Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Progressive press - which one?

Looking at finally getting a progressive press. Primary use will be for my semi-autos (.223/5.56 and .300 Blackout) and pistol cartridges (.380 ACP, .327 Fed Mag, .38 Spl, .357 Mag, .44 Mag, .45 ACP). Ball and flake powders will be the most common used due to their consistent metering properties.

Work flow will likely be as follows:
1. Tumble brass if needed.
2. Pop primers and resize brass.
3. Tumble brass to remove sizing lubricant.
4. Prime cases, charge and seat bullets.

The first three steps are how I handle the brass now with my Rock Chucker single stage press and I may well continue to pop primers and resize on it. Step 4 may be the only step that uses the progressive, which makes me wonder if a progressive really offers much advantage?

I have RCBS and Redding dies. Primarily interested in Hornady Lock-n-Load and RCBS Pro 2000.

Thoughts and experience?

Dillon 550b and One Shot. Get rid of step three and you're there. The biggest pain is trimming brass (which always is), but once it's done you can crank. Buy extra primer tubes too. I stuck a case once with my Dillon dies and they sent me the carbide .223 sizer. It's nice but not that necessary. I use my RCBS for large rifle primer cartridges and the 550b for .223 and .45acp. I'm starting to think about a second 550 for large rifle and just use the rock chucker for specialty stuff.

I went with the Hornady and am very happy with it. The 5 stations, ease of die change and auto-indexing features sold me.

Dillion

I have had (2) Dillion 650's and have a square deal now. Buddy has a Hornady and it looks easy to use. I would not think you could go wrong with either.
Dillion has great customer service...

One of these days, you fellas need to try a Dillon.

+1

Dillon

I have 1 Dillon 550 and 2 Dillon 650's. If you want the best, get the 650, it is easily twice as fast as the 550. All the case prep and cleaning isn't necessary. You can spray everything with "One Shot" lube, then vibrate the finished ammo to clean them.

There are others, but side by side, the Dillon will kick butt...

Shrap, do you skip trimming?

For the use as described with a wide variety of short cartridges and different primer sizes I suggest the RCBS is the best choice. The RCBS die plate system is a good system and APS system is IMHO as good as it gets for primer swaps.

Everybody seems to have multiple presses, and I do too but for the information here I suggest the RCBS.

The Hornady and the Dillon 650 will do just fine and better with a case feeder. I use a case feeder and run the cases around once to resize and decap with only one die so using a carbide die I don't lube. With a die plate full and a shell plate full I do lube. I'm inclined to suspect longer bottle neck cases line up better in the Hornady than say a .45ACP - then again folks pay UniqueTek good money to improve their Dillons.

I don't trim as I got X dies for the 223 and 220 swift. I did trim up a bunch of 6mm that I have, but I don't worry about it until they don't chamber. I also have thousands of rounds of brass and ammunition, so I don't overwork it....

This isn't recreational reloading. I shoot tons of ammo in a year and I am set up to do the most amount of loading with the least amount of messing around. If you do want to handle your components multiple times and spend time adjusting things and looking at your stuff, get something slow and complicated. If you want to reload thousands of rounds, the Dillon 650 is the ticket...

Dillon and you are done RL550B or the 650.

You can not go wrong with a Dillon. Great products with great customer support.

I have both the Dillon 550B and the Hornady Lock n load AP, the latter is a good press but get the Dillon

I got the Hornady a couple months ago and I'm pleased with it. I think it is a good value especially on sale now for less than $400 and you get 500 bullets (~$100+) for free. The caliber conversions are a touch cheaper and the press seems hell for stout. I've heard folks having concentricity issues with the Dillons. If I loaded more, or fewer calibers I might go for a 650 like my friends, but the Hornady suits what I do and how I like to process better.

I'm still using the 450 dillon I bought in 1980... It's still spitting out the ammo...

If you want to run just one machine for all your needs, the Dillon 550 is tops.

Dillon all day long!