I haven’t read every post since my last post but it seems like a theme is “why” and “how” people come to conclusions they do.
I have read enough of these threads that I decided to use a Lee progressive, had success.
I have read enough threads that I owned RCBS progressives, success.
The LNL measure has often been touted as a good one, I had two of them (pre and post EZ ject) they too worked.
Dillon’s, I have a couple SD’s, a 550, couple 650’s and 1050’s.
Is there a best?
Yes...for you.
What makes one better than another might be the same thing that makes you dislike a girl that everyone loves or love a girl that everyone hates.
So...as tasty as a 650 looks to me despite the cost to get one up and going...in your opinion, does a blue press make any better quality ammo, first of all?
The components and dies you use in most any press will have more to do with the quality of the finished product than the press itself, all else being equal.
If you went from one brand to blue, did you notice better ammo?
No, some machines do require less work to get running and maintain though.
I've heard of people using Lee dies in Dillon presses, and I might would too...
I have some that I use, they work.
At this point, it's a time thing, and I feel like I have to do so much tinkering and Mickey Mouse-ing (Auto Drum) it'd be nice to just load up some components and within a minute or two be cranking out some quality reloads and within an hour already replaced what I shot that day.
I do believe in buy once, cry once, but I knew in the beginning I was not ready for a progressive and wanted to take it slow. I'm trying to not impulse buy and see maybe how much I shoot this year to justify it. Just wanted to get some opinions from folks that have tried Lee or other brands, especially turrets, then went to blue and wished they'd been there all along. How is it worth it to you?
It really doesn’t matter what it’s worth to someone else, your the one it’s import to or not.
Least amount of tinkering and just loading has been Dillon equipment for me.
You mention the 650 specifically, this is what a 100 rounds on one of mine with bullet feed and case collators looks like, once everything is set up and ready to go.
Just because you can load 100 in 4 minutes doesn’t mean you are going to knock out 1500 an hour though.
You still have to stop and fill everything up.
That said, I don’t run “marathon” load sessions. If I am loading lots of rounds I use one of my automated machines. I can’t stand to run one of the 650’s like that for more than an hour or so but generally just load in 200-300 round batches. Lots of stuff going on that requires focus at that speed.
If you slow the load rate from the 1500/hr rate in the first video to the 1080/hr rate like this,
It’s easier to maintain and less stressful but you still have to add the refill time to the rate to equal production over time.
Are Dillon’s the end all be all? No. I have spent more hours using other equipment; however, if it’s a “time thing” and you don’t want a lot of tinkering, that’s my go to equipment.