What is the best progressive reloading press
- Thread starter Mr Black
- Start date
4 stations min for a progressive press, 5 or more is better.
For the price OP mentioned for setup, either LNL AP or Dillon 650 would do quite well. They both have their own benefits and associated price differences too.
I went with LNL AP and it's sufficient for what I need it for. I load 9mm, shooting 1500rds a month. Loaded a few hundred of .40S&W but sold the gun and still have ammo left over. When all dies are setup for calibers, it takes whole of under 2 minutes to pull dies from box and to swap. Then you adjust powder drop. If switching primer size - another 5 mins. I wasn't even considering D550 at all, but D650; Hornady won thou for my needs.
For the price OP mentioned for setup, either LNL AP or Dillon 650 would do quite well. They both have their own benefits and associated price differences too.
I went with LNL AP and it's sufficient for what I need it for. I load 9mm, shooting 1500rds a month. Loaded a few hundred of .40S&W but sold the gun and still have ammo left over. When all dies are setup for calibers, it takes whole of under 2 minutes to pull dies from box and to swap. Then you adjust powder drop. If switching primer size - another 5 mins. I wasn't even considering D550 at all, but D650; Hornady won thou for my needs.
Check out the 4th sticky down. Excellent comparison of Dillon, Hornady, Lee
This is the article. http://www.comrace.ca/cmfiles/dillonLeeHornadyComparison.pdf
One consideration is that the Dillon 650/1050 tends to get expensive if you want to do load a lot of different calibres and have pre-set toolheads.
This is the article. http://www.comrace.ca/cmfiles/dillonLeeHornadyComparison.pdf
One consideration is that the Dillon 650/1050 tends to get expensive if you want to do load a lot of different calibres and have pre-set toolheads.
We have .308, .45, .357, 9mm, 5.56 and with the press and everything else we're somewhere around $3k right now I think. Perhaps more, we kind of stopped counting once we realised how much we had into it.
I'm curious how many stations would be ideal... 12? 14? I don't think that a press would be that hard to design and a "high end" custom built press that uses standard dies probably wouldn't cost more than what we have into our dillon.
I'm thinking 12 minimum. Although 14 if they were all lockNload type spots would make caliber changes super easy if you could remove the shell plate without taking the tool head off. Maybe a two piece plate?
I though Camdex were all straight path, all the ones I've seen are.
I though Camdex were all straight path, all the ones I've seen are.
outoftowner
Regular
- Location
- Medicine Hat, AB
On average how much do those camdex/AMW systems go for?
The lock-load style are pretty innovative, certainly would make caliber changes very easy, for a larger machine.
For the trimming station, is the debris falling into the case an issue?
I've been thinking hard about an induction heating coil for annealing 7.62x51 brass. I wonder if the trimming station had a vacuum connected to deal with the debris and cool the casing fast enough to make it safe to drop powder into the casing. So say sizing/depriming, annealing, triming, primer pocket swageing, how many more processes can be fit in before priming and powder drop?
Though, would including annealing as part of the press make it a safety/fire issue?
Would it be better to have a round, rotating table, like the 650/1050 or inline like the mark x? How much automation? Should the press still be hand operated, or powered?
Dillon 1200B solves this issue with a vacuum attachment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBQ_vJHiGek
If you were going to do it all in one pass the cutter would need to chamfer/deburr at the same time, and there would still be the occasional stray shaving.
I wouldn't bother with annealing as part of the loading process. Better to have a separate setup that anneals and then deprimes and cleans the cases in a tumbler.
Or are the cases going to be reloaded uncleaned? Annealing will leave a heat mark on the necks.
I like the discoloration of the annealed brass. The brass would be cleaned before loading, so the annealing would be on clean brass.
ripitup911
Regular
- Location
- Fort St John BC
Use search function this has been asked to death
Hornady LNL ap here
Hornady LNL ap here
easyrider604
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Greater Vancouver, BC
To answer the OP's question, more or less that budget can get you a Dillon 650 if in one or two calibers, or a 550B to have enough cash for a few more calibers. A Dillon performs as good as or better than it looks.
To get the most from your Dillons, you do have to spend tons more money to feed it....such that the initial cost of the machine is inconsequential.
Welcome to the wonderful world of reloading!
Since I just started reloading here's my .002, I started with a Dillon Square Deal and after 2 months of problems I got a 650. Spend as much as you can afford and you won't have as many problems buddy. Learn to cry once as the saying goes. For $1220 tax in and shipped I got all I needed to reload 9mm with the 650 (9mm dies, casefeeder, bullet puller, reloading book, scale, tumbler, media, brass pan, calipers, primer flip tray and a few 100 round plastic ammo boxes), plus another $200 for a Stack On bench.
