Recommend me a first progressive press

[bigbossman]

For your other rounds, a progressive press would be a good idea.

I have been using a Lee 1000 since around 1996 or so. It is a fantastic press for churning out buckets and buckets of good handgun ammo, but is not suited for rifle ammo.

I can afford any color press I want and I have a whole wall of Lee presses.

Me, too. I entered into the hobby with a Lee 1000. I bought it with the rational the if I didn't care for reloading I wasn't out much, and if I did get into reloading I'd just upgrade to a Dillon when it fell apart - as literally EVERY ONE of the internet experts assured me it would.

I bought the first on in 1996, and after untold 10's of thousands of rounds it still chunks out 300-400+ rounds an hour. All I have to do is keep it clean - you know, periodic maintenance. I have since acquired two more, so I can just change presses out instead of tool heads.

Kind of disappointing, really, I was sort of hoping it would break so I could buy a Dillon and see what that was all about.

[GlockN'Roll]

Even the new 750s can be had for $650 right now.

Dillon's just blow away the competition in quality and customer service/ warranty my 30yr old press they still send me parts to no questions asked.

My fear when you get the LNL is when they come out with a new one you will be SOL when you need parts which you will...

Dillon's quality, support and after sale customer service makes this a no-brainer purchase.

Buy once...

[MG34]

The only thing to say is you can't go wrong buying a Dillon. Bought mine in 91 no problems with it 150.000 rounds loaded so far.

[the_tunaman]

I would get the newer one. If that is the 550C then go with it. Call Dilion and confirm to be safe.

[C.G.]

Even the new 750s can be had for $650 right now. Dillon's just blow away the competition in quality and customer service/ warranty my 30yr old press they still send me parts to no questions asked.
My fear when you get the LNL is when they come out with a new one you will be SOL when you need parts which you will...

Hornady's quality, customer service and warranty are on par with Dillon. I've had my LNL AP for close to 10 years now and have had no problems with customer service and so far have not needed any parts and if I do, I am sure Hornady will bend over backwards to send me the parts. When I bought my unit it was missing a primer tube (which was probably the vendor's fault as they opened the box and added other items to it and it probably fell out). A call to Hornady got me laughing when I listened to their message, once I got a live person it took about 2 minutes to find out that they will expedite a new one to me and sure enough I had one 2 days later (no cost to me, of course).

Having said that both Hornady and Dillon are fine units, with excellent warranty and support. Dillon owners are more vocal about it, probably because they spent more money.

The two reasons I chose Hornady over Dillon. I had some experience with the Dillon 650 and decided to buy one but I missed out on a Dillon 650 group buy at Sniper's Hide. While figuring out where to buy one, a friend on mine let me try his LNL AP. I ended up liking the ergonomics of the Hornady better, the price was very reasonable and at the time Hornady was also giving away 1000 bullets with a purchase.

Either unit will serve you well, if you can try both out and decide then which suits you better.

Also, as others pointed out, single stage press is good to have as well. I started out on a Rockchucker and still use it for round development, small batches or accurate rounds, eventhough originally I meant to sell it once I got my LNL AP.

[at_liberty]

A lot of recs for the Dillon 550 it looks like. I'll definitely look into that. The more reading I've been doing, looks like I should get a single stage anyway. It seems the Forster co-ax is held in quite high regard. The longest range rifle rounds I'll be reloading for right now are 300 win mag, 308 (I have a Remington 700 police model, shot it to 1,000 yards), and 6.5 Grendel, but I'll be adding a Creedmoor to the stable in the future, and possibly 338 Lapua. Seems for precision the co-ax is the way to go, although pricey for a single stage. How would the Lee single stage presses compare to the co-ax as far as durability and precision?

I may get greedy and just get both a single stage and progressive, or turret since speed isn't real important to me. I don't shoot enough that reloading speed will matter.

So, can you restate your budget?

Note that a Dillon 550 does not auto index, so you have some busy work between pulls on the handle, if doing multiple operations leading to a finished round. However, that does allow it to easily function as a single stage. I have thought about a 550 but prefer the features and versatility of my Lee cast Turret. I have a cast Lee single stage for miscellaneous tasks but don't load high powered rifle, only 30-30 and 223 on the LnL AP and single stage.

Another note is that stating a 650, now a 750 as $650 is misleading, since the machine is designed to be used with a case feeder. When both have a case feeder, the Hornady LnL AP and comparable Dillon are not far apart but are somewhat north of a grand$ fully equipped.

[Fjold]

... I checked out the Redding T-7. This will be my first press, and I'd rather just "buy once cry once" and get a good progressive that I won't outgrow. I'll probably eventually get a good single stage press as well for any calibers too big for a progressive (thinking Forster co-ax), ...

I reload 375 H&H and 458 Win Mag on my Redding.

[Faded]

Another vote for Dillon here. Have a 550 and 650, love them both. I started on a Lee Turret press and still use it today as a single stage. I am actually looking for a used Redding T7 if I can find one for the right price just to have it.

[MrFancyPants]

So after more consideration and shopping around, and the advice in this thread, I think I'm going to start with a good single stage so I can really spend time getting to know the process, and at this point reloading precision rifle rounds is a higher priority to me than pistol ammo. Once I have some experience under my belt with the single stage, I'll look into a progressive set up. If I'm going to buy the best, Dillon sounds like the way to go, and I would rather get one later when I'm not so constrained on budget and can spend what I really should to do it right, and also get all the accessories I'll need.

Currently I'm strongly considering the Redding Ultramag, Rock Chucker Supreme, and Hornady LNL Classic, as they're offering 500 free bullets with purchase. The Forster co-ax is still in the back of my mind as well. I'll keep looking and figure out what tickles my fancy when the stimulus shows up.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[sirgrumps]

I learned on a Dillon 550. I watched someone load for about an hour.

Bought one for myself and used a 550 for years.
After upgrading to a 650, I wish I still had my 550.
The self indexing causes many problems when making adjustments and during fine tuning.

In my mind, once you get a 650 dialed in, it’s great.
But changing primer sizes really suck.

I do see why people are upgrading to the 750.

[ar15barrels]

So it looks like we'll be getting the stimulus, and I think it's time to use part of that to finally invest in a good reloading press. Just want to do my part to stimulate the economy.

Anyway, I'm wondering what you guys use and recommend. So far I've looked at the Hornady Lock-N-Load AP, but looks like it has mixed reviews, and previously I checked out the Redding T-7. This will be my first press, and I'd rather just "buy once cry once" and get a good progressive that I won't outgrow. I'll probably eventually get a good single stage press as well for any calibers too big for a progressive (thinking Forster co-ax), but for now I want something to cover most of my calibers, and something I can learn and grow into. I'll be reloading pistol and rifle rounds, and I want to be sure I can load 10mm, 308, 300 win mag, and 458 SOCOM, in addition to the more common calibers.

Speed isn't a concern for me as this will be for my own personal use, so a press rated at 800 rounds per hour vs 400 rounds per hour doesn't matter. I'm more concerned with quality of the press, availability of replacement and extra parts, and accuracy of ammo produced. Also I'd like to keep the cost of the press by itself around $500 or less.

Dillon 550.

[ar15barrels]

A lot of recs for the Dillon 550 it looks like. I'll definitely look into that. The more reading I've been doing, looks like I should get a single stage anyway. It seems the Forster co-ax is held in quite high regard. The longest range rifle rounds I'll be reloading for right now are 300 win mag, 308 (I have a Remington 700 police model, shot it to 1,000 yards), and 6.5 Grendel, but I'll be adding a Creedmoor to the stable in the future, and possibly 338 Lapua. Seems for precision the co-ax is the way to go, although pricey for a single stage. How would the Lee single stage presses compare to the co-ax as far as durability and precision?

I may get greedy and just get both a single stage and progressive, or turret since speed isn't real important to me. I don't shoot enough that reloading speed will matter.

You should not get a single stage as well.
You should get a single stage FIRST and then get a Dillon 550 as well.

[MrFancyPants]

You should not get a single stage as well.
You should get a single stage FIRST and then get a Dillon 550 as well.

That's my plan, per my latest post. Leaning heavily towards the 700 Ultramag.

[23's Dad]

The Co-Ax is worth the investment. I have an old Bonanza Co-Ax. I've been reloading everything on it for years. Pistol & Rifle. I occasionally want to go progressive while doing 9mm. Other than that, it totally suits my needs.

The leverage on a Co-Ax and the reduced torque on the bench will be very beneficial with your larger rifle brass. O frame presses and C presses can't compare.

The set-it & forget-it die holder on the Co-Ax is superior to any other system too. It is faster than an L-n-L, does not require adapters, and provides the ability to self align.

One extra set of shell holder jaws will see you through the entire caliber spectrum. The investment in shell holders alone for the other presses is daunting.

YMMV, but it works for me.

[OCEquestrian]

Another +1 for the Dillon here.

Like you OP, I also do LR precision shooting; 338LM & 6.5 Creedmoor. I do that on a Redding Ultramag. So another +1 for that as well. A unique design that offers some significant advantages, mechanical and otherwise for precision rifle rounds.

I've loaded 338 LM on the Dillon. That was how I started reloading. It'll work. But it is not really the right tool for that task. As totally freakin' awesome as the Dillon is, the Ultramag makes the Dillon feel like a rickety toy by comparison.

Dillon 550 for production reloading, Ultramag for precision work. The perfect combo that was recommended to me, by someone here on CG, roughly three years ago now OP. This, when I was getting first getting into reloading and posted a similar thread here.

^^^^ Resident EXPERT on all things "progressive"