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Thread: Search ? on progressive press

  1. #41
    Boolit Master
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    I'm the guy with two complete LnL powder measure systems.

    I bought the second one to get the "Bench Rest" rotor which is unfortunately not sold ala-carte like the rifle and pistol rotors. The bench rest rotor is sized half way between the rifle and pistol rotors. It is sized better and throws more accurate charges for small rifle cartridges like the 223.

    If I ever start loading larger rifle cartridges that need more powder then the bench rest rotor can dispense (30-06 and above) then I'll probably buy a third whole powder measure just for the rifle rotor instead of swapping the rotors around.

    It is a matter of convenience, not necessity. It's just a lot easier to swap the whole powder system at the LnL bushing then it is to swap powder from the hopper, disassemble rotor, install new rotor, and then swap hopper on to powder die.
    Last edited by Oreo; 11-15-2013 at 06:42 AM.

  2. #42
    Boolit Buddy
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    All i have to say is I love my dillons .they work well for me .
    We have enough gun control. What we need is idiot control.

  3. #43
    Boolit Buddy
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    Yep I'll chime in. Tried the loadmaster boat anchor. Got tired of tinkering all of the time. Finally got a 550 and love it. I polished the powder measure and even varget works well. I don't think I'll ever upgrade. May buy another 550 so I don't have to change primer sizes.

  4. #44
    Boolit Master
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    I'll take the Loadmaster off your hands....

  5. #45
    Boolit Master
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    I think Waldog hit it pretty square!

    While I have no experience with "blue" ....... I studied the progressives pretty intensely during the summer and fall of '12.

    What I ended up buying was the LNL around Jan of 13.

    What drove me to "red" was the overall cost when back dropped with the number of calibers I load ....... in short, I am a tinkerer.

    So having a blue set up for this and another set for that was just not in my financial comfort zone. Neither was buying all those tool heads. Neither was the time to convert.

    Now, I have no doubt that if you are loading rounds by the ton as a competitive shooter ...... then blue makes a better choice ........ but again, I have not loaded with one. I do have an opportunity to use a neighbor's Dillon set up for .40 and run him some ammo ........ just to have some hands on .........

    But then, I don't condemn blue ..........

    But I do know, I am very happy I bought "red" ....... the LNL!

    And by the way: Somebody else must have reached the same conclusion at about the same time ..... because LNL shell plates hit the "Top 40" there for months ........ it was eat or be eaten finding them ........ a lot of other brands were not any where near as sold out as Hornady.

    When I go searching for a "greasy spoon" ......... count the cars in the lot ........... I figure the abject scarcity of shell plates for the LNL meant something?

    I can't tell you what the Blue availability was because I was too focused on trying to get my LNL plates in .... finnally did .... and never paid blood money for them ... took my time because I had plenty of tooling to single state or turret load in the mean time relative to my shooting needs.

    A loading pard was welcome to use my LNL ........ he kept getting smitten with it ...... I told him he was welcome to use mine as long as he wished. But he lives about 25 miles away.

    The idea of being able to progressive load right on his turf won him over. He bought his own LNL last fall.

    For what it's worth!!

    Three 44s
    Last edited by Three44s; 11-24-2013 at 03:51 AM.

  6. #46
    Boolit Buddy
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    Three44s sounds like your experience mimics my own, I also went the LNL.
    For what I do the LNL just stacked up as a better choice than anything blue and after 6 months I still think I made the right choice.

  7. #47
    Boolit Buddy
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    I have several 650's, one square deal, and several 900's all in the blue flavor. They work well for me and once you operate one it easy to make good quality ammo.

  8. #48
    Boolit Buddy dbarnhart's Avatar
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    Three44s you came to the same conclusion I did when I was going thru the identical process. It is interesting that each manufacturer has a different opinion of what is most important and then designs their press(s) to meet that requirement.

  9. #49
    Boolit Buddy
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    Well..... I almost went red. Everyone says ya gotta buy toolheads. What's the difference between toolheads or buy the lock n load collets? They all price about the same. Dillons comes with more standard goodies than Hornady.

  10. #50
    Boolit Buddy
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    Quote Originally Posted by Artful View Post
    Thank you, Waldog, you make your points very well.

    Question have you tried RCBS Pro 2000?
    I have an auto-indexing Pro 2000 - love it and I've made about 12500 rounds with it (9mm, .40, .45 ACP, .45 Colt, .38/.357, .223, .308 and 30-06...). To be fair, though, I've not owned another progressive press.

    I love the APS priming system. I see no risk of primer detonation since there are no tubes & the primers stay segregated in the strips; about half of my primers were purchased in the strips and the other half I loaded into strips myself. Loading into the strips is simple & fast. It occasionally needs to be cleaned out (maybe every 2000 rounds?) and it's quick (5 min?) to do. I love the fast caliber changes; I have die holders for all of the above calibers, so swap that out, change the shell plate (one bolt holds it), adjust the powder drop (it has a micrometer adjust, so recording a setting is easy) and (if needed) convert the primer pusher from small to large or large to small (swap one piece).

  11. #51
    Boolit Master at Heaven's Range
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    a fellow on here said 200.00 for dillon 650 conversion i paid 75.00 for conversion kits 27.00 for tool heads. i have a lot of extra powder dispencers but i just use one for small and one for med bars and i set it with each change over.i have a 550b and a xl650 they work flawlessly my buddy has a hoarndy lnl it had some problems wiyh yhe powder measure sticking but we solved that and it works perfect now. i had a lee loadmaster i bought at a auction it was total mess(worthless)all i ever did was work on it all the time

  12. #52
    Boolit Bub Chuck_ls's Avatar
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    I have wanted a Dillon since I used a friends 550 a couple of years ago. Nice units. I will make do with my Hornady Pro-Jector for a while more until I get the funds together. The Hornady works OK, but caliber changes are a chore.

    Chuck

  13. #53
    Boolit Master waco's Avatar
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    Unless you are somehow shooting 2-5K ammo a month, a Dillon 550 is ALL you need. I, for one, am a big fan of NON AUTO INDEXING!

    Too many ways stuff can get jammed up. The 550 is a pretty straight forward machine capable of producing a lot of good quality ammo very quickly.

    The price is right, and like all Dillon products, you CAN NOT BEAT THEIR NO BS WARRANTY!
    The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
    Proverbs 1:7

  14. #54
    Boolit Buddy
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    Quote Originally Posted by dragon813gt View Post
    Yeah, that was my fault. I overlooked the plates and thought I had to buy whole units. At the end of the day it's the $200 caliber change that keeps me away from it. Even if you don't buy the tool heads it's more than I want to spend.
    I'm at 10 calibers for the 1050 and am under $70 a conversion , will be adding another wildcat this week and figure the most it'll cost to add it is $30

  15. #55
    Boolit Bub
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    Dillon 550B for pistol and rifle gets my vote.

  16. #56
    Boolit Buddy
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    The LNL with case and bullet feeder with a RCBS powder cop works for me and no more double charges.
    BOB
    22LR, 9MM, 45 ACP, 45 LC, 45-70, 6MM BR, 30BR, 222, 204, 22-250, 7-30 WATERS, 12GA, 36 & 44 BP

  17. #57
    Boolit Master



    Crash_Corrigan's Avatar
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    I started out with a Lee Loadmaster. I tinkered and fussed over that *** for two years until a buddy of mine got out of reloading and gave me his Dillon 550B. Once I figured out how to run that sucker I never used the Loadmaster again. I have a Lee Challenger which I use to deprime brass with. I have a RCBS rockchucker for developing new loads. I have a Lee 4 Hole Classic Turret Press which I use for most of my rifle calibers and for making match grade ammo for competition for my pistols. I have a set of 3 Dillon Square Deal presses for .44, .38 and .45 ACP. I have an XL650 for my 9mm's and I use the 550B for my .41 Mag, .223 and 6.5 x 55 MM Sweede. I am contemplating getting a conversion kit for the XL650 to load 7.62 X 39 MM rounds for my SKS. I run a SAECO Lubrisizer for my BPCR 50-90 and 38-55 boolits and a star luber for all the rest.

    I have never used a Hornady LNL press but if I had seen one back in the day I might have went that route. I thought I got into reloading and casting boolits to save money...............I just shoot more and I still spend like a madman. I reload or cast boolits in every room in the house except the John. However I still read about it on the throne. I have the disease and there is no cure for it.
    Pax Nobiscum Dan (Crash) Corrigan

    Currently casting, reloading and shooting: 223 Rem, 6.5x55 Sweede, 30 Carbine, 30-06 Springfield, 30-30 WCF, 303 Brit., 7.62x39, 7.92x57 Mauser, .32 Long, 32 H&R Mag, 327 Fed Mag, 380 ACP. 9x19, 38 Spcl, 357 Mag, 38-55 Win, 41 Mag, 44 Spcl., 44 Mag, 45 Colt, 45 ACP, 454 Casull, 457 RB for ROA and 50-90 Sharps. Shooting .22 LR & 12 Gauge seldom and buying ammo for same.

  18. #58
    Banned

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    my press runs because: mikesreloadingbench.com

    All his parts work with each other buy em all.
    video may help:http://i1113.photobucket.com/albums/...psb2b00331.mp4

  19. #59
    Boolit Buddy
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    Well I have used about all of the "progressive" presses. From the Star RL1000 1050 Super 1050 550s SDBs CH Marks IV V even tried the *** Green Machine as well as 2 or 3 Lee's including the worst *** of all the Loadmaster. Only one i haven't tried to date is the RCBS 2000..but...a guy has one with 4 cal conversions for 600 bucks locally...LOL. I even have a Hornady ammo plant. Works but it has some issues. Heck I used to sell and repair P-W shotshell machines so I have a little mechanical knowledge. My take on "progressive" machines. I feel when you buy a machine you should expect to get a machine that will WORK without a whole bunch of messing with them or the NEED to buy modifications to get 'em to work right. The Hornady is ok..the Star is really good but kinda limited in cals. most of the rest are kinda ok.. I do like the Blue machines..they are pretty well thought out and executed. The 650 is just a Star on steroids and seems to work just great. Most problems are operator errors..But the average guy doesn't need a 650 or a 1050. The 550 loads almost anything you want to put on it and does it well. And they have the great warranty of course. I have a couple..one large primer..one small and I use them quite a bit. I also have an AT 500 that I do hunting loads for rifles on. How many do ya need? So I do them singly. For my shooting and banging loads I use the S 1050s. for all the rst that I like to keep a bunch loaded..The 550s. The Ammo plant is gonna go as is that Real ***. Blue cool aid tastes just fine.

  20. #60
    Boolit Grand Master fredj338's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 220 View Post
    Three44s sounds like your experience mimics my own, I also went the LNL.
    For what I do the LNL just stacked up as a better choice than anything blue and after 6 months I still think I made the right choice.
    Then w/o trying blue, you really have no idea.
    Let's address cost. If you price the 650 & LNL equipped the same,. the 650 is only maybe $75 more. The LNL comes w/ no case feeder parts, the 650 everything but the bowl. The conversions are close in cost, with a slight edge going to the LNL. The 650 is faster to change calibers, just pop in a new tool head & shell plate.
    So while the LNL is a decent press, the 650 has a better case feeder & priming system. The LNL is easier to use w/o case feeder, the 650 was designed for a case feeder so is a bit clumsy feeding by hand. Just my take owning a 550B, 650 & working a 1000rds on my friends LNL before buying the 650. A Lee, not if it were free.
    EVERY GOOD SHOOTER NEEDS TO BE A HANDLOADER.
    NRA Cert. Inst. Met. Reloading & Basic Pistol

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check