Help which Progressive reloading press

[Lopro]

owned a LNL years loaded 40 , 9 , 5.56 , 380 lots of tinkering : (

bought a 650 two years ago and LOVE IT no complaints at all load 380, 9 , 40 , 45 , 5.56 Good Times once you blue there is no going back .

 

[dvajda]

I just got started reloading 4 weeks ago, so I can chime in as a new progressive reloader:

Everyone told me to start off with Dillon 550B or 650. I of course ignored that advice (as I always do) and went with the Dillon 1050 Super.

And I couldn't be happier! Sure, it was a little complicated to set up, but I don't see how it would be any less complicated to set up a 650. The entire 1050 machine came in one big piece, not like I had to put it together from parts. All I had to do was mount it on something, add the case feeder, and start cranking out rounds. It came with 9mm dies already pre-installed, and with 2 cases that they had run through it to make sure it was set up (I had ordered for 9mm specifically). Obviously if my bullets were of different size, I would have to change seating depth, and to set up powder drop, but this is same for 550, 650.

I ended up slapping a Mr. Bullet feeder on the 1050 too, and that was pretty easy to do. I watched a youtube video. Big deal. Works great.

So, the lesson to take away here: get what you want. Don't be afraid to get a bigger machine than you need, you might grow into it. The worse thing you can do is to listen to advice from others and not go all the way. I know I would have regret if I got the 650, because the 1050 lets me crank out 9mm like crazy, and I've shot a ton in last 4 weeks.

Life is good. Oh, and reloading is fun. I'm now modding my press as if it were some Glock, thing is slowly getting aftermarket everything. It is a hobby onto itself.

 

[dustoff22]

Depends on how much you shoot. I've been down the LNL road with two machines including case feeder. Found them to be far too finicky for my liking and I'm reasonably handy. Ended up with a 550 and then bought another. They'll outlast me and as has been said, nobody's customer service beats Dillons. The last machine I bought from Brian Enos who I consider an extremely straight shooter. In his words:

"A common misconception: Manually indexing the shellplate slows down the machine. The truth is: Without a Casefeeder, auto-indexing only unnecessarily complicates the machine, without offering any increase in speed. Because, while your right hand cycles the handle, your left hand grabs a bullet, then waits for the shellplate to return. After seating the primer, while your right hand is reaching for a new piece of brass, your left hand indexes the shellplate and sets the bullet on the case (which is charged with powder) before your right hand can insert a new case in the Shellplate.
If you plan to load multiple calibers on one machine, would like to switch calibers quickly, easily, and inexpensively, this is the machine for you."

 

[earthshine402]

I would ask these questions: How many times have you done this, and how long have you be reloading? Being a new reloader, I was double checking as I go, and that time included setting a new powder charge. I am not as practiced in the switch over, and with a known set up to switch over to, I would think that I could make the change and load 100 rounds in about 30 minutes.

I've only been reloading for about 3.5 years, and 3 of those with the 650.

I actually have not made the caliber switch very often, probably a total of 5 or 6 times between 9, 38 special, and 40 within the past 2 or 3 years. It is pretty easy. I also have an aftermarket powder measure micrometer with an excel sheet on my computer, so I can quickly change powders and get the powder charge dialed in very quickly vs. doing a trial and error binary search to the right setting.

 

[EddieCoyle]

I don't see how it would be any less complicated to set up a 650.

Try changing your 1050 to .45ACP and then back to 9mm, then you'll see.

 

[dvajda]

Try changing your 1050 to .45ACP and then back to 9mm, then you'll see.

Completely agree! I bought the DVD from Dillon for the 1050 (BS that it isn't included, but whatever) and it shows how to do a caliber conversion. I think I watched 20 minutes of the caliber conversion chapter, being done by a guy who knows what he is doing... Instantly decided that it would be faster to get a whole new machine.

I bought my 1050 to reload 9mm only, as that is the majority of my handguns, and also what I shoot the most of.

As it came from Dillon, the shellplate and smaller primer system were already installed, as were the dies (which I have since replaced). So I should have said *initial* setup was not difficult. Caliber changes are horrific.

 

[Mark from MA]

After a little dicking with the index pawls, I loaded up about 200 rounds of 45 without a hitch tonight, just messing around getting the thing tuned. If it stays in tune, this press will be more than fast enough for me. But you blue guys don't give me much hope.....

The ejection was giving me fits, until I realized I was being a bit ham handed with it....after that I was smooth sailing.

 

[Fixxah]

I'll stick to my reloading pliers. One round every 8 minutes. (J/K)
Good choice.

-Proud to be dad every day, a licensed plumber most days, and wish I was a shoemaker on others.

 

[Gammon]

Completely agree! I bought the DVD from Dillon for the 1050 (BS that it isn't included, but whatever) and it shows how to do a caliber conversion. I think I watched 20 minutes of the caliber conversion chapter, being done by a guy who knows what he is doing... Instantly decided that it would be faster to get a whole new machine.

I bought my 1050 to reload 9mm only, as that is the majority of my handguns, and also what I shoot the most of.

As it came from Dillon, the shellplate and smaller primer system were already installed, as were the dies (which I have since replaced). So I should have said *initial* setup was not difficult. Caliber changes are horrific.

Caliber changes aren't all that bad, extra tool heads are only abut $110 or so. The 1050 is an extremely complicated machine. You will learn this as the machine begins to wear and you have to deal with its operation in detail. I have had mine for about 20 years and love it. My only complaint is that it doesn't come with the Dillon "no BS" warranty.

 

[dvajda]

Caliber changes aren't all that bad, extra tool heads are only abut $110 or so. The 1050 is an extremely complicated machine. You will learn this as the machine begins to wear and you have to deal with its operation in detail. I have had mine for about 20 years and love it. My only complaint is that it doesn't come with the Dillon "no BS" warranty.

I'm an engineer so I hope I'll be ok, I enjoy messing around with stuff like that. I've already had a primer get stuck sideways and lock up the shellplate/handle, nothing would go up or down. And there were 99 more primers in the tube too. That was exciting.

The only thing that really annoys me is the powder step. I hate that I need to have the powder drop on the powder die for it to engage the bell die, makes it a pain to create dummy rounds to test seating depth/crimp. Not to mention that I have to empty the powder drop every time I use the machine.

 

[Slowdive]

So, the lesson to take away here: get what you want. Don't be afraid to get a bigger machine than you need, you might grow into it. The worse thing you can do is to listen to advice from others and not go all the way..

Caliber changes are horrific.

???

The overwhelming majority of re loaders load more than one caliber and don't have a dedicated machine for each. In this case the worse thing for most would have been to listen to your first piece of advice.

 

[dvajda]

???

The overwhelming majority of re loaders load more than one caliber and don't have a dedicated machine for each. In this case the worse thing for most would have been to listen to your first piece of advice.

I said the worst thing you can do is listen to advice from others, right? Also, what works for "an overwhelming majority" of reloaders may not work for the OP. Most of the reloaders I know do reload multiple calibers, but they have dedicated machines for certain calibers that are the high-volume ones. Guys that shot lots of 9mm have a high-volume machine for 9mm, and another machine for other calibers. Guys that shoot lots of .223 have a machine dedicated to that, and then maybe another machine for all others, and maybe even a single stage for some others.

I plan on getting other machines for other calibers, but the 1050 is dedicated to 9mm since I go through a lot of it (600 rounds shot today). I will probably get another for .223. I know for a fact I will not spend a lot of time doing caliber conversions for types of ammo that I shoot often, as that is a pain and wastes my time. Unfortunately I do not have much free time, so I have to be as efficient with what I have as possible. The other calibers such as .357 SIG, 10mm, 7.62x39, .308 that I don't shoot as often will not each be getting a machine, so I will make probably go with another model (or maybe I won't, I dunno, I do love the 1050, the swaging station, the primer seating on down, etc).

The major point of my post is to go with your gut, and go with what you think you need based on your own habits. Everyone told me to get a 650 because it was "too difficult to start out with a 1050". Most websites said the same. I did my research, knew ahead of time that I would never ever get a caliber conversion since I needed to do 9mm constantly, and knew that I could figure out a simple mechanical device as long as I had a manual, DVD, or You Tube. And it's all good.

Once I've got 9mm down to a science, I'll move on to other calibers and perhaps other machines. Had to start somewhere though, and 9mm was costing me the most.

 

[Cmaro21]

I had a Lee Reloader for a short while and returned it. It was probably part my fault, but it was basically a single stage because it jammed so much. I sent that one back and haven't touched a press in 4 years. I would like get back into and decided back when I returned the Lee that the next press would be blue.

I am split between the 650 and 1050. I plan on reloading 9 to start and then .223 / 5.56 once I get the components stocked. In the past I have had bad issues with military brass 5.56 and the primer pocket. The Lee didn't like this brass at all and it stopped the whole show. On the 650, if you need to swage the primer pockets do you have to pull each from the shell plate and swage manually then reinsert in the plate? If so, for this reason alone wouldn't the 1050 would be worth the double price since it has the extra tool head to swage the brass? If I was just doing pistol rounds I would say the 650 would more than meet my needs but I want to have that expansion for a truly progressive press working with .223. Feedback is greatly appreciated.

 

[dvajda]

Well, as recent owner of the 1050, I can sing it's praises. The swaging station is quite nice to have, as well as the fact that there are 8 stations. It means you can do a lot of things, like add automatic bullet drop to empty station. The swag isn't just good for military brass, it actually is a big factor for 9mm as well, at least in my case:

I purchased the Mr. Bullet feeder for my 1050, and I reload only 9mm. I have normal once-fired brass that I deprime and stainless-steel tumble beforehand. It does not need to be swaged. I started to have a problem when reloading in that while the 1050 does all real "actions" on the down stroke of the handle, I would have a problem where the handle would stick on the way up. I would need to apply a quick amount of force when going back up to "pop" the handle past a sticking point. This was an issue because the quick, fast force was enough to suck powder out of my cases at the powder drop station. You could see it on the shell plate and floating. It really made the machine a pain to run, because you'd pull down on the handle in a slow smooth motion, but on the way up there would be this hard short area you had to use force to pop up through. Sounded really bad, and it was a mess.

Turns out the issue was that the Mr. Bullet feeder powder drop flare die was sticking in the case after bell/flare. I had it set to minimum amount needed so that bullet didn't tip, but still it was causing that sticking on the way up. I read online that if you have the 1050, you don't need this, because the swage station has an expander in it too. So while swaging, it expands the mouth of the case as well to accept a bullet. It isn't a bell/flare, it is an expansion, which is perfect in my case because I use Berry's larger diameter bullets... The Mr. Bullet feeder powder die attempts to expand and flare/bell, but that isn't needed if you have the 1050 swage. So I went back to the stock Dillon powder die which just puts a little flare/bell on the cases, and put my swage die back on (had removed it), and adjusted it to expand my case mouths to where I was seating my bullets.

This has worked out great. The swage/expander station operates on the down stroke smoothly with no real force and does not stick. The stock Dillon powder die does not try to expand the case so it does not stick on the way up. The machine is now super smooth and requires only smooth force on downstroke, not on upstroke. Powder is no longer being vacuum sucked out of my cases by the quick "unstick" motion I was having to do. And the bullets dropped by the Mr. Bullet feeder sit just fine in my cases, nothing falls out or over when the shellplate moves.

So, the swage station in my case is a godsend for doing normal 9mm, I am quite pleased that I have its expansion capability. The other die was making my machine unpleasant to operate.

 

[KTech2316]

I'm buying a 1050 soon. I have the 650 now...Which I love. The caliber change on a 650 going from Large primer to small takes less than 5 minutes.

 

[Gammon]

I don't believe that the new 1050s flare the case mouth at the swager. Swaging can be done at the powder measure.

Primer pocket swaging is not all its cracked up to be in 223 because case prep is much more complicated than the average pistol case. You must tumble, lube, resize and decap, tumble again to remove the lube, remove the primer pocket crimp (I prefer a counter sink to swaging in 223), measure, and trim, not necessarily in this order. I resize on a single stage Rock Chucker, perform all of the case prep, and then reload the prepped cases on a 450. A 1050 will speed up the reloading of 223, but case prep will still slow you down.

PS My mistake. You can flare the case mouth at the powder measure.