Red vs blue

[petree_777]

I know that this topic I'm sure has been covered but I may be crazy and switch from Blue to red. I have a square deal and a 550 in dillon. I was looking into getting the ammo Plant by hornady. I can get one with a bullet feeder and case feeder that would speed up my reloading. Anyone have experience with the ammo plant and the dillon. I would get a 650 dillon but everything for that press is super expensive. Any input would be great.

[robert101]

Sorry I can't answer your specific question. My 550B reloads all the quantity I need for the amount of shooting I do in a month.

[GILMORE619]

How many calibers do you load?

[petree_777]

I load about 5 different calibers at the moment. I was looking for something that I can crank out 223 and pistol ammo on. That's why the hornady is looking better and better. My 550 is a great press but without auto indexing and a case feeder it's kinda slow. I was also debating getting the 650 with a case feeder.

[GILMORE619]

I load pistol rounds on a RL550B and I've loaded about 1500 rnds of 223 on a hornady lock n load AP press. I purchased the lock n load to do rifle mainly 223 and 308. The casing feeder on the RL550B helps speed production up but your limited to pistol rounds and no auto index. I've never thought about using a bullet feeder because I shoot a bunch of cast boolits. Reading the reviews on the casing feeder for the LNL it seems finicky but I'm sure there will be a member here to tell you the ins and outs about it. So far I've liked the LNL but there's adjustments you have to make to the seating die and powder measure every so many rounds. The auto index works great and the priming system is nice. I'm stuck between buying a casing feeder for the LNL or getting rid of it and buying a 650 with a casing feeder. I've got a Dillon trimmer which would make processing 223/308 brass a snap but tool heads and caliber conversions are the big hang up.

[Carcassonne]

I had a Dillon 550, and sold it to get a Hornady LNL. Both were good machines, but not great.


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[SixPointEight]

I've used the 650 a lot and the AP a little. If you want to save a dime, the AP is better, as it costs about what the 550 does, but it's a 5 station progressive. Caliber changes on the Hornady are faster, and if you only use 1 powder measure, cheaper.

[hambam105]

I know what you mean OP.

I am a bit confused on buying just another Porsche or trying something different such as a Tesla.

[BajaJames83]

Imho save up a little and get the 650 you already know the quality and ins and outs of the 550. While the 650 is different from the 550 it is also has sone similarties that you are accustomed to and its a machine that requires less "adjustment" compared to the LNL which you will appreciate coming from a 550.

[TKM]

Green.

Seems appropriate.




Pro 2000. 2K 9mm the last couple of days, 63 lbs of 45 boolits waiting for later today.

[DougMurray]

Gilmore619 - can you elaborate on the adjustments you reference being periodically required for the seating die and the powder measure? I've loaded well over 5k rounds on my LnL and have never noticed either needing adjustment once it is set up for the caliber I'm loading. Mine seems pretty stable and except for caliber changes, I;ve never found the need to adjust anything. Just curious that I may be overlooking something. Thanks.

[tonyjr]

When you posted red or blue , I thought you were referring to Dillon and Lee .
I was hoping for more info on the new Lee [ could just be a rumor ]
I have a load master and 5 stations is just not enough .
I seldom do more than 200 rounds of any caliber before switching to a different caliber . If you are doing more than like 2 clabbers , Dillon gets expensive real quick - if they even carry the caliber you want to switch to .
A friend drives from Sacramento to here [ U C - a couple hours ] to visit and reload his 25 ACP . Supposedly for his wife to visit mine .
What ever you decide , check if they [ that company ] sell what ever caliber you might later get .

[GILMORE619]

Gilmore619 - can you elaborate on the adjustments you reference being periodically required for the seating die and the powder measure? I've loaded well over 5k rounds on my LnL and have never noticed either needing adjustment once it is set up for the caliber I'm loading. Mine seems pretty stable and except for caliber changes, I;ve never found the need to adjust anything. Just curious that I may be overlooking something. Thanks.

My bushings seem to back out. I'm constantly doing spot checks and notice seating depths change or powder drop being inconsistent. I check the bushing and it's loose. After I go thru 100 primers I give the dies a twist to make sure the bushing is still locked in. I understand the powder drop takes time to break in and I've only pumped out 1500 rnds of 223. A friend who bought the press before I did had a station that was loose all the time and Hornady had to send him shims to get the bushing tight. I'm not knocking the LNL down. For the price it's a great press and the caliber changes are easy

[nahpungnome]

My bushings seem to back out. I'm constantly doing spot checks and notice seating depths change or powder drop being inconsistent. I check the bushing and it's loose. After I go thru 100 primers I give the dies a twist to make sure the bushing is still locked in. I understand the powder drop takes time to break in and I've only pumped out 1500 rnds of 223. A friend who bought the press before I did had a station that was loose all the time and Hornady had to send him shims to get the bushing tight. I'm not knocking the LNL down. For the price it's a great press and the caliber changes are easy

I run into similar issues with my LnL. Every so often I need to re-tighten my dies down since the bushings can work loose. I also put a piece of folded paper under the bushing of my powder drop. This keeps the powder drop in place and consistent.

I've also run into issues where the bolts on the powder drop mechanism have worked their way loose. My sub plate ejector also rounded out so ejection was erratic with many cases just getting stuck between the nub and the shell plate.

My LnL has 10s of thousands of rounds through it though. I called Hornady about the ejection issue, they shipped me a new sub plate at no charge. I also now make sure all my bolts are tight every so often. Hornady's CS is excellent, I've never been on hold for more than a minute or two and they try to really help before just sending a part out.

I recently added a bullet feeder since I load a lot of .45. Once it's setup correctly, the speed increase is just awesome. I didn't bother with the case feeder since I have the Inline fabrication setup with my bins within easy reach for empty cases.

As for my original sub plate, I asked a coworker to weld some material onto the nub so I could file and square it off...seems like a waste of a perfectly good part to just throw out

[balmo]

A $6.00 o-ring kits from Harbor Freight solved all my problems of the bushings backing out, including the powder measure. The HF o-rings are slightly thicker, giving the bushings a tight fit.