Originally Posted by
curiousgeorge
Well, I had a Pro 2000 on my bench for about 4 weeks.
It did not belong to me, but I offered to help a friend's widow to sell some of his reloading equipment. He had bought it new and had never loaded a shell, had attempted to get it going, but at that point in his life lacked the attention span and dexterity to make it work.
This is a well made machine. I admit that it took me a couple of times to get used to the primer strips. I carelessly stuck one in backwards which locked up the priming system and I probably fiddled with everything for 30 minutes before I realized my mistake. I did like the fact that the powder measure stayed mounted on the press and that the case belling was done with regular die set. This model was before the automatic advance. You turned the shell plate by hand the same as on a Dillon 550. Caliber change-overs were fairly easy, but not as fast as pulling the whole tool head on a Dillon with an extra powder measure attached, but again, more expense in having an extra measure.
I have a Piggyback II and was tempted to buy the machine myself due to the interchangability for the shell plates, but sold to a buddy instead. If you have an opportunity to buy one of these presses at something considerably less than retail you probably will be happy with it. My experience with RCBS customer service over the last 30 years has been excellent (Dora Paul, I miss you!!).
Now, all the above being said, I personally prefer the Dillon 550b machine. At the time that I had the Pro 2000 above, I owned two of the Dillon 550's. Since then, I have two more of the 550's for a total of four. I still have the Piggyback II and a Star Universal with 2 heads. I have a bit of experience with several different types of machines.
If you buy a Pro 2000 or a Dillon 550b, learn the machine, take your time, and in my opinion you will be pleased with whichever choice you make.
Steve