Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Best progressive press

I want to get a progressive reloading press. Which one would be best? I was looking at a Dillon 550.

I would not say which is best. Dillon 550B is the most popular I believe. I have 2, 1 set for sm. primers, and 1 for lg. They work excellent for me and I am not looking to change. Powder measure seems to hold correct chg. I have a powder die for every caliber, and a different powder bar for every load. that way you never have to re adjust. The 550 is semi progressive, where the 650, the Hornady, and the RCBS are full progressive. The semi does not seem to slow you down that much.

I would and it is the 550B. It is fast enough for a hobbyist local IDPA pistol type and functions as a "turret" press, with the proper mods, to load accurate bolt gun ammo. No progressive is faster to change calibers.

As a 550 is manually indexed, you HAVE to remember that, if you have to stop, LEAVE THE HANDLE ALL THE WAY DOWN. That way, you won't ever come back and pull the handle again, double-charging a case.

I own a 550, a 650, and a 1050. My 550 would be the last to go.

Been using two 550's for over twenty years, many thousands of rounds. I think they are the best.Rick.

I have a 550 and now I wonder what took me so long to get one. Couldn't be without one.

I've had a 550 since 1997. It's the best money I've ever spent on reloading equipment. Not to mention their "NO BULLSHIT" warranty.

Dillion 650

There is no single best. There is surely no universal best. The 550 is a fine press and as good as any likely better than some to start out with.

Given more information about current practice and expected use more specific thoughts might be shared. Lacking more specifics there is little more to be said.

My own preference is strongly for at least one more station and a case feeder but that's probably not the better way to start out so........

Dillon 550. Hard to beat. I have loaded thousands of rounds on mine.

I'd go with (went) the dillon 650

Well, I own both, and I think "best" depends on what you are after. If you load five or six rifle cartridges, especially if most of them are bolt guns, I'd avoid the 650. Too much setup/changeover time.

If you just load 9mm/223 for 3-gun, the 650 rules. There is the cost factor, nearly twice as much, and don't forget caliber conversions.

Once you get to the 1050 level, the caliber conversions are so expensive most don't bother with them.

All around the 650 is probably the best. It is faster than a 550 by at least 2 times. It takes no longer to change calibers and is automatic indexing. With the automatic case feed, it is simply, place a bullet, pull the handle and you have a reloaded cartridge.

I have 2 650's and one 550. I only use the 550 for the large cartridges that I don't load by the 1000's. It is good for that and the large cartridge conversion for the 650 is a bit slow, so I don't need to convert the 650 by having the 550.

I load lots of ammo and the 550 is not much more than a shadow to the 650. Look hard at the 650, once you have all the toolheads and the sticker shock is over, you have a manufacturing facility in your basement...

I've been running Dillons since they first came out. My original RL450 was purchased in 1982. The ram froze up and it was replaced by Dillon with a RL550 frame. I've had a broken crank, the part the handle goes into and it was replaced by Dillon.

I had a Lee 1000 I bought because I wanted the auto indexing and case feed. It functioned but was not a reliable machine. It sat in a closet for years and I finally sold it this past summer.

This year I bought a Dillon Super 1050. It's an awesome machine and I can load as fast as I can pull the handle. It swages the primer pockets so military brass isn't a pain to load. It doesn't have the Dillon no BS lifetime warranty because it's rated as a commercial machine.

As you can tell I prefer Dillon, I've had a couple of problems but Dillon has taken care of me.

I don't have a progressive yet, but when I get one it will be a 550.

No way is a 650 twice as fast. A 550 with a bullet tray and front cartridge bin minimizes hand movements. While you are pulling the handle the left hand picks up a bullet and, as soon as you index with the left thumb, place the bullet in place in one smooth motion.

The only thing that makes the 550 slower is the fact that you have to let go of the handle to pick up the next piece of brass.

Like I said earlier, someone who loads several different rifle cartridges, by the time you factor in the extra time to change calibers, the 650 doesn't gain much unless you are loading a bucketful.

You are wrong. I have loaded 10's of thousands of cartridges on the 650, it will kill the 550. How do you figure indexing the 550, putting in one brass at a time and placing a bullet in the case before you pull the handle isn't at least half as fast if not slower than the 650.

Changing the tool head is nothing more than the same 2 pins as the 550 and the powder measure. You must not understand simple aspects of the 650 VS the 550. Give up the argument, there is a significant difference...

What a brilliant argument...




Travis

Yeah, I understand the 650 has a case feeder that several parts may have to be swapped out as well as the toolhead. Dillon says the 1hr (cyclic) rate for the 550B is 500rds. I know that is dead nuts accurate because I've timed it. They list the 1hr production rate for the 650 as 800rds, which I think is stretching it a bit as that is about what I load on a 1050 loading 9mm, and the 1050 seats the primer on the downstroke, so you don't have that "primer bump" at the top of the stroke like you do with a 550/650.

Filling powder measures, picking up and dropping primers, spraying One-Shot on brass, is the same on all of 'em. The "quantum leap" is from a Rockchucker to a 550B. From a 550B to 650, not so much. What a 650 will do that a 550 won't is process the hell out of some 223 brass, as the toolhead will hold a resize die, the Dillon electric trimmer, and a Lyman M die. At this, it is IS twice as fast, as you only pulling the handle and not seating/handling bullets, and the 550 toolhead won't hold all three dies with the trimmer like the 650 will.

As always, it's obvious who knows what they're talking about.

(Hint) it's not you.

I went the Hornady route and am very pleased. Here's a site that gives a bit on most.

http://ultimatereloader.com/