Time for an upgrade?

[johnsonian09]

I've been using an old single stage lee press i was gifted for awhile now. But I'd like to produce at a quicker rate.

How much will a progressive press increase the volume I can make in a session?

Will a progressive press remain as accurate as a single stage?

Do any of them use a different type of die?

Which automatic powder meters are most accurate/consistent with different powders?

I'm not ready for these automated dillions I've seen in videos recently tho. Even if I got the $$ clearance from the wife I'd have no room for an apparatus that large.

Sent from my SM-J337VPP using Tapatalk

[BigAlofPa.]

I think the Lee classic cast turret would be a nice upgrade. I have thought about going progressive. But im not running a race reloading. When im in the grove i can crank the ammo out. I like the Lee auto drum powder drop.

[nhyrum]

I upgraded from a Lee classic cast 4 hole that I had a few inline fabrication mods to. I could do about 300 rounds an hour of 9mm with it if i had the primer trays laid out. I upgraded to a Dillon 650. I don't even know how much I can do an hour, I haven't timed it yet, but what a world of difference(I still love the Lee) I believe the Dillon SBD (SDB?) is the only one that takes proprietary dies. The Hornady lnl AP I don't think it's a bad machine, but boy is the blue Kool aid good! There are a number of well renown competitive shooters that load on 650's (John whidden and David tubb) with a few little tweaks, such as lapping shell holders, using a powder drop die so they can drop weighed charges instead of using the standard drop (which I find to be pretty accurate) and a no slop tool head that isn't much more than the Dillon one.

So, yes, they can be just as precise. Even if you don't need the volume, the benefit of being able to spend less time loading and more time with family is nice

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

[nhyrum]

I have also had GREAT luck with the Lee auto drum measures. I avoided the auto disk. Should you go with the Lee machine

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

[derek45]

My DILLON XL650 does about 600 rounds an hour

It's accurate enough to make dime sized 223 groups at 100 yards.

It uses standard dies, I have LEE, Hornady, Lyman, Redding and Dillon dies in my Dillon toolheads.

The little Dillon Square deal is the only one that uses proprietary dies that I know of.

Buy once, cry once, and get the Dillon....nobody buys a Dillon and later says "gee I should have bought a red colored press"

these videos were made from my XL650 handloads...









XL650



550B

[dverna]

You must be more specific or all you get is “this is what I use”

What calibers and how many rounds/hr of each do you want to produce.

[rbuck351]

I can load somewhere between 450/500 per hour with my 550b without pushing things. I have single stage and turrets as well and don't find much difference in volume between the two. The 550 will load very accurate ammo and doesn't take much more space than a typical single stage and it's not all that automated. Mostly it just gives 1 loaded round per pull of the handle.

A turret press just allows you to not have to change out dies saving a minute or so per batch of rounds. The rest of the process is the same as a single stage.

[rswink]

Read the top and was wondering how long until a Dillion fanboy would be along.

I had 1, sold it. Don't reload enough to justify that expensive toy that did exactly what my single stage Lee does. I only seem to make hunting loads. Now, if I were worried about cranking out mass rounds then I would look for automated reloading presses and take my arm out of the equation, tell it make 1000 and push go. But, since I am worried more about shooting a deer I am more concerned that everything is perfect and repeated on every round.

Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

[sparky45]

I sold my 650 for the same reason, however, IMO Dillon is one of the best reloaders on the market.

[PhilC]

A very good friend of mine has a Hornady LnL AP and I was genuinely considering that same press. When I told him, his response was "get a Dillon" and I did. Like everything in life, we all have different needs buy what fits your needs, your budget, and whatever frustration level you're willing to accept. I wanted "0" frustration when it came to cranking out several pistol calibers vs single stage loading on my Rockchucker - worth every penny to me. YMMV.

[Baltimoreed]

I was gifted a 550b relatively recently but had bought 2 Lyman T2 presses over the years. Been messing with this ‘hobby’ for 45 years. My Dillon is dedicated to .45acp/ar/cs while the Lymans are used to make .38-.45colt-.455 etc. My single stage is for .30 Krag-.303-‘06 and .45-60 rifle ammo. I have adapted Dillon 550 powder measures to my turrets to speed things up but I’ve never been a ‘per hour’ reloader. You are more apt to screw up when you go fast. I usually just reload what I shot at the match plus some practice ammo. With the mods that I’ve done to my T2s they run as fast as the Dillon. Priming seems to be the bugaboo on most presses but I prime pistol ammo on my machines. Had to tinker with both makers priming systems to get reliability. Don’t know anything about the other brands so I can’t help you there. I was very satisfied with my 2 Lymans so I probably would have never invested in a Dillon but for a good friend’s generosity. Good luck on your quest.

[mdi]

If you say "progressive press" 8 out of 10 reloaders will say "Dillon". I am not a progressive reloader and I am now using a Co-Ax. I used a Lee turret for many years but disabled the auto index and hand indexed/batch loaded (I got plenty of ammo that way). If I need 200 rounds I can do that in an acceptable amount of time and normall enjoy my bench time with my Co-Ax. If I were to load 200 rounds on a progressive, what would I do with the "free" 2 hours? Watch "The Lone Ranger" on TV? I have nothing against progressive reloading machines, but at a young age I got over the "hurry, faster, faster, more, more" thinking when it applied to reloading. I don't reload for "gun fodder", to save money, or just to shoot more. I reload because I like to and anything that make my reloading faster just takes enjoyment time away.

IF I were to look into progressive reloading I would look at Dillon first, research which machine and accessories would be best for my needs. Dillon has an excellent reputation, products and customer service. Then I'd "drink the blue cool aid"...

[Burnt Fingers]

My first progressive was a Hornady LnL AP. It almost soured me on progressive presses.

I lucked into a deal on a Dillon 650. I now have two of them. I've had three Hornady LNL AP presses go through my hands. I never could get one to run right.

A 650/750 with a case feeder, and yes you want the case feeder, will easily load 500-600 rounds an hour. The Dillon powder measure is VERY good. Go to the Dillon website and start with the May 2020 Blue Press, there's a series about loading precision ammo on a Dillon press.

I've got a double Distinguished Marksman who tells me my 9mm loads are the most accurate he's ever shot. He got his pistol badge in 1968.

My 45 ACP loads are right behind them in accuracy.

[johnsonian09]

Right now I reload 9mm, 5.56, 300blk, 243win, 30-06, and 8mm mauser.

I plan to start reloading .357 or 44mag in future. Haven't decided on the revolver I want yet tho.

Honestly metering the powder by hand with the scale is the part I think that slows me down alot. I average maybe 30/hr rounds taking my time because I want everything perfect.

However I shoot probably 100rnds a day in the warmer months. [The range is 5minutes from my place of work & 10]minutes from my house.



Sent from my SM-J337VPP using Tapatalk

[nhyrum]

Right now I reload 9mm, 5.56, 300blk, 243win, 30-06, and 8mm mauser.

I plan to start reloading .357 or 44mag in future. Haven't decided on the revolver I want yet tho.

Honestly metering the powder by hand with the scale is the part I think that slows me down alot. I average maybe 30/hr rounds taking my time because I want everything perfect.

However I shoot probably 100rnds a day in the warmer months. [The range is 5minutes from my place of work & 10]minutes from my house.



Sent from my SM-J337VPP using Tapatalk

I've had great luck with the Lee auto drum on my old Lee turret, it was reasonably accurate, but doesn't like h110/w296. it was often within a tenth of a grain, as is the Dillon measure. But it sounds like a Dillon 650/750 would definitely suit your needs. Even without the case feeder it was a huge speed increase. I was surprised how fast primers were disappearing.


Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

[C.F.Plinker]

I have the basic Dillon 550B and a Lee ABLP. I do not have the case feeder or bullet feeder on either so those operations are fully manual. With the Dillon I can load 100 rounds in about 15-20 minutes once everything is set up. So I will load the primer tubes, swap out the primer feeder if necessary, put the correct toolhead on, and adjust the dies using dummy cartridges the night before. Before starting loading I fill the powder measure and adjust it to the desired charge. Then put the primers in the feeder and start loading. One weak spot of the 550 is that you manually advance it. If you don't advance it you will get a double charge. This means that you need to look inside EVERY case to make sure it only has a single charge.

I did get the extra parts so I have two complete primer feeders. This means I only have to remove two bolts in order to change primer feeders. No need for any additional adjustments when changing sizes of primers. I put a 3x5 card in the hopper that catches used primers to corral and strays.

Using the 550 this way I can generally load 500 rounds of pistol in just over 2 hours.

The Lee ABLP takes about twice as long to load 100 rounds. I took the case shuttle off so I can put the cases directly into the shellholder. This means that the bullets and cases are fed at the bench level which, for me, is more ergonomic. With Lee the primer feeding is done manually and the case advance is automatic. Well it is automatic for rounds up to the length of a loaded .223 round. Any thing longer requires rotating the shellholder manually. Lee doesn't have the 4 legged spider that Dillon has so you need to take hold of a case in order to rotate the shellholder. My primer feeder needed to be tweaked in order to get it to feed without flipping a primer over. Changing primer sizes on the Lee is easy because you just put the correct primer hopper and primer arm on the press.

The ABLP can use the Lee Auto Drum powder measure. This works good although it leaks a little with the 231 powder I use. Extra drums are cheap. Get some so you can leave them set for the charges you use most often and swap drums when you change calibers. One problem with the Lee design is that it can be difficult to drop multiple charges into a container when you are adjusting the measure. For instance, I will drop 10 charges totaling 50 grains when loading pistol. I adjust the measure so that the total is about 50.5 grains. This will give me average drops that are about a half of a tenth over. Then I measure 10 charges again after each batch of 100 and adjust as necessary if the total goes below 49.5 grains. Yes, I have measured individual charges to see how consistent the measure is and found that both the Auto Drum and the Dillon measure are right on .

Both presses will produce good ammunition. Both presses use standard 7/8x14 threaded dies. Both presses use powder through expansion dies as the second die in the press. Both presse do a good job of capturing spent primers. Now my experience with Lee presses is that they are more finicky than Dillon presses. If you want to plug and play get the Dillon. If you don't mind (or even like to) fiddling and tweaking the press to get it to work the way you want it to go with the cheaper Lee and figure that the difference in price is paying you for the time spent getting it to work right.

FWIW the Lee ABLP is easier to run as a single stage press than the Dillon. This may come into play as you start learning how to adjust and operate a progressive press. There is an awful lot going on with a progressive since you are doing 4 operations every time you operate the handle.

Others will be along shortly to share their experiences with you.

[dverna]

Right now I reload 9mm, 5.56, 300blk, 243win, 30-06, and 8mm mauser.

I plan to start reloading .357 or 44mag in future. Haven't decided on the revolver I want yet tho.

Honestly metering the powder by hand with the scale is the part I think that slows me down alot. I average maybe 30/hr rounds taking my time because I want everything perfect.

However I shoot probably 100rnds a day in the warmer months. [The range is 5minutes from my place of work & 10]minutes from my house.



Sent from my SM-J337VPP using Tapatalk

100 rounds a day spread across 6 calibers a start. I am going to assume about 100 days of shooting a year so you reload 10,000 rounds/year. With a SS press that will take about 300 hours.

My advice is to keep the .243, .30/09 and 8mm rifle rounds on the SS press and use a good powder measure to throw your charges. You can keep the 5.56 and .300 BO on the single stage as well unless you are blasting away with an AR.

A Dillon 550 will do 350/hr...so about 10 times your current production rate. Use it for your 9mm and the 5.56 and .300BO if you fire a lot of them.

For the shooting most people do, weighing every charge is not necessary. A powder measure that throws +/- .2 gr is good enough. Ball powders will meter more consistently if you want to stop weighing every rifle charge. It is also something to consider if you move to a progressive.

[onelight]

The quantity and cartridges you plan to load might make a difference on what is recommended

[Rfeustel]

Hi - I second what DVerna says. I’d add that an automated scale really helps with the single or turret press production rate. I love my RCBS and use it for all my hunting loads. While I’m finishing the round, the scale measures the next one for me. While not cheap, you might consider that option.

I have a hornady LNL AP and can reliably get 900-1k an hour of 9mm or 45 auto when I’m set up for the primers (and I have a bullet feeder) hand cranking. I’ve upgraded to another more automated press and only use the LNL AP for off calibers and smaller runs.

Doing it again I’d go blue simply because no one makes a motor for the LNL. I’d want that option.

[VariableRecall]

I'd totally second getting a Lee Classic Cast Turret press. That has been an game changer for me. I can load up to about 100 rounds an hour while I'm being careful. Then again, this rate is achieved by adequate preparation, pre-priming brass, and other methods of streamlining. An hour to put together two boxes of ammunition makes things well worth it, plus, since there's only one shellholder and location where ammunition goes, there's less ways for things to go wrong, and much greater compatibility with my other dies/shellholders.

The Classic Cast is technically a Single stage with the option to index to another die at the full throw of the lever, so it's not too large of an upgrade from something like a Rock Chucker or other single stage presses. I've had great results with my Classic Cast and I don't think I'll be upgrading with the relatively small quantities that I load on a yearly basis.