Help which Progressive reloading press

LAIRD

LAIRD

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Please help me, I am new to reloading and want to buy a Progressive press, need some tip on the one to buy.

Thank's for all NES help..
 
once you go Green, You should go Blue.....Dillon that is, i love my 650, but any of their presses are great, and their warranty is the best!
 
Dillon is it, but unlike the anchor I like my 550B, it is easier to clear jams, and while a little slower (I usually do about 400 .38's a hour) it doesn't have the case feeder but I simply prefer it.
One thing that you can do with it is feed in a single case and use it as a single stage press advancing it through each step and then inspecting the final cartridge.

However all this said, I also recommend new reloaders start with a single stage press like the RCBS Rock Chucker, you will only do about 60-100 cartridges an hour but you will learn reloading and then later you can use it for load development
Or do what I do, I do Handgun, M1 Carbine and 223 on my Dillon 550 but I do my 30.06 and 45-70 and .303 on the RCBS as I am usually only loading 100 rounds (50 for the 45-70) and it is actually faster on the single stage than switching the Dillon over.
 
Love my 550B.

A little cheaper to do caliber conversions on, a tiny bit simpler, and still can put out 500 rounds an hour if you do your part.

With the recommendations of other NESers I ordered extra feed tubes with mine, and it makes reloading much faster if you pre-load the tubes.

Also, I have found that the dirt cheap lee auto-disk powder meters work well for pistol powder. Since I buy lee die sets, saves me money on the extra powder funnel I'd need for the dillon.

The dillon powder measure that comes with the press is great though, but it sticks with the .223 dies.

Mike
 
Another vote for the Dillon 550, especially for a new reloader. There's one for sale, with extras, in the classifieds right now. Another good thing about the Dillons and their accessories is that they hold their value very well, so you can recoup your investment if you change your mind.
 
How many calibers do you want to load? What volume do you shoot? What's your budget? Any recommendation without these answers is just someone saying what they personally like.

If you're an action pistol competitor and only load one caliber in any significant volume and have the budget for it, I can't say enough good about the Dillon 1050.
 
Thank You all, I mainly shoot 9mm and 45 ACP and alot of 9mm I also would like to load 223/556 for my AR...
I like to buy good tools and Great Guns (SIG) so money is not a real big deal I like vaule most of all...
 
We bought a Dillon 550b Last year. Love it, money very well spent. Extra primer tubes come in very handy to keep your rhythm going.

- - - Updated - - -

LAIRD said:
Thank You all, I mainly shoot 9mm and 45 ACP and alot of 9mm I also would like to load 223/556 for my AR...
I like to buy good tools and Great Guns (SIG) so money is not a real big deal I like vaule most of all...
Click to expand...

Dillon 550 or 650 then. Can load pistol or rifle on either one, and the Dillon no BS warranty is worth the little extra you pay in my opinion.
 
550 is a glorified single stage. Get a 650 if you go blue and like lots of little moving parts and speed dial customer service.

-Proud to be dad every day, a licensed plumber most days, and wish I was a shoemaker on others.
 
swampy said:
You can spend thousands of dollars to load hundreds of dollars worth of ammunition but you don't have to. Lee products are excellent quality and very affordable.
Click to expand...

I agree. I don't have a lee press yet. But I will be getting a breech lock for rifle loading. I currently use a turret press for 9mm and 45 acp. I can load just under 200 rounds an hour. I don't need to do more then that. Two hours I got over 150 rounds of 45 and 150 of 9mm. I can't complain. I do not need to crank out 500 rounds an hour.
 
LAIRD said:
Thank You all, I mainly shoot 9mm and 45 ACP and alot of 9mm I also would like to load 223/556 for my AR...
I like to buy good tools and Great Guns (SIG) so money is not a real big deal I like vaule most of all...
Click to expand...

Then buy a Dillon 650. The best value in reloading.
 
swampy said:
You can spend thousands of dollars to load hundreds of dollars worth of ammunition but you don't have to. Lee products are excellent quality and very affordable.
Click to expand...

We spent less than $800.00 for a 550b and the needed accessories. Payback on a Dillon 550B, even for 9mm, is only a few thousand rounds, and that's buying brass, using good bullets, and paying inflated prices for primers and powder here in New England (It's even less if you pick up supplies while travelling out of state like I did). I looked at Lee and played with a few, they just weren't for me. If you only shoot a couple thousand rounds a year a Dillon may not be want you need. Between the wife and I we shot enough 9mm alone between October of last year and now, to pay for our 550b. Not one issue, and I haven't had to adjust a thing since I got it set up to run after testing loads.

Do what I did and check out youtube for videos on how the different presses run. It helps you see how they work and you may notice things you like/dislike about the different models.
 
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The general consensus seems to be that a Dillon 550 (not a true progressive), Dillon 650 (true progressive), or the Hornady LNL AP are the best progressive presses offered (or a Dillon 1050 if you have the cash).

I have a LNL AP and like it... another NES'r did a great comparison of the LNL AP Vs. The 650 here:
http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/220394-Dillon-XL-650-versus-Hornady-Lock-N-Load-Auto-Progressive-comparison?highlight=Dillon+comparison

There was another good thread here comparing the 550 to the LNL:
http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/222768-Deciding-on-a-Progressive-%28550-LnL-Pro2000%29

Best of Luck!
 
Another vote for the 550 B. Not a "True Progressive"? Auto indexing is highly overrated and is not the defining quality of a true progressive press.
 
Dillon vs. Lee is Cadillac vs. Chevy Chevette. The Chevette will get you around just fine but won't last as long go as fast and is not as well made.

Lee makes great dies but I have had their powder measures and scales and the quality while fine is not on par with Dillon.

Also look at the resale values on gunbroker and Ebay for the two companies, You may want to upgrade or even get out of reloading at some point, Dillon holds it's resale value much better.
 
I jumped in with a Dillon 650 and never looked back. For me it was about economy, ease and engineering. The 650, though it has some things that could be improved upon is a solid machine that allows one to rather easily produce a metric shit ton of ammo in a short amount of time. I would look at what your break even will be on a particular cartridge and go from there. For me it started with 9mm. I was paying near .30 per round. I paid $1k with a ton of stuff when I purchased off a failed reloader. I make 9mm for roughly .12...So I was saving .18 per round, therefore I would need to do 5,555 over the life of the press to break even. I did that in one summer. That being said I have also done .45's, .38sp, .40's, .45colt,....Increasing the savings to where in 1 year I have paid for the press and then some with the amount of ammo I have made for myself and my friends. I will be starting to do .380's and saving nearly .48 cents per round.

The 650 is awesome to work with when you do the following:

1. Have a case feeder.
2. Get the feel for the machine and understand how it works.
3. Add a bullet feeder ( I am in the process of building a bullet feeder)

I personally have used a number of different machines at friends house and they all said the same thing when trying to use the 650....."this thing is awewsome"

If this is not just a whim for you I would go in for the Dillon 650 "as it should be" from Brian Enos. The resale as mentioned above on Dillon stuff tends to be fairly close to what you paid for it....I have sold used dies for MORE than I paid for them consistently on Ebay.

Also there are some more senior NESers here that teach reloading and I would recommend looking into a class prior to embarking if you are not in with a group of friends that is fairly knowledgeable. Heck I would suggest it anyway.

Reloading for me is one of the best hobbies I have ever taken to....For me almost every part is a joy...There is something about making something cool and saving money whilst doing it. So much fun.
 
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Andrew92fs said:
I jumped in with a Dillon 650 and never looked back. For me it was about economy, ease and engineering. The 650, though it has some things that could be improved upon is a solid machine that allows one to rather easily produce a metric shit ton of ammo in a short amount of time. I would look at what your break even will be on a particular cartridge and go from there. For me it started with 9mm. I was paying near .30 per round. I paid $1k with a ton of stuff when I purchased off a failed reloader. I make 9mm for roughly .12...So I was saving .18 per round, therefore I would need to do 5,555 over the life of the press to break even. I did that in one summer. That being said I have also done .45's, .38sp, .40's, .45colt,....Increasing the savings to where in 1 year I have paid for the press and then some with the amount of ammo I have made for myself and my friends. I will be starting to do .380's and saving nearly .48 cents per round.

The 650 is awesome to work with when you do the following:

1. Have a case feeder.
2. Get the feel for the machine and understand how it works.
3. Add a bullet feeder ( I am in the process of building a bullet feeder)

I personally have used a number of different machines at friends house and they all said the same thing when trying to use the 650....."this thing is awewsome"

If this is not just a whim for you I would go in for the Dillon 650 "as it should be" from Brian Enos. The resale as mentioned above on Dillon stuff tends to be fairly close to what you paid for it....I have sold used dies for MORE than I paid for them consistently on Ebay.

Also there are some more senior NESers here that teach reloading and I would recommend looking into a class prior to embarking if you are not in with a group of friends that is fairly knowledgeable. Heck I would suggest it anyway.

Reloading for me is one of the best hobbies I have ever taken to....For me almost every part is a joy...There is something about making something cool and saving money whilst doing it. So much fun.
Click to expand...

Listen to this guy.. he is spot on.. I started out with a RCBS Rock Chucker package when I was starting IDPA, and a few months into it I wanted to throw it out the window after loading 200 rounds in way too much time. I then picked up the 650.. A few years later, getting into USPSA also, having the 650 is such a benefit. I've loaded up 500 rounds of 9mm in 35 minutes when things were going smoothly. I have learned the feel of the press and always watch the case feeding into the first station - 1/200 might be upside down or something. Become aware of how things should feel, don't force it, and crank out that ammo! If you value your time and would like to make consitent, quality ammo, the 650 is the way to go.

BTW, good advice on the "as it should be", but keep in mind that the strong mount may not be needed depending on bench height. I build a bench based on plans in some shotgun world magazine, and it is at the perfect height that I don't need the strong mount.
 
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I run Dillons. An XL-650 and a Super 1050. The 650 is the work horse, I use the 1050 exclusively for 223 (my top seller). Between the 2 presses I've loaded around 1 million rounds over 19 different calibers this century. Dillon was always really good about replacing worn parts under the lifetime warranty but the last couple of years, not so much. For your application I'd go with a 650 and separate tool heads - one for each caliber.
 
One more piece of info...."You get what you pay for" definitely applies here. I love my press so much that when I reload with a group of friends I volunteer to reload all the rounds....I crank away and they fill primer tubes and cases and add bullets to the Mr. bullet feeder die assembly...Damn I wish I was reloading right now.

Shittiest part for me is tumbling brass.
 
I agree, I buy the quick changes and set em and forget em.....In my case, I have found that Dillon has been really good to me about parts.....When I email them I have the parts within a week. I noticed that some of the parts were even a new more durable plastic material (indexer).


qmmo said:
I run Dillons. An XL-650 and a Super 1050. The 650 is the work horse, I use the 1050 exclusively for 223 (my top seller). Between the 2 presses I've loaded around 1 million rounds over 19 different calibers this century. Dillon was always really good about replacing worn parts under the lifetime warranty but the last couple of years, not so much. For your application I'd go with a 650 and separate tool heads - one for each caliber.
Click to expand...
 
Dillon 550 is great beginner press. Progressive, but if you are smart, you will back it off to single stage until you get the hang of things. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

I banged around with a Lee Loadmaster I snagged for cheap (no resale value) on Craigs list when I started out. I felt like the dad on "A Christmas Story" doing battle in the basement cursing and clanging around to get the dagnammit thing to run right. Spent more time fiddling and fooling with the press than I did making ammo. Almost killed the hobby for me. Then I went up to The Trading Post, where they have several presses set up to look at and feel. The quality and smoothness of the 550 compared to anything Lee was noticeably better. I'm sure the simple Lee stuff is pretty good and easy to handle but anything other than that and I would look at other presses. On that note, I have EXCLUSIVELY Lee Dies in my dillon stuff. Nothing has shown me the need to justify the expense of Dillon dies yet. Although since it seems I'm Blue for good I'll probably go for Blue dies when I'm big and rich...

Gatling Guns Rule
 
qmmo said:
I run Dillons. An XL-650 and a Super 1050. The 650 is the work horse, I use the 1050 exclusively for 223 (my top seller). Between the 2 presses I've loaded around 1 million rounds over 19 different calibers this century. Dillon was always really good about replacing worn parts under the lifetime warranty but the last couple of years, not so much. For your application I'd go with a 650 and separate tool heads - one for each caliber.
Click to expand...

Just knowing the sheer volume that you produce is definitely a testament to Dillon! I doubt that anyone on here even comes close to producing the amount of ammo you do. I'm kind of in the same boat as the OP with regard to the calibers that I would be likely to be reloading at this point, and while that 650 sounds like a fantastic setup, I have to look closely at the break even point (as the OP should also). For this reason, I believe the 550b might be more in line price-wise for doing mainly 9mm and .223 wouldn't you agree? Going by Andrew's post above, having to load almost 6k rounds to reach the break even point with the 650 makes it hard to justify for average shooter who is not on a competitive league or something. I would definitely appreciate your input though if my thought process is flawed though.[wink]
 

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