A great thread here!
Nothing wrong with the Dillon 550 machine, I had 2 until a few years ago. Saved setup time for sm vs lg primers. Lots of ways to save setup time, but never devoted a die set to each ctg I loaded, as I mostly deprimed and sized on single stage press. The Dillon can reliably produce match quality rifle ammunition and for sure match quality for handgun. It is great to crank out 300 .45acps an hour, just keep a few extra primer tubes ready to go and keep the powder measure near full. The priming stroke is very powerful. I have crushed a few primers over the years.
Never too worried about match pistol loads. For rifle though, I sure did all the brass prep tricks I knew. There was a thread over on one of the National Match boards about mods on the 550 for match loads. Mainly related to improving measure throw weight uniformity by smoothing the measure body funnel & throat.
I learned handloading on a Lee Loader as a kid and then with a Lyman 310 tool. Bought a Lyman All-American turret press back in the mid-70s which expedited my loading times a great deal. Still have the press updated years ago to accept RCBS type shellholders. I also use a Lee auto-prime to feel-seat primers; and for rifles, will usually uniform the primer pocket with a Sinclair carbide tool and broach the flash hole with RCBS tool. Using Starline brass for handguns, have rarely even seen a primer pocket that needed uniforming.
A Redding turret press would be the way I'd go if not totally sold on a progressive machine. Lots of die positions and extra turrets available. Turret press is very fast . The Redding machine allows a handgun setup and rifle setup on one turret. If you get a Dillon machine, be sure to buy the stand accessory, and if you're going to reload 1x fired mil brass, their #600 primer pocket swaging machine is a godsend for processing hundreds of cases. I did try their gizmo for adapting Redding/RCBS powder measures and had no luck at all with it. The Dillon powder measure is excellent.
Might want to think about Starline's +P or .45 Super brass if you intend to load full-house loads. Their Super brass is really some strongly built stuff and costs maybe a buck more per hundred. Don't have to run Super loads to benefit from the superior strength.
