five station vs four station

Neptune Cat

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I'm new at reloading (which may become painfully obvious).


Why would I need five stations? What is a powder check station?

I know LNLs have an issue with ejecting loaded cartridges. Are they worth the extra money over the 550B (I know every situation is different)? I'm planning on reloading mostley .45 maybe some 9mm and some .223.

I've been reloading .45 on a single stage RCBS and it takes much time. And although it may be another year before I can afford a progressive I can't stop thinking about it.

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RELOADING

get a LEE cast turret 4 station.it will speed up things.some times progresives are a pain for new users as they have more chances of problems.I have 3 progressives,so I have experiance but not with Dillon,Hornady.the Lee is quick change.and inexpensive.all makes are good but some are very pricey.I have about 10 presses.[grin]
 
If I understand it correctly all a powder check is is a sensor,for lack of a better term,to let you know that the case has no powder that's all. As far as 4 station vs 5 station matter of choice. I had a Dillon 550 for 20 years at least loved it great machine no problems with it no major breakage etc. I could crank out pistol ammo at a rate of 450rd/hr which is not shabby considering I'm all thumbs I now have a 650 which is five station and find that I don't use that last station but if someday I feel the need for a powder check or whatever I have that option. If your thinking of going progressive
IMHO go with the 550 as much as I like my 650 changing the priming system is royal PITA and the conversion kits,tool head are much cheaper than the 650. Yes I know I've drunk the blue Kool Aid.
 
I think the Hornady LnL is easy to setup and run.

The 5 holes give you a lot of options and as far as the ejection problem with the Lee FCD you can easily get around that.

The Hornady LnL is a bargain at it's price and with the free bullets it's a great deal.
 
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I think the Hornady LnL is easy to setup and run.

The 5 holes give you a lot of options and as far as the ejection problem with the Lee FCD you can easily get around that.

The Hornady LnL is a bargain at it's price and with the free bullets it's a great deal.


I believe the free bullets deal is over.[sad2]
 
I use a dillon 550b and have been extremely pleased with it. I bought it and used mainly for .45 but also run .38 and .223 through it.

With the setup I have I don't see the need for a 5th station.
 
Hornady has redesigned the press to eliminate the ejector wire altogether. The new version will be available after the 1st of the year. They must've heard it from enough people to realize that they had a problem.

It looks like you'll have to choose between the free bullets of the new press.

To be honest, the wire is not that big of a deal. Just don't use Lee factory crimp dies. Hornady, Redding, and RCBS crimp dies work fine and they won't hit the wire.

As for the 5th station, you probably don't need it if you're going to use the powder-through expanders. I don't use them (because they don't make them in all the calibers I load) so I use the 5th station to crimp.

It's an auto-indexing press so I've never felt the need to use a powder cop.

One underrated feature of the L-N-L is the fact that it indexes the shell plate both on the upstroke and the downstroke. This allows the shell plate to move in smaller 36 degree increments instead of 72 degrees in a whack. The benefit comes when you load cases with powder almost to the top. You can still move fast without flinging powder all over the place. In addition, if you use the powder-through expanders, you're not priming the cases directly below the powder hopper. I've never had a primer go off while it was being inserted, but if it did, I wouldn't want the hopper directly above it.
 
Hornady has redesigned the press to eliminate the ejector wire altogether. The new version will be available after the 1st of the year. They must've heard it from enough people to realize that they had a problem.

Figures. If mine was still in the box I'd send it back and get the new one. I really like the press, but the wire is a pain.

B
 
I read a lot of posts on RED vs. BLUE and both have their diehard owners. There are videos on this site made by a Blue user and they are well done. Youtube has LNL videos as well as Blue. The free bullets sold me on LNL and only had a few minor problems which were taken care of ASAP. I only wish Hornady had same lever handle as Dillons.

You could watch firsthand use of both simply asking. Both are fast if you preload primer pick-up tubes and you can also put a light in the center hole on either press with a little imagination (a friend did it with his 650).

If you are going to load rifle calibers, you may want a single stage press from what I hear. Good luck, tough choice IMHO and I only started loading in March '08. I wouldn't trade LNL for anything.

Pistol rotor is not included with LNL unfortunately. Eddie Coyle is working on putting a list together with all things you need to get started, initial investment keeps going and going.
 
The powder check die tells you three things. If there's not enough powder a warning buzzer goes off. If there's too much powder, the same thing happens. If the powder charge is what you set it to be then it will remain quiet.
 
caliber changes

One thing bugs me, is that caliber changes are difficult or simpler on
X machine.

IMHO it doesn't make a big difference. Most of us don't load 12 bullets
at a time. I usually do 1000 or more at a time. If you need to change
calibers its a good time to clean the machine.

That so called disadvantage is mute.

If your loading for precision you won't be using a progressive.

JimB
 
Hornady has redesigned the press to eliminate the ejector wire altogether. The new version will be available after the 1st of the year. They must've heard it from enough people to realize that they had a problem.

Any idea if it's going to be possible to retrofit existing LNLs to the new design?
 
One thing bugs me, is that caliber changes are difficult or simpler on
X machine.

IMHO it doesn't make a big difference. Most of us don't load 12 bullets
at a time. I usually do 1000 or more at a time. If you need to change
calibers its a good time to clean the machine.

That so called disadvantage is mute [sic].

If your [sic] loading for precision you won't be using a progressive.

JimB

The word you're trying to use is "moot" and, no, it isn't. It might be "minimal," depending upon what your definition of difficult is.

For a Dillon, it means removing two pins, sliding the toolhead out and replacing it with the new caliber, removing the center bolt to swap out the shell plate between steps.

Of course, if you don't have a separate powder measure for each caliber, you need to move it and recalibrate afterwards.

For a Hornady, assuming you have your dies pre-set in the quick-lock holders, you remove each of the old dies and replace it with its counterpart in the new caliber. You can exchange the powder insert or recalibrate the measure.

Note: This assumes you are NOT changing primer size. If you are, that's a couple more steps. The 550 isn't bad; the 650 is not noted for being particularly speedy in that regard.



As for the assertion that "If your [sic] loading for precision you won't be using a progressive," it depends upon the level of precision you need.

Put another way, if you want sufficient supplies of ammo to get good with, you won't be loading on a single-stage.

And, yes, I have done both.
 
I use a Dillon 550B and have been pleased with it for more than ten years.

I reload 9mm,40sw,45acp, .38spl, .357mag, .44spl, .44mag, 30carbine, .223, 308, 30.06 all on the same press by changing the toolheads and or shell plate if necessary.

I've broken a couple of parts and worn out a couple over the years, but have yet to have to buy a part for that press. One phonecall to Dillon and the parts were in my mailbox within 48hrs.
I'd buy another 550B in a heartbeat.

As for precision loading, I've loaded single hole ten shot group .308 ammo on the same press. I'm not a benchrest shooter nor a competetive target shooter but feel confident that I could load decent ammo for both on my press if need be.

Four stations is enough for me. My trimming/full length resizing is done with a separate toolhead and a Dillon motorized rimmer.
 
Geeze, I have a 550B and only use three of the four stations.

1. Deprime/prime.
2. Bell case/load powder.
3. Seat bullet and crimp.
4. (I put a small flashlight there to help me
see the completed round and prevent me
from advancing the plate and dropping a
bullet-less round in the bin.)

I use RCBS carbide dies and load 9mm, .40SW, and .45ACP.

I've been loading for some time now and hope I'm not doing something wrong.
Help me out guys.

Chris
 
I'm running 2 550's; one for large primers and the other for small. I do use all 4 stations because I separate bullet seating from crimping, largely through the use of a Lee FCD.
 
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