Considering Progressive Press

I loaded on a single stage nearly 20 years. I considered a Dillon, but don't care for the manual indexing 550 and didn't want to spend the money on a 650. When the Hornady LnL came out, I decided to try one. I wished I had go progressive years earlier. I have had mine 9 years and have had loaded over 100k rounds on it with no complaints. I leisurely load 250+ an hour. If you really want to crank it, I would guess 400 an hour is doable. Hornady customer service has been top notch.

Dillon 550b here. Best money I ever spent on a shooting accessory.

I have been thinking of the same choices as you, seems like all are good choices with pro's and con's ,
If 9mm is your main ammo consumption like me have you considered the Dillon square deal as a dedicated 9mm press?
Just another idea I have considered,

Your dies would be fine on a 550/650 or LNL

get a progressive. I will, very comfortably load 300 per hour on my lock n load, and that is stopping to refill primer tubes after every 100. I had a few hickups with my primer system that I got worked out. keep the system clean, as in every 500 rounds or so pop off the primer assembly and shell plate, use some compressed/canned air or a cheap paintbrush and get any grime out of the assembly. it works a lot better than a single stage, and I still visually inspect my powder as i seat each bullet

After many years of single stage loading I bought a Hornady AP. It's been a frustrating experience at times. If you get an AP, don't be surprised if you run into some minor problems that may require contacting Hornady.

I have found at least a half a dozen issues with my press. Some were assembly/adjustment related that were not clearly explained in the manual, and some are functional problems that may indicate a defect. And there are a few items that I would classify as in need of design improvement.

All that being said, I'm still loading ammo at a much faster rate, and am learning how to better use the AP. Overall I would say the AP is a good value, but could use a few minor improvements and a more thorough instruction manual.

Edit: I noticed that you were looking to use the progressive for 9mm. I've loaded 9mm on my AP. The load I chose was high powder fill and many times a little powder would splash out of the case when the press indexed.

I just started researching this a couple months ago. . . and I'm quite happy with my L-N-L AP after 1k each of 9mm and 45. The only thing I added are Hornady bullet feeder dies, tuned to feed cast/coated bullets; I feed them with tubes, not the auto-collator.

The Dillon seemed too expensive for my needs.

A progressive is a great press to have for the amount you are going to shoot. I have a LNL for about 2 years and love it. Not to sway your decision between green, two reds and a blue. Some things to ponder if you get one.
- Inline fabrication makes a VERY nice ergo handle for the LNL, which I bought.
-They also have a led lighting kit that I got and enjoy.
-I prime cases off press and have them in MTM cases ready to load, so that in itself saves me time and yes there are are numerous posts on that process, but it's how I reload and use my time.
- Dont expect to start cranking out 300 or 400 right out of the gate. May take you a couple of sessions to get a nice rhythm and awareness of whatever press you decide on.
- I can produce almost 400 9mm an hour on my LNL.

But really, if you and your family are shooting that much, a progressive is the way to go to keep up with demand. I load 9, 40 and 45 on mine. 223 is on the Rockchucker because I only load 200 or so per session.

I have or have had progressive presses from Lee, RCBS, Hornady and Dillon. The reason Dillon is the "gold standard" is because they are better presses than the rest and hold their value better than any other. I have 30 year old Dillon's that have loaded untold thousands of rounds for me and I could sell them today for twice what I paid for them new.

So, think about that when considering investing money in equipment. Next price out all of your components you are intending to use over this next year and look at that total vs the cost of your press you pick.

No consider that the component costs are all going to be lost but your still going to be loading on whatever press you pick year after year.

I bought a LnL when I started loading pistol rounds, and I am happy with the press.

I guess I got lucky with my LnL- it worked great out of the box. I picked hornady over dillon because of the five die stations and the cost of adding calibers to the dillon- I load 9 different calibers on the press. I bought extra bushings for the calibers I load most often to reduce the changeover time.

x2 on z7's comment on keeping it clean, particularly the primer feeder. It doesn't take much time and really saves a lot of aggravation.

I also recommend the lockout die to prevent the press from going all the way up if the powder charge is too much or too little. It takes a few minutes to set up, but it is well worth it.

I use my Hornady L-N-L more than the Dillon SDBs, Dillon BL550, and RCBS Pro2000 presses that I also have.

I find they all have advantages and disadvantages.

Except for the SDBs which use proprietary dies and are only 4 station, get the press whose color best matches the decor in your reloading room. It will serve you well.

Pete I was in your exact situation about 4 years ago. For just little ole me I could supply my modest 9 needs but then I ramped up my bullet count and my wife and son decided to shoot with me which is really nice. But I was spending too much time at the bench.

I have the LNL and through diligence and self-study I have mine running like a watch. No real complaints but an issue from time to time. Between tonight and tomorrow evening I will fill in the holes in my anticipated ammo needs through the end of October which means I need 1300 rounds of 9mm. I can make on average 450 rounds in an hour maybe a little less but 450 for me.

I've had my LNL-AP since 2005? Lost track of time may be longer. I've had very little problems with the press, 80K+ rounds. There are minor tweaks that can be done to make it run smooth. I added the brass feeder 1 yr later after I broke my left wrist. With the brass feeder I can average 400-450 rounds per hour including loading primer tubes at a comfortable pace. I've had more problems with the brass feeder than any thing else. The last mods I did has corrected a couple of issues. I have 5 ea primer tubes (S & L) so I load them all when I get setup to load. This allows me to run longer with out stopping for primers.

Like anything mechanical it requires a proper setup for it to run smooth. So take all the time it takes to get it adjusted properly. When you start out, run in single die mode to insure all dies are adj properly. Then you can load the stations and start testing full AP, 1 pc of brass through all stations. Once your satisfied you can start feeding all stations and go full AP.

Your current dies should work just fine. Some of the earlier Lee dies had short body for the sizing die. Which caused some problems with locking it down.

Sounds like time to share the joy inherent in reloading as well as shooting.

Have owned both Hornady and Dillon presses. I am very happy with my Dillon 550b. I won't sell mine

Lots of LNL users around here with very few Dillon users, I am surprised.

I went from a LCT press to a Dillon XL650, and I cannot imagine using anything else honestly. I have kept my LCT press for load development and some low-use rifle rounds, but the XL650 gets the bulk work for my pistol rounds. I keep separate tool heads for each caliber which makes for easy switch outs. Make sure to get a case feeder, a great investment.

I have never used the Hornady LNL, but I do know that it is a nice, and seems to have a very loyal following. I am sure you would be fine with either brand (Hornady or Dillon).

I've had my Dillon RL550C about 10 months now. It's my first Dillon and first progressive. Dillon makes nice stuff.

I have owned both the Dillon XL 650 and Hornady LnL AP. The two are not in the same league. The Hornady has some nice features and some great features. I like how open it is and the ease of taking cases off shellplate to inspect as you go to name a couple. But it doesn't hold a candle to the XL650. It's the difference in the feel between a good tool and a quality tool. The XL650 is sure footed and and refined. A thousand round batch of 9x19 is done in no time and it's stress free reloading.

I like reloading presses. They're mechanicle toys to me I get to play with. You might say it's like a hobby When I want to play I'll load some .357 on my Pro 1000. But, when it's time to get serious and catch up on all the 9x19 my family shoots then it is definitely the XL650. It gets the work done without all the headaches.

Walkalong said:

I like the ergonomics of the LNL, and it works well for me, no case or bullet feeder.

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That is why I chose the LNL as well. Your right-hand stays on the handle and your left-hand feeds the cases and bullets. After you get a rhythm going, it goes pretty fast and smooth.
I had planned to get a case feeder at first. But after getting to know the LNL, I don’t think I need it.

Having said that, if I needed 1500 rounds of 9mm per month, I would be looking very hard at a Dillon 1050. I love the idea that you can iron out those pesky primer pockets that I seem to run into with 9mm.

Shell plates and bushings for your dies are all I can think of.

The AP comes with 5 bushings, enough for one caliber setup. Those bushings, a shellplate, and a set of dies are the minimum that's needed to get started reloading one caliber. That also assumes that you don't want to drop powder and expand the case at the same station (for straight wall cartridges). If you want to drop powder and expand at the same station, you'll need the appropriate PTX expander bushing for the caliber you're loading.

If you want to do more calibers, the amount of additional parts/accessories you need depends on how quickly you want to change over.
You may want more LNL bushings for additional caliber dies to avoid the need to swap them between dies.
You will need the appropriate shell plates for additional calibers.
If using PTX expanders, you'll need the appropriate PTX expander bushings for the additional straight wall calibers.
If using PTX expanders, you'll probably want additional PTX powder measure stops for additional calibers. This would eliminate the need to readjust the stop each time you switch straight wall calibers.
You may want additional powder measure case activated lower assemblies (~$30 each). Otherwise you may need to adjust the powder measure drop height with a caliber change.
You may want additional powder measure metering inserts (~$10) for other calibers. This will avoid the need to adjust the powder charge when changing calibers.

If you don't buy any of the above, a caliber change can take awhile given all of the necessary adjustments (perhaps a half hour or more). If you buy all of the above (as needed), a caliber change will likely require less than five minutes.