Help choosing press

[stewiegriffin]

To answer OP's actual question-

I have a LNL and I love it. I've used a Lee 1000 and own and still use a Lee single stage.

I've loaded thousands of 9mm rounds, a few hundred .223 rounds, and a handful of 45 acp, without a single hiccup.

If you want to use a powder check of some sort, I'd recommend and use at PTX for the powder dispenser. http://powderfunnels.com/

[GeoffLinder]

In 20 years of use my 550 has loaded 30k+ .38 super rounds, 60k+ 9x19 and 9x21 rounds and just about 40k .223 rounds. In doing all that loading I have only had to replace the primer punch and primer bar. It was mostly my fault the punch broke and entirely my fault the setscrew thread got stripped in the primer bar. Dillon sent the parts to fix it for free anyway. Oh, I also have to change the batteries in the low primer warning buzzer every year.

Everyone I know who has a 550 has had no problems either. Only person I know who ever got rid of a 550 did so to make room for a 650.

I agree with oddjob that he 550 is the best starter progressive out there for it's ease of initial setup and operation.

The only thing more reliable than my 550 is my Rock Chucker and if I ever step up to a 1050 (probably not) I will keep them both

[BigBronco]

I have had a Hornady Pro7 for 20 plus years and recently upgraded to the Lock and Load. To put it simply I love this loader. The improvements over the earlier model are great I love the lock and load bushings. The powder measure is tops also. Setup was easy and I cranked out 1000 rounds easily with it. I whole heartily recommend this loader. Looking forward to getting the case feeder for it also.

[jimmykan]

I have used all the Dillon presses and the Hornady LNL. Both companies make excellent equipment. Both companies provide outstanding customer service.
Based on my experience, the LNL is by far my favorite. I would not trade my LNL for any new Dillon, except maybe the 1050 which is really commercial machine. I own a LNL and a Dillon SDB.

I have two Dillons (an SDB and a 550), and my only other experience with other progressives was my first one, a Lee Pro 1000, which I promptly returned.

That Pro 1000 would flex under load, buckle cases, not fully seat primers, seat bullets to inconsistent OALs, etc.

What makes the Hornady LNL your favorite over ALL Dillon presses except the 1050?

I understand the shortcomings of the SDB: pistol calibers only, proprietary dies, needing to unscrew stuff to change calibers, etc. But the 550 is so versatile: rifle and pistol, uses standard dies, the toolhead comes off with two pins, you can use it like a single stage press...

[stphnman20]

I say get the Lee kit. It has pretty much everything you need to start reloading. Since your a beginner, I recommend this. From there, you can get a Dillon if you choose to.

[GeoffLinder]

Just came across an evaluation piece on progressive loading gear that I thought would be good to re-post here. IMHO it is a very accurate assessment of the available options and why to choose what.

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Which reloading press is right for you?

I have been asking experienced reloaders questions about their presses and their reloading habits. I find it interesting that the average person loads in short burst. They average 30 to 60 minutes at a time. This seems to hold true weather the person is a competition shooter or a plinker. That leads me to believe that the mast majority of reloaders buy way more press than they really need. As one person pointed out with a Dillon 550 you can load 250 rounds in half an hour and you did just that every day Monday through Friday that’s still 1250 rounds a week. Very few people shoot that many rounds a week on a regular basis. I have shot that many rounds in a weekend but only because I went to a class. I certainly don’t need that much out put every week.

Even a Lee classic turret press will yield 500 round a week with that schedule. Am I suggesting that everyone buy a Lee classic turret press? NO But 75% or more of shooters could get by with one if they had to. There is a saying in the racing industry. Speed costs money how fast do want to spend? The same is true in the reloading industry. The faster you want to go the more it is going to cost you.

Thankfully the costs for reloading are tiny compared to racing. Also a quality reloading press can last you a lifetime. Spending $500 to $1000 dollars on a reloading machine doesn’t seem so expensive when you realize that in 10 years you only spent $50 To $100 dollars a year for that machine. Also in the case of Dillons they hold there value. If you decide to sell your reloader you can expect to get 75% to 90% of current market value back on your purchase.

Case feeders are something to think about even if you don’t want one when you first start to reload. A case feeder will greatly increases your hourly production. Not all Case feeders are made equal. The lee is the least expensive and versatile. The 550 Case feeder was an afterthought. It works on pistol cases only.

The 650 1050 and LNL all have similar functioning units that load both pistol and rifle cartages. These case feeders can increases your output 40% or more. The new low cost Hornady bullet feeder has the potential to increases these press another 40% or more. While it can be installed on a four station press you have to give up something else to make it work. Both of these products are reasons to look harder at the 5 station press instead of the 4 station presses.

The Hornady LNL and the Dillon 650 should both be capable of production rate over 1000 rounds an hour with a case feeder and a bullet feeder.

The Presses:

Lee Pro 1000
Some people have fairly good luck with them and swear by them. Most people just swear at them. If you want a cheap press and like to constantly tinker with a press then a Lee Pro 1000 might be right for you. There are more negatives than positives reviews on the web about them. I know one guy that swears by his. I have never used one myself.
.
Lee Classic turret press
If you are going to look at a Lee turret press only look at the Classic. It’s not a progressive press and you have to pull the handle 4 times for each round. It’s slow, it’s cheap, it works. If you are on a tight budget it will give you more production for the same price as a lot of single stage presses.
One Hour Production Rate 200

The Dillon Square Deal
The Dillon Square Deal is a pistol caliber only press... no bottle neck cartridges.. The Dillon Square Deal uses proprietary Dillon dies so you won't be able to use any dies you might already own. If you want to change calibers you have to buy more Square Deal proprietary dies for it. The Dillon Square Deal has a small footprint which is a benefit if you are limited on bench space but a detriment if you have big fingers. The Dillon Square Deal is the least expensive of the Dillon press line. If you are sure you are only going to load one or two pistol cartridge then this might be the press for you.
One Hour Production Rate 350

The Dillon RL550B
RL550B is manual-indexing four station progressive press. The Dillon RL550B is the workhorse Dillon press line. It can load almost any center fire rifle or pistol cartridge. It has 120 caliber conversions available for it. In the Dillon line the Dillon RL550B is the most economical add calibers to. It has less expensive caliber conversions than other Dillon presses. If you were buying just one Dillon press and wanted the most bang for the buck, it would be a Dillon RL550B. According to Dillon more RL550s have been sold than any other progressive machine in the world.
One Hour Production Rate 500

The Dillon XL650
The XL 650 is auto-indexing five station progressive press. The XL 650 was built from the ground up to be an auto-indexing press with a case feeder. The Dillon XL650 comes standard with a tube system for an automatic case feeder. The automatic case feeder is sold separately So the advertised starting price doesn’t accurately reflect the true price of a Dillon XL650. A fully set up Dillon XL650 cost twice what a Dillon RL550B cost but produces twice as much ammo an hour. The caliber conversions for the Dillon XL650 are noticeably more expensive than the RL550B and the LNL. For large volume reloading, versatility and ease of use a Dillon XL650 is hard to beat.
One Hour Production Rate 800

The Super 1050 B
The Super 1050 B is the king of the Dillon line. It is designed for commercial use and not normally in the running for what press should I buy. If you need it you know you need it.
One Hour Production Rate 1200

Hornady Lock N Load AP
The Lock-N-Load AP is an auto-indexing, 5-station progressive press that features the Lock-N-Load bushing system, which allows calibers to be changed very quickly. The Lock-N-Load is the cheapest press to equip with additional caliber conversions. During Automatic Indexing Each station moves 1/2 a stage on the upstroke and 1/2 a stage on the down stroke and the up stroke, making for a smoother function. This means less chance of flinging powder out of cases. The Lock-N-Load AP can be used with or without a case feeder. This allows you to start at a Dillon 550B price but to upgrade to a Dillon XL650 speed press at a later date. The earlier editions of this press were known to have issues and were more in line with Lee quality presses. With the new generation of presses Hornady is trying to go head to head with Dillon including matching their warranty.
One Hour Production Rate 500 with case feeder 800.


The Warranties

Lee reloading products are guaranteed not to wear out or break from normal use for two full years or they will be repaired or replaced at no charge if returned to the factory. Any LEE product of current manufacture, regardless of age or condition, will be reconditioned to new—including a new guarantee—if returned to the factory with payment equal to half the current retail price.

Hornady Warranty “We guarantee every one of our reloading tools and accessories for Life” No-Risk, Lifetime Warranty. Hornady reloading tools and accessories are warranted against material defects and workmanship for the life of the products. Parts which by nature of their function are subject to normal wear such as springs, pins, bearings, etc… and, parts which have been altered, abused, or neglected are excluded for the warranty. If the product is deemed defective by either workmanship or material, the reloading tool or accessory will either be repaired, reconditioned or replaced at Hornady Manufacturing Company’s option. If it breaks, we’ll repair it or replace it at no charge.

Dillon Precision. No warranty cards, registration or serial numbers are necessary. Whether you are the first owner, or the seventeenth, all our hobby-level reloading machines have a lifetime warranty. If you break, damage or wear out anything on them, it will be fixed or replaced – whatever is necessary to restore the machine to normal operating condition. If a minor part is all that is needed, contact us and we will ship the part. If something major is damaged or broken, contact us and we issue the customer a return merchandise authorization-RMA- to return the item to us for repair. The customer pays the shipping; we fix or replace as is warranted.

I rate the warrantees from worst to best, Lee, Hornady, Dillon. Both the Hornady and Dillon have excellent warrantees. The difference is that Dillon will also warrantee consumables. Hornady has been doing this lately also but it isn’t in there written warrantee. Lastly Dillon will even completely rebuild a press to new condition for a small fee. They don’t care if you are the original owner or if you found it in a garbage can. They still honor their warrantee.

So which reloading press is right for you? That depends…
How much ammo you are going to make a month average?
What is your budget?
How much time do you have to reload?
How many different calibers do you want to reload?

Here are my personal picks.
Budget $300 or less…… Lee Classic turret press
Budget $300 to $600 …. Hornady Lock N Load AP
Budget over $600 with more than 5 calibers…. Hornady Lock N Load AP with bullet feeder.
Budget over $800 with 4 calibers…… Dillon XL650
Budget doesn’t matter with 1 caliber …. The Super 1050 B
You only want to buy one press to last for the rest of your life regardless of what you want to reload….. Dillon RL550B

http://www.leeprecision.com/

http://www.hornady.com/reloading

http://www.dillonprecision.com/

[jwest]

http://www.dillonprecision.com/#/content/p/9/pid/25792/catid/1/BL_550_Basic_Loader

JIC you don't know about it...

[21SF]

Thanks for all the responses, im still leaning towards the LnL, despite the coolaid pushers , lol.

Will definitely look at the dillons as well. tough decisions.

[Oceanbob]

DON'T DO IT

Thanks for all the responses, im still leaning towards the LnL, despite the coolaid pushers , lol.

Will definitely look at the dillons as well. tough decisions.

hahah......You tube the dillons. ...

[GeoffLinder]

The Hornady is not junk at all (like the Lee system is), it's just that it does not have a 20+ year usage base with the majority of longterm users reporting 100's of thousands of rounds of predominately hassle free loading.

The LnL was introduced in 1997 and Hornady has produced under 30,000 of them to date. No doubt it is a decent progressive and that it is a cheaper startup direction. It just has a smaller customer base and usage history. The jury is still out as to whether it is a million plus round machine like quite a few Dillon presses are.

The thing about Dillon that makes everyone so fond of the brand is the humongously positive track record in over 30 years of business with hundreds of thousands of machines still in service all over the world.

Call it kool-aid if you will, but it is well proven that it is safe to drink

[21SF]

The Hornady is not junk at all (like the Lee system is), it's just that it does not have a 20+ year usage base with the majority of longterm users reporting 100's of thousands of rounds of predominately hassle free loading.

The LnL was introduced in 1997 and Hornady has produced under 30,000 of them to date. No doubt it is a decent progressive and that it is a cheaper startup direction. It just has a smaller customer base and usage history. The jury is still out as to whether it is a million plus round machine like quite a few Dillon presses are.

The thing about Dillon that makes everyone so fond of the brand is the humongously positive track record in over 30 years of business with hundreds of thousands of machines still in service all over the world.

Call it kool-aid if you will, but it is well proven that it is safe to drink

sounds just like the glock cool-aid i drank, yummy!.

[GeoffLinder]

Ya' know, I passed on getting a Glock in 1987 when they were first introduced and opted for a SIG P226 instead as I was listening to all my buddies saying it was a plastic toy and so on. After a year with my SIG I drank the kool-aid and bought a Glock anyway. Both those pistols are still my favorite 9mm's to this day. In retrospect, I am glad I have both kinds

[rsrocket1]

Don't discount buying a single stage press as a "backup" and learning tool. For under $100, you can get a Lee Breechlock Challenger press kit and have a hand primer, scale, powder throw and other tools which although not tops in heftiness, will be great to learn on and still be useful for a long time. Just about everyone who has a progressive still keeps a single stage press to do all sorts of other chores on. Even though a lot of elitists poo-poo the powder measure and scale, I find them very useful, accurate and repeatable when used properly.
Even though I got the LnL AP as my flagship loader, I was a little uncomfortable getting everything up and running for my first ever reloads. I got a used Challenger kit and used it for a month before taking the LnL out of the box. It made a huge difference in my confidence in loading and made the transition to full progressive very smooth. I still use the SS press for the .223 and .308 simply because with all the case prep, once the primer is in, there is only one step left which needs a press and I can grab a primed case, powder drop and seat on the Challenger press and I'm done.

Straight walled pistol rounds are definitely a pleasure to load on a progressive. One tumbled shell in, one bullet on a case, pull the lever and a freshly loaded cartridge comes out!

Ah, the sound of a bullet dropping into an Akro bin, like the smell of Hoppe's 9, unique pleasures to shooters and reloaders.

[Oceanbob]

I know what you mean

Ya' know, I passed on getting a Glock in 1987 when they were first introduced and opted for a SIG P226 instead as I was listening to all my buddies saying it was a plastic toy and so on. After a year with my SIG I drank the kool-aid and bought a Glock anyway. Both those pistols are still my favorite 9mm's to this day. In retrospect, I am glad I have both kinds

I just sold my 1987 GLOCK 17 to a great CalGunner from the high desert.

Only have 13 left....

I did own a RockChucker...nice and slow. Then moved to a dillon 1050 (for .45 auto)...and bought a D550B to load .308....both went into storage. Never did load the .308, although I have the conversion kit and the dillon die set..I resurrected the new 550B out if it's box to start loading 10MM. Works well. And the 1050 is now running.....45 auto.

God I love it so.

[Oceanbob]

Koolaid is good...

sounds just like the glock cool-aid i drank, yummy!.

Let us know what press you get...

And post some photos.!

If you're ever down in Southern Cal you're welcome to stop by and test drive either of my Dillons...!

Dillon is one of those incredibly well run, quality companies. If Hornady is the United States Post Office; Dillon is Federal Express. (Lee's a joke)

I know they may be slightly more expensive; but they are number one in the shooting community for dozens of good reasons.

Bob