Ready to go progressive

[punkur67]

Well after a few thousand rounds of 45 on the rockchucker im ready to go progressive. What should press should I go for and what is a fair price on used. I like my RCBS stuff and would like a RCBS progressive. I know the dillons are good too, but should i spend the extra on it?

[Antihero47]

How many rounds are you looking to be making in one sitting? How many calibers do you reload for? Do you intend on reloading more calibers?

If you're looking to make 500+ rounds in a sitting for each caliber then I would get a Dillon 650. They work well once they are set up. If you are going to reload multiple calibers and will be making 200+ rounds in a sitting I would go Hornady LnL due to less setup time between calibers.

I've not had any experience with RCBS progressives.

[punkur67]

I will be doing multiple calibers. I do more shooting of the .45 and .223 so those are the bulk of my reloads but will be doing 9mm and .308 too. Most of the .308 will be done on the single stage for match ammo. I do 300-500 rounds of .45 at a time but want to do more. Its juat a LONG day to do 500 in a single stage.

[Bill Steele]

Just my opinion.

I will be doing multiple calibers. I do more shooting of the .45 and .223 so those are the bulk of my reloads but will be doing 9mm and .308 too. Most of the .308 will be done on the single stage for match ammo. I do 300-500 rounds of .45 at a time but want to do more. Its juat a LONG day to do 500 in a single stage.

My personal opinion is a Dillon 550B would be perfect for your needs.

[Antihero47]

My personal opinion is a Dillon 550B would be perfect for your needs.

Between the Dillon 550B and the Hornady...

Dillon 550B = Manual Index = $386 on Grafs
Hornady LnL = Auto Index (true progressive) = $380 on Sale at Grafs

No brainer.

(I've edited my original post to say that I was thinking Dillon 650XL the closer competitor to the LnL.)

[MG34]

I've had a 550 for about 18 years. I got a Pro 2000 about 10 years, I much prefer the 550. I don't like the priming system on the 2000. Just my 2 cents worth.

[Fyathyrio]

Here's a good comparison of Lee, Dillon, and Hornady progressives. Not the end all - beat all, but a pretty unbiased look at the major players. It helped me decide on the Hornady LnL based on initial price, cost of caliber swaps, and press features. I'm happy with my purchase choice.

From what I've seen, good presses hold their value pretty well, not much savings on used unless you get lucky.

[punkur67]

Good info there. Spent most of today looking at the options and youtube vids and am leaning towards the hornady lnl. After reading the link it makes me lean that way even more.

[socalocalypse]

This is timely. I got my lee 1000 a week or two ago, and I'm beginninv to think its never going to work very reliably. Looks like a hornady might be in my future!

[fabguy]

lol,here we go again....i had one of these a couple months ago

[Anti-Hero]

Another Hornady Lnl ap user here. It's in my opinion the best in terms of ROI.

[damndave]

Got a Hornady LNL AP here and like it a lot. Based on price and ease of caliber changes, it can't be beat. I loaded approx 500 in an hour the 1st time I loaded on it.

http://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/product/productId/5988

$380 + $5 shipping + 500 free bullets = no brainer

Since you already reload, you should have mostly everything you need such as calipers, case gauges, tumbler etc etc. Basically all you would need are shellplates, die bushings and a PTX expander for what calibers you are going to reload. I purchased a powder drop lower assembly for every caliber I load. Makes it a ton easier/faster to change calibers. Extra primer tubes and the powder drop micrometer (pistol and rifle) help out a lot too.

[Fyathyrio]

http://ultimatereloader.com/

Good site for video of each major press, with add'l stuff like case and bullet feeders.

[freonr22]

Case feeder on my lnlap made my life so much easier as a first time reloader

[Endofcomment]

I have done some research on the subject as eventually I will want to go progressive but at this very moment I will be getting a turret press to hold me off.

I have found the hornady to be the best bang for the buck, I like the fact that if you use a case feeder you speed things up without taking away an amount of precision as you can still use a precision bullet seater to achieve near zero run out.