Between Lee & Dillon

[oldschool]

I’m about to pickup my initial reloading setup for .45ACP. I have used a friends beat up, 10K+ rounds through it, Lee 1000. I wasn’t impressed frankly afterwards I had thoughts of buying a single stage for sizing & decapping then using a hand primer to prime cases etc. then using the Lee turret for powder, crimping & factory crimp die.
Is there a good happy medium price wise between Lee & Dillion? And which dies can Dillion presses take?
Im leaning towards biting the bullet and getting an AT-500 or 550B but I wasn’t planning to throw $400 at it. What I've seen on ebay lately hasn't impressed me but Brian Enos's page set the Dillon bug in me.
Thanks,

BTW the load my friend showed me to use for Pins is 5.7 of W321 pushing a 225gr Lead FP and it felt milder in my 4†Kimber than Blazer and no pressure signs on the cases.

 

[Zak Smith]

The Dillon 550, 650, and 1050 take standard dies.

The Square-Deal B, which only handles pistol calibers and is cheaper (but is auto-indexing progressive!) uses special dies.

-z

 

[tbeb]

I've used a Lee Turrent Press (my turrent holds 3 dies) for 18 years, and it is still going strong. The only thing I don't use it for is priming.

I have the decapping/resizing die in turrent along with powder thru expanding die and bullet seating die. First I decap/resize. Then I prime with a Lee Auto Prime tool. Next I replace decapping/resizing die with crimping die. Now I'm ready to assemble reloads.

This press will serve you well. (I've even used it for .308 Winchester.) I hear Dillon's are very good, but my opinion is to only spend that kind of money if you want to or if you plan to reload huge quantities. Good luck on your choice. One word of advice--When you reload, have no distractions.

 

[warrior23]

Go Dillon and dont look back...

 

[m1911joe]

Lee V Dillon

ROTFLMAO

Get the Dillon you won't regret it.

Lee = $100

Hair transplant = $4000

Dillon 550 = $350

Saving the cost of a hair transplant = Pricless

 

[HSMITH]

The comparison between the Pro 1000 and the 550 is that there is no comparison. Soap box derby car to a Hummer, that is the type of difference. The Loadmaster is vastly more machine, and compares more closely with the Blue machines, and the RCBS machine, but it still gets spanked when warranty, engineering, durability, and ease of use are considered. The Loadmaster IS a good value for the money though. Forget the Pro 1000 completely, think Loadmaster if you can't swallow the price of the Dillon. That said I will also point out that you can get the one you want now, or next time, or the time after that. I will also point out that you will end up with a Dillon, Star or RCBS sooner or later if you keep up with volume reloading and want quality equipment.

 

[Rikki]

If you have a Galians near you go look at in thier reloading area. I found a Dillion AT500 press for 260.00 that comes with just about everything you need to start reloading. Just need to pick up a set of dies, brass, primers, bullets and powder. It can be later upgraded to a 550.

 

[Fatelvis]

Go with the Dillon.

 

[oldfart]

I think it should depend on how much ammo you intend to reload. I load 100 or so rounds a month on my Lee turret press and it serves me quite well. If I were to load 10 times that much I might consider a Dillon.

 

[go8dalejr]

The only advice I have is dillons machines and the company are second to
none for the noncomercial reloader. And also buy what you really want the
first time you will wast a lot more upgradeing every so often. Save for a few more months if need be to get what you decide on whatever brand that may be.

 

[Deavis]

I have used a friends beat up, 10K+ rounds through it, Lee 1000. I wasn’t impressed frankly afterwards I had thoughts of buying a single stage for sizing & decapping then using a hand primer to prime cases etc. then using the Lee turret for powder, crimping & factory crimp die

I looked at Lee when I was getting my first press and I ended up going RCBS based on advice from multiple reloaders I spoke with. I finally saw a Lee press in person and, honestly, it just isn't impressive. I've loaded 10k rounds in a single day on my 650XL and the only thing that got beat up was the indexing spring. Replaced it and still managed to crank out over 1k in under an hour, despite the delay. go8dalejr has a good point, save up for one nice machine and you will thank yourself later.

Also, Brian is a great guy to deal with and I've never had any trouble dealing with him. Polite, helpful, and gives great advice.

 

[redneck2]

I have a friend that has 4 of the Lee progressives (Model 1000 maybe) that is going to sell them. Every maybe 20-30 rounds you have to stop and piddle and adjust.

He's going to dump them and get one Dillon. Biggest problem is that's the best way to get into problems IMO. You don't want anything to disrupt the rhythm of the process.

If you do decide to get a Lee, get a used one so when you sell it in a few months you can get your money back. Note that there are plenty of used Lee's for sale but Dillons are very hard to find and bring almost new price.

 

[oldschool]

Decision Time

Friday I placed an order with Midway, for a Lee 4 hole Turret Press Deluxe Kit and the remainder of my need list to start reloading; Tumbler, dies, digital caliper. Total cost about $200 w/ shipping.
Why? Education & Economics.

Education, conceptually I grasp all of what is going on in the reloading process but I feel that the Lee turret will slow it down enough for me to grasp the finer points. That and I’d like to enjoy what I am doing instead of cranking hundreds of rounds an hour out. No offense to those who do. I can build a whole computer from boxed parts to working machine in 14 minutes with zero defects but I prefer to take my time & enjoy the actual process.

Economics. “oldfart†you nailed it! I’ll shoot maybe 400 rounds a month I simply don’t need the ability to reload that in one hour like I could with the Dillion. If I upgrade to a Dillion later I’m only out $80 minus what I can get for the old press on Ebay. Everything else; dies, scale, caliper, tumbler can be used with the Dillion later.

Everyone thanks for the input. I drove myself nuts for about 3 days making the decision.

 

[Rinspeed]

I think you made a good decision under the circumstances. Reloading is a hobby on it's own and if you enjoy it as much as most of us do you probably will decide to upgrade to a Dillon at some point.

Rinspeed

 

[oldschool]

Update

First 50 rounds loaded & fired. 225gr. Lead Flat points on top of 5.7 gr. of 231. All of my fingers and my Kimber are intact. No squibs although I did have a one that felt hot and that felt weak.

I’ve been;
1-polishing in the Frankfort Arsenal Tumbler using pet store crushed walnut with Maquire’s #7 overnight. That poor tumbler has been going for 3 days straight and barely gets warm.
2-Single stage mode- size & deprime
3-Prime by hand with Lee Auto Prime
4-Loading
a.Check the throw of the powder measure
b.Auto Index mode- Resize again after removing the decapping pin
c.Powder die, seating die (1.20 OAL) , Lee Factory Crimp die

5-Shoot, collect brass & start again
Looks like I can comfortably turn out 80-100 rounds and hour.

Definitely a nice relaxing break from work.

Does anybody know anything about variation in weight between empty cases? Every once in awhile I pick up a piece of .45 ACP brass that feels almost twice as heavy as normal.

 

[kernal_panic]

that lee turret press you got is basicaly a lee 1000. i think all you need to do is swap on a 3 hole toolhed and the lower carrier and inteding shaft and you are ready to rock as a progressive too.

 

[Lochaber]

May I ask why you are resizing twice? I can not understand what benefit that might get you.

Loch

 

[baker1425]

I did what you did

I got the lee 1000 when i upgraded from the rockchucker, and used the rockchucker for depriming, a lee primer handpriming, and had fun playing around loading.

When using the lee autodisk, make sure that you tap the side of the housing several times to settle down the powder for even distribution. I had hot and cold loads until I got the hang of using it.

FWIW, I've upgraded to a Hornady Projector, and have kept the autodisk!

I would suggest that you buy an extra hopper for your autodisk and the screws from lees website

good luck

 

[oldschool]

Lochaber

Resizing Twice? Because I decap & prime seperately if I were to take the resizing die out of the 4 hole press and I'd end up with the same number of strokes on the press anyway. I keep my clean,sized & primed brass in rubbermaid bin and I don't know if anything will get dented or dinged. Basically 2 things; 1) I don't want to have to readjust the die and 2) I'll end up trying to load powder onto a seated bullet with the empty slot. I'm thinking about a cheap single stage for decapping & sizing.

baker1425
Yeah I was impressed with the consistancy of the Autodisk. I'm going to a gun show in 2 weeks & intend to look for the hopper upgrade.

kernal_panic
Lee Pro 1000? It didn't impress me mainly with the priming and I only saved about $10 with the 4 hole v. Pro 1000. I'll make a prediction here. I bet I load 2~3, 5K max rounds on the Lee 4 hole before I buy a 550B or 650XL and save the Lee for small batches and workups.

Does anybody have a good OAL for 225gr LFP's I seating to 1.20" and am wondering if I shouldn't be going longer? My personal defense bullets are at 1.23" OAL. But I should say that I've had no feed problems.

 

[m1911joe]

Try starting with 1.23 and see how your gun likes that. You might have
to adjust the OAL to get to feed in your gun.

What works in my gun might not work in yours.

 

[SgtMaj]

I also must ask why run the primed brass through the resizing die again?

I use the same Lee 4 hole turret press.

1. Resize & deprime in position #1- I remove the auto-indexing rod before I drop the turret in so that the turret will stay in position #1. I usually just do a couple hundred and put the resized and deprimed cases in a bin.

2. Prime - I happen to use the RCBS hand priming tool but it's the same function/step as with the Lee hand prime and put them in a bin or loading block.

3. Replace the auto-indexing rod and place the sized & primed case in and rotate the turret to start on position #2 (to flair case mouth in powder-thru-expander die).

4. Measure powder (I happen to use a Uniflow), periodically re-verify powder weight and drop it into the empty, flaired case through the expander die.

5. Place and seat the bullet in position #3.

6. Position #4 is a Lee Factory Crimp Die.

7. Do about a half crank to get past position #1 and you are back at position #2 and ready for another sized & primed case.


Regards,
SgtMaj

 

[oldschool]

SgtMaj

To answer your question; 1) lack of understanding of the process & the press and 2) just not that inventive about my procedures.

I'll probably try your tip out next time around. Question, what happens if I accidentally drop the decapping pin on a live primer?

Second Question, what part of Florida are you in/from? I was born & raised in Hollywood. Moved north to see the seasons change and lower population density.

 

[SgtMaj]

Oldschool -

After position #4 the loaded round is removed and as you go past position #1 there's nothing in the shell holder. There's nothing in there for the decapping pin to hit.

I put the next sized and primed case in the shell holder as I arrive at position #2. After you finish with position #4, it only takes a half crank of the handle to go past #1 and get to position #2.

I'm located in St. Petersburg. I grew up in Scottsdale, AZ and Uncle Sam sent me to Jacksonville, FL in 1967. Decided that I kinda liked it here and came back a few years later...but I still miss my desert.

Regards,
SgtMaj

 

[racenutz]

I was all se to buy a 550B but a couple of weeks ago my wife lost her job so I ended up with a Lee 4 station instead. I pretty much have the press figured out enough to make it run like it should but I keep have problems with spent primers going into the recess for the priming arm. Any suggestions?

 

[MoNsTeR]

Don't worry, you'll have a Dillon before long

I lived with my Lee 4-hole Turret for maybe 9 months before I gave up and bought a progressive. It's not a bad press per se, but even 400rds/month is enough to justify the labor savings of a progressive IMHO. What's more, the Lee is definitely not an investment-grade machine: it will break down/wear out. With a Dillon that huge up-front chunk of change buys not just a superior machine but a lifetime warranty.

It's ok though, experience is the best teacher