Best Progressive Reloader

I’m being optimistic and planning on components being available in the future.  What’s the best progressive reloader for .38 Special, .45 ACP and 9mm?  I have used progressive MECs for shotgun reloading.
Thanks,
Jeff

I HAVE USED DILLON RL 1050's FOR  APP 30 YEARS. I HAVE 3 OF THEM . 2 WITH MARK 7 AUTO DRIVES . IF YOU CAN FIND AN RL1050 NOT THE SUPER 1050. THAT WOULD BE THE WAY TO GO. NOT A NEW DILLON RL1100 BUT THE OLD RL1050. MADE HEAVIER AND BETTER.

BUT IF YOUR GOING TO BUY A NEW PRESS. I WOULD BUY A MARK 7 EVOLUTION. IT IS THE BEST ON THE MARKET.

https://www.markvii-loading.com/loading-presses/the-evolutiontm.html

Best can mean different things to different people.

The simplest is the Dillon Square Deal B. It's fine for pistol calibers (no rifle calibers). It's smaller. It's only 4 stations, but still seats and crimps in separate stations. The priming system is not as refined as other progressives.

If you need to load a LOT of ammo, the Dillon 1050 or Mark 7 referenced above are good choices. They are basically commercial reloading machine. They can do a lot more, but that also means you have to monitor and control a lot more and changing calibers is more complex. I don't have any direct experience, but my impression is that they are great for cranking out a lot of ammo, not for load development or frequently changing calibers.

Some will say that an old Star Reloader loads the highest quality ammo. They have been out of production for decades so you need to have some mechanical skills.

In between those two you will hear good and bad things about Dillon 650/750, Hornady and other progressives. None of them are perfect. None of them are terrible.

I am ambivalent about Lee products. They are incredibly good at producing stuff much cheaper than Dillon, Hornady, Redding, RCBS etc. It almost always works just as well (or very nearly so) but the fit and finish is where they save money which disturbs my belief that good designs look and feel good.

I have two Dillon 550B could be any more happier. Stay away form the Lee Loadmaster . Loadmaster does not have the quality of any of the Dillon presses. You can not go wrong with any of the Dillon products.

Plus 1 on the Dillon 550. It is a manual advance press but does produce a fair amount of ammo at a fairly reasonable price.
Stay away from the Square deal. It only uses Dillon dies and the press is so small you can't get away from anything. Really made for one caliber, small batch reloading.
Just my two cents.

I have used a Dillon XL650 since 1996 and have been very satisfied with it.  It's a bit large if all you want to load is handgun calibers but it has a fifth station that I use for a powder check. That feature is a must have for me so that ruled out the Square Deal.  Dillon makes solid equipment and has a great warranty if you should break anything.  To date, I have only broken a spring and they sent me a new one right away.  There are several good brands and machines so you should be able to find one that works for you.

Good Luck.
John

What's your budget??? These things are awesome to see in use... 5000 rds/hr... you have about just over a minute to get a tube of primers ready before the machine shuts off and waits...
http://ammoload.com/mark-x-loading-machine/

All for the low low price of about $80k...

Another vote for the Dillon 550. Now using 3 of them. 

Too lazy to switch out SPP & LPP systems and the third stays set up for 223 & SRP.

I like the Hornady LNL, has worked well for me. Big benefit in my case is that I can get parts locally (spring the holds cases in the shell holder for example).

I have a Dillon 550B and XL 650. Both are fine. I think that a 5th die hole in the press for a powder checker is well worth the difference in price. That APEX 10 (the 7 has been discontinued) looks very nice, but I wonder about a few things. One is that they recommend Lyman dies. I don't have anything against Lyman dies and use them, but I find Dillon dies superior. I also wonder about the ease of caliber conversion and primer feed system. Dillon has the longest track record of current companies and they are quick to respond to inquiries. Their no BS warranty is real. If you are a little mechanically inclined, I'd go with a used Dillon 650 or new 750. The top Dillon machines, i.e. 1050 aren't covered by Dillon's warranty. I expect that Dillon will still be around long after APEX is out of business. Compared to shotgun shells, loading for metallic cartridges requires a little more attention to detail, especially when first adjusting everything.

You can multiply your production from a single stage press cheaply with a 'case kicker' that boots the casing out at the bottom of the stroke.  There are commercial ones or make your own with the guts of a broken tape measure and a paper clamp. 

I had a lee progressive for a bit, but if something went wrong it pretty much screwed up everything in the shell plate, so a de-facto 5x multiplier on my mistakes.

I like the Dillon 550 for every pistol cartridge that I load except 38 Special. With only four die stations, there is no way to see if there is powder in a 38 Special case at the 2.7 grains of Bullseye load level. The fifth die station is very convenient on the Hornady LNL or Dillon 650/750.

SteveT wrote:

Some will say that an old Star Reloader loads the highest quality ammo. They have been out of production for decades so you need to have some mechanical skills.

Just a point of clarification.   Although no new Stars are being produced, we do offer rebuilt refinished machines and we do repair and rebuild customer machines.   We also maintain an extensive inventory of parts and are constantly producing and restocking parts when we run low on inventory.

Bruce Williams
Star Machine Works

I am loading 45 only on a Dillon SDB, and it seems to be working great for me.  I did add a SWC seating stem from UniqeTek and a Photoescape powder funnel/expander.

First question is how much shooting do you expect to do?  I shoot around 200 to 300 rounds a month, my SDB is good for this level of shooting.

For the 45, I can look to see if there is powder in the case before placing a bullet to seat.  I really like that this press is sized for pistol ammo, so the press stroke is short.

I load 38 on a single stage press, I don't shoot it very much.  I am guessing you could not see the powder level in a 38 since it is a tall narrow case.

I also have only loaded WST powder, and the Dillon is very consistent with this powder, always within a tenth of a grain.

JNW1 wrote:I’m being optimistic and planning on components being available in the future.  What’s the best progressive reloader for .38 Special, .45 ACP and 9mm?......

There is no way to provide an answer without your saying more about your expectations.  

• How many rounds do you want to reload?  
  
• How often will you be switching do a different caliber?  
  
• How important is "safety" to you?  
  
• How accurate do you need to be?  
  
• How many stations do you want?  
  
• How important is auto-index to you?  
  
• How much work is it to change over to a different caliber?  
  
• Are you doing this as an ordinary hobbyist, or do you want to mass produce massive amounts of ammo in the shortest time?  
  
• What is your budget?
  

A few things I've learned here, and elsewhere:

• Having more stations is good - if possible you do NOT want to seat and crimp in one station.
  
• Having more stations makes it more likely you can use something like an RCBS Lock-Out Die, which will stop the press if a case is over or underloaded.
  
• Having auto-index is good - it minimizes the chance of accidentally getting a double-load.
  
• It's good to be able to easily change over to a different caliber.
  
• Primers in plastic strips eliminates the chance of primer "explosions".
  
• Seems to me, reloaders are like anything else - you mostly get what you pay for.
  

My own personal choice was and still is the RCBS Pro2000 5-station press with auto index - if you can still find one.
My brother bought a 4-station Dillon.  I would not want one for myself, for several reasons.  I know other people like them.
I recently reviewed the information, and the videos, on the Star Reloader.  If someone stole my Pro2000, that is what I suspect I would buy, but I would also need the change-over kit to a different caliber.
I liked what I read about the Hornady Lock-n-Load, but it also includes features I would rather avoid.

I guess everyone, me included, likes what they already have, and what they're used to.  
YouTube is full of videos of different reloading machines.  You could spend a week or to comparing them.

We Star users are like, "Hey, I didn't see you all the way down there."

Form follows function???
The thread title does say "Best".....

Tried a couple of Lee's, good value and they certainly can produce good ammo, but, somewhat like MEC shotshell reloaders - a bit too "clunky" for my taste. Sold them on (should have waited to take a premium in these C19 times!).

Bought a 650, liked the quality build, but struggled to make good ammo. Eventually tracked the problem down to a defective main platform, which Dillon replaced FOC. But a lot of time and pain involved. It now works well and is a keeper.

When the 650 problems appeared I was persuaded to switch to Star -the connoisseur's machine - bought 2 used machines, had the 45 tuned by an expert and the other converted to 32ACP by another expert. But I just could not get on with them, you have to concentrate hard and be rigorous in your loading process. Many Star lovers insist they make the best ammo, but not for me. Sold them to one lucky buyer!

Now I am convinced a 650 suits my needs best. Still toying with bullet feeders and a few other innovations, but happy enough to have just bought a second 650. Will dedicate one to 45ACP, the other to the rest.

But I also love my Lee APP and have a cheap Lee single stage for those odd jobs that come up sometimes.

Learned on a Square Deal B and had 3 for a couple decades. Good presses but traded all for a 650 due to speed and haven't looked back. Lockout die is nice to have along with a case feeder. Dillon's No BS guarantee is legend.

Thanks for all the responses.  I normally shoot 6,000 to 9,000 rounds of centerfire pistol a year.  Most of it has been 9mm, but I want to learn how to shoot a revolver so several thousand rounds will be .38 Special.  I don't really want to buy a used machine or something that is no longer made.  What's the difference between the Dillon 550 and 750?  Their webstite doesn't really give lots of details.
Thanks,
Jeff

JNW1 wrote:Thanks for all the responses.  I normally shoot 6,000 to 9,000 rounds of centerfire pistol a year.  Most of it has been 9mm, but I want to learn how to shoot a revolver so several thousand rounds will be .38 Special.  I don't really want to buy a used machine or something that is no longer made.  What's the difference between the Dillon 550 and 750?  Their webstite doesn't really give lots of details.
Thanks,
Jeff

The 550 does not auto-index. You have to move the shell plate after each time you cycle the handle. The upside is it is smoother, less complicated and (probably) more solid. The downside is it is slower and if you forget to move the shell plate you can double charge a case.

The 750 is a newer version of the 650. It auto-indexes, so every time you cycle the handle the shell plate rotates. The upside is you can crank ammo faster. If you have a case feeder you don't need to take your right hand off the handle. If you have a bullet feeder you don't need to do anything except crank the handle (and pay attention). The downside, is you sometimes need to adjust the rotation index (mostly just when changing calibers) and there is a jump or jerk when the plate indexes which can bounce some powder out of a case (if it's more then 1/2 full) or disturb a primer. Moving the handle smoothly eliminates most of the effect and you can buy replacement parts that smooth it out, but that's more money and effort. It isn't a problem for most of us most of the time.

I have to side with radjag on this one.  Having over a dozen reloaders the 650 is my go to machine when I just need to get the job done.  My Star Universal is set up for 32 S&W Long and works well but requires a different rhythm or level of concentration than what I'm used to with the 650.  I don't think one machine is inherently better than an another in producing ammunition.  That's more up to the operator.  I just picked up a 750 and will probably settle on 2 setups with small and large primers and use the 650 and 750.  I occasionally use other machines like the TriStandard, C-H Auto Champion, Cougar, numerous Hollywoods, etc. just to play with.  It's interesting, at least to me the different approaches or designs developed over the years to load bullets.

I have a Hornady LNL, it is great for 45acp and 9mm. For 38 SPL I Size, Decap and Bell. Then Hand Prime then Charge, Seat and Roll Crimp. I does not take as long as it sounds and the benefit is I can use a powder checker and primers are always seated perfect for revolvers.

I use 2 LNL AP's, very high quality for the money and makes very good ammo, also extremely easy to change calibers. I might get crazy one day and buy a Mark 7 reloader just to own an amazing reloader but you really don't need to spend crazy money anymore to get a good reloader for target ammo.

I have seven progressive presses - two 650, 750, RL1050, Super1050 and two Star.  I do not want to write a dissertation here explaining pros and cons, - it might take a long time reading.  Roy and SteveT pretty much compressed explanation into manageable size outlining reloader's take on the difference between Star and Dillon.  My vote goes to Dillon XL650 (even over 750) as being most versatile and reloader friendly press.

AP