Progressive press shopping

[condor bravo]

Definitely agree with MBlaster--no need to cost justify your purchase. Get the Dillon 550 and get it over with.

[kmw1954]

Yeah don't justify costs just buy one for each caliber then all you'll ever have to do is pull the handle!

[boondocker385]

I load 4 to 5k handgun sounds a year on my rock chuxker.....

I have used the LNL, the 550 and the 650. All had all the bells and whistles. 650 hands down was the fastest but it's a chunk of change and for the round count you are talking about probably overkill

[drain smith]

Originally Posted by boondocker385

I load 4 to 5k handgun sounds a year on my rock chuxker.....

I have used the LNL, the 550 and the 650. All had all the bells and whistles. 650 hands down was the fastest but it's a chunk of change and for the round count you are talking about probably overkill

My question is What do you consider "All the bells and whistles"?
Now, I own 4 Hornady Ammo-plants. And they have all the "bells and whistles". And not only are they faster than any Dillion that I have seen but they are much faster.

[m&p45acp10+1]

I do not own a Dillon. If someone I knew asked me if they should get a Dillon, or a Hornady LNL AP. I would not try to talk them out of getting a Dillon if they could afford the Dillon.

I have a Lee Pro1000. I wet tumble all of my brass so it gets deprimed, and sized off the press. I use a hand primer to prime the brass while I am sitting down watching television. I run my Pro1000 without the case feeder, priming system, and I also do not use the chain for the powder measure. I used a short length of the chain and attached it to a 16 ounce lead bank sinker. I ran an s hook through the top of the chain, and put that through the hole in the powder measure. No more broken ball chain. The measure resets all the way every time.

I got my Pro100 set up for 9mm from a person that got tired of trying to fix it. I paid him $50 for it. It is faster than using my 4 hole classic turret when using primed brass from the start.

If I were going to be paying 4 figures for a progressive press. I would go with the Dillon.

[CLYA]

I'm a happy Dillon 650 owner, that never tried to justify the expense.

[kmw1954]

Just reinforces my points. The only one that any of us need to justify our purchase of equipment to is ourselves or maybe a spouse. If one has the means then they can have whatever they want for themselves, sky's the limit. Many do that because they can. Others look at the job and ask what do I need to get it done the most effectively. While others ask what do I need to get by on.

I'm of the school that says I'm not going to use a 2lb hammer to set tacks while at the same time say I'm not going to use a tack hammer to forge steel. Same goes for my approach to reloading.

As apparent here some would spend the money on a high volume progressive press to load 2500 round per year and justify it any way the choose. Or because they want the Best, even though it is not needed.

Now as I've stated I bought all used equipment and have very little invested in it but it all works and does exactly what I want and expected. Also because of this practice I have over the past 2 years have purchased 5 new guns which I am enjoying tremendously which wouldn't have happened if I was buying all new top of the line reloading tools..

[CLYA]

Just reinforces my points. The only one that any of us need to justify our purchase of equipment to is ourselves or maybe a spouse.

It was my wife, that talked me into the Dillon. We were walking past a Blue Dillon display at a gun show years back, and since I couldn't fly full size aircraft anymore (horribly expensive), she thought I might be interested. There has been a great expansion of reloading equipment since then. But at least it's all paid for, so I can still buy guns.

[boondocker385]

Drain...case feeders, bullet feeders, powder warning (case and dispenser) is what I meant by bells and whistles.

In terms of speed, I didn't have them side by side to test the speed. But it took me over 3 hours for 1000 rounds on the hornady and right at 3 hours for the 650, YMMV. The slowest part of both was getting primers ready.

[jmorris]

My question is What do you consider "All the bells and whistles"?
Now, I own 4 Hornady Ammo-plants. And they have all the "bells and whistles". And not only are they faster than any Dillion that I have seen but they are much faster.

Something like this, that can load 1000 rounds in 52 minutes while you casegauge and box the finished rounds and keep it full of powder, primers and bullets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrFhnDQ-eUU

I have never seen a Hornady running as fast as some of my Dillon’s have at least not as reliable. I haven’t even seen any that could keep up with the Lee Loadmaster I had.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9pjmuHAkBU

Neither of the LNL’s I owned were close.

[pete2]

A few years ago I bought a 550B. I set it up for .45 and loaded on it for several months, I was a little leery of changing to 9mm or .38. I finally set it up for 9mm and 38, never looked back. I did get 2 more measures for the other 2 calibers. As for the 650, I would like the extra station for the powder check. Other than that the 550 is a lot simpler and I think less complicated to change calibers. Also, unless you have the automatic bullet and case feeders, it ain't gonna be much faster than a 550. Manual is the flick of a thumb, literally a split second of time.
I have Dillon dies for .38 and .45, I used my RCBS dies for the 9 MM. I like the RCBS dies better, the RCBS has adjustable bullet seater and lock rings with set screws.
My 2 cents.

[kmw1954]

Long ago I had a Bonanza "68" press. sure wish I still had it.

[pete2]

You fellers keep in mind that a progressive will load a lot of ammo in a short period of time, a lot of good ammo OR a lot of bad ammo. If you need to load 1000 rounds per hour you got a problem. BE CAREFUL.

[PPGMD]

Originally Posted by pete2

If you need to load 1000 rounds per hour you got a problem. BE CAREFUL.

Or you see reloading as an annoying chore and want to get it over as quick as possible.

If I could afford a Camdex setup, with brass refurbisher I would buy one. I could load all the ammo I need for a year in a long weekend. But I am not one to putz I get the machine setup, test the load for accuracy/PF, and then crank off a few thousand rounds.

[GTOne]

Running a progressive has nothing to do with fun, or lovingly crafting ammo. Seeing a pile of ammo at the end of a session is enjoyable though, very satisfying.
But yeah, people that have them and actually have a need to own them is likely because they have a full time job(Or are a commercial ammo manufacturer), maybe soccer baseball and basketball kids, and want to shoot comps Friday night, maybe Saturday too. So they might have two hours on a Sunday morning or evening to load ammo. That is where a reliable progressive machine is worth more than the retail price.

They will run the advertised numbers and are as safe as the operator. Same as with any press, they are only as safe as the operator.

[Carriertxv]

The only thing my Rock Chucker gets used for anymore is sizing bullets and the odd time I need to deprime a live primer otherwise all my handgun ammo gets loaded on my LNL.

[spawndn72]

I bought a Dillon 550B and probably shoot even less than you do, but it is a pleasure to load on it and I don't regret spending the money at all. I use it for 45ACP and 357 mag.

[Kevin Rohrer]

There is no comparison between "red" and "blue". There is a 550 for sale here in the Sale area. Go for it.

[cougar gt-e]

My bench has a Lee single stage, a borrowed Lee Pro1000, a Lee Loadmaster and a Dillon 650.

The Loadmaster is actually a decent machine, but needs attention to set up. It also does not like crimped primer pockets, a shaky mount/bench. But if you use it with one die to deprime/size, then clean and prime off press, it will flat run.

[KEYBEAR]

You do know after your gone some one will sell that Dillion xl-650 for as much or more then you paid for it .

[JeepHammer]

Pistol ammo with no case feeder or bullet feeder, a couple thousand a year?

I vote Dillon Square Deal B (SBD).
Accurate powder dropper, ready to run out of the box, easily adjusted dies, self indexing, no BS lifetime warranty they stand behind.

Just enough 'Automatic' to get people running easily but not enough to freak them out.
Good opertunity for quality control as you run along in your batch.

I will guarantee you will load every case you have once you get off that manual machine and start running self indexing!

----

*IF* you think there is a possibility you will run rifle cases, then you might consider one of the bigger models of Dillon.

[BigJimP]

Either go with Dillpn SDB -- or the 650. Either one will do what you need.

The 650 is a better press / the powder check is a significant safety feature...650 is easier to sell down the road if you take care of it. 650 uses std dies ( SDB does not ) you can put a case feeder on 650...SDB does not have one.

[PPGMD]

As mentioned by BigJim the Square Deal doesn't take standard dies, so I think the 550 is a better choice because you have better die selection. I know that on my 650 the only Dillon die I really use anymore is the power die because it is required, and the crimp die only because I already have them. Other wise I use a mix of dies.

[jmorris]

I have a couple of SD’s, they are good presses and are not for sale but for what they cost now I would likely pick other presses over them. When I bought mine they were $130 and their were less choices.

Now they run $430 and there is other good choices out there in the same price range, that are more versatile.

[kmw1954]

The original poster, tanders, hasn't posted or replied to this thread since the 25 of April so who knows where he's going with this.

My question to all of you is why does everyone think someone that planning on loading 50 rounds a week really needs to spend $400.00 -$700.00 on a press and tooling that is easily capable of doing 10X that amount.