If you're only looking at loading one cartridge, especially a pistol cartridge, I've gotta cast my vote for the Square Deal B.
I also use a Hornady LnL AP, do almost all my reloading on it - my Square Deal is set-up for .38 Spl - and I have to admit, the LnL is a whole lot more versatile; I load .38, .357, 9mm, .45 ACP and .455; the LnL can do all these and my rifle calibres when I get back into rifle shooting. But it's a pain in so many niggly little ways, and throws me so many curve-balls that I've never encountered on the Square Deal, that I honestly can't recommend it:
1) the primer feed has caused nothing but headaches and frustration. It handles small primers flawlessly - I mean flawlessly - never had a problem.
Large primers, oy.
I had to assemble the feed tube with a fiber washer because it pinched the slider, and then I had to give the slider a lot of TLC with a fine file so it didn't snag on everything in its way and some stuff it made-up, and every fifth-or-so stroke, it pops out of the track at its farthest point of extension and hangs-up. So I reach back and slip it sideways back into the track, and let it come slowly forward - you don't dare just let it go and the spring does the rest, it'll whang forward and the primer in it is going flying - somewhere (still haven't found the last primer it threw across my shop) - and it catches on the rim of the cartridge in that station so tilt the cartridge up and raise the ram a little so the slider doesn't catch on the primer ram...
2) speaking of the primer slide spring, I've come within an ace of losing it so often; I tried crunching its eye closed when it's in its hole so it can't fall off, but it's almost impossible to get-at for a clumsy left-hander. The primer ram has made a mess of the press where it hits, they should've put a steel button there - and at first, even pushing the platform all the way down, the ram would not seat the primer deep enough and the press would hang-up. When I called Hornady the first time they sent me two new rams, just based-on the ser# of my press; they sent me a bunch of other parts I hadn't asked-for too, clearly they've been getting complaints.
3) I dare not get comfortably into reloading on the LnL, bullet here cartridge there haul away, I must always be on my guard and stop at the first sign of trouble - because otherwise there'll be yet another CRUNCH and I'll break yet another black plastic arm from the top of the press when the primer slider decides to jam in-place instead of nicely sliding up that s-shaped stainless steel rod. I've gone through at least four of those black plastic arms - I admit the first one was broken during my own maladroit set-up of the press, but the rest died in the line of duty; have Hornady send you several spares, and spares for both the primer slider spring and the powder measure spring. Oh and, pay attention to the wheels that the sliders ride-on when they go up that s-shaped stainless steel rod, because the pins that hold them onto the sliders come out; I haven't lost a wheel or pin yet, but if I do I'll never find it.
4) I bought the LnL instead of a Dillon 650 because I LOVED the thought of those round springs that hold the cartridges in the shellplates; I've always found the pins the Square Deal uses to hold its cartridges in, a pain. But I advise you in passing, that those round springs WILL find their way under the lip of a cartridge, and they WILL get crunched; and then they don't look nice, and no matter how often you re-set them so the crunch is hidden under the body of a shellplate, it will straightaway find itself out into one of the openings in the plate, there to look like he11 and tilt the cartridge in funny ways.
5) I looked like a total buffoon (I usually do anyways
) when I took a couple handguns to a local smith; I brought along some handloads so we could test for accuracy with the ammo we actually use, and one of them was a primer-only load that lodged a round in the barrel. I bought and use a progressive press specifically so squib loads, double-charges &c should not happen to me - and it took awhile to figger-out how this squib load came-about. You see, the LnL likes to fall-apart in use; I was used to the bolt on the shell-plate backing-off (I can't tighten it more than finger-tight on my LnL or it binds the whole press solid), but it had pulled a new one this particular day - the powder measure had turned around in its bayonet-lock, and then instead of dropping a charge of powder, the whole powder measure rose-up out of the press with the cartridge underneath it, pushing it up. I caught it the second time it did it - I missed it the first time. Now I tighten the shellplate bolt and turn the powder measure full-clockwise every ten rounds or so; no biggie, but considering how much I paid for the LnL I really feel like I shouldn't have to in the first place.
P.S. I love the bayonets.
6) some final advice for reloading 9mm on a progressive - 9mm is a very fiddly round, and press set-up must be done with care. My 9mm has a .357 bore, and I was trying to use .358 bullets in it - but .358" plus the thickness of the cartridge walls meant that the rounds were too fat to chamber. I eventually solved it, by going with another bullet - one that comes out of the mould at .3575"
- but if you don't have this problem, use Winchester brass; it's the thickest of the lot. I also heartily recommend a case gauge; I have a 7-cavity one, and every round goes in it before it goes in the ammo box. Reloading .45 ACP is a picnic compared to 9mm.
Cheers, and best of luck!
