Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Progressive loader

I’m thinking about buying a progressive for loading handgun ammo, primarily 38sp but probably 45acp and 9mm too. I don’t shoot jacketed bullets, not sure if that matters. Mostly use Unique but could be persuaded to switch to ball powders if necessary. I know next to nothing about progressives. Don’t want to spend tons of $$ if I don’t have to.

Recommendations?

I'd get a 550.

Are you sure the volumes you're wanting to load necessitate a progressive?

You didn't say how many rounds you want to make in an hour but a 650 is more faster'er.

I generally load a couple hundred each 38, 44, 45, and 32mag on Saturday and burn them up on Sunday. Tired of sitting at the Rockchucker for half a day at a time

I've been using a Dillon Square Deal B for a couple of decades, still happy with it. Crazy thing though, I just looked at their website, the SDB is as much as a 550.

A Dillon 550 will crank that couple hundred rounds out in an honest 30 minutes pretty easy, and is a quality piece of gear. There are cheaper options, but most people never regret buying a Dillon.

The 550 works fine with lead bullets; you have stations to flare, seat, and crimp with separate dies so it goes pretty seamlessly. You should be able to use the dies you already have, but will need a powder die (and the matching powder funnel in the caliber conversion kit) for each toolhead you set up. You'll set the dies for each caliber into a toolhead, and can then swap out the toolheads to change calibers. The cadillac way to do it is with a separate powder measure that stays with each toolhead, but you can get by with just one powder measure if you want.

Most people advising that the 650 is a lot faster are comparing a 650 with a case feeder to a 550 without. If you don't use case feeders or bullet feeders on either one, the 650 is marginally faster but not by a lot. Downside to the 650 is cost and additional setup time. Case feeders are available for the 550 as well.

I occasionally time myself when loading large batches on the 550 - if I pre-load primer tubes and don't count that time, I can do 550 rounds per hour. Counting the primer tube refills (which is the actual real time spent) I'm at ~475 rounds per hour, maybe 450 depending what I'm loading and how smoothly it goes. That's without a case feeder.

^^^^^what he said^^^^^

I had 10 presses at one point, including a 650 and 1050B...now down to two 550s for hangun and a Redding T7 for rifle....

Unless you are a competitive shooter the 550 will make all the ammo you need...

Bob

I don't regret my Square Deal B at all.

Dillon.

Well, I would bet that even with conversion set ups you're going to spend the same amount of time doing that each Saturday because that's a lot of swapping on one press.

Unless you mean you're going to buy a few thousand brass for each cartridge and load once every three months or so. You'd see bigger benefits then I'm sure.

Reading your OP again I think I'd get a square deal for the .38 and .45 and buy all my 9mm.

I have owned a 550 and now own a Hornady. Both are great presses. I liked my Dillon 550. It is a great press.

Do consider the Hornady press as it has 5 stations which sometimes is an advantage when using Lee crimp dies, I like Hornady's powder set up better, I found it easier to go between small and large primers easier and it auto indexes. To get 5 stations and self indexing, you have to go to a Dillon 650. It also easier to remove cases from Hornady's shell plate for inspection.

For me, Hornady has matched Dillon's no BS warranty if a part breaks. It just took a call to their customer service and I explained the part breakage was my fault. They shipped a replacement part ASAP at no charge.

^^^^^^^^^
This. They are getting pricey. I have had mine for about 20 years. Dillion's customer service s top rate. I load 9mm, 38, .357, 45ACP. I have loaded 44 mag,but needed to run the bass thru a single sage press to size it first. The SDB is too light weight to do that.

I have used W231, Universal Clays, Unique, 2400, they all metered well

200 ea of 4 different rounds?! If you are single-staging 800 rounds per week then you are my hero! And...you're wasting a ton of your life, but that's why you're here, asking the question.

Your answer is a Dillon 550 with with extra heads so you don't have to lose time setting dies. Given current ammo prices, I'd still buy factory 9mm at $8.50/box. Save the brass for when the market turns.

Good luck!

My Square Deal has kept me happy for a couple of decades. Loading 45, 38, 357
Shot PPC for quite a few years so the SD has provided me with quality ammo in the tens of thousands over the years.

Typical loading session would be a 5 gallon bucket of 45s.

Hope this helps.

I recently gave my Hornady to my middle son, new to handloading. He loaded a 100 manually, read up on it and watched YouTube videos and is now spitting them out in earnest, 45 ACP and 10mm at this point. It is a solid option.

Anybody use an RCBS? Just asking in case I run across a deal on one.

I have a SDB for 38/357 used Unique in it no problem but hardcast SWC's worked with less hassle than my normal wheel weight mix. If your going to go a progressive route you need to get more brass period 1-2k each cartridge. MB

Using Hornady's lock and load bushings, set requires no adjusting of dies.

Dillon 550 and have plenty of brass on hand.

Load the high volume cartridges by the ammo can or two and you will be making full use of the press and you rtime.

I get this rig set up I’m going to have to buy a bigger lead pot and bigger than 2 cavity molds. I’ll probably need to start powder coating to save time too. I can see this costing upwards of a grand in no time.