Dillon 550 vs Hornady LnL

[osteodoc08]

I've searched and read the many threads on this.

My situation is that I've grown up on Dillon. I have a SDB set up for 45 colt right now. As many of you know, my father passed and has left all his gun/reloading stuff to my brother and me. He has minimal interest. His 550 is 2hrs away and at my folks house and is rather inconvenient to get to. I want to buy a progressive for me an to keep from arguing over everything with my brother as we've already been down that road. I honestly think he feels guilty for not taking the opportunity to learn from dad and doesn't want to see me "take everything". I have been patient and have attempted to show him how to reload and cast, but still a passing interest at best. Many of the dies, tool heads, etc I have purchased are still at my folks house.

Do I:

1. Get a 550 or 650 and stay with Dillon?

Or

2. Get a Hornady LnL?

For those that have used both, what's your opinion?

[Moonman]

Both are good presses, and I have both.

Depends upon how many calibers you shoot and

how many rounds shot per month.

Pistol, rifle or both can figure in. Dillon Square D is handgun only.

[LUBEDUDE]

Heeeerrre weeeee go![smilie=1:

[jmorris]

I have at least one of all the Dillon's and use them all. I also have had two LNL's, a pre and post EZject but I sold both.

There is a lot more to it than "what should I get?"

How often are you loading, how many of what, with how much money, in what amount of time?

[Alvarez Kelly]

Given the specifics in your post, I would get the 550. If it was me, I would pick up your dies, toolheads, etc., (that you bought) the next time you are at your parents. You'll be a few steps ahead, instead of starting from scratch with a LNL.

[osteodoc08]

Thanks for the replies. I was leaning toward the 550/650 route, but wanted to make sure I wouldn't be missing out by not seriously looking at the LnL.

To answer questions:

I shoot primarily 41mag and 45colt out of the revolvers. I shoot 9mm, 10mm, 40 and 45. I went through over 700 rounds of 41mag and 400 rounds of 45colt the last 2 months. Probably 400 9mm, 200 10mm, 100 40 and 350-400 45acp over the last 4-5 months. I hate chasing brass.

I also shoot 223/556 and went through 300 the last 3 months. I'd like to go through more.

My other rifles are reloaded on my Lyman turret.

I should really look at the 650. I'll venture that way. Thank you everyone.

[Lloyd Smale]

just do a search on here. Youll find enough opinions to keep you reading for weeks.

[6bg6ga]

Should have changed the title to "The Best reloading press Dillon 550 or LNL" and you could start an all out war. To be blunt in most cases there is NO BEST of anything because opinions will vary. My suggestion is to try them both and see which you like the most. I opted for a 650 and if I had to do it again I don't know if I would make the same decision after purchasing 8 or so change over calibers. The cost of the die plate and power measure starts to get costly. Everyone knows its just so much simpler to purchase one more powder measure than it is to disturb the load setting that you have for a particular setup.

[jmorris]

I shoot primarily 41mag and 45colt out of the revolvers. I shoot 9mm, 10mm, 40 and 45. I went through over 700 rounds of 41mag and 400 rounds of 45colt the last 2 months. Probably 400 9mm, 200 10mm, 100 40 and 350-400 45acp over the last 4-5 months. I hate chasing brass.

I also shoot 223/556 and went through 300 the last 3 months. I'd like to go through more.

My other rifles are reloaded on my Lyman turret.

I should really look at the 650. I'll venture that way. Thank you everyone.

I think I would stick with the 550. The 650 is not too bad to swap calibers but I would get tired of changing it over for 100 of this and 200 of that all the time.

[Moonman]

jmorris said it about the Dillon 650

The 650 is really for running off a few THOUSAND before CHANGEOVERS.

Go to the Brian Enos Forum/Dillon site and read his Dillon press

recommendations and reasons.

You could also go to the Dillon site and sign up for the

Free "Blue Press" little monthly magazine about Dillon Stuff/and other stuff too.

[osteodoc08]

I love The Blue Press. Articles are good and the models are easy on the eyes.

[Moonman]

osteodoc08,

The Cell Phone and Models have to go,
along with TV, Radio, Pets, Kids, and any other distractions.

RELOADING requires YOUR UNDIVIDED ATTENTION.

[UNIQUEDOT]

You should probably consider the LNL or the 650. Even after you listed your main calibers you were advised to get a 550, but where are you going to stick your M dies in the 550?

[Echd]

I could not live without my 550 but I am tempted to get a LNL and leave it set up for .45 ACP or something. 650 kits are just too expensive for my blood...

[ReloaderFred]

I've had both the Dillon 550 and the Hornady LNL. I sold the 550 and kept the LNL, and never regretted it. It's an individual choice, just like buying cars or trucks (or guns). You're the only one who can make that decision for you.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Shiloh]

Stay with Dillon.

Shiloh

[Oreo]

One thing for sure, reloading presses hold their value. Especially Hornady and Dillon presses with their exceptional warranty coverage.

With that in mind I say if you're curious to try the LNL do that. If you don't like it you can sell it easy for almost full retail and go get the Dillon. However, the LnL needs the EZject system. EZject works. That old goofy wire was an abomination on an otherwise awesome press.

[ph4570]

After getting a LNL AP my Dillon 550s are becoming dust bunnies.

[osteodoc08]

osteodoc08,

The Cell Phone and Models have to go,
along with TV, Radio, Pets, Kids, and any other distractions.

RELOADING requires YOUR UNDIVIDED ATTENTION.

The Blue Press resides in my throne room, not the reloading room ;-)

[osteodoc08]

So why are some choosing the LnL over the 550? The LnL is more of a curiosity at this point as I'm fairly invested in the Dillon machines, but over the next 20-30yrs, it's not really gonna make a difference. I have 4 took heads with dies already set up for the Dillon. If I go to the LnL, all I'm really losing is the cost of the tool heads which I can sell here. Ugh. Decisions decisions.

Quick questions:

1. How accurate/repeatable is the powder measure with flake and ball powders?

2. How many stations are there on the LnL and what dies occupy the slots on your LnL?

3. Are there accessories such as powder checks that can go on the LNL?

4. How long and difficult is it to change over calibers and primer sizes?

5. How easy is it to load 223 on the LnL?

Thanks again.

[ReloaderFred]

On my LNL, I normally use Bullseye for several different handgun calibers, and it will throw within .1 grains consistently, but normally right on the money.

There are five stations on the LNL, and since I size, deprime, clean primer pockets and reprime separately, my dies are 1) belling die, 2) powder die and measure, 3) powder lockout die (RCBS), 4) seating die and 5) crimping die. This is for handgun loading.

Caliber changes are simple, and only take about 2 minutes, tops. You just twist the bushings out, put the new set of dies in and change the shellplate. Add in another couple of minutes for resetting the powder measure, and you're ready to load. Once your dies are set up in the bushings, you don't have to adjust them again, unless changing seating depth, and that only requires adjusting the seating plug, which you'd have to do on any press.

Loading .223 is no big deal on the LNL. I've even loaded .45-70 on mine.

The automatic indexing is a big, big plus. I shoot with hundreds of other shooters at big matches, and squib loads do occur. I always ask what kind of press they're loading on, and the vast majority say the Dillon 550. I'm not badmouthing the 550, but I didn't care for the manual indexing at all, and the limit of 4 die stations, so I sold the one I had.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

So why are some choosing the LnL over the 550? Because it's a true progressive with automatic advance and has five stations, an excellent powder measure with micrometer adjustment and very fast bushings that allow fast caliber changes. It adjusts differently than the Dillon presses and some have difficulty making the changeover since they're used to the Dillon.

The LnL is more of a curiosity at this point as I'm fairly invested in the Dillon machines, but over the next 20-30yrs, it's not really gonna make a difference. I have 4 took heads with dies already set up for the Dillon. If I go to the LnL, all I'm really losing is the cost of the tool heads which I can sell here. Ugh. Decisions decisions. If you can find someone near you that owns the LnL and will let you load on it and see how it works, that would be a great way to try it out.

Quick questions:

1. How accurate/repeatable is the powder measure with flake and ball powders? Think of the Hornady LnL powder measure as an RCBS Uniflow on steroids. It's bigger and works a little better. My experience with all powders was positive. That said, you can buy any powder measure you want with any press you want. Don't lock yourself into only the powder measure that comes with a press. I own two Dillon measures, a Hornady, two RCBS Uniflows and three Lee Pro Auto Disks. I keep each set up for a specific reloading task. Makes things quick and easy that way. That said, when I only had a LnL, I used it with the Micrometer attachment and it was very good, quick and easy to set up, seldom came off the press.

2. How many stations are there on the LnL and what dies occupy the slots on your LnL? There are five stations and it's automatic advance. Because of the flexibility of the LnL bushings, you can very setups, even in the same caliber, very quickly and easily.

3. Are there accessories such as powder checks that can go on the LNL? Yes (Hornady and RCBS fit) and you can adapt Dillon checks as well.

4. How long and difficult is it to change over calibers and primer sizes?Quick and easy, faster than a Dillon. But none of the progressives takes huge amounts of time. A thing you should consider is making more ammo in a specific cartridge so you don't have to reload that cartridge so often.

5. How easy is it to load 223 on the LnL? The LnL is particularly good at reloading rifle cartridges such as .308, .223, 8mm Mauser, 30.06 Springfield, etc.

Thanks again.

Hope this helps you. I've owned a 550, a LnL and currently own an RCBS Pro 2000. I've also reloaded a good bit on a 650. I'm partial to the automatic advance presses and I tend to reload in large batches as much as I can and have cases. I do my load development on a single stage and move the tuned cartridge to the progressive for mass production.

For the record, there are no bad choices between the Hornady, the Dillon and the RCBS. They can be difficult to adjust to if you're used to loading for years on one of the others, but all are good presses. It's more features and what you prefer.

[osteodoc08]

Hope this helps you. I've owned a 550, a LnL and currently own an RCBS Pro 2000. I've also reloaded a good bit on a 650. I'm partial to the automatic advance presses and I tend to reload in large batches as much as I can and have cases. I do my load development on a single stage and move the tuned cartridge to the progressive for mass production.

For the record, there are no bad choices between the Hornady, the Dillon and the RCBS. They can be difficult to adjust to if you're used to loading for years on one of the others, but all are good presses. It's more features and what you prefer.

Thank you Dave for the positive insight. All the positives may be enough to sway me to the Hornady. One thing I like about the Hornady is my LGS is a "Hornady dealer" and has lots of little parts in stock incase I need them. I can also order Hornady brand stuff through Midway and others. With Dillon......you're stuck with Dillon. With the Hornady stuff I can look at different vendors and get the best possible price on items. Hmmmm, I may just have to go with the Hornady now.

[lancem]

I used a 550 for 20 years or so and then switched to the LNL, powder measure is much better IMO, love the fact that I can and have bought several of the micrometer adjusters and have them set up for the powders/calibers I use. Switch from 38 to 45 just empty the measure (using the available emptying tube available which goes where the adjuster goes), switch the adjuster, verify the load being thrown and go. I just switched over my Rockchucker to use the LNL quick change dies so now if I'm able to move dies between the two for load development. The case feeder also works great. I'm like others in that my LNL is for volume, if I'm setting it up we're going to crank out some rounds so really change over isn't as big of deal for me as if I were doing small batches.

[jmorris]

love the fact that I can and have bought several of the micrometer adjusters and have them set up for the powders/calibers I use.

I liked the fact that you don't have to back out the screw and locate the little plastic square like you have to on the Dillons. However, I just swap out the preset powder bars on all of mine similar to what you are doing on the LNL.

What I didn't like was that the LNL measure only cam with one standard adjuster and unlike the Dillon you have to buy a different one for use with small charges.

[Moonman]

I use the HORNADY MICROMETER ADJUSTER (optional purchase) with
my LNL, instead of the supplied adjuster.

I only reload handguns, and use the SMALL PISTOL ROTOR.

I also put a Hornady powder Measure/Rotor ON MY DILLON 550B.

[bbqncigars]

My AP came with both rifle and pistol rotors for the powder measure. I have rotors dedicated to favorite loads like the 25-20. I switched from a 550B to the AP because of the 25-20, but my AP also loads my 9mm, .45acp, 7.62x51 and 45-70 (for the Marlin).

[ph4570]

I just finished depriming about 2000 MIL 5.56 once fired cases on my LNL AP. When done there was not a speck of primer residue on the press. Were I to have done the task on my 550 I would have a mess to clean up. One must appreciate the closed dead primer dump system on the LNL AP. As mentioned above, the LNL powder measure is far superior to the Dillon unit.

[jeo22]

Stay with Dillon.

Shiloh

I have a 550 and plan to stick with it.

[kaskillo]

Dillon all the way for me. I never used a 550 but my 1050 and 650 are reliable, NOT problem free but do what they are suppose to.

[osteodoc08]

OK guys. I ended up getting the Hornady Lock n Load locally NIB for $425 OTD after haggling with the owner of my LGS. I ended up choosing this one for a few reasons:

1. Local parts availability.
2. 5 stations so I can put in a lock out die.
3. Auto-indexing, which I learned to really like on my Dillon SDB.
4. Recent excellent CS on a die that I broke myself from Hornady.
5. To see what the fuss was about. If it is a complete failure, I can sell it and get a Dillon and consider it lesson learned. If it works well, great.

[Moonman]

osteodoc08,

Google for

Hornady LNL-AP Set-Up Hints and Tricks by Bill Morgan
A 5 part video series that is well worth your time watching.

These videos have saved people MANY HEADACHES.

He'll lead you down the path of a GREAT RELOADING EXPERIENCE

WITH THE HORNADY LNL-AP PRESS.

The Hornady LNL-AP is a Great Press and so is the DILLON 650.

The Dillon 550 is not an APPLES TO APPLES COMPARISON,

it's MANUAL INDEXING.

Good Luck with your press.:Fire:

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

And just to speed you along, here's Bill Morgan's first video on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qC1O5FzSCA

Enjoy your new toy,

Dave

[Oreo]

Go buy yourself a 10pack of the LnL bushings. You'll need one for each die. Its also not a bad idea to get a spare case retaining spring-loop. I did something stupid and ruined one once and had to wait a week till the spare arrived. Its cheap so worth having an extra.

[osteodoc08]

I was a little disappointed there is no PTX for my beloved 41 mag. Any suggestions?

My work around is to put the powder drop in the 3rd station and flare on the 2nd station and size and deprime on the first. But I bought the LnL to incorporate the lockout die.

Thank you for the videos guys. They were helpful.

[lka]

Go buy yourself a 10pack of the LnL bushings. You'll need one for each die. Its also not a bad idea to get a spare case retaining spring-loop. I did something stupid and ruined one once and had to wait a week till the spare arrived. Its cheap so worth having an extra.

Mine came with a 3 pack of springs, pistol and rifle meters, and 10 bushings, it looking like that's not normal lol.

[Garyshome]

Stick with what got you here! Why mess with another Learning Curve? I hate learning curves!

[Moonman]

osteodoc08,

Have a look at POWDERFUNNELS.COM

Ultimatereloder has a video on it also.

The universal powderfunnel ONLY expands the case mouth.
You can use for your 41 Mag.

1) Deprime/Size, then Prime 2) Charge/Powderfunnel in Measure,
I use a Micrometer Adjuster here also in the rotor.

3) RCBS LOCK OUT DIE, 4) Seat Bullet, I have a micrometer adjustment
on the Seater, 5) Crimp.

I only load handguns and usually deprime on a single stage, Stainless Steel
Media tumble in a Thumbler's Tumbler 15 Pound model B high speed.

I usually Prime (in batches and store) with a bench mounted
RCBS Auto Prime.

I generally have brass in various stages of completion, De-Primed, Cleaning,
Primed and Stored for future reloading.

[gunoil]

dillon only

[Moonman]

gunoil,

He's already purchased a Hornady LNL-AP.

[jmorris]

The powderfunnels.com PTX looks like the belling die used on the 1050. However, the 1050 expands the cases using the backup rod for station #3. I wonder how well these work just belling and not expanding like normal.

[Moonman]

jmorris,

He's looking for a PTX to use with his 41 Mag.

[jmorris]

I understand that but the funnel linked to only bells the mouth it doesn't perform the same function as an expander. An expander runs deeper into the case to expand more than just the mouth.

[Oreo]

I own one of those universal PTXs linked above. It's a magnificent product for jacketed bullets but not the best option for lead boolits. If it is necessary to expand the case neck the full seated depth of the boolit the expansion die will of course have to be caliber specific.

[Waldog]

I have used the PowderFunnel for several years loading THOUSANDS of rounds of 9mm, 38/357mag, 40S&W, 44MAG, 45ACP. The PowderFunnel does not expand the case but, it does an outstanding job of belling the case mouth. I load BOTH lead and jacketed bullets with and it works beautifully.

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

Dillon 550 if you do not mind the manual indexing. 650 if you don't want the manual and want a bit more speed.

It will give you the opportunity to gloat just a wee bit over your brother, and Dillons have that lifetime no-BS warranty.

Rich
got two 550/s and seven SDBs.

[fredj338]

I know he bought the LNL, here is my take. I own a 550 & 650, have run a LNL quite a bit, enough to make an informed decision. If you must have auto indexing & do NOT want a case feeder, get a LNL. If you must have the case feeder, get a 650. It is a better machine, better priming, better case feeder. All for about $75 more than a LNL.
The LNL does NOT come with any case feeder parts, the 650 comes with everything but the bowl. One reason it cost more for the stock press. Equip them the same, maybe $75 diff. If you don't care about auto indexing, then a 550B will do everything you every wanted in a progressive press. I load a lot on my 650 but will never get rid of my 550.

[Viper21773]

I have numerous friends that use a 650 and love them. I typically like something a little different. I chose the LNL over the 650 for a couple of reasons.
1. I did not like the primer system, an unseated primer (no case) has to be re-inserted to the loading tube.
2. The spent primer system
3. The powder measure ( I had used a RCBS Uniflow for 20 years)
4. The head assemblies and the "buttons" to remove a case.

I customize things to suit my needs anyhow, and I mixed some of Dillons components to make my LNL what I wanted. I load a variety and volumes of 44 bullets and the ability to switch out the seating die quickly is nice.

97396

[Fishman]

Viper that is a lot of capability in a small package. I like it! I need to study it a bit.

[blueeyephil]

My fist progressive was the LNL. Last year I bought a used 650 with all the bells and whistles, from a club member that had terminal cancer. Didn't need it but a good deal and helped him out some too. Anyway, I love having a case feeder. I liked the LNL primer system way better! Also spent primers and the powder measure better too. Once I got an after market PTX at least. But I've had timing issues in 40 cal with the LNL that slowed me down some. I like the fact that it is easier to see into the case on the 650 than on the LNL. The LNL turns 1/2 going up and 1/2 going down. Dillon just on the way down. Both ways have good and bad. If I could, I'd build a better press by taking the best of each. They are both good machines but neither is perfect. I don't need them both, but I've not yet decided to sell the LNL. Or should I get a case feeder for the LNL and sell the 650. But I'll probably keep both and use the LNL for less used calibers and only load on the 650 if I'll be doing a 1000 or more before switching.

[Viper21773]

Viper that is a lot of capability in a small package. I like it! I need to study it a bit.

Thanks Fishman. The Lyman sizer has a heater and is full of Carnuba Red for smokeless, the LAMII is full of Black Powder lube. What's not pictured is the chair that is integrated into the base, once I plop my 200 lbs down the press is rock solid.
Here's another pic
97633

[Fishman]

Thank YOU! Viper