Dillon ?? or RCBS 2000

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

That's not a bad deal for the press with the goodies and it certainly has a good powder measure on it if those are Uniflow powder measures. I think you made a good choice, assuming it's in good shape. BTW, I do know if you don't like the primer strips, RCBS offers a tube feed version upgrade for that press.

Regards,

Dave

 

[Idano]

1911user,

Thanks for the link, I am definitely going to try that on my L-n-L. What I have been doing is using shell plate #10 for 9 mm and .40 S&W with great success, but I have extra extractor wires so I'm going to give it a try.

 

[1911user]

I can claim no credit for the ejection wire mod pictured in the link. If you're willing to give up die station #5, it should certainly help.

My solution was returning to a dillon 550 for all progressive loading. I am even more confident now that was the right decision. One more jam on the LNL-AP would have resulted in a very strong desire to toss it right out the window; monetary investment be damned! It has a new owner now who is happy to have it and doesn't load 9mm. I've reloaded about 2K 9mm on the 550 and had no issues with the press or ammo. Loading is enjoyable again.

 

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

1911User,

I was here when you first bought the Hornady LnL AP and had buyer's remorse before it had even arrived. I've read all your posts from day one complaining about the press and all that was wrong with it. I've read your many posts wishing you had kept your 550.

I'm glad you have gone back to a press you're happy with that fits you and that you can get along with enjoying reloading. After all, if someone isn't happy with their press, they should get what fits them and they're happy with. Thank God we have choices in the United States.

There are a couple of things I'm curious about.

1. The amount of defective parts you and your buddy on the Glock board have had has extremely exceeded any qualitiy assurance statistics that I know of and I worked in quality control in the medical industry for several years. Even the worst companies quality control wise out there didn't get that many problems occuring with one or two customers located near one another. I'm not saying it isn't possible. I'm just saying it seems like an awful lot of failures and quality control issues for two guys living near one another, especially since I didn't see others on any other boards posting with the same problems at the same period of time, which is one big indicator of quality control problems. You two's experiences go against the odds of probability.

2. I've never, ever read of anyone having broken parts on their automatic advance system on the Lock N Load on any board except that post on the Glock forum. Of course, I don't post on all the boards nor read them. I speculate it's possible, but it's just as possible to break a machine from adjusting the timing so badly it's mechanism hangs up and this causes the break. I believe it can occur, but having a second set break generally indicates something other than bad parts. What, I have no idea. Maybe there is something machined wrong in the alignment areas of that particular press that aren't visible to the naked eye, but cause failures in that area of the press. If I had two failures of the same parts in the same area like that, I'd be sending that press back to the manufacturer for a thorough check out to identify why they failed. Was it sent back to be checked out? If not, I'd urge it be sent back.

3. I agree with you the 9MM wire ejection issue is a problem for quite a few folks. I was able to shape my ejection wire in a couple minutes to eliminate the problem, even using the problematic Lee FCD. But maybe I was just lucky with mine. I did have the bottom of the FCD milled off by a buddy of mine who does machining work and had the tools. I have heard the ejector system from the older Projector system can be retrofitted to the LnL, but haven't felt the need to try it.

4. I see you went back to a manual advance press instead of buying a 650 and I am wondering why.

My experiences with the Dillon RL550B and the Hornady LnL AP have been exactly opposite of yours. My 550 was a piece of crapola from day one (And I had no buyer's remorse. I was too new to reloading and it was "the press" everybody was buying the year I bought it.) with major primer system issues (sideways & crushed primers) and pain in the rear powder measure adjustments along with that miserable manual advance.

I was never happy with it and after a couple of shipments of parts that didn't fix the problem and time passed with no working press, ditched it when one of the Dillon techs got mouthy with me over the phone about the priming system. I speculate, looking back, I was unlucky with it and got one that wasn't machined quite right, but didn't know enough about moving turret presses then to correctly identify the problem. I got fed up after the cantankerous tech, got rid of the Dillon, bought the Hornady and I've been happy with my press ever since. Based on the happy Dillon owners out there, I suspect my press was in the 1-2% of extremely hard to control manufacturing defects all manufacturer's have.

Perhaps that's what happened with you and your buddy. You just got the bad luck to catch all the 1-2% quality control issues from one company all in one location or perhaps something was subtly wrong with your presses that were shipped that time/day. Who knows.

All that aside, I'm glad you're again happy reloading and are enjoying your 550. I'm glad you've got something you feel is right for you and I wish you the best with it.

This is something I gotta ask though. Why is it a 1911 user would even bother with a pain in the rear to reload mouse cartridge like the 9MM when .45ACP is so easy to reload? That what bugs me. I hate dealing with mouse droppings (9MM cases) at the range.

Regards,

Dave

 

[1911user]

Dave, I shoot production class in uspsa and handloaded 9mm ammo is a cost and performance advantage (tuned ammo). I also shoot L10 class with a 1911 45.

As far as failure stastics on the press, I agree, but it all happened, unfortunately. The common theme was both of us ordering presses and accessories around the same time, but the distributors were different. Hornady had some real QC issues last spring. Once everything on the press was in-spec, then my decision finally came down to having 5-stations, a casefeeder, and minimum 10% case ejection jams with 9mm. The jams were not worth it. I'm beginning to wonder if they tightened some dimensions on the new 9mm shellplates and that makes the ejection problem much worse. Idano mentioned using a different shellplate for 9mm.

Why a 550 and not a 650? I'd like to have a 650, but the conversion costs are high. I reload 8 different calibers and $70 conversion kits plus a 650 with casefeeder are beyond my means. I've used manual and auto indexing presses and (for me) it does not make a difference until you add a casefeeder. I don't plan to buy one for the 550. If I need a casefeeder then it's time for a 650.

After using one, a casefeeder is not a big need for my loading. It's nice to have sometime and (surprisingly) in the way other times. The hornady casefeeder requires a solid bench to perform well otherwise cases can start falling off the press.