Dillon RL550B vs Hornaday LNL AP

Lower assy of the case activated powder drop, Hornady pn 50074: Quick Change powder die:





Hornady PTX:




Also need the PTX powder stop if you are using the PTX to bell the casemouths:

just go with your with favorite color.

^^^^

or the one whose color best matches the decor in your reloading room.

Either method of choice will serve you well.

I sold the 550b and bought the LNL. Very happy. One major factor that people don't seem to mention is that on the hornady you leave your right hand on the handle and it has just one job. On the 550 I found myself constantly switching hands and that broke my stride. Maybe I didn't train hard enough but to me that was incorrect design. Just my opinion. In a perfect world if have one for each caliber and that would really cut down on the setup time, but, it's not a perfect world.
Favorite color would be about last on my list of criteria however. Paint is cheap if it matters that much.

The PTX will give you consistent neck tension since it sizes (expands) the area where the bullet goes and expands the mouth to accept the bullet. The PF only expands the mouth to accept the bullet.

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Does it really make a difference? What is it doing to make more consistent neck tension that the powder funnel isn't doing? It does look like the PTX would shape the mouth differently than the PF, but after you taper crimp it will it matter?

I load cast bullets on mine. With the PTX set correctly you can get enough of a bell mouth to not shave lead without overdoing it. Using the linkage it is very repeatable.

I have been happy with all my Dillons that I have not had the desire to switch to another brand. Why make things complicated is my thinking.

I just got my lnl in Feb. tax return gift to myself. The start up is pretty expensive for me anyway, it prob cost me about $625 with everything I needed a bushing 10 pack 4 shell plates, powder cop (wish I got the RCBS lockout!). Oh and I ordered a powder funnel, and not the ptx but I have used my expander in both calibers I loaded on it so far, but I do have a 4 die set for 45acp and that's when I will give the powder funnel a try. I really like the press it was a pretty straight forward set up, followed the video. I have no regrets in buying the hornady, all the guys I work with have 650's and 550's and the 650 is a bit much on start up. The 550 is manual index and is not compare able to the lnl, but if I had dillon to start I probably would just go with them. I started with a lee single and 3 out of 4 sets of dies were Lee so would have had to buy complete conversions if I went Dillon. About 500 rounds in to the lnl, I feel it is a good choice.

Oh and the 500 free bullets from them were a great add on. Although prob won't see them for a couple months.

The LNL seems to be on sale at many places. Is there an updated version planned or just another incentive (along with bullets) to move inventory?

Is it "on sale", or is Hornady simply not price controlled, like Dillon is? $425-435 is the range I have seen. What price do you see as "on sale"?

Cabelas has it for $380 (-$70) starting Saturday and a number of online shops been posting it for $399.

Mine was $399 at Midsouth, don't know if they have it that price still?

With the 500 bullet offer--it's a pretty good deal.

With the 500 bullet offer--it's a pretty good deal.

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Assuming you would care about any of the few choices they offer you.

RealGun said:

Assuming you would care about any of the few choices they offer you.

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Well, for plinking/practice ammo, almost any will do. ;-)

i have both a Dillon 550b and a Hornady LNL. i think they are both great presses. i load alot of ammo in excess of 50k per year. i only have a had the LNL a short time, its set up with out the case feeder for now. its a very smooth press and i load about 100 rounds per 9 minutes on it, its a bit slower for me because i have to put a bullet & case in everytime with my left hand. the press is easier on the shoulder than the 550B. the LNL is more comparable to a Dillon 650 which i have owned several of them and think the LNL is a better press. the 550B i can load 100 rounds in 7 minutes but i am turning the shellplate with my left hand as i place a bullet then putting a case in with my right hand. but its not all about speed i just like to be efficient. anyhow i dont think you can go wrong with either press but they are different animals especially the manual vs auto indexing. i am starting to like the LNL a bit better than the 550 but i am not going to sell my 550. i will say this though i do like them both better than all the other machines i have had over the years and i have owned about everything out there.

Walls of text without proper capitalizing tend not to get read. Your choice.

its set up with out the case feeder for now

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If you also don't have a bullet feeder it's easy to make one with the bullet feeder die and three foot clear plastic (stiff) tubes that you can fill with bullets and hang above the feeder die. I don't have a case feeder and I really don't need one. If I had one, I don't know what I'd do with my left hand

Walls of text without proper capitalizing tend not to get read. Your choice.

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Yup.
I skip over lack of caps and punctuation, too.
It's easier in my old age and saves me time, too.

I own both and there are some advantages with both. I will list pros and cons I have found.

Dillon 550:
Pros:
-it can never go out of time. As long as the ball/spring is In Good working order you're set.
-caliber changes are quicker if you leave a tool head and powder measure set up for your load/caliber in question. But only by a little bit.
-changing primer size is a bit easier on This machine.
-the ejector system works very well
-the priming system is less affected by powder slosh (or what ever you might call it when indexing cause powder to jump out of the case).
-powder slosh is not as much of a problem in general since you have more control over the indexing of the shell plate.
-I like the method of holding the primer mag tube in place better than the Hornadys.
-Dillons no bs warrantee is great

Cons:
-I have had a lot of issues with the priming system, as follows
- the priming ram didn't reliably line up with the hole until I beveled the edge of the hole In The base plate.
-I had frequent misfeeds or double feeds of primers from the primer mag tube, then I changed the plastic feeding end and now I have to apply pressure to the primer follower to get them to feed properly. Seems like I can't find that place where it just works.
-if you have a tight primer pocket the handle stop does not allow enough travel to seat them completely flush. This is a rare occurrence but has happened to me on more than one occasion
-it only has 4 stations. Sometimes my methods require 5 or more.
-it is not as versatile if you want to change which station does what
-it is not auto indexing, which makes it easier to forget to index when dealing with something like a priming problem or refilling primers or other little distracting issues and you could double charge a case.(auto indexing doesn't completely eliminate this risk but makes it harder to do if the press is fully cycled)
-the powder measure is inconsistent with extruded powders
-the dies are very closely crammed together on the tool head which can make it difficult to tighten or lossen die lock rings, ect.
-the tool heads with dies mounted are not condusive to effective storage imo. They need to be stored on The pedestals from Dillon.
-I find it irritating that the normal powder dies will not work properly with cartriges such as the 500 magnum. You have to use an XL powder die for those and some magnum rifle cartridges.
-I have had the brass locator pins work their way up and out a couple times. It is not an issue if I take the blue tabs off of them.

With me, it came down to the auto-inexing. The Dillon 550B would have been the obvious choice for me, given the number of calibers I load and the relatively modest volume I shoot. But that wasn't happening, and the Hornady offering at the time I was choosing was not the LNL of today. I bought the Dillon 650, and, as I expected, it's a great machine, but total overkill for me.

Decided to do this in 2 parts.
The Hornady Lock n' Load
Pros:
-The powder measure is terrific. It's accurate, works well with all the powders I have tried in it(the only occasional hick up is when you have to apply a small amount of force with extruded powder to "cut" a kernel of powder caught between the cylinder and the housing when it is rotating.)
-the priming system works well when clean (though there are a couple quirks I will get to in the Cons)
-the die bushings are a terrific idea and they are more adaptable to how you want to set up the press.
-it has 5 stations
-the powder drop die in conjuction with the bushings is a better idea in my opinion, as it's easy to remove to empty or fill, and if you have 2 measures one for large drops and one for small, it makes caliber changes really quick. And it's easier to adjust to the correct height for the cartridge you are loading than the Dillons Set up. (I have felt the need to purchase a powder die for every caliber I load on the Dillon. Not so with the Hornady.)
-auto indexing is nice
-the dies in the bushings can be stored in the plastic Die boxes from the following brands: Lyman, RCBS, Hornady of course, Forster, and even Dillon. (The Redding boxes can't close properly with the bushings installed)
-Their customer service is excellent and have never charged me for a replacement part and even pay the shipping no questions asked.
-The case retaining spring that goes around the shell plate, though maybe not as durable as the locator pins on the Dillon, the spring ring makes taking out and put in back cases at any given station MUCH quicker. I like this feature.

Cons;
-Powder slosh on mostly full cases happens regulary due to the shell plate Indexing and snapping into place on the ball detents, sometimes even on cases that are not close to full depending on whether it's a bottle neck cartridge or not.
-the priming system gets hung up if a kernel of powder or other debris gets into the primer slide track. This can be extremely irritating at times.
-I had to epoxy a hard plate under the priming ram. A dimple developed under the press and it no longer was able to seat primers flush to the case head until I did this modification. Now it works great.
-the ejection system hung up on certain cartriges. I tried to modify it with a file but didn't do much good. I have to push one out sometimes with my finger.
-the indexing Palls are i believe MIM. They can chip and ware out causing the press to go out of time. It can be adjusted to fix the timing but you have to be careful when it's indexing just in case you end up with a hangup so you don't break a pall. It's not really delicate, but I am on my third set of palls. I broke a pair on my learning curve, then a friend broke a pair.
-the shell plate comes loose after loading for a bit. This apparently causes some of the issues I have (many thanks to the post below) and can be fixed with a lock washer.

captain awesome,

Google,
Hornady LNL-AP Set up Hints and Tricks
a video series done by Bill Morgan.

YOUR time will be well spent watching, he has QUICK FIXES
for some folks COMMON ISSUES.

Over at TheFirearmsForum he's known as 76Highboy
his videos are GREAT.

Thanks for the tip! I will check it out