Best Reloading Press

[5.56Geo]

How about the Redding T7 turret press ?

[ocabj]

Star Machine Works

[Bongos]

If you will own only 1 press for all those calibers, but mainly pistol, the Hornady LNL AP will serve you well.

Wait until you get a casefeeder for your LNL...

The best single stage press I like is the Forster C0-Ax
The best progressive Press I've owned is the Dillon XL650, I have a good friend who owns a LNL and for the most part he likes it, and I have loaded on his LNL for hands on trial before I decided with which Press to get, I ended up getting a 550B than eventually settled on a XL650

[runway1]

http://www.comrace.ca/cmfiles/dillon...Comparison.pdf

Excellent write up. Thanks!

[Adub]

And ignore all the Dillon fanboy comments. If they had a Dillon, they'd be a fanboy too.

What's the biggest difference you see in the lnl and the 650xl? After reloading a few thousand rounds in my lnl, I am genuinely curious on what makes the 650xl to go to for so many people.

[popeye4]

While a progressive would help you load pistol ammo fast, you are not going to gain much speed in the bottleneck rifle department, there is too much brass prep work that takes most of the time. I have both a Dillon XL650 and an RCBS Rock Chucker (that I bought about 35 years ago). If I could only have one, I'd keep the single stage. Redding also makes excellent equipment.

But if you want the truly best, check this out: http://harrellsprec.com/index.php?cr...on=show_detail

So many choices, so little cash....

[XDRoX]

What's the biggest difference you see in the lnl and the 650xl? After reloading a few thousand rounds in my lnl, I am genuinely curious on what makes the 650xl to go to for so many people.

The priming system on the 650 is superior. More leverage and slightly better designed.

The spring system that holds the shells in place is superior on the LNL.

The case feeder is way loader on the LNL.

The case drop system is better on the 650. Sometimes with glock brass the cases will occasionally tip slightly on the LNL and run fine on the 650.

From what I've seen, if you sit down to load 10k rounds, there will be more hiccups on the LNL than the 650. No machine would run 10k without an issue, but the 650 will have slightly less problems.

BTW, I load on a 550b and love it. I don't shoot enough to need a case feeder yet. When I do, I'm going to get a 650.

[uscbigdawg]

Tried and used them all and after all that....

2 Dillon RL1050's
1 Dillon XL650
1 RCBS Rock Chucker (for load development)

My father:
- Dillon 550, Rock Chucker and Orange Crusher

Rich

[Adub]

Thanks XDRoX. I definitely want to try a dillon and will keep those issues in mind.

[tzotzo]

Redding T7 I find is excellent. I put three 308 dies on one side, and three 338 dies on the other side, and one hole left over. I only reload for these two calibers and thusly never put a die away or have to measure anything. The only slight complaint I have is that I have to 'cam over' to properly full size a piece of brass, at least using the Redding Comp dies. I have read that other presses also need to do this. Not sure why... but otherwise I am quite happy.

Oh, and the primer insertion occasionally fails to easily fully seat the primer on the first try... but I am happy enough that I would not spend a dime to try anything else.

[XDRoX]

Thanks XDRoX. I definitely want to try a dillon and will keep those issues in mind.

It's really a toss up between the two. Since I already own Dillon and like it I'm sticking with it. But they all have their problems. IMO the ultimate press would have some of the LNL's best features and some of the 650's best features, and prime on the downstroke like a 1050.

[RacerX7]

Go Blue!!! Dillon 650

[epcii]

I'd go LNL for the price, lifetime warranty and rebate for 500 bullets!

[Thomas1190]

I can only comment on the Lee Anniversary Kit as its the only press i have used. I have made hundreds of 45 Colt rounds and have not run into any problems. If you're a beginner on a budget, its hard to beat IMO.

[Cowboy T]

Depends on what you need and how much you want to spend.

It could be argued that Forster or RCBS is better than Dillon, for example. Why? Because, to my knowledge, Dillon doesn't make a single-stage press or even a turret. Everything they make is some sort of progressive. For bench-rest competitors, that's not good enough. They need greater precision than any progressive press can provide.

I shoot lots of .38 Spl, .44 Spl, and .45 Colt. For me, Lee's Pro 1000's and their Classic Turret Press do the job very nicely at a very affordable price. Nothing against the others, it's just my particular choice.