Best "bang for buck" in progressive presses for pistol

I had a Lee Pro 1000 for about 20 years. I decided to upgrade but something not terribly expensive. I found a LNL AP on Craigslist, unused, for a good price. Like the Lee and I suppose all mechanical devices, it has a learning curve but now, I love it and can crank out most any caliber I reload. Mostly pistol but also 223 on it is a breeze. A big thumbs up from me.

What do you want to know?

I am happy with my Hornady LNL.

The Hornady LNL for me too. I came from a Lee classic cast turret. It was nice, but couldn't keep up. I shoot about 1000 per month between uspsa, steel challenge, a very little idpa, and a little practice.
Check out RMR for bullets-great folks and great prices.

Actually for my money the Dillon 550 is my choice.

It allows me to reload handgun & rifle cartridges.

The 650 is definitely a Cadillac, but didn't offer anything I needed for the extra money.

The Dillon sdb is great for those calibers, but if you think you might to reload rifles go with the 550

3-4K, I could put up with issues, if I needed to save money. That said I have owned Dillon presses for more than 30 years now and the first ones are now worth more than twice what I paid for them new.

I have done good with RCBS, Lee and a number of LNL’s but they don’t retain or grow in value like the Dillon’s have.

However, like I said 4000/year doesn’t require much, that’s 334/month, 77/week or 11 rounds a day. A single stage can handle that

Or a case and bullet fed 650 could knock the 4000 out in less that 4 hours, if you already had the brass clean. So a hand full every day to a years supply in an afternoon and lots of choices in between.

It’s a bit more than a few days ago becuse sales expired, not sure about the free shipping but if I didn’t already have an overload of presses I would get the following just to see what less than $250 can get these days on new equipment.

$109 https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/2...MI7snb2uHd3QIVArnACh0IJwV4EAQYASABEgKhofD_BwE

$19 https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/10...ess-shellplate

$24 https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/54...eloading-press

$25 https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/86...al-case-feeder

$13 https://www.midwayusa.com/product/24...-case-collator

$35 https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/34...powder-measure

jmorris said:

It’s a bit more than a few days ago becuse sales expired, not sure about the free shipping but if I didn’t already have an overload of presses I would get the following just to see what less than $250 can get these days on new equipment.

$109 https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/2...MI7snb2uHd3QIVArnACh0IJwV4EAQYASABEgKhofD_BwE

$19 https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/10...ess-shellplate

$24 https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/54...eloading-press

$25 https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/86...al-case-feeder

$13 https://www.midwayusa.com/product/24...-case-collator

$35 https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/34...powder-measure

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jmorris, as you know I have recently went in that direction and am pleased with what I see.

DLrocket89 I have 3 lee presses, A Lee 3 hole turret, a Pro1000 and this new Breech Lock Pro. I have the Love/Hate relationship with my Pro1000 only w/o the hate part. I went to the new Pro press only because I have a pistol that is very picky about reloads and the only loads I can get to reliably feed are all finished with the FCD so I needed the 4th station.
With the cheap case feeder on the Pro1000 and priming on the press I can easily turn out 200+ per hour and that is w/o working up a sweat or looking like a drunk in Vegas at the nickel slots pullin the handle as fast as I can.

I don't have nor have I ever used a Dillon 650, Hornady, Lee Load Master or RCBS Pro Chucker. All of which are very high volume presses but I will say the Pro1000 loads everything I shoot and I can not tell the difference in the quality of the rounds coming off it to the factory rounds I shoot on occasion. I also don't have a problem with any pistol rounds I load using Lee Carbide Pistol Die sets. Even the 45acp that I now load on the New Pro press I can load on the Pro1000 and they cycle and fire just fine in my XD Mod2.

If you feel the need to upgrade to another press then by all means do so. As this is supposed to be a fun and relaxing hobby, even for the high volume shooters. I kinda wish I was in the position to need a high volume press to keep up with my needs. You certainly don't need anyone here's permission to upgrade. Just if you do please share the experience with the rest of us! Good Luck.

My recommendation would be for the dillon 650. As someone mentioned above your current quantity output isnt incredibly great and ya could get away w something smaller like the 550 but for a little more the 650 will give you the extra die station and auto-indexing as well as the ability is there if your output ever does increase. I have three presses - two 650's and and 550, there definitely a huge difference. Also since the Dillon presses are so popular it in turn leads to having the most aftermarket parts available for it.

I load more than 4000/year on my Lee Turret. Since you have a Lee 1000 and are looking to move away from it there are good recommendations here. Will you reload rifle at all and which caliber ? That may have a hearing in which press you choose.

-Jeff

Dillon SDB IF you truly intend to just load pistol on it and don't plan on switching to another press latter (since the dies are proprietary).

Otherwise the Hornady LNL or the Dillon 650. Everybody has their own opinions but I'd never go with the Dillon 550 since it doesn't auto-index (which, at least to me, negates a huge part of wanting a progressive press in the first place).

jmorris, as you know I have recently went in that direction and am pleased with what I see.

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Yes, I knew you finally took the plunge.

How is the priming, as in malfunctions per 100/1000. Malfunctions being anything requiring a tap, touch, shake, fiddle or tear down and start over?

Another LNL AP vote here.

"Best bang for the buck" is a tough question to answer!!! I love my Dillon XL650, and Dillon certainly has a great following, but the Hornady presses also are well received for good reason.

Dumb classic question: "Can you spend some time with both a Dillon and a Hornady and see which one *YOU* like?"

I always say "buy once, cry once", so whichever way you go, make sure you step up to a slightly higher level than you think you might need. For example, in the Dillon world which I am most familiar, I would advocate going with the XL650 rather than a 550, and of course, I would also advocate for a case feeder. You always need more than you think you do, and you will certainly need more in a year or two than you need now. It is the way of the world!!!

Good luck with whichever way you decide!

The Dillon 650 is designed around the brass feeder. So if you go that way make sure you budget for it.

I'm a LNL-AP user, have had mine for near 15 yrs now. Added the brass feeder 1 yr after I bought it.

None are perfect, all have there + & -'s As with any of them you must set them up properly. None will work smoothly if you don't. This is where most problems show up. Dillon does setup the presses if your buying new. The reason most are running quickly. Other wise it may take them awhile to get them running smoothly.

I'm curious as to what shortcomings you're seeing with your Pro 1000. It might be that some tweaks or mild modifications would fix whatever problems you're having. I have two that I'm pleased with (one for large primer, one for small), but I did have to do some minor fiddling.

I've been using the Dillon 650 for many years now. IMHO, it's the best reloader, and the best value.

If you're used to a press that auto-advances, I'd skip the 550. You either build up "muscle memory" for auto-advancing or you don't. I think making the change would be pretty hard.

I went from a LCT to a 650. The 650 is awesome. As others have noted, if you're sure you'll only ever want to do pistol cartridges, the SDB may be worth a careful look.

jmorris said:

3-4K, I could put up with issues, if I needed to save money. That said I have owned Dillon presses for more than 30 years now and the first ones are now worth more than twice what I paid for them new.

I have done good with RCBS, Lee and a number of LNL’s but they don’t retain or grow in value like the Dillon’s have.

However, like I said 4000/year doesn’t require much, that’s 334/month, 77/week or 11 rounds a day. A single stage can handle that

Or a case and bullet fed 650 could knock the 4000 out in less that 4 hours, if you already had the brass clean. So a hand full every day to a years supply in an afternoon and lots of choices in between.

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He has an excellent point. Loading (2) Calibers a (4) die Lee Turret or the new (4) die Breech Lock Pro would solve frustration and yield your output.

• The (4) hole Turret press with a case ejector will create 200 pistol rounds per hour.
  • The (800) lever pulls is just motion not muscle for pistol calibers.
• The (4) Die Breech Lock Pro is able to do 400 Pistol rounds with 400 pulls.
  
  • It can be more automated to increase output.
  • The Basic Press operates much like a turret press with the operator manually dropping a case, primer, & bullet.
  • It uses a rotating shell plate so you work (4) cases with each pull.

Richard Lee recommends a progressive press if you shoot 500 rounds per week. That is 25,000 per year. You are looking at (1) hour per week during the winter to reload all of your needs.

When it comes to progressives I drank the Blue cool-aid a long time ago and won't go back.

Biggest considerations are how much time VS. money you have.

I shoot roughly 3 matches a month between IDPA and 3 gun, that combined with practice equals about 25K in 9mm annually and about 3000 in .223. Currently I load 9mm on a Dillon 650 with case feeder, which takes me a couple hrs a month to crank out 2000 rds. I could do the same with my 550 (and did), but it took more time.

IF it came to between the SDB and a 550, I'd take the 550 any day of the week due to standard dies, the ability to load rifle, and the ease of using it as a single stage press.

jmorris said:

Yes, I knew you finally took the plunge.

How is the priming, as in malfunctions per 100/1000. Malfunctions being anything requiring a tap, touch, shake, fiddle or tear down and start over?

Click to expand...

Right now I'm still getting used to the press and loading primers one at a time by hand. I have the Safety Prime but haven't but it on yet. May go experiment with it today. I still have a ton of 45 loaded from a get together we had back in July I need to fire off.

If you're used to a press that auto-advances, I'd skip the 550. You either build up "muscle memory" for auto-advancing or you don't. I think making the change would be pretty hard.

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It wasn’t for me, I avoided the 550 since it came out (and the 450 before it), instead picking auto advance presses from just about everyone that makes them. Then a couple years ago I decided to get one just to have an informed “working” opnion of one.

Insert a case into the shell plate, set a bullet on a case and stroke the handle up, then down and seat the primer.

Now if you forget to index, you don’t have any place to put the next case and never try to seat two bullets into the case.

I actually use the thing quite a bit now because there is no progressive that converts quicker.