Who uses a progressive press? Which one and why?

[TexasSeaRay]

Twenty years ago, I was a poor young federal agent who'd been bitten by the IPSC bug. To shoot IPSC well, you need to practice. To practice, you needs lots of ammo. Lots of ammo is expensive if you don't reload.

I went out and bought a Lee Pro1000. The brochure said, "One pull of the handle, one bullet" and that sounded good to me. I didn't have a lot of spare time between chasing bad guys and my shooting hobby, so I wanted something easy and fast.

Twenty years and tens of thousands of rounds later, I still have the Lee Pro1000 and it still works as well as it did when I first set it up and got everything the way it needed to be. The only thing I've had go wrong is that the handle mechanism broke on me four or five years ago.

I called Lee up, told them the story and they overnighted me a brand new one at no charge.

I also have the Lee Challenger single stage and have loaded who knows how many .45 ACP, .44's (both special and magnum) and a lot of 30-30 and 30-06 on it. Reliable as the day is long.

There is a lot of color envy and pettiness in the reloading world, and I refuse to take part in it. What works for me may not work for you and what I can afford, you may not be able to and vice versa.

All I know is that "red" has worked flawlessly for me for many years and the ammo it has loaded for me has helped me win a lot of trophies and plaques.

Can't ask for much more than than, I reckon.

Jeff

[robctwo]

I went with the LnL back in '04. I'm right around 70,000 rounds. Things are good. I load .380, 9mm, .40, .45ACP & LC, .204 Ruger, .223, 243, 270, 308 & 300WSM. By far the largest # of rounds have been .45ACP & 9mm.

A buddy of mine bought the Loadmaster just before I got the Hornady. I learned on it. He replaced it with a LnL this year and regrets not doing so much earlier.

[GuateShooter]

I have the dillon 650 with casefeder, I can make 500 rounds per hour (0.40 S&W), I hear some people do mare than that, whit a little variation in COL about 1:128 to 1:131, My COL target its 1:130 (90% of the rounds), and the power variation its about 0.03 gn, I think this its a very good load average in a progresive press if you want more load acuaracy do it in a single press for example to load rifle for benchrest, if not the dillon its an exelent choice, and the 650 its the best, I also reload 30-06 and Im happy whit the loads

[donttellthewife]

I have two dillon 650s with case feeders. What I really like are the accessories that you can use, the alarms for low powder, low primer, and case powder check come close to making it fool proof. For time savings the power trimmer is great it cuts the necks so clean there is no need to chamfer or deburr if your loading boattailed bullets for plinking under 200 yards.

[3gunfreak]

The die wrench does not come with it. I got my Dillon 650 a few months ago and Santa put a wrench in my stocking along with some Hex keys for all the little adjustments screws.

It is difficult to find a single 1 inch wrench that does not come in a set. The Dillon wrench has a 1 inch and a 7/8 combination (7/8 for the powder bar adjustment) . The tool set with wrench and hex keys come in a rack from Dillon that mounts directly to the back of the loader. ( Don't have to reach very far for what you need)

Every press has its goods and bads, me I didn't do a lot of research before I bought a press. I made a list of what I wanted it to do and (auto index, powder check capable, and interchangable tool head) and Dillon fit the bill.


You can second guess yourself about a press. You can also second guess yourself right out of the hobby. I sometime read horror stories of Dillon owners and wonder if I should have bought a Hornady or RCBS

Life is full of what ifs

[kgpcr]

I have a Hornady and its clearly a better value in my mind. Change overs from one caliber to another is far cheaper and easier with a Hornady! Hornady has 5 stations and Dillon 4 with the 550, Hornady has auto advance wich is reall nice to have, Hornady is built like a tank and works awsome. For the money Hornady is teh winner. Both are good its just that Hornady gives you alot more for your money, alot more!

[Crosshair]

I own an RCBS Rock Chucker Single Stage press and a Lee Classic Cast Turret.

As for why I bought the Lee, I like the versatility I get with the press. I can have it be auto indexing, manual indexing, or just as a single stage if I want it to be. The trade off is a lower rate of production, but it is still very fast to use. It's ease of use is another plus.

It also has a very good "bang for the buck". If you want something faster than a single stage, but not too expensive, a lee is a good choice.

[WESHOOT2]

I started in '76 with the LEE 'hammer-banger' (still own that first one, and one more).

I have-n-use a broken (FIRST STROKE!) LEE Reloader that holds Lyman M-flare-n-powder-drop dies on which I mount a Hornady/Pacific powder measure; the LEE sits 7" (on handle's centerlines) from my Bonanza (now Forster/Bonanza) Co-Ax.
Across that bench I have a Lyman Crusher II.

Under my main bench sits in its box a used-once-but-broken LEE Challenger; on my main bench I run a Dillon XL650.
I currently still have ten toolheads, each wearing dies, powder measures, and powder-check stations.

I bought my XL650 because I found out CorBon (yes, that CorBon) used them for small ammo runs.

I use-n-recommend numerous LEE products, but not their presses and powder measures.

[fanatic1]

I use Dillon XL 650 and think it is the greatest.....