new to progressive. need help choosing press

[jmorris]

. Why can't you load rifle on the LNL?

Depends what round we are talking about but I had issues even with 308 with one of the LNL's I had.

Problem was with the way the LNL indexes, half on the way down and the other half on the way up.

So, you size a case on #1, prime it on "1.5", charge it on 2 then set the bullet on top of the case on the next down stroke, call it 2.5, then the bullet tip is already too high to enter the seat die as the press finishes the second half of the index to#3 and the bullet is knocked off the case.

What I wound up having to do was insert the bullet up into the seat die, then wait for the case to come around with the second half of the index and set it on top.

Yeah, that didn't last long.

All of the Dillon presses index at the bottom of the stroke, I guess except for the 550 and it indexes anywhere you want it to.

[Carriertxv]

Jmorris after watching a couple of videos on ultimate reloader I see what you are talking about. The Dillion 650 loading 30-06 did a bit better than the LNL loading 308.
But to me even having to slide bullet into seating die would still be faster on my LNL than using my Rockchucker. I did notice that the 30-06 cases were sure shaky though when indexing.

[Wag21930]

I load 30-06 on my lnl. Because of the case length, I need to slip the bullet up into the seater die. 30-06 was the first cart. That I loaded after I set up. I always use my press in progressive mode. Great machine.

[wogpotter]

A tip for any new Dillon 450/550 owners.
Set up the shellplate loaded.

By that I mean put an empty case in each & every die station. Now slowly tighten the pivot bolt till you feel resistance. Now back off about 1/4 turn & tighten 1/16 (or less) of a turn while rotating the shellplate 360 degrees. If it "snags" on a particular stage back off a GBH. If it isn't darn near wobble free tighten a hair & repeat. Once you have it, lock the setting & go round one more time.

Repeat until dead nutz right.

There's a "sweet spot" & this is the way to find it so you don't have binding rotation or wiggling in the shellholder leading to problems in the sizing dies.

[jmorris]

But to me even having to slide bullet into seating die would still be faster on my LNL than using my Rockchucker.

It absolutely would be. It's not that big of an issue to use a single stage by a long shot, just slightly more frustrating than a 550, 650 or 1050.

[jmorris]

There's a "sweet spot" & this is the way to find it so you don't have binding rotation or wiggling in the shellholder leading to problems in the sizing dies.

The 550 is a bit different than the SD, 650 and 1050, in that the case does not sit in the shell plate but on he ram itself. On the 550 the shell plate only pulls the cases from the dies you could remove it completely and they would be shoved into the dies the same distance.

[wogpotter]

The 550 is a bit different than the SD, 650 and 1050, in that the case does not sit in the shell plate but on he ram itself. On the 550 the shell plate only pulls the cases from the dies you could remove it completely and they would be shoved into the dies the same distance.

Not really, the shell holder's positioning (rotational) aligns the cases with thee die mouth & keeps them in that position as the ram is raised. It actually does both, sitting in the shellplate for alignment while resting on the base for thrust & vertical position.

But that has nothing to do with what I was talking about or the question I was answering about shell wiggle being excessive.
That IS caused by an excessive gap between the bottom part of the shell holder (the black plate atop the silver ram) & the shell holder (the rotating thingus with the cutout to position & retract the cases.

[jmorris]

Ah, you are talking about the side to side play, the part that is not adjustable at all on the others or even single stage style shell holders. I have never had that problem with my 550, yet.

Some complain about shell plate wobble in the others causing a tilt of the shell plate itself and at that point the brass is not square with the dies, unlike the 550 where the shell plate itself doesn't push the brass into the dies.

[wogpotter]

Yeah, its mostly a question of taking the time to set up the center screw that plays against the detent spring. There's maybe 1 /64th turn between "binds sometimes" & "wobbles like jello"!

[csmsss]

jmorris, thanks for answering the question on why the LNL AP is problematic for loading rifle rounds. That is exactly the problem I had with mine with .308. Hornady could easily fix the problem by making bullet feed dies for rifle cartridges like they do for handgun cartridges, but have chosen not to. Basically, if you want to load rifle cartridges with the LNL AP, Hornady wants to force you to buy their auto bullet feeder accessory (for .223/5.56mm) and, in addition to that, the caliber conversion kit if you wish to load .308. There doesn't seem to be any plan at all for other cartridges.

That being said, I love my LNL AP for loading handgun cartridges and am quite happy with it. I just use a single stage press for my rifle loading and that arrangement works for me.

[jmorris]

Hornady could easily fix the problem by making bullet feed dies for rifle cartridges like they do for handgun cartridges, but have chosen not to.

I think the fact that you have to feed the bullet up into the die is a likely reason why they do not make a rifle bullet feeder, it would be pointless if they just got knocked off moving to the seating station.

The only bullet feeder that I know of that feeds and seats at the same station is the GSI and they only make them for Dillon machines.

[wogpotter]

Depends what round we are talking about but I had issues even with 308 with one of the LNL's I had.

Problem was with the way the LNL indexes, half on the way down and the other half on the way up.

So, you size a case on #1, prime it on "1.5", charge it on 2 then set the bullet on top of the case on the next down stroke, call it 2.5, then the bullet tip is already too high to enter the seat die as the press finishes the second half of the index to#3 and the bullet is knocked off the case.

Wow! I did not know that about the L&L!
For me, as I load .38Spl/.357 mag, .308 & the even longer .303 Brit that makes it a "gimmee" for the Dillon over the Hornady as far as I'm concerned.

I never did a side by side comparison of the two as I had an old RL450 & inherited a newer RL550 when a friend passed away so I went with the upgrade.