what is the best?

Dear people,what is the best progressive press for the money,features and cost-effective and simplicity for use: Dillon 550,Dillon 650,Hornady lock and load and RCBS?

I went with the Hornady based primarily on this article. I'm happy with my choice.
http://www.comrace.ca/cmfiles/dillonLeeHornadyComparison.pdf

if you want to also do Rifle cartridges then its the Dillon 550 for me.

great family , great products and really a no BS warranty

the 650 is nice but a pain to get back in sync if you have an issue

lots of third party upgrades for Dillon too.

all those will do a good job

It's not on your list, but if all you're loading are pistol rounds, the Dillon Square Deal is pretty good.

If your like me and only load a couple hundred rounds a week then go with the Lee. I know it was not on your list but it is by far the least expensive and does a fine job.

Len
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/785993/lee-classic-4-hole-turret-press-deluxe-kit?cm_vc=ProductFinding

I'd go with the 550, then if you ever want to upgrade, all the dies and some other parts are transferable to the 650 or 1050.

But you can't go wrong with the LNL either.

- Dave
550 with case feeder
1050 with case feeder & MrBulletFeeder

550 here. I started out with a Dillon when it was the 450 and you had to manually cycle the primer feeder and powder measure. I bought a 550 later and when Dillon came out with the conversion kit I converted the first press to 550 specs.  I keep one set up for small primers and the other for large. I guess you could say I'm a Dillon fan.  I like their dies too. It's well proven gear.

I have a Dillon 550 and a Lee Pro1000.

The Lee Pro1000 is extremely fast.  It comes with a case feeder, and I added the bullet feeder. HOWEVER "simplicity of use" was one of your criterion and you need to have some mechanical aptitude, patience, and strong skills of observation to get the thing running properly.

The Dillon is a no brainer. The manual indexing makes it really easy to clear a malfunction or an operation error and is extremely easy to set up or change calibers.  I love mine.

I do use the Lee more often than I do the Dillon, but the Dillon is the one that I go to for Camp Perry ammo as I am able to ensure that every round is good to go with the Dillon, and with the Lee, with all of the automatic stuff happening, I have had a couple of squibs from the auto indexing moving while clearing a malfunction and half stroking the handle.

I would assume that could happen with most any auto-indexing press.

John McCormick wrote:It's not on your list, but if all you're loading are pistol rounds, the Dillon Square Deal is pretty good.

i see reviews about this machine and is excellent!

I just went through this dilemma and it came down between the Hornady LNL progresive and the Dillion 650. They both are nice machines and will crank out rounds fast whether pistol or rifle rounds.

I went with the Dillion 650 if for no other reason than if I decided at some point to sell it I would get most if not all my money back out of it. Dillions "no BS" warranty helps out second and third owners as much as it does the first owner. I'm not so sure I could recoupe my money from a Hornady LNL, maybe I could but didn't want to take the chance.


Virgil

550

mspingeld wrote:I went with the Hornady based primarily on this article. I'm happy with my choice.
http://www.comrace.ca/cmfiles/dillonLeeHornadyComparison.pdf

excellent investigation and comparation,thank you.

Dillon's customer service has a great reputation. Hornady's customer service has been excellent as well. Very helpful and will send out a replacement part, if necessary, at no charge (even though I broke it!). Both companies seem to care about their products and customers.

I reloaded on a 550 for about six months and went with the 650.  Manual indexing is great and I appreciate the positive control, but I wanted auto-indexing.  It was slower to make ammunition, but as mentioned, if you made an error the machine wasn't advancing it along without your permission so there's some additional precision permitted and an advantage if there's an error in your process. The flip side, you, not the machine have to advance it, so there's human error introduced.  A nice feature of the 650 not mentioned is the Powder Check System, great safety feature, it won't tell you to the grain, but it will indicate a lack of powder or double charge.  Cheap insurance for squib or double loads that the 550 lacks, which IMO mitigates some of the risk introduced by the faster process.  I started with my hunt on a Square Deal, but I bought a rifle for high power competition and decided it wasn't for me and it lacked the features I wanted, like the powder check.

I went with Dillon because of the customer service and resale value.  Both are hard to beat.  Plus the catalog is nice to look at.

http://ultimatereloader.com/2010/09/05/dillon-xl-650-1050-powder-check-system Video/

You didn't say what calibers you plan on loading. If only a couple of pistol calibers, you might consider the Dillon Square Deal. I have both a Dillon 550 and 650. The Dillon 650 has an extra station that most folks use for a Dillon Powder Check which indicates if you got no powder charge or a double charge. I like the case feeder on the 650 and Powder Check station. I can load ammo quicker on the 650 by far. The 650 really has to be mounted on a very stable bench. I have mine on a strong mount and load while standing. Nothing really wrong with the Hornady from what I hear. I've heard mostly bad things about the Lee progressives. Don't hear much about the RCBS. Although, in general, RCBS makes good reloading stuff, I wouldn't put them in the running when considering a progressive press.

No love for the Star, huh?

Man, you young whippersnappers just don't know how to appreciate the finer things in life

Star for .45, 550 for everything else.

just an FYI... the Dillon powder check can be installed on the  550 with slight mods.  you have to use a single bullet seater and crimp die so you free up a station

http://www.uniquetek.com/site/696296/uploaded/Using_a_Dillon_Powder_Check_on_an_RL_550B_Press.pdf

haven't done it myself as I installed a small mirror and light so I can see the case in station three..

Star is the winner for 45 and 38spl if you can get one....

I even have an old CPM that works well for 45

I have one Star for 38 and another for 45. Both produce high quality ammo at a reasonable rate assuming I do my part. Problem is finding one at a reasonable price.

Easy answer to this simple question is, flip a coin and buy a hornady lock n load or  the Dillon 650 and never look back. these are the best out there imo, unless you can step up to the Dillon 1050. which are the two I run, LNL and a 1050, as for star  they are nice old machines but antiques are expensive to buy and maintain and parts are hard to come by sometimes.

Question about the Dillons can you easily do HBWC for the 38 specials.

thanks

With a minor adjustment to my seating button, no problem.

Thanks Steve I was thinking about the bullet orientation hollow base down/vs up.  If your putting the bullet in the case manually like a single stage I would see how it works but was wondering about some of the bullet holding trays.  I guess I need to look at the videos.

Troy,
On both the Dillon 550 and the 650, a bullet feeder is optional--I don't know of any inexpensive bullet feeder that automatically orients any bullet.  With all of the bullet feeders that I have seen/used the user has to manually fill the tube with the bullet oriented in the way they wish.