This is not to bash, in any way; it is simply to explain why I changed from a Hornady Lock-& Load progressive to a Dillon Turret Press.
I learned to reload on a Hornady single stage press, which I still have & still use. ALL of the dies I have ever bought, are Hornady's, with the exception of my 6.5 Jap dies which are from Lee-just too big of a price difference to justify the Hornady's for the Jap. I repeat; EVERY (other) set of dies I had ever purchased were from Hornady. When I made the 1 & only NRA Convention I have ever been to (in Reno, NV)...it may well have been Steve Hornady (can't say for sure) who was in their booth touting the L&L; I tried it & LOVED it & couldn't wait to buy one.
A few years later when I could purchase one, I did, AND got the 1000 free bullets. I could NOT figure out why-the-heck I couldn't load handgun cartridges - it simply would NOT throw a handgun charge...I had to purchase the handgun powder feed drum...separately, from the kit.
I have had it for several years, and while the concept of the bushings is brilliant, no matter what, I could never reload consistently with this press. It was ALWAYS a constant set of tweaks & adjustments & spring replacements & retightening of this-or-that & resetting the powder measure...it got to the point that I had this 'great' press on my bench...and when I would decide to go try it again, I would just get frustrated again, and found myself, more-often-than-than-not, using the Lyman 1200DPS and my Hornady single stage press to reload.
Case-in-point: I went out yesterday-thought, what could be more AMERICAN than to shoot or reload on the 4th of July? Between the adjusting & tweaking, etc. on the L&L, I got...51 rounds of 10mm reloaded. I plugged the 1200 DPS in and while it warmed up, I began single-stage reloading, and in the time it took me to reload 51 rounds on the L&L, I loaded 100 rounds in 5 stages.
I told my lovely wife that I was DONE with the L&L.
Today, I purchased a Dillon RL-550C...really struggled with choosing it over the 650, but Rich, over at Cliff's, persuaded me that the 550 would suit all of my needs, and told me that once I got in to a rhythm, I'd be surprised at how quickly I could reload...he was right!
After I got it set up, with only 1 run over to Cliff's & 2 calls to Dillon (believe me, for me, only 1 visit back & 2 calls are EPIC!! - I can put up a shelf & require 6 trips to Lowe's...), and after getting the powder measure calibrated, I reloaded 200 rounds, and that includes switching powders (& looking up on youtube the quickest way to do so...which was so stupidly obvious that I had to wonder why it didn't occur to me), bullets, loads, etc, in about a hour-and-a-half.
THIS is how reloading is supposed to be, and why I switched from a Hornady 'progressive' to a Dillon turret press...YMMV.
Sam
I learned to reload on a Hornady single stage press, which I still have & still use. ALL of the dies I have ever bought, are Hornady's, with the exception of my 6.5 Jap dies which are from Lee-just too big of a price difference to justify the Hornady's for the Jap. I repeat; EVERY (other) set of dies I had ever purchased were from Hornady. When I made the 1 & only NRA Convention I have ever been to (in Reno, NV)...it may well have been Steve Hornady (can't say for sure) who was in their booth touting the L&L; I tried it & LOVED it & couldn't wait to buy one.
A few years later when I could purchase one, I did, AND got the 1000 free bullets. I could NOT figure out why-the-heck I couldn't load handgun cartridges - it simply would NOT throw a handgun charge...I had to purchase the handgun powder feed drum...separately, from the kit.
I have had it for several years, and while the concept of the bushings is brilliant, no matter what, I could never reload consistently with this press. It was ALWAYS a constant set of tweaks & adjustments & spring replacements & retightening of this-or-that & resetting the powder measure...it got to the point that I had this 'great' press on my bench...and when I would decide to go try it again, I would just get frustrated again, and found myself, more-often-than-than-not, using the Lyman 1200DPS and my Hornady single stage press to reload.
Case-in-point: I went out yesterday-thought, what could be more AMERICAN than to shoot or reload on the 4th of July? Between the adjusting & tweaking, etc. on the L&L, I got...51 rounds of 10mm reloaded. I plugged the 1200 DPS in and while it warmed up, I began single-stage reloading, and in the time it took me to reload 51 rounds on the L&L, I loaded 100 rounds in 5 stages.
I told my lovely wife that I was DONE with the L&L.
Today, I purchased a Dillon RL-550C...really struggled with choosing it over the 650, but Rich, over at Cliff's, persuaded me that the 550 would suit all of my needs, and told me that once I got in to a rhythm, I'd be surprised at how quickly I could reload...he was right!
After I got it set up, with only 1 run over to Cliff's & 2 calls to Dillon (believe me, for me, only 1 visit back & 2 calls are EPIC!! - I can put up a shelf & require 6 trips to Lowe's...), and after getting the powder measure calibrated, I reloaded 200 rounds, and that includes switching powders (& looking up on youtube the quickest way to do so...which was so stupidly obvious that I had to wonder why it didn't occur to me), bullets, loads, etc, in about a hour-and-a-half.
THIS is how reloading is supposed to be, and why I switched from a Hornady 'progressive' to a Dillon turret press...YMMV.
Sam
