Alright, I think I am ready to try out a progressive press

[9mmepiphany]

Around me, I see used Dillon 650s up for sale pretty often. I think a lot of people are switching over to the new 750.

Those are likely a good investment if it's limitations mesh with your reloading process.

I liked the 650, but the 750 included many of the commonly added aftermarket parts. The 750 benefits from additional aftermarket parts also, but at least major ones were addressed

 

[Mark_Mark]

Then the obvious answer is the Mark 7 Apex-10. Every operation is separated out so it is easier to set up and any errors are easily addressed. Once set up and tuned...as long as you haven't automated it...all it requires is adding primer, powder, and bullets.

Of course this convivence comes at a price point , which you'll need to decide if it is an acceptable trade off

$3,000! as much as a STI Steel Master

 

[9mmepiphany]

The only parts I've added were the upgrades Lee made for them and sent free. They work just as well as my Hornady LNL AP and Dillon XL750

I've added a RCBS powder check die and Lee's inline bullet feeder. Mine was old enough that I did pay for the Square Start expansion insert and the Soft Twist rod, which are now included with the 6 Pack Pro. The only non-Lee part I've added, besides dies, is an improved 3D printed case feeder https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...nted-case-feeder-for-the-lee-pro-6000.927407/

One thing I really like about my Hornady LNL AP over the Lee is that there is the larger tool head, about 1" larger, which gives me more room when installing/removing bushings.

The thing that some prefer on the Dillon is the shorter lever stroke. Otherwise I don't see an advantage that it has over the Lee

 

[9mmepiphany]

The new Lee bullet feed dies are okay, occasional fail to drop, the DAA mini Mr Bulletfeeder setup is still the best, no issues for several years now.

If you're getting occasional failures to drop, it is due to varying case lengths. Just adjust the die down a bit and make sure you're using a Spline Drive bushing with the set screw locking in your settings.

The only real difference between the Lee and the DAA bullet feed die is that the DAA uses an additional ball bearing to control feed

 

[9mmepiphany]

$3,000! as much as a STI Steel Master

You're looking at an old listing. I wouldn't pay that much or more ($3500) that they were going for. But when they dropped the MSRP to $2450 and a free extra tool head ($275)...plus you could easily find them for MAP at $2250..including free shipping...it was pretty much a no brainer for me

The OP posted that Cost wasn't his primary concern

 

[LiveLife]

tool head ($275)

Wow ... in comparison, Six Pack Pro is $269 and complete kit is $369 ...

 

[GW Staar]

You're looking at an old listing. I wouldn't pay that much or more ($3500) that they were going for. But when they dropped the MSRP to $2450 and a free extra tool head ($275)...plus you could easily find them for MAP at $2250..including free shipping...it was pretty much a no brainer for me

The OP posted that Cost wasn't his primary concern

I needed one of those like 20 years ago.....too late now. The Lee 6000 was my last press......3 progressives, 3 singles, and 5 collators is enough for winding down at 74.... But I'm jealous, of course.

 

[Bartojc]

I have been looking at the Lee Six Pack but have been a bit hesitant. It seems that some tweaking to include 3D printed parts has been performed on these so that they run efficiently, is this the norm or the exception? Any of you in reloading land running these without any modifications? Thank you, Targa.

I run only stock Lee parts. I had one of the early presses in Nov 2022. I DID get some of the parts Lee updated, but everything I use is stock unmolested parts you can order from them online.

-Jeff

 

[westernrover]

I think he's looking at it like the difference of giving someone a rifle an loaded 50 round mag vs giving the same person a single shot and box of 50 rounds. One will likely last longer.

That said, a lot of us reload to shoot more for the same amount of dollars spent. If I wanted to force myself to shoot less, I would only buy oddball rounds and only use premium factory ammunition.

505 Gibbs, 460 Weatherby, 700 Nitro, 577 Tyrannosaur. I would need to be punished more tangibly than just by some abstract concept like money.

 

[bfalcon00]

Those are likely a good investment if it's limitations mesh with your reloading process.

I liked the 650, but the 750 included many of the commonly added aftermarket parts. The 750 benefits from additional aftermarket parts also, but at least major ones were addressed

Yes this is true. I've had a 650 long enough that I know it's cons well and don't want to learn another machine. It also is kinda nice just leaving a machine set up for one high volume caliber.

At this rate I'm gonna need a third one haha.

 

[Highland Lofts]

That is why I bought a Hornady AP press a Dillion Square D press, two Dillion 550s, a Dillion 660 and Redding T-7 turret press. Once they get set up they stay set up, no changing stuff out. If I want another caliber, I'll buy another progressive press.
Money well spent.

 

[MarshallDodge]

I see used Hornady AP and dillion 550 presses sell for around $500 and up. You can't beat their quality AND CUSTOMER SERVICE.
I personally own a lee progressive and will never use it again after buying a Hornady AP press, a Dillion Square D, two Dillion 550s and a Dillion 650, all bought used.
You get what you pay for.
I have a friend that has been loading on lee stuff for forty years on all lee stuff and always said lee products were the best.
Once he got to use a Hornady AP press he went right out and bought u used Hornady AP press and got rid of his lee progressive. I pity the poor fool that bought it. It's a tinkeroma.
Constantly tinkering with it.

I personally would go strictly single stage instead of a lee progressive.

I have had two friends that did the same. One came over to the house once while I was teaching someone to use my 550B. He saw us load 100 rounds without a hiccup, went home and bought a 650.

 

[GW Staar]

Wow ... in comparison, Six Pack Pro is $269 and complete kit is $369 ...

So I have 2 more expensive progressives, and they serve me very well, Pro2k and Prochucker7, and both are quite easy to change calibers on, compared to most others, but when Lees little processing press came out I jumped on, seeing that it could fill a need, that of processing brass way faster than anything else up to now....having a case feeder. And I love the thing! So that's why I was open to giving the Lee Six Pack Pro a try...what's not to like with 6 stations for $269....cheap enough to be a minor hit if it failed expectations.

This forum also had a part in this with LiveLife reviewing it for all to see, and Lee taking our suggestions serious about how to make it better.......match that with any other company. But most you know me, that I am a died in the wool tinker loving soul.....for me its just as fun as shooting and reloading....and so it was a natural fit......and I've been perfectly happy with it.

Finally today the US Mail coughed up my latest Lee order........$10 super primer tray, $35 shellplate for .45acp to .308., $50 inline bullet feeder for .243 caliber, and $10 soft twist index rod......why? Why else more tinkering.....this will complete what I need to feed and seat .243 in one station. I said six stations was neat....6 that does 7 stations worth is even more fun.....and I didn't have to cough up $3000. This is one versatile hobby where each can have it his own way, and all can enjoy the heck out of it.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

I think he's looking at it like the difference of giving someone a rifle a loaded 50 round mag vs giving the same person a single shot and box of 50 rounds. One will likely last longer

That’s an interesting take.

For me, and I can only speak for myself, handloading is a hobby only marginally linked to shooting. I will often make small runs of a very focused load and then use it up over the course of several years. I have yet to mass produce a load. Boring. I’m not a machine. Handloading is far more than just pulling a lever or flipping a switch.
I think that’s what @OS/N was alluding to. Being a lever pulling machine feeder vs handloading.

 

[OS/N]

I'm not following this logic. I thought if you loaded 50 rounds you used 50 primers.... regardless of the type of press.

You don't need a progressive to load 50 - 100 rounds in an hour.

Regardless of the type of press you use brass prep is going to be the same and take up the most time. A good powder mangement system also helps with accuracy and over all processing time. Casting your own bullets takes time also plus lube and sizing em. A progressive press doesn't reduce time in these steps.

If you only load new brass, highend bullets, and have enough primers and powder to kick out 1000 or more rounds an hour, that's good. Have at it.

 

[9mmepiphany]

Regardless of the type of press you use brass prep is going to be the same and take up the most time. A good powder mangement system also helps with accuracy and over all processing time. Casting your own bullets takes time also. A progressive press doesn't reduce time in these steps.

I only reload handgun ammo so case prep is minimal.

I haven't cast bullets since I used to shoot black powder pistols...I just never found a good source of raw material

If you only load new brass, highend bullets, and have enough primers to kick out 500 to 1000 rounds an hour, that's good. Have at it.

I haven't used new brass in years. While I do use high quality bullets, RMR, they aren't highend pricewise. I have to admit I was getting worried when my primer supply dropped below 10k, but prices have dropped quite a bit.

If I couldn't kick out 500 rounds an hour, I wouldn't have gotten into reloading, Which just goes to show that we all have our own reloading goals

 

[lordpaxman]

So the thread title leads me to believe the OP was interested in a progressive press...

When I was stepping in the progressive pool, I had some requirements:
- automate case feed
- enough stations to include powder check, separate seat and crimp stations
- handle crimped primers
- acceptable fiddlefart factor

The LNL did most of these for me, and produced acceptable reloads. The fiddlefart factor was just a bit too high, so I switched to RL1100s and I’m in a happy place now. Just my .02.

 

[JEBruns]

So the thread title leads me to believe the OP was interested in a progressive press...

When I was stepping in the progressive pool, I had some requirements:
- automate case feed
- enough stations to include powder check, separate seat and crimp stations
- handle crimped primers
- acceptable fiddlefart factor

The LNL did most of these for me, and produced acceptable reloads. The fiddlefart factor was just a bit too high, so I switched to RL1100s and I’m in a happy place now. Just my .02.

Exactly right. You don't really know how much fiddlefarting you are doing until you own a press where that is virtually non-existent. All my Dillon's (550, 650, 1100) have been remarkably fiddle free, once setup.

 

[jmorris]

For me, and I can only speak for myself, handloading is a hobby only marginally linked to shooting. I will often make small runs of a very focused load and then use it up over the course of several years. I have yet to mass produce a load. Boring. I’m not a machine. Handloading is far more than just pulling a lever or flipping a switch.

I am not set in my ways enough to fall into either camp, I'm in both all the time. I have some stuff that is just pulling a lever or pushing a button and have 1000+ rounds loaded in an hour, other stuff thats more hands on, much smaller volume, that takes much longer per round. Depends on what I am going to use if for.

Reloading, casting, shooting, interesting targets, are all my hobbies, I wouldn't do any of them if I had no interest.

 

[Kookla]

$3,000! as much as a STI Steel Master

Mark Mark, like @9mmepiphany said, we dropped the price to $2,499.99. We now make them with billet tool heads instead of the previous cast iron.

Quality isn't cheap and our machines go the distance. We have Apex 10's out there with over a million rounds loaded through them and still going strong.

Besides, you buy 48 guns a week- you can swing an Apex

 

[Mark_Mark]

Mark Mark, like @9mmepiphany said, we dropped the price to $2,499.99. We now make them with billet tool heads instead of the previous cast iron.

Quality isn't cheap and our machines go the distance. We have Apex 10's out there with over a million rounds loaded through them and still going strong.

Besides, you buy 48 guns a week- you can swing an Apex

You guys should get into the gun market!

Apex Steel Master with 10 Ports - SOLD

 

[BreechFace]

You don't need a progressive to load 50 - 100 rounds in an hour.

Regardless of the type of press you use brass prep is going to be the same and take up the most time. A good powder mangement system also helps with accuracy and over all processing time. Casting your own bullets takes time also plus lube and sizing em. A progressive press doesn't reduce time in these steps.

If you only load new brass, highend bullets, and have enough primers and powder to kick out 1000 or more rounds an hour, that's good. Have at it.

Speaking about pistol rounds here…

Brass prep on a progressive is wet tumble cases, dry, spray with lanolin mixture, dump in case feeder and go to town.

For a large batch of brass that takes 5-10 minutes putting in wet tumbler adding water and cleaning solution. Set the timer for 2 hours or so, come back dump pins and cases into a separator, lay out wet cases to dry. Come back and start loading.

Actual phyisical time needed messing with cases is probably 15-20 minutes; and that would be for a lot of cases at once. That is not “taking up the most time,” as you suggested.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

I am not set in my ways enough to fall into either camp, I'm in both all the time. I have some stuff that is just pulling a lever or pushing a button and have 1000+ rounds loaded in an hour, other stuff thats more hands on, much smaller volume, that takes much longer per round. Depends on what I am going to use if for.

Reloading, casting, shooting, interesting targets, are all my hobbies, I wouldn't do any of them if I had no interest.

And that’s really where I think @Targa (OP) is looking: will a progressive be a solution to a problem; or a solution looking for a problem?

I think everyone knows my chief criteria is portability. I don’t like the idea of being locked away in a self-made prison in order to enjoy life’s interests. My wife offered back when we first started looking at moving back in the early 90’s to make sure I had a gun room - the phrase “Man Cave” didn’t exist yet -and I accepted, for storage space only. I didn’t want my gun space to become a hide-away or shrine. Nothing even like it. Not healthy, in my opinion.

I don’t think Targa or @OS/N are considering portability but again, I can’t speak for them, just myself. This is going to be an easy choice in my opinion: get something, try it out, if it’s a mostly positive experience with only minor problems, mostly equipment related, change the equipment. These things hold their value pretty well and used is always a good option.

 

[GW Staar]

Mark Mark, like @9mmepiphany said, we dropped the price to $2,499.99. We now make them with billet tool heads instead of the previous cast iron.

Quality isn't cheap and our machines go the distance. We have Apex 10's out there with over a million rounds loaded through them and still going strong.

Besides, you buy 48 guns a week- you can swing an Apex

I like my 7 station press, and I guess if you use military brass that needs to be swaged, 8 could be handy. What am I missing? Just trying to understand why 2 more would be handy. Dillon sells a trimmer to go on one, but that thing is so loud you really do need earmuffs to go along with your eye protection, even if kabooms are rarer than hens teeth on the 750's and 1050, 1100s...finally.

What's the method on the Apex. station by station? Curious to be sure. Priming has it's own station? I admit if a person was into wildcatting, such as turning .243 into a .22 wildcat, or some such, an extra sizing station would be handy....sizing to .243 then sizing to .22-243M. I could like that.... BTW, I love your new vibrating primer feeder. Lee 's new "super" primer needs a vibrator....then up goes the price .... Priming has ALWAYS been the troublesome bottleneck

 

[Mark_Mark]

I like my 7 station press, and I guess if you use military brass that needs to be swaged, 8 could be handy. What am I missing? Just trying to understand why 2 more would be handy. Dillon sells a trimmer to go on one, but that thing is so loud you really do need earmuffs to go along with your eye protection, even if kabooms are rarer than hens teeth on the 750's and 1050, 1100s...finally.

What's the method on the Apex. station by station? Curious to be sure. Priming has it's own station? I admit if a person was into wildcatting, such as turning .243 into a .22 wildcat, or some such, an extra sizing station would be handy....sizing to .243 then sizing to .22-243M. I could like that.... BTW, I love your new vibrating primer feeder. Lee 's new "super" primer needs a vibrator....then up goes the price .... Priming has ALWAYS been the troublesome bottleneck

Just waiting to win the lottery for an Apex! then we don’t have to 6-Pack and 3D print.

Who am I kidding.. Being frugal is a lifestyle!