your "Hucklberry". A 550 at the least and optimally a 650. If your planning on useing a automatic case feeder then the 650 really shines.

One thing I haven't seen covered is that if you are going to re-load rifle cases in a 650 and use the case feeder option then there will be some extra's that you will have to purchase to configure the press and case feeder to operate as designed.

I use all breeds of dies in my 650's.

I have a Lee Classic Turret and like it very much for what it is intended for. I use it a lot as a s/s and as what I call "semi progressive". It will never be a full "progresive" in any way shape or form compared to a real progressive such as the Dillons or Hornady's.
 
Thanks for the info, fellas. I'll keep the single-stage setups I have for my bolt rifles, the reason I'm looking at progressives and turrets is for pistol ammo, and probably .223 since I've got a case of Norc reloadable coming. As I understand it, the Dillons and Hornady will handle the short rifle chamberings.

Also, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the Lock-N-Load press allows the use of bushings that take a standard 7/8 dies? As I said, there seems to be not a lot around at the moment, and things don't look like they'll get much better. No 550s available new that I've been able to find online; the Dillon 650XL, Hornady LNL AP, and some LEE stuff. I'm not interested in RCBS stuff for a bunch of purely emotional reasons, and have no complaints about my LEE stuff. The LEE progressive is the Loadmaster, correct? I got that confused with the Auto-Index feature on the turret press they have.

I was also confused about the setup you get for the Dillon/Hornady setups. Seems they both get advertised with every extra option on them, which jacks the price even higher on both. Have to do some more research- I'm firmly on the fence between those two if I go whole hog, otherwise if I can find a Loadmaster I may try that.
 
Hi NorthernCX

I bought a Dillon 550 about a month ago from P&D (site sponser) and have been really happy with it. I also bought some extra parts for it from Murray Gardner and both places were super helpful with my questions and needs.
Not sure about their stock levels now but I would not hesitate to deal with either stores. Murray shipped the same day I called him and recieved within two days.

Regards, Kevin
 
I was just at The Shooters Edge in Cow town yesterday, A pile of 650's for $648. Kit will come with everything you need except powder scale and dies to load one specific calibre. You probably already have those (scale and dies)and everything else you can add at your leasure.

I used a Loadmaster for a # of years before I ot my first Dillon. I made a lot of good ammo with it but it does have some shortfalls that the Dillon does better. The Loadmaster's primer feed system was, shall we say" less than excellent", it "worked to a certain extent" but fed a lot of primers sideways or upsidedown (Iundersand that lee has changed the old system somewhat so this might not still be an issue). The other thing. and it concerns primers as well is that primers are seated on the same "up-stroke " as all other stations do their jobs. There is no "feel" for the primer being seated on a separate operation as the Dillon ( the Dillon seats on the down-stroke) does. I had way more high primers with the Lee because of this.
 
NorthernCX said:
Also, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the Lock-N-Load press allows the use of bushings that take a standard 7/8 dies?
Click to expand...

Yes, that's correct. The Hornady uses individual bushings for each die instead of mounting the whole die set on a toolhead. It's just a different way of accomplishing the same thing. Dillon 550, 650, and Hornady LNL can all handle most rifle and pistol cases that use 7/8"-14 dies.
 
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