what progessive press should i buy

mtlbomber

mtlbomber

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hi there looking for some advice on wich progressive reloading press i should buy , price is not a major concern i want reliability and ease of use ( no constant tinkering !! ) i want to start with .40 .45 then .44 .223 later on. i've seen the dillon ( thinking 650 because it self indexes ) but i have not seen the hornady or lee in person, i would appriciate any advice or opinion you could share with me . as long as i stay under 1k for the whole setup (press, dies, adapter plates, powder measure, tumbler) i'd be happy.
thanks
 
Having used a Dillon 550 for all my handgun loads, I can recommend them easily. the 650 is a nice rig.

Having learned the hard way... take my advice and make sure each cartridge has powder before you seat the bullets. you can get going on a good roll with a progressive, but learning that your powder dispenser was jamming after filling a bucket full of .45ACP was a truly sickening feeling...
 
It all depends on a few factors.
  1. How much you want to spend on setup.
  2. How many rounds you plan on shooting annually.
  3. How many rounds did you want to make in a single reloading session?
  4. How you will save money if all you do is shoot as fast as you reload...

#1 is your budget. Under $200? $500? $1000?
#2 is are you shooting 250 rounds a month, or 2500 rounds a month?
#3 is the time you are willing to spend actually sitting and reloading.
#4 Since you save roughly 1/2 the cost of factory, will you shoot 2X as much thereby negating any actual savings (You still spend the same $ overall).

If you shoot several hundred rounds weekly then you should go for the larger, higher capacity progressives. if you only shoot less than a box or two weekly, then a smaller cheaper progressive may be for you.

I personally have a Lee-1000 progressive and I only turn out a couple hundred rounds per hour as I only shoot under 100 rounds a week on average. The bigger stuff (Dillon 1050) can crank out 1200+ rounds per hour.
 
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I have a dillion 650, I can do easily 4-500 rounds each hour, I could do more but after a few hours I would probably get careless, so I go a bit slow.

I have loaded 20,000 rounds so far, and no problems.

The bigger Dillion (1050) can go faster but I really do not see the need.

Spend money on the feed system, primer system, and powder and charge sensors that you can get with the dillion. The charge sensor is a bit finicky and gives lots of false alarms, but the point is that it makes you look, and as far as I am concerned that is all you really need it for.
 
I have a Dillon 650. Only load 45ACP, I have a few bells and whistles Case feeder, powder check, and load 6-800 round per hour. $1200 invested. Love it.
 
Hey Pal,
I was in your position about 10 days ago. I got the Dillon...but take the time to read : (remove spaces)
ht t p://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum...+lee+horna dy

It was written by acrash, it is worth taking the time,

Let us know what you've bought.
 
A lot of established people will recommend Dillon.

There is a new and strong movement to go with the Hornady LNL, but there's a problem: you can't get them. Every major dealer I know of is backordered 3 months. I have seen probably 10 Dillon RL550 machines sitting on dealer shelves in Edmonton and Calgary in the last 3 weeks. If you want your loader to arrive before summer, Dillon it is.
 
I have 3 Lee Pro 1000's. (.357 Magnum, .45 ACP and 9mm). I got the 3 presses for less than the cost of a Dillon 650 set up for one calibre. I started off with .45, then .357 and lastly 9mm so I was able to spread out the cost over time. My 1000's require minor tinkering from time to time but they do the job and were my in roads to reloading. YMMV....
 
Moe123 said:
Hey Pal,
I was in your position about 10 days ago. I got the Dillon...but take the time to read : (remove spaces)
ht t p://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum...+lee+horna dy

It was written by acrash, it is worth taking the time,

Let us know what you've bought.
Click to expand...

Oh, for Pete's sake! You can hotlink to canadiangunnutz! The owner of this site doesn't mind! Really!:rolleyes:



http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=127691&highlight=dillon+lee+hornady

And it's acrashb.


I have a dillon 550. Had it for about 16 years now. No complaints.
 
thanks for the info everybody , i was leaning towards the hornady from the get go but like Battlerife said availability will probably play a big roll in wich one i end up with , i`m not a very patient man , i'll post when i take the plunge.
 
I have used a dillon 550 for many years for all my handgun loads. Never a problem. Also you can order any upgrades or parts directly from Dillon in Arizona either from their web site or by phone. Not sure how this press will work with rifle ammo though as I use a Lyman turrent press for that.
 
on the other hand, i've used a 550 for all my rifle loads since 92 (308) and again, never had a problem- the pistol loads are done on lee 1000- there's no auto index on the 550, so the 'problem " of a double charge exists is you use a powder in a case that will accept a double charge- same problem with a turret that doesn't auto-index
 
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