Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Contemplating a Progressive Reloader

That is correct.

Turns out that I had to tear it down to the pieces, polish and relube everything. Now it moves like butter. Of course I need a special tool to align it.

Stick with Sellier & Bellot or Remington primers. All the rest are either not all shaped correctly/the same or are too sensitive leading to a primer detonation under the shell or in the wheel if one gets bound up and forced.

I have played with the Dillon a little and have a good feel for how it operates but I am unable to produce any ammo yet as I am missing a few pieces. I took a few photos and will make a few initial observations. I am trying to be objective, so the burden on the reader is you must attempt to be also.

I like the left hand feed of bullets and cases on the Hornady, my right hand never leaves the op handle. Arrow legend: blue is bullet, red is case.


The Dillon loads on both sides of the press, two blue arrows, first pic is case,2nd is bullet. Load case with right hand, load bullet with left, operate press, rotate shell holder 1 click by hand.



The Tool Head on the Dillon is a nice idea and once set, it is easy to switch calibers once set. This system would benefit from individual powder throwers for each tool head.

This is the vintage powder system that came with the press, manually activated. Unfortunately I only have the large powder bar so cannot load yet. This system bells the pistol case and acts as a powder funnel in one step, eliminates the need of a 5th hole.


One of the positives for the Hornady is the Case activated powder thrower, it performs well. I have added a micrometer adjust for pistol powders but the original is pretty easy to adjust. That and the auto indexing.


Dies fit into bushings, which easily interchange for caliber changes.


These are stored easily with aftermarket parts.
[img]http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/...B-46C6-BD30-C8DA6833F4F4_zpsjuerjcuw.jpg[/img]

A lot of good points made here, I've done a ton of reading for a month or so on reloading sites...and I'm stepping up to a progressive for pistol.

I'm still going to use my RCBS RC for rifle, but the Hornady LNL is my choice for the best fit for me. Pricing including delivery and free bullets only sweetens the deal, now time to build a new bench area and storage.

Hornady ammo plant with all the goodies is top notch

I far prefer the Dillon for that feature, because loading a case and then a bullet with the same hand is much slower than loading one with each hand at the same time. It wouldn't matter so much with a bullet feeder though.

Definitely upgrade that manual powder measure on the Dillon, that old one is kinda lame. (and is really old btw, they've been case activated for at least 20 years or more)

Personally, without rushing I can load at a rate of ~550 rounds per hour on the 550, if we don't count filling primer tubes. ~450 with filling tubes. That's a nice relaxed rythm, just eliminating wasted movement. I can't approach that speed at the same pace on the Hornady unless it has a case or bullet feeder. Can you? Just curious.

these are real numbers, Waders is making a ton of sense.

Sycamore

But as you move up the food chain to 40sw/45/44mag, the prices for factory ammo go up significantly.

agreed, although the number of people that want to shoot 1000 rounds goes down almost as quickly !

True, and that's the crux of the issue...reloading has to be patterned to individual needs(quantity & accuracy). I shoot as lot of calibers from multiple common cal guns, and multiple rifles...including an 5.56mm AR.

But rarely do I shoot 1000's of rounds in 1 range visit, usually hundreds of each caliber. For hardcore target/match shooters they may need a super fast progressive press, because they shoot tons of shots. I usually load 300-500 at a time in each caliber, then shoot casually till the supply is low. Depending on your diet, is whether you really save any money reloading.

One thing is for sure after 30 years of reloading, the more your load the more you shoot...and the "savings" gained are gone

You shoot what you can afford, when reloading you get more shots for the same money.

For the OP:
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/679228/hornady-lock-n-load-ap-progressive-press

Yonder, I have never actually measured my production time. I will fill the primer tubes 2x (200 primers) load that, case gauge everthing, and do it again. It allows me less "white line fever", less errors. I am sure those 200 rounds ate 20-30 mins so probably similar production. I will time it next time.

Shooters Pro Shop currently has a deal going on their Dillon presses where a buyer will receive a coupon for 40% off an order from nosler.com on up to $500 of goods.

That's a powder measure setup from an RL450, the predecessor to the RL550B. The case-activated powder measure, auto priming, and removable toolhead were introduced on the RL550B, so comparing a Frankenpress to the Hornady doesn't have much merit.

I as well have really thought hard about a progressive press, the one thing that keeps me from pulling the trigger is that I load mostly 38 special HBWC Bullseye loads. 2.7g of Bullseye, I screwed up (I think) and had a squib load in my S&W Model 52, cost me a barrel.. Can one count on a progressive press to reliably load at that low of a powder level? It does get tiring to load one by one, however..

You might consider switching to Trail Boss powder. I load it in my 38spl HBWC loads and I find it cleaner burning than Bullseye; likely due to the greater load density. I haven't loaded those on a progressive press, but if you get a Dillon 550 or similar, you can install a powder-lockout die that will stop the press if it encounters a case without a powder charge in it.

As noted above I purchased the Auto case feeder for my Dillon XL 650, and I purchased the Alpha Mr. Bulletfeeder. Once I got the bulletfeeder adjusted where it was consistently dropping the bullets base down, my volume really increased. I finally filled the bullet feeder and case feeder full, and got my extra large primer tube filled I started cranking them out loaded, taper-crimped rounds at a pretty good pace. I can go faster, but I need to load several thousand more rounds before I can really run the press as fast as it is able to run. The Alpha instructions indicate that when I got the bullet feeder tuned to feed correctly the press would be capable of 800 rounds/hour. I have a empty case/double charge warning device right after the powder throw and case seating bell. I still want to look into the case to determine the powder is where it should be. I pulled every 10th round right after the powder was dumped. I had previously removed the case from the primer station and weighed it to control for its weight. I then put it back in the primer station and cycled the press, pushing the brass into the powder funnel which triggers a volume of powder to be dropped. I then grabbed that case and put it on the scale. I had set the powder throw of Hodgdon CFEpistol powder to 7.5 grains. The ten cases I weighed I the first were as follows, 7.5, 7.5, 7.4, 7.5, 7.5, 7.4, 7.5, 7.5, 7.5 and 7.5.. After that I just refilled the Auto case loader and the bullet feeder. I stopped at 400 rounds, which took an hour & 15 minutes to complete. I'm pretty happy with that. I've been working the bugs out of this press and learning when to push hard and when not to, and what the press feels like if there is really a stoppage...etc. I suspect I've got a way to go before I can crank out 800 rounds in an hour. I think I'd need at least 4 or 5 primer tubes to be pre-filled, and I'll need to keep a close eye on the powder, cases and bullets. I hand loaded everything on a Redding Ultramag before this, and loading pistol rounds on a big, heavy duty press like the Redding Ultramag was simply too mind-numbing for me. At the end of a couple of hours (maybe longer) I had just over 60 rounds loaded and was DONE. I went out to the range and loaded 4 Glock magazines with 15 rounds each (10mm). I burned through them in under 30 minutes. What a let down!

"That's a powder measure setup from an RL450, the predecessor to the RL550B. The case-activated powder measure, auto priming, and removable toolhead were introduced on the RL550B, so comparing a Frankenpress to the Hornady doesn't have much merit."

The press is a RL 550, the powder hopper is vintage. You happen to be wrong.

Either way, it's not representative of a normal 550 Dillon press, so it's a poor comparison. The correct powder dispenser would be well worth the $82 to make that press work as intended. DILLON RL550/XL650 POWDER MEASURE

Also, you may have an old 450 press that's had the frame upgraded to a 550, but still using the rest of the 450 parts. Dillon sells that upgrade kit: https://www.dillonprecision.com/dillon-rl-450-rl550c-upgrade-frame-change-kit_8_6_23995.html

In my first post I said I had an open mind, you my friend are operating from the other end of the spectrum. It is operating as a Dillon 550 because it is one.

I have the invoice from 1992. Its a 550, not a 550b.