Best "bang for buck" in progressive presses for pistol

I just recently upgraded from a LCT to a Dillon XL650. I also considered the LnL AP very seriously. I am a cost vs. value person too, but not with certain items. Another example of this is buying more gun safe than you need, even though something smaller would work. It prevents a future purchase down the road when you realize that you should have spent the money and bought once.

My LCT required lots of fiddling to keep it running smooth, and because of how much it aggravated me at times, I decided to go Dillon since everything I hear about them is bliss. I had the case ejector system on my LCT and could produce around 200 rounds an hour, but I found myself not shooting as much as I wanted to because I couldn't keep up the pace -- and loading was becoming exhausting. I shoot around 1k of 9mm per month.

I also load on a LnL Classic. Hornady makes great stuff, and I think the LnL AP is a fine press, but the reason I went with a 650 is because of its reputation, and it really wasn't that much more money over the LnL AP.

Purchase a Star , and never look back

DLrocket89 said:

hear that the LNL has a good reputation...between that and a Dillon will probably come down to if I can find a good used one or if there's a good sale on at the time.

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Nothing wrong with that approach at all!
Take your time,,, Keep your eyes open,,,,,, and "you'll know it when you see it!"

I had a Hornady LnL for almost a decade. Picked up a Dillon 650 in a sweetheart deal. Once I got the Dillon mounted and running I realized how much better the Dillon is than the 650. I barely got 1/2 what I had paid for my Hornady when I sold it. A 10 year old Dillon with sell for 85-90% of new price. There's a reason for that.

The Dillon square deal b is a great press for pistol only, you can sometimes find a good deal on a slightly used one set up for 9mm and the warranty is forever on the machine even if you are not the original buyer

Resale value is not a factor for me. I will never sell my 20 year old 550b. I am hoping my grandson will enjoy it after I am gone.

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

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The 650 base machine comes with the tube and all of the device that takes a case from said tube and inserts it into the shell plate, from the factory.

This is one reason the 650 costs more than the LNL but the “case feed” for the LNL costs so much more than the one for the 650.

The optional “case feeder” Dillon sells is just a collator, a case feed, feeder. The LNL case feed is a collator and everything else it takes to get the cases from the collator into the shell plate. How well the user installs everything determines how well it works and that is one reason the Dillon case feed has fewer complaints than the Hornady.

Resale value is not a factor for me. I will never sell my 20 year old 550b. I am hoping my grandson will enjoy it after I am gone.

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I think the point is that, it’s not like a tank of gas, a set of tires, vacation, RV or Boat in that it’s not something that is just an expense or worse something that not only goes down in value but costs you even more money over time.

A 10 year old Dillon with sell for 85-90% of new price.

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Yep, lifetime no BS has lots of fans and because of that it’s important to point out that it’s not 80% of what it cost but what a new one costs. That is where they are more of an investment than an expenditure.

When my Brother and I bought our 2nd SD this is what they cost, the first one was a few dollars cheaper. 500 cast 158gn SWC were $10.



This is what they are now.


Also worth noting that Dillon has rebuilt both a few times over the years adding the imporvents to the originals over the past 30 years for free, even covering shipping back home. This is why you have the diehard “fanboys”.

I vote for the sdb. small,simple,fast. my absolute favorite press. it is always a pleasure to use.

i also have a 650 and various single stage stuff

The LNL and the 650 both have 5 stations the sdb and the 550 only 4.
If you want a powder check/lockout die that takes up a station.
I like using the RCBS lockout die on my LNL.

I sdb uses special dies and can't do rifle.

Which ever way you go I would say get a five station press you can never have to many.
I have five and wish I had 6........

I don’t have any first hand knowledge of the press, that’s just what I was thinking about trying.

No idea what parts cross but it would make sense from a production standpoint. If they don’t work on your pro 1000, I wouldn’t have much hope with them working on the breechlock pro.

The parts I replaced on my Loadmaster were not noticeably ruined but the new parts made it run.

DLrocket89 I'm with you in that I have and use a Pro1000 and load 380acp, 9mm and 45acp on it but also have the shell plate and dies for 38/357 to load on the Pro1000. I load all three on the Pro1000 with the Lee Carbide Pistol dies that can be purchased anywhere. There is nothing special about them. This press is also much faster than I am or care to operate it at. I mostly load on it w/o the case feeder and collator and also load start to finish as it was designed to be used. Sizing and de-priming in the 1st station, priming, flaring and case charging in the 2nd station and bullet seating and crimping in the 3rd station. I actually use an old Lee 3 hole turret press the exact same way to work up loads and run small runs of less than 100. The ammo coming out of this press has been more consistent and accurate than many factory loads. I could have bought any press I wanted and chose this one because of the simplicity of design and operation along with the ease and expense of caliber changes.

Now the Breech Lock Pro; So far I'm impressed with what I've done with it. It runs almost exactly like the Pro1000 accept for the priming and the addition of a 4th station. In this case I am using this press to load 45acp for a pistol that is very finicky with reloads. I need to finish them in the CFCD or I experience extreme chambering problems in this gun.

As you just suggested I was able to move the dies, powder measures and case feed with collator from the Pro 1000 right over to the Breech Lock with the added benefit of having the Crimp Die in the press and not having to crimp in a separate step on another press.

I was originally going to leave this as a dedicated press for the 45 but it's so smooth and fast that I may pick up a shell plate for the 9mm and run it with just the standard 3 Pistol Die set and add a powder check or powder cop just to speed up the process. Though I have to say with the redesign of the carrier it is much, much easier to see into the case to visually check the powder in station 2.

https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item/0000690900/lee-auto-breech-lock-pro-progressive-press

Nice price. $103.00

Hope these help explain!

I bought the Hornady powder cop first, and the RCBS lockout die second.
I like the O ring on the powder cop just peeking out the top of the die when I use it.
I much prefer the RCBS die for pistol since you don't have to watch it. (of course it doesn't do rifle)

Loadmaster. Or a new pro 1000. Best bang for your buck. Lnl ap has not been any better than a loadmaster in my experience. But I do run a commercial loading business on the side with auto drive 1050s. So I'll drink all the coolaids. Lee is always the best bang for the buck. If you have Facebook I know it sucks but there are lots of reloading groups and I see all presses having problems. Even 650s and 1050s. So if you think that pro 1000 is bad maybe check out those groups and watch for a few months.