Time for a new press setup for 9mm and .45. Recommendations?

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Rate_of_Twist

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My Lee turret press has served me well the past 2 years with over 6000 rounds of 9mm and 600 rounds of 308 produced through it. While not large numbers, it has been enough that I feel as though I should start researching a new press setup

My requirements in a new press are strictly pistol. Between my pistols and CX4 carbine I shoot 9mm and .45 at a very much increasing rate. I also plan on shooting the rest of this years USPSA matches at HSC ( so I could be in some serious trouble for next season)
I plan on keeping the turret press for .308, 7.62x54r, and.30-06. as these are lower volume rounds. For a press, I would like progressive that has ease of interchanging calibers and primer sizes. For my Lee I have extra turrets and powder measures that stay with the dies they were setup for. Ease of changeover and price of the parts to do it is a key aspect of my desire to buy a better press.

Speed of production is also another aspect but I know any progressive will be faster than my turret press.

I have started looking at everything from Lee 1000's to Dillon 550's ect. Overall price is a concern, but not AS important as overall functionality. Lee or Hornady would be nice as I get a nice discount on them, but as I said getting the RIGHT setup for me is most important.

Your thoughts?
 
I have a Dillon 550b. It is great. If you are really thinking about producing a high volume of rounds, the 650 may be a better option. I am fairly new to reloading, but the 550 has served me well so far. Watch a you tube video on someone cranking out rounds with the 650 though. It is a huge time saver. I in no way "need" one but it looks awesome. Interchanging tool heads is easy on the 550 and I imagine just as easy with the 650.

ETA: looks like the forum experts beat me to it on the 650.
 
Mr. Brownstone said:
I have a Dillon 550b. It is great. If you are really thinking about producing a high volume of rounds, the 650 may be a better option. I am fairly new to reloading, but the 550 has served me well so far. Watch a you tube video on someone cranking out rounds with the 650 though. It is a huge time saver. I in no way "need" one but it looks awesome. Interchanging tool heads is easy on the 550 and I imagine just as easy with the 650.
Click to expand...

What do you do an hour with you 550? It's been a long time since I looked at press prices but I remember a 650 be stratospheric price wise. Frankly, I don't ever remember the difference between the 550 and the 650.... All I remember is dillons entry level press is pistol only and not truly progressive
 
**DRB** said:
What do you do an hour with you 550? It's been a long time since I looked at press prices but I remember a 650 be stratospheric price wise. Frankly, I don't ever remember the difference between the 550 and the 650.... All I remember is dillons entry level press is pistol only and not truly progressive
Click to expand...

If the primer tubes are filled and the brass doesn't suck too much, and the press is relatively clean, I can get 400/hr easy out of my 550.

-Mike
 
**DRB** said:
What do you do an hour with you 550? It's been a long time since I looked at press prices but I remember a 650 be stratospheric price wise. Frankly, I don't ever remember the difference between the 550 and the 650.... All I remember is dillons entry level press is pistol only and not truly progressive
Click to expand...

The 650 has five stations as opposed to the 550's four, and it auto-indexes (you index the 550's shellplate manually).

I don't have a 650 (yet) but I have a 1050 set up for .45 ACP. If I pre-sort the brass to get rid of the small primer cases and have someone fill the primer tubes as I use them up, I can go through a box of 1000 bullets in less than 40 minutes.
 
Don't exclude the Dillon square deal B. Its downfalls are it can only do pistol calibers (you said that's all you need anyway) and it uses proprietary dies. It is a very nice progressive press at an attractive price. I frequently load 400 rounds in about an hour, time includes filling primer tubes
 
SJan said:
Don't exclude the Dillon square deal B. Its downfalls are it can only do pistol calibers (you said that's all you need anyway) and it uses proprietary dies. It is a very nice progressive press at an attractive price. I frequently load 400 rounds in about an hour, time includes filling primer tubes
Click to expand...

Yes, all of my rifle shooting is slow paced precision type shooting so high volume is not critical. I actually would like two switch over to a single stage press completely. I will give another look into the square deal as well
 
SJan said:
Don't exclude the Dillon square deal B. Its downfalls are it can only do pistol calibers (you said that's all you need anyway) and it uses proprietary dies. It is a very nice progressive press at an attractive price. I frequently load 400 rounds in about an hour, time includes filling primer tubes
Click to expand...
This - if you are only going to be loading pistol.
 
Brian Enos has an excellent summary of the features, advantages and shortcomings of every Dillon press. I haven't read it in a while, but I think he said the 650 would load more per hour, but changing calibers on the 550 is faster and cheaper. I've loaded rifle and pistol calibers on the 550B since the 1980's and it's fast enough for me, but I don't shoot thousands of rounds a month.
Dillon Precision Reloading Press Reviews
 
So I've spent the last few hours watching YouTube videos and such..... One question keeps coming to mind. What is the tangible difference between these presses ( LnL AP , Square deal, 550, 650 ). Yes I understand the 650 is regarded as the "best" for a reason but why? Is it strictly speed or does it produces higher quality finished product?

Will a less expensive press ( LNL square deal ect ) be more finicky and harder to use and in turn slower? What is the extra $500-700 MORE for the press really getting me?
 
**DRB** said:
So I've spent the last few hours watching YouTube videos and such..... One question keeps coming to mind. What is the tangible difference between these presses ( LnL AP , Square deal, 550, 650 ). Yes I understand the 650 is regarded as the "best" for a reason but why? Is it strictly speed or does it produces higher quality finished product?

Will a less expensive press ( LNL square deal ect ) be more finicky and harder to use and in turn slower? What is the extra $500-700 MORE for the press really getting me?
Click to expand...

Biggest diff based off youtube and owning a 550 between 650/550 is speed. Great offer by Eddie Coyle.
 
EddieCoyle said:
Next time you're in the neighborhood, you're welcome to stop by my place and try an L-N-L, SQ Deal, and Dillon 1050.
Click to expand...

Careful, I might be inclined to take you up on that. [wink]. Its hard forking over this much cash for something with no real idea of what your buying and why you should buy it. Anything will be an upgrade for me so I can do that bad....
 
Mr. Brownstone said:
Biggest diff based off youtube and owning a 550 between 650/550 is speed. Great offer by Eddie Coyle.
Click to expand...


I believe the 650 and above is out of my league price wise. Doing some pricing on one of the popular places to buy dillon puts me at way over $1k to set myself up with a 650. For the foreseeable future I can imagine loading more than 20,000 a year in pistol calibers. So I'm not sure if a $1500 investment designed to do double that capacity is really needed
 
Be careful about trying a 1050...
a friend of mine let me pull the handle on his 1050 a few times and I loved it. I definitely want one, but couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger. It is a very nice machine.
I did pickup a 650 this year though (upgraded from a 550 with a case feed). Without stoppages, I can pump out 100 9mm in 4-5 minutes of pulling the handle.
I was averaging 12-15 minutes per 100 on my 550.

I have never used the hornday machines, but folks that I know that have had both generally prefer the 650.
You are probably looking at somewhere between 8-900 for the 650, casefeeder, and dies.
Buy once, cry once, have the best machine for a lifetime.
 
I have had a Hornady Lock n Load AP for a year or so. It was my first press and I load 9mm, 357 mag, 44 mag, 45ACP, and .223 no problem with a case feeder and bullet feeder. Maybe I am just lucky with my powder selection, but I have not had any major problems with the primer seater or any other station.

I am not reloading at the quantity of others in this forum but I will do 500 of a particular round at a sitting. I would not have been happy with a press that does not auto index. I had to buy a single stage press to prep rifle brass so keep that in mind.

In my mind the choice is between the 650 and the LNL AP, from a feature point of view the 550 is a lesser machine.

Chris
 
The 550b is a great press. It isn't fully progressive but that's not really an issue because it is well balanced between the left and right hands. DO NOT add the case feeder. It screws up the left hand right hand balance of the machine and I could never get it to work 100% right. It was an after thought and a poor design. If you want a press with a case feeder get the 650 from the start.
 
I know everyone is going to hate this. I bought a Lee loadmaster in .45 acp last year with the new primer feed. It has run flawlessly and only cost me $213. I also purchased the bullet loader and it is really a fast press. I bought a few primer trays which makes the primers a non issue. The brass loads easy in the case feeder tubes with the bullet feeder tubes taking the longest to fill. I have not had a single timing or priming issue with this with over 6k of rounds being reloaded. For the money I don't think one can go wrong. I know in the past people had issues with the priming on the Loadmasters but not with the new primer feed. I found Titan Reloading has the best pricing when shipping is included. The present pricing on the loadmaster is $243 without the bullet feeder.
 
I think the 550 is the best press for the money. I can get an easy 400 rounds per hour with mine. I made the mistake and added a case feeder. It isn't reliable enough to justify the cost. Tried a Square Deal and hated it; traded it back to Dillon for the 550.

Gammon

Dillon 300, 450, 550, and 1050.
 
One of my presses is a 650 with a case feeder. I like the priming system on the 550 better but the 650 has room for the powder check die. The 550 doesn't. I suggest you get a case feeder. I use the primer filler from Dillon.
 
**DRB** said:
So I've spent the last few hours watching YouTube videos and such..... One question keeps coming to mind. What is the tangible difference between these presses ( LnL AP , Square deal, 550, 650 ). Yes I understand the 650 is regarded as the "best" for a reason but why? Is it strictly speed or does it produces higher quality finished product?

Will a less expensive press ( LNL square deal ect ) be more finicky and harder to use and in turn slower? What is the extra $500-700 MORE for the press really getting me?
Click to expand...

A 650 will be under $1k set up for one caliber with a case feeder. The benefit of the 650 is it just works all the time. Therefore it is much faster. The LNL does not and frequently gets out of adjustment. The LNL is a bad design. It uses springs to allow for multiple calibers while using the same parts. The springs reduce the precision and reliability of the press. Your speed suffers and so will the quality of your ammo. The LNL case feeder is terrible and primer system will eventually wear the press and lead to high primers.

You will spend more money for the 650 at the start, but will save a ton when you sell the LNL to get a 650.
 
If you are only doing pistol calibers as you say, then it is a no-brainer. Dillon Square Deal-B.

I currently have two of these set up on my bench. One is set up for .45 ACP all the time. The other I switch between 9 different calibers. Fast, Easy, Rock solid, No BS warranty.

Can't be beat.
 

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