Dillion verses Hornady

I've never even seen a Dillon press. I'd
I just loaded 540 9mms on my LNL-AP, I had one case stick in the case feeder and found one case that was split, I never have primer problems with mine, ever.

Short of those two things I had to stop for, it was just easy loading. If everything on it is set up correctly, it just runs, and runs. My LNL-AP is completely stock except for the tip/stop thingy I put on the bottom of the funnel where the case lands in front of the pusher.

My LNL-AP has about 40,000 rounds through it. It still seats primers to .005" under.

That's the biggest reason I've never went anywhere to see a Dillon, but I'm sure Dillon's run just as well as mine does.

I have no loyalty to any brand, but they do have to work correctly for me. And what works correctly for me may not work correctly for someone else. I expect that's why some like Hornady's and some like Dillon's, I've always followed all the Dillon threads on here to learn about them, and I'm following this thread also.

I would love to load on one sometime to see if it rubs me against the grain, as long as it had a case feeder, I bet I could run either one with no problems at all, after I have it set up. I don't know if I'd be happy with Dillon's powder measure though. I'd have to run one to find out.

Highland Lofts, I'll be watching for your write up on the comparison. Hope you sell your rifle.

..I wonder if anyone has done that forgeting to refill a 100 primer tube?.....and I wonder if they would admit it if they did.

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Oh yeah, not hard to do at all. I put a control panal on mine with the sensors to tell me when I'm out of something. It works well, I haven't missed a primer since. The powder lock out die and sensor on mine caught my apprentice doing a double charge of Titegroup too, when he stopped have ways down, to do something, then went up again. Those sensors should be on every press made, as far as I'm concerned.

GW Staar said:

Just experienced that yesterday while teaching a 24 year old grandson how to load 9mm on a couple of single stations.......and that was moments after a "if it isn't easy and smooth....stop....something's wrong ....check it out" lecture. No seating a bullet is NOT easy if it falls over too far.... I knew I was in trouble watching the blank look.....so he had to learn the hard way...... twice.

We did load a hundred successfully and I suggested he make a shadow box and frame the mangled remains of two bullets and cases and hang it in front of his future bench to remind him.

It's worse on a progressive.....ANY progressive.....and Dillon's best isn't immune. My first Dillon demoed to me was by a seasoned Dillon veteran who got excited in a teaching moment......which resulted in 100 primers all over the floor....with one stroke of the press. (it was a 650)

And I, demonstrating my Pro 2000, finished 50 rounds, the last 25 rounds with powder trickling out the primerless cases.....when I forgot to piggyback a primer strip. At least it was only 25....I wonder if anyone has done that forgeting to refill a 100 primer tube?.....and I wonder if they would admit it if they did.

Oh, and Bossman left off Daytona Racers off his list. Or keeping to his lesser primate theme.....tree swinging howler monkeys?

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When the included primer alert goes off on my Dillon it's time to add more primers.

I can't see how one stroke of the handle on a Dillon 650 could dump 100 primers. That has to be a major operator error.

Texas10mm said:

When the included primer alert goes off on my Dillon it's time to add more primers.
I can't see how one stroke of the handle on a Dillon 650 could dump 100 primers. That has to be a major operator error.

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That's because it WAS operator error......just like 90% of all reloading hickups. The priming system just came apart....obviously it wasn't secured first. I'll leave it to you, since you have one, figure out how he could do that.

9mmepiphany said:

my nature of looking for explanations to processes served me well while navigating the learning curve

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Some of us learn that right away, some it takes a little while.......and some never learn.

I've had my Pro Chucker 7 for a while now and I've learned to love the thing......and I've yet to break the "evil" primer slide. Some of the early adopters never did. I don't think any progressive is evil, some take more time to learn.....and new models take more time to iron out. If people are willing to be patient and they aren't swinging handles that are hung on something one usually finds gold. Dillon has had a lot of years to perfect their system.....and they have patient leaders....and kudos to the patient users...and company movers.

Also I rarely see anyone go from a Dillon to a Hornady. I do see a LOT of people going from Hornady to Dillon. All one has to do is look at the used prices on both presses. The Hornady will lose 50% of it's value when the box is opened. The Dillon will lose 10% and if kept and used for 5-7 years will sell for more than was paid for it.

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I did it because I had heard how much better the LNL powder measure was with extruded powders. That didn’t turn out to be the case though. I don’t think they will loose 50% of the value by loosing the UPC, even when they gave away 1000 bullets with them but you couldn’t trade a new one in the box for a used 550. I also agree that with time a used Dillon is worth more than they cost. That’s because these,





Still have the exact same warranty coverage as these.




How many cars would you have sold that, if anything broke on them, it would be replaced for free, forever, even if you die, the next owner gets the same deal?

I couldn’t understand how that business model would work 35 years ago and still don’t but lots of other presses have come and gone, become obsolete and the Dillon’s keep on going.

That gives you an idea how long they've been at it......but not quite a long as the Rock Chucker......and what RCBS could be if they hadn't been sold to a big corporation. Pray Dillon doesn't sell out. (or Hornady either)

I've had both, I'm sure you can read through the past several pages of anecdotal experience and draw a couple conclusions. Here's my take:

Hornady AP : Better die system with the LnL bushings, better ergonomics with the outside support bar being offset to the right, so you can see what's going on rather than having to peak around either side like on a Dillon. CONS: Super fiddly, it weird but if you leave it alone for awhile and come back to it, expect to have to fiddle with it. I ended up doing all sorts of little mods to fix all sorts of little problems which seems to be the case with the most Hornady LnL AP owners. Never ever could I get it dialed in enough between the case feeder and press to start cranking out ammo. It was always something, like 1 out of ever 50 rounds. I was always okay with it since I got all of it for half off through a series of deals with Cabbalas. Oh, their case feeder is crap, constant jamming.

Dillon: I'd say it might be a steeper learning curve, but that may have been because I was so use to Hornady stuff. Takes a little bit more effort to get things dialed in. Once you do though, it cranks out ammo without any hiccups.

The best comparison I can make is, Hornady is the Android phone compared to the Dillon's being an Apple iPhone.

The best comparison I can make is, Hornady is the Android phone compared to the Dillon's being an Apple iPhone.[/QUOTE]


That may be the best comparison of these two systems ever!

Point_Taken said:

The best comparison I can make is, Hornady is the Android phone compared to the Dillon's being an Apple iPhone.

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Great Analogy. I never understood the Dillion VERSES Hornady thing. They both have good reputations and loyal users. They both are very good presses that seem to come from slightly
different ideology’s with slightly different priorities, design wise.

Do we have a winner yet?

I currently own several DIllon 650s and 1050s and absolutely love them. Order both the Dillon and the Hornady and try them out for a couple weeks...one brand will be going back for a refund.
Let us know what you decide.

Texas10mm said:

I had a huge problem with the Hornady bushings working loose on both the dies and the powder measure

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Yes I had a problem with the powder measurer loosening while reloading but a very easy fix was to replace the o ring with a 28mm x 22mm x 3mm o ring.

donut1953 said:

Yes I had a problem with the powder measurer loosening while reloading but a very easy fix was to replace the o ring with a 28mm x 22mm x 3mm o ring.

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I don't like the use of o-rings to locate or register precision tooling.

p404445 said:

I don't like the use of o-rings to locate or register precision tooling.

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OK.. the other 99.9% who used this method that 100% fixed their problem will carry on.

I'm not sure I'm referring to the same thing you are, but I really didn't care for the lnl bushings depending on the o-rings for locking.
I may have gotten it to work if I had fiddled with it.
It just seemed to me that Hornady was trying to reinvent the wheel.
I also don't like the lock rings on dies that are supposed to lock (I think) with an o-ring between the ring and the press. How these systems are supposed to work without resorting to pliers I don't know. And where is the precision?
While we're on it I also don't like the style that jams a screw into the 7/8 threads. I like the type that clamp a split ring.

I used my LNL-AP to deprime ~2000 45acp brass Saturday. I setup my brass feeder and went as fast as I could run the ram up and down. I had around 10 stoppage on the brass feeder. 1 was a 22LR casing got in the tube and locked up the brass feed down tube. I had to pull it off to clear this. This is not the fault of the dispenser, operator error. Then I had maybe 10 where the brass did not fall fast enough and got pinched. Easy fix you just punch the brass backup into the collator. If I was going at a slower pace these may not have happened. It only took me about 1 1/2 hr to go through the 2k pieces of brass. So I was working it faster than you normally would if you were loading ammo But this shows once every thing is set up properly it does work. I only use my brass feeder for straight wall pistol ammo. On occasion I will load 223R using it but that is rare unless I'm needed some cheap plinking ammo. I used my RCBS universal deprimer with a upgraded spring. None stuck to the pin.

Hornady's fix to powder dispenser is to use a Shim between the o-ring and bushing. This works. Hornady will send you the shim on request to fix this problem.

I just don't see what problem it solved.

I'm sure I must be missing something, because a lot of you load much more than me.

How is it easier to use?

p404445 said:

I just don't see what problem it solved.

I'm sure I must be missing something, because a lot of you load much more than me.

How is it easier to use?

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The bushings solve the issue of removing and reinstalling your dies, and having to reset them each time. May not be a huge deal on a progressive where one sets it up with intent to load a thousand or more of the same round, but I load on a single stage press and usually only load 50-100 before changing to a different caliber. Keep in mind that I have to install and remove each die for each stage, so for me that's four die changes for 50-100 rounds, so not only does it save time screwing and unscrewing the die into and out of the press, it also keeps my settings for that die for that caliber. I do check my first round at each stage to make sure nothing has changed, but I really don't need to. The only time I change my die settings is if I change the bullet I'm loading.

I also have three powder dispensers. Don't have to screw those in or out either and risk bumping the handle and dropping powder.

Does it work? Yes. Is it perfect? No. BUT I have measured boxes (yes, entire boxes) of finished loads and have an oal within .002-.003, with an odd round skewing it to .005.

Is it the best? I don't know. Is it better than Dillon's way of doing the same thing? Don't know that either. One just has to find what works for them at an acceptable level.

chris

ballman6711 said:

The bushings solve the issue of removing and reinstalling your dies, and having to reset them each time. May not be a huge deal on a progressive where one sets it up with intent to load a thousand or more of the same round, but I load on a single stage press and usually only load 50-100 before changing to a different caliber. Keep in mind that I have to install and remove each die for each stage, so for me that's four die changes for 50-100 rounds, so not only does it save time screwing and unscrewing the die into and out of the press, it also keeps my settings for that die for that caliber. I do check my first round at each stage to make sure nothing has changed, but I really don't need to. The only time I change my die settings is if I change the bullet I'm loading.

I also have three powder dispensers. Don't have to screw those in or out either and risk bumping the handle and dropping powder.

Does it work? Yes. Is it perfect? No. BUT I have measured boxes (yes, entire boxes) of finished loads and have an oal within .002-.003, with an odd round skewing it to .005.

Is it the best? I don't know. Is it better than Dillon's way of doing the same thing? Don't know that either. One just has to find what works for them at an acceptable level.

chris

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I can see where it would be good for the powder measure.