Press decision

[trentcwwilson]

Ok, I'll admit that I'm young. I'm lazy too so it's time to move up from the single stage. But with all the choices out there, I don't know what to get. Dillon, Hornady, Lee, ect. I will admit, the Dillon impresses me with their no BS guarantee. But buy a press for $500, then read the fine print to find out you have to spend another $500 to get the pictured attachments. This will be mainly for reloading handgun, mostly 38/357 and I'll soon be getting into 9mm and 45 acp. Maybe the occasional rifle round, but it'd be for cheap shooting. My match ammo will always come from the single stage. Also, how hard is it to change from 38 to 357? Or would I be good going with a turret press? I'm just getting tired of working for a week to shoot my ammo on the weekend. As much as I shoot, I cannot stockpile ammo at single stage speeds. One night depriming/sizing, another night tumbling, another night expanding, and Thursday and Friday consist of powder throw, seating, and crimping. Opinions? Price isn't an issue, but I won't be going to a Dillon 1050 anytime soon.

 

[X-Ring]

To me it sounds like a Dillon XL 650 with case feed would be your best bet. You don’t need most of those attachments, so get the press load on it for a while and then only buy the ones you really want. 500 rounds an hour can easily be made without even trying hard. Changing calibers can take some time if you don’t have extra tool heads, powder measures and priming parts, but do so for a while, get to know the press and then decide what you want to speed up the change over.

 

[trentcwwilson]

Is the 650 worth the extra money? I don't mine the manual advance and putting cases and bullets in by hand.

 

[Kevin Rohrer]

Have you done a search here about this oft asked question?

 

[trentcwwilson]

Tried, yes. However, the search function doesn't work on the app for some reason.

 

[John3921]

Think through the number of stations you want. The 550 has 4, the LNL and the 650 have 5. I almost wish I had 6. Everything is a compromise on something.

The 5 stations I use for pistol : resize/decap, powder drop and expand, bullet feeder, seating die, taper crimp die. If I had a 6th station I'd add a powder cop, maybe.

If you go with 4, decide which of those you will live without. For a bullet feeder I just use the hornady feeder dies and a length of 1/2" aluminum tubing. I made up 6 pcs of tubing, each holds roughly 40 bullets. It speeds things up tremendously.

 

[Dudedog]

I like my Lee turret. I also like my Hornady Progressive.
Most Dillon owners like their presses as well.
A couple of things to consider is how much do you shoot?
500 rounds a week, a 1000?
Caliber changes on the turret are much cheaper than on a progressive, faster as well.

As far as loading match pistol ammo on the turret or progressive lots of people do it.

If cost isn't a concern and you are shooting a lot you would probably be happier with the progressive.
I cost is a concern and you load different calibers a Lee turret might be the ticket.

A far as .38 to .357 change it is usually just a die adjustment (seating depth, powder charge etc) You could just have a set of dies setup for each.

 

[THEWELSHM]

Hornady lnl do your research. Plus the free ammo rebate. Type in Hornady versus Dillon on a search engine and read..,,

My 02

Thewelshm

 

[trentcwwilson]

The ammo addition was a big deal for me. That's why I'm considering hornady. I do reload for many calibers, and will be loading for more. I guess turret is the way to go. Any suggestions?

 

[BearW]

I love my Dillon. Have zero complaints so far. I reload everything on it but match rifle rounds. Which is my Grendel and 300 win mag. I use rcbs single stage for them

 

[drband]

Lee Classic Turret. Buy the setup by the piece. Be sure to get the Lee AutoDrum powder measure-- not the ProAuto disc PM.

 

[trentcwwilson]

I've already got a powder measure. That's accurate. No issues with torque on the rotating head? That always my biggest concern.

 

[drband]

No torque issues at all. Is your pm case actuated so you can mount it on the press. Saves a great deal of time.
I would advise you to go to lee's website and check out their videos on the LCT.

 

[drband]

You should be able to load 200 cases per hour once you get it set up the way you need.

 

[trentcwwilson]

No, it's mounted to the wall. I know how sensitive some powder measures are and that removed the movement of the single stage from the equation. And if you've read a few of my posts, you'd know how anal I am. And I don't think running my power through my lee expander would be a good idea. I keep them well oiled after I clean them.

 

[drband]

Ok. Do some more research, check out some YouTube videos and make your best choice.

Using an auto indexing turret like the Lee is different than the single stage process. It will save you a lot of time, but you'll have to be comfortable with how it operates.
A progressive press is even more complex but I understand the rewards of high output make it worthwhile. Best wishes in your search.

 

[Tilos]

Here you go...comparison:
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=798682

Watch them all in action here
http://ultimatereloader.com/

 

[JohnMc]

I like my Lee turret. I also like my Hornady Progressive.

Me, too.

And I don't think running my power through my lee expander would be a good idea. I keep them well oiled after I clean them.

You can use Hornady's One Shot Cleaner and Dry lube instead, it's what Hornady recommends to degrease and then lube & protect their powder drop, among other parts, in the L-N-L AP setup videos. Since it's not super cheap, I degreased with brake cleaner, then used the One Shot to lube & protect.
It's more expensive than oil, but it does the trick and it definitely works with a Lee powder through expander.
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/27...cleaner-with-dyna-glide-plus-5-1-2-oz-aerosol
It has rust preventative properties as well.

 

[trentcwwilson]

Me, too.


You can use Hornady's One Shot Cleaner and Dry lube instead, it's what Hornady recommends to degrease and then lube & protect their powder drop, among other parts, in the L-N-L AP setup videos. Since it's not super cheap, I degreased with brake cleaner, then used the One Shot to lube & protect.
It's more expensive than oil, but it does the trick and it definitely works with a Lee powder through expander.
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/27...cleaner-with-dyna-glide-plus-5-1-2-oz-aerosol
It has rust preventative properties as well.

I use lee dies (so far) and I've just cleaned with Mopar brake cleaner (got tons of it) and lube with remoil. I'll definitely look into the dry lube.

 

[thomas15]

Another poster recommended that you think through the number of stations you might want. Good advice. Another good advice is to think through what rate your want to produce your pistol ammo. In my mind it's not exclusive how many rounds per month, rather it's how much time you want to spend making a batch of 500 rounds (or how ever many you make in one session).

Since you have a single stage for rifle consider a progressive for pistol. I know that there are a whole bunch of turret press fans here and they make a convincing argument.

I started out like you with a single stage. As I started making my own ammo I also started shooting more ammo. It did not take long before I had a sit down with myself where I had to admit that I was spending too much time making 500 rounds on a SS press. So I bought turret press, one with the ability to prime and drop powder on press. I have to admit that it was faster than a single stage but after about a year I finally had to admit to myself that I was still a slave to the bench. So I then i finally, kicking and screaming, bought a progressive press. And the rest is as they say, history.

 

[trentcwwilson]

Well, I don't shoot enough to warrant a grand+ for a progressive....yet. My main dies are 38/357. 4 dies and I've yet to run into 45/9mm/or any of the rifle calibers I'm looking into that uses more than 4 dies. And how well would a turret work for rifle rounds, especially since I'll be aiming for accuracy?

 

[zb338]

I bought two dillons. I don't have all of the gadgets on them. One is set up
for small primers .38 Special and 9MM the other is set up for large primers
.45 Auto and .44 Special. I do all my rifle reloading on a couple of C presses.
Dillon is the greatest and if a part breaks they will send you another part for
free.
Zeke

 

[MislMan]

I use a Lee 4-station turret press for 9mm, 45 ACP, and 6.5 Creedmoor rifle. The pistol rounds each have their dedicated turret and dies. I use the same powder canister and swap it between the two turrets. Each turret cost about $55 to set-up with dies and the turret itself. You can swap calibers/turrets in under 1 minute. I run about 150 rounds an hour for pistol loads. The Creedmoor has it's own turret and powder drum as well. I load the rifle rouns a little slower to help ensure the quality of bullet seating. My Creedmoor rifle (Ruger Precision Rifle) shoots under 1 MOA with my reloads so something must be right. Generally I load 500 pistol rounds in a couple hours on 2 separate days (I'm retired, I shoot a lot. Nothing but good words from me on Lee reloading products. They are all I use. Check at FSreloading for very good prices.

... Larry S.

 

[trentcwwilson]

I use a Lee 4-station turret press for 9mm, 45 ACP, and 6.5 Creedmoor rifle. The pistol rounds each have their dedicated turret and dies. I use the same powder canister and swap it between the two turrets. Each turret cost about $55 to set-up with dies and the turret itself. You can swap calibers/turrets in under 1 minute. I run about 150 rounds an hour for pistol loads. The Creedmoor has it's own turret and powder drum as well. I load the rifle rouns a little slower to help ensure the quality of bullet seating. My Creedmoor rifle (Ruger Precision Rifle) shoots under 1 MOA with my reloads so something must be right. Generally I load 500 pistol rounds in a couple hours on 2 separate days (I'm retired, I shoot a lot. Nothing but good words from me on Lee reloading products. They are all I use. Check at FSreloading for very good prices.

... Larry S.

I've been wanting one of those rifles, bit high for my taste.

 

[John3921]

It has to do with what you want your press to do. As I said earlier, I'd like 6 stations myself for pistol rounds, in a perfect world.

1.) decap and resize

2.) drop powder and expand

3.) powder check die

4.) bullet feeder die / system

5.) seater die

6.) final crimp die

With the LNL or the 650 you get 5, choose one of the above to either not do or combine. With the 550b you get 4, choose 2 of the above to not do or combine with another.

It comes down to how much ammo are you loading? and how fast do you want to go?