carsonbm
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Which do you think is the best press and why?:banghead:
Dillon 650 verses Hornady progress Lock & LOad
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carsonbm
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Bright answer.
DaveInFloweryBranchGA
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Six one way, half a dozen the other. Ford Vs. Chevy argument. You're better off figuring out how many rounds you want/need to reload within a week's time, how much time you have to reload, what you're going to reload (pistol or rifle) and make your decisions from there.
Both presses are fast. Both presses are good, solid, dependable loading platforms. The Hornady is a little cheaper, the Dillon has a little better customer service.
I have a Hornady, I love it. Most Hornady owners do. I have a friend who has a Dillon. He loves it. Most Dillon owners do. Some own both, some have changed from one press to the other, depending on their needs. I did this, upgrading from a 550 to a LnL.
Bottom line is, an advice to search and see the pluses and minuses of both is not a bad idea. However, if it was me, I'd look at all the features of both presses, the budget I had and make a decision from there.
Both presses are fast. Both presses are good, solid, dependable loading platforms. The Hornady is a little cheaper, the Dillon has a little better customer service.
I have a Hornady, I love it. Most Hornady owners do. I have a friend who has a Dillon. He loves it. Most Dillon owners do. Some own both, some have changed from one press to the other, depending on their needs. I did this, upgrading from a 550 to a LnL.
Bottom line is, an advice to search and see the pluses and minuses of both is not a bad idea. However, if it was me, I'd look at all the features of both presses, the budget I had and make a decision from there.
I just sold a six week old Hornady L-N-L. I never could get it to work conistently. I lost track of how many small parts broke. Even though they were all replaced for free, it results in down time. I'm a mechanical engineer with 30 years of experience. I also enjoy woodworking for a hobby which requires setting up, using and maintaining complex machinery. IMHO, the L-N-L was one of the worst performing machines I have ever had the misfortune to experience. Of course, YMMV.
I just bought a Dillon 650XL from Brian Enos. I haven't received it yet but it should show up on my door step in about a week. I'll write a critique when I've had a chance to set it up and use it.
I just bought a Dillon 650XL from Brian Enos. I haven't received it yet but it should show up on my door step in about a week. I'll write a critique when I've had a chance to set it up and use it.
The dillon 650 is a refined, mature press design that works very well. The hornady LNL is steadily improving, but it's not to 650 maturity or reliability levels yet. I almost bought a Hornady progressive several years ago and am really glad that I didn't. They have redesigned and changed/improved just about every piece of it and I doubt that they are completely done yet. I predict a few tweaks to the newest powder drop mechanism.
Having said that, I owned a 550 and now own a newer LNL-AP. I have mine setup where it does what I need reliably and for quite a bit less money than a 650 when caliber conversion costs are factored in. A decently setup 650 for several calibers is over $1000 with the commonly recommended extras. I can't tie that much up into a press.
The downside to the 650 is caliber conversion costs; about $65-70 per caliber for the minimum required parts. The Hornady and 550 have similar caliber conversion costs of $35-40 each or less with parts sharing. Every 650 conv. kit has $25 worth of caliber-specific parts just for the casefeeder but it works very well once setup. The casefeeder on a 550 or LNL-AP is truly optional; a 650 was really designed to be used with a casefeeder.
If I knew I'd be loading 15-20K of competition ammo per year for a long time, I'd do whatever was required to get a dillon 650 setup or maybe even a used 1050/1000 commercial dillon press.
Having said that, I owned a 550 and now own a newer LNL-AP. I have mine setup where it does what I need reliably and for quite a bit less money than a 650 when caliber conversion costs are factored in. A decently setup 650 for several calibers is over $1000 with the commonly recommended extras. I can't tie that much up into a press.
The downside to the 650 is caliber conversion costs; about $65-70 per caliber for the minimum required parts. The Hornady and 550 have similar caliber conversion costs of $35-40 each or less with parts sharing. Every 650 conv. kit has $25 worth of caliber-specific parts just for the casefeeder but it works very well once setup. The casefeeder on a 550 or LNL-AP is truly optional; a 650 was really designed to be used with a casefeeder.
If I knew I'd be loading 15-20K of competition ammo per year for a long time, I'd do whatever was required to get a dillon 650 setup or maybe even a used 1050/1000 commercial dillon press.
I'm not particularly mechanically inclined but had no problem setting up the L'n'L. Only major hurdle was realizing that the assembly manual is absolute junk ... the loader arrives about 3/4 assembled and no more than common sense is enough to set it up. Reliable for 18 months now, no problems, loading 3 calibers.
I tried the Dillon 550 of a friend before buying - I think the Hornady is better engineered and certainly less expensive.
/Bryan
I tried the Dillon 550 of a friend before buying - I think the Hornady is better engineered and certainly less expensive.
/Bryan
Canuck, are you using the hornady casefeeder? What volume of ammo do you reload?
In 2 newer LNL-AP presses (mine and a buddies), there were several QC problems. I bought a shellplate that wasn't machined correctly. A buddy had 2 drive hubs break due to bad castings; hopefully those are out of the system now. Also his (new) powder measure was drilled and tapped off-center where the riser tube screws into it. It worked OK for a few weeks and 1K rounds, but the riser tube wore badly on one side and eventually caused the measure to sometimes jam at the top of the stroke resulting in several squib loads. He didn't realize what was happening at first, but I eventually caught the problem. Mine worked fine. Hornady happily replaced all of the defective parts (that should have never left the factory) including a new powder measure setup.
Now the newest powder drop parts (drop and expand in one station so that powder checking can go in station #3) will not work for shorter cases without buying a complete new powder drop assembly. Dillon never obsoleted parts like that especially every year or 2, but hornady can't seem to help themselves. I disagree with the hornady being better engineered part; I might agree with finally adequately engineered for the price and I own one. I really think it's more 550 competition than the 650 especially for higher volume loaders. The buddy sold his and replaced it with a 650 setup; now he can sit down and load a K or 2 of ammo without problems while using the casefeeder. That never happened when he had the new LNL-AP.
In 2 newer LNL-AP presses (mine and a buddies), there were several QC problems. I bought a shellplate that wasn't machined correctly. A buddy had 2 drive hubs break due to bad castings; hopefully those are out of the system now. Also his (new) powder measure was drilled and tapped off-center where the riser tube screws into it. It worked OK for a few weeks and 1K rounds, but the riser tube wore badly on one side and eventually caused the measure to sometimes jam at the top of the stroke resulting in several squib loads. He didn't realize what was happening at first, but I eventually caught the problem. Mine worked fine. Hornady happily replaced all of the defective parts (that should have never left the factory) including a new powder measure setup.
Now the newest powder drop parts (drop and expand in one station so that powder checking can go in station #3) will not work for shorter cases without buying a complete new powder drop assembly. Dillon never obsoleted parts like that especially every year or 2, but hornady can't seem to help themselves. I disagree with the hornady being better engineered part; I might agree with finally adequately engineered for the price and I own one. I really think it's more 550 competition than the 650 especially for higher volume loaders. The buddy sold his and replaced it with a 650 setup; now he can sit down and load a K or 2 of ammo without problems while using the casefeeder. That never happened when he had the new LNL-AP.
Yeah, I heard about the drive hub issue...seems to have passed now. The new drop looks nice even with the unfortunate obsolescence of previous pieces, but the only reason for me to get it would be to add a powder check die...I load a little slower than it's capable of but I visually check every drop...more concerned with a light load than a double - Clays isn't the best metering powder...BE, VV, Ba-10, Titegroup have been amazingly consistent (micrometer insert).
As to engineering, I've certainly had less problems with the primer feed (ie. none) than any number of friends with 550s who seem to be constantly fiddling with, polishing and cleaning theirs. I don't have a case feeder as yet and have loaded about 12k so far. With the auto-indexing, case feeder available and customer service, I think it's still a fair comparison to a 650.
/Bryan
As to engineering, I've certainly had less problems with the primer feed (ie. none) than any number of friends with 550s who seem to be constantly fiddling with, polishing and cleaning theirs. I don't have a case feeder as yet and have loaded about 12k so far. With the auto-indexing, case feeder available and customer service, I think it's still a fair comparison to a 650.
/Bryan
Guy B. Meredith
Member
Well, I hope the QC get cleaned up in the newer LNL as I desire one. I could put the new powder drop and case feeder on mine, but the overall price would make that silly.
I have one of the very early progressives and find it excellent for 12, 000+ rounds per year. I was competing and shot an average of 1100 rounds/mo and have loaded around 25,000 rounds on this one. It now has the new primer feed and goes like the Everyready bunny.
I have one of the very early progressives and find it excellent for 12, 000+ rounds per year. I was competing and shot an average of 1100 rounds/mo and have loaded around 25,000 rounds on this one. It now has the new primer feed and goes like the Everyready bunny.
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