Dillion verses Hornady

Highland Lofts said:

Who else has done this a what did you like about the Dillion and what did you like about the Hornady?

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@DRAINSMITH , call the office

On my LNL I have had so much trouble with the case retainer spring kinking that I have literally gone through 46 of them since buying it new a few years ago. Some use a o-ring instead of the spring and though it does work I finally found the problem and solution why it was happening to me.
I used a Dremel with polishing wheel and red rouge to polish the underside of each shell plate where the spring rides especially at each of the 5 case cutouts. Some shell plates would kink the spring sooner than others but I have loaded about 3000 of 9mm, 38/357,44 and 45 colt plus depriming the same amount of brass before wet tumbling and not a mark on the same spring.
Before polishing the shell plates I couldn’t load more than 50 of any caliber without having the spring kink so bad that cases would catch on the kink when being fed from case feeder.
I will say that the o-ring does take any jerky movement away when indexing which stops any powder spilling from short cases like 9 mm.

We were talking on another forum and this was brought up.

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Wednesday already?... Usually there are any number of ongoing threads on the topic on any forum but unlike your idea the posts are usually from people that own one or the other, not both.

I already had more than one of all the Dillon presses before I bought my first LNL and bought another after they came out with the EZject system, even bought an RCBS progressive sometime later, all just to have a working knowledge of each.

.223 should be short enough you don’t have the problem but .308 on an LNL drove me nuts. On the Dillon 650 you are operating the handle with your right hand and the press indexes completely at the last part of the handle up/ram down stroke. At this point you place a bullet on the case and raise the ram seating it.

The LNL has a different indexing method where it indexes halfway on the down stroke and the other half on the up stroke. On longer cases with longer bullets you can’t just set the bullet on top of the case and raise the ram seating it, because the tip of the bullet will already above the bottom of the die when it finishes the index and it’s knocked off. So, I had to put the bullet up into the die and slowly raise the ram until it indexed under the die, then set the bullet into the mouth, get my hand out of the way and finish the stroke. I reloaded exactly 200 rounds that way and went back to a Dillon.

I still prep my 223 on a 650 but the 1050 is what I use to load them, crimped primer pockets and the primer pocket swage on satiation #3 of the 1050 being the reason.

jmorris said:

So, I had to put the bullet up into the die and slowly raise the ram until it indexed under the die, then set the bullet into the mouth, get my hand out of the way and finish the stroke. I reloaded exactly 200 rounds that way and went back to a Dillon.

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Yuck! That would call for an RCBS Gold Metal Seater (or the new Match Master Seater). You just drop your bullet in from the top....it gets lovingly encased in the seating tube and seats straight without holding the bullet straight and risk mashing your fingers. Love those windows!.....also makes a bullet feeder less needful for many.

Primer feed was mentioned above. On my 550 it’s always been a bit erratic, primarily with flipping primers. I gave up on the slide being actuated by that spring arm and operate it by simply pulling the slide by hand. My is an “ 82” production with no mods however and that issue may have been addressed by Dillon. It’s also used only for pistol rounds.

This write-up is a few years old, but he compared the loadmaster, the 650, and the lnl. It was a pretty good write-up. http://www.comrace.ca/cmfiles/dillonLeeHornadyComparison.pdf he wound up liking the Hornady the best. Personally, I got a 650 and bolted a Lee case feeder on it. It wound up cheaper than a Hornady with case feeder. I have no regrets, but I doubt I would have had any with the hornady either.

That's exactly why I chose the RCBS Pro 2000 over the Dillon 650.....Without a case feeder you need 3 hands.....and I wasn't convinced at the time I needed one.....not to mention I couldn't afford one at the time either.

What I did learn, as age became a factor, is that brain overload becomes a problem as you age, without feeders. So I made my own. Now all I have to do on the pro 2000 is watch primers and powder. When I bought my Pro Chucker 7, I got feeders.....just not fast ones. (to match my speed now)

My only thing against the Hornady was the bushings..... At that time when I bought my first progressive Hornady users were having a problem with them.....they worked it out eventually......and kudos to Hornady users....for their patience!

Early adopters buying RCBS's Pro Chuckers were not so understanding and patient with its problem primer system.....

I was just saying in another thread that I am not brand loyal when it comes to guns. Reloading equipment on the other hand...

What i like about Dillon is that their stuff plain works. Scout the internet looking for people having problems with their Dillon equipment. I’ll wager that what you come up with will be far less than you will doing the same with Hornady progressive equipment.

I own both brand die sets. For rifle it may not make a big difference.

For pistol, you'd end up having to buy extra dies with the Hornady. The Dillon dies would be far better choice with pistol.

L-n-L and 750 here. The Dillon is a friend’s. He didn’t have room on a work bench for it. I had room, so I can use it anytime I want. Both are on Inline’s quick change system, on a flush mount plate.

The Hornady will do. The Dillon is head and shoulders above the Hornady.

The Hornady casefeeder is nothing but problems. Hornady’s powder measure will work loose in time, if you don’t keep an eye on it. The plastic bracket at the top of the primer cam wire has broken several times. I think I’m on #5 or 6 now, I’ve lost count. With it’s different issues that you have to watch for, I’m lucky if I can get 300 rounds per hour out of it. And that is with 6 or more primer tubes full and ready to go.

The Dillon is a little tighter on space, and thus a little more difficult to get set up. But once everything’s is set, it’s just a matter of 2 pins and replacing the tool head. (The LnL is nice to set up. Once a die is set, remove it with the bushing and you have plenty of room to get the next station set. It’s also more flexible as to what you do at each station.) Per Dillon’s flexibility, I was wanting to run a RCBS lube die in station 1, and sizer in station 2. But it isn’t possible. Powder must be @ station 2.

But the Dillon runs. And runs. And runs. Within just a few thousand rounds, I was getting near 600 an hour.

I have yet to swap primer sizes out on the Dillon. I may change my opinion at that time. But I doubt it. It’s pretty straight forward on the LnL. On the Hornady, I do have 2 complete set ups for the primer assembly. I had problems with the tube backing out of the housing. I also rigged up Dillon’s primer alarm to work on the Hornady. But that was just a personal preference to the audible alarm. (1 less thing to pay attention to.)

Wyman

I would not mind giving a 550b a try some day.

each mounted on Inline Fabrication Ultramounts and they are both equipped with their Ergo handles.

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Those items SHOULD be standard equipment from these makers. HIGHLY recommended no matter WHAT press you use

9mmepiphany said:

If it is breaking that often, something isn't correct with the way it is set up. Mine has been rock solid for a few thousand rounds

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That’s 5 or 6 over 7 years, and 10 to 12 thousand rounds. What’s happening is the small primer punch (hasn’t happened with the large, that I can remember) get’s stuck up. Hornady has replaced that for free twice. So on the 3rd primer punch. I remove it every time I finish loading, and replace it when I start. While it’s removed, it’s cleaned. 120psi compressed air 1st. Then brake cleaner. Then air again. Then 1 drop of synthetic oil. And it continues to do it.

Hornady’s CS (not complaining about them here) hasn’t been much help. They’ve been good in that they’ve sent me replacement parts at no charge. But they haven’t been any help in actually fixing the problem. Throwing parts at it is not fixing it.

Wyman

JWF III said:

That’s 5 or 6 over 7 years, and 10 to 12 thousand rounds. What’s happening is the small primer punch (hasn’t happened with the large, that I can remember) get’s stuck up. Hornady has replaced that for free twice. So on the 3rd primer punch. I remove it every time I finish loading, and replace it when I start. While it’s removed, it’s cleaned. 120psi compressed air 1st. Then brake cleaner. Then air again. Then 1 drop of synthetic oil. And it continues to do it.

Hornady’s CS (not complaining about them here) hasn’t been much help. They’ve been good in that they’ve sent me replacement parts at no charge. But they haven’t been any help in actually fixing the problem. Throwing parts at it is not fixing it.

Wyman

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What is breaking on the punch? The only one I broke was the large punch and that’s because for some reason I thought I was torquing a head bolt when installing it. I’m not sure using oil on it is a good plan. I give mine a shot of Hornady One Shot cleaner now and then. I have no idea how many rounds I’ve loaded on my LNL but it’s a lot and still use the original small primer punch.
The case feeder setup is finicky but the priming system on my LNL has been absolutely perfect since day one after taking the time to set it up as well as the press timing.

I had to go load a few hundred 9's on my Hornady LnL to make sure I wasn't having false memories of it working. It did well.

greyling22 said:

This write-up is a few years old, but he compared the loadmaster, the 650, and the lnl.

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I had forgotten I had one of those too, not exactly as Lee sends them but the fastest one I have ever seen.

For roller handles buy the Inline Fabrication models. They are much better than the factory offering.

I'm one that prefers a Ball handle over a roller. I like my wrist to stay in it's more natural angle. Repetitive motion injuries will haunt you for a long time. Rotating and twisting as required with a roller will eventually run into problem. If you have tennis elbow or arthritis you need to find what works best for you.