I have both a dillion 505 and rcbs special 3 press. Is there a problem with progressives for accurate reloading?
Is it the bullet seating or resizing. I know the powder drop is questionable but what else is there?

I appreciate any inputs

thanks,
Matthew

There was an article in Precision Shooting written by a ballistics guy at Sierra. In this article, he discussed how they test bullet lots to make sure that they meet Sierra's accuracy standard. I think that he used a Dillon progressive, because they have to shoot a lot of rounds to ensure that their conclusions regarding accuracy are statistically significant.

So it is possible. From what I have read, it sounds like some high-power competitors also use progressives to load their competition ammo.

Metallic, virtually all your competitive shooters use Dillon, or to a lesser degree, some other progressive press. This should tell you something about their accuracy and potential to produce excellent ammo.

Certainly a progressive press does not allow the degree of personal attention the benchrest crowd thinks they have to give every round, but unless you are in this category...your fears are unwarranted.

I have and use a couple of Dillons in addition to my Rockchuck and the only thing I don't like about the progressive presses is they are a pain to change settings with a load. I've always been one of these goofy reloaders who likes to tinker with and change things. Progressive presses are made for the guy who knows what he wants, sets up the press to do it and then makes bullets by the zillions.

Dillon makes good machines and the company is superb to deal with.

I'm one of those guys Pecos was describing - someone who has a few pet loads and loads buh-zillions at a time. I'm also a serious competitor in several disciplines and the progressive-loaded ammo has never cost me anything score-wise.

Dillon is great, but damn aggravating when something goes wrong. The use of extruded powders in small caliber necks will have you updating your Prozac prescription, but other'n that they work great.

For real persnickety loads or working up test loads, I forego the Dillon powder dispenser altogether and have an RCBS Uniflow mounted on the bench beside the Dillon. MUCH simpler to just pull a case out of station 2, dump a weighed charge in it and put the case back in the Dillon.

My two cents.

Redial

When I bought my Dillon 450 in 84 (I think), No one on the match circuit had seem to heard of them. Everyone was curious of that "blue" machine and how fast it made loaded ammo. Now I think every serious competitor in any rifle match (except benchrest--who cares about those whackos!) uses a Dillon. Back in the early days of Dillon, they couldn't afford much advertising, so it started out all word of mouth kind of thing. Now of course they are world known and respected. I would not trade my Dillon for any other brand you could name. I have also NEVER broken anything, EVER. But I know of guys who have, and they have recieved instant customer service, therefore I find the statement that they are a "pain" to deal with pretty impossible to believe.

Don't confuse loading for handguns and rifles in discussing the Dillon. If you're talking about handguns, then it's correct that a large percentage of the handgun competitors load very accurate ammunition in them. Varmint shooters also load acceptably accurate ammo on them as well. In bottleneck centerfire, while some can be loaded in some of the Dillons, those are usually loaded individually in either arbor presses or single stage conventional presses.

I've used my XL650 for competition loading as well as plinking loads. While there is a learning curve for all the Dillons, once you've mastered the machine things go very smoothly. I have never broken anything on the machine and except for an occasional glitch when loading 9X19 cases, all other larger cases load smoothly and rapidly. The biggest problem you have is running out of primers or powder when you get moving too fast.

Even the bench rest clan mostly uses drop-type powder measures these days. The variations from drop measures are not significant in bench rest, and certainly not in other types of ammunition, provided you use a reasonable powder. You can do most anything with a ball powder you can with an extruded stick powder, so why choose to have problems?

From what I hear, Dillons are used by the rifle competition crowd as well as the pistol crowd.

You can't beat a Dillon machine or Dillon service.

Bob,

I think you will find if you do a little research on the subject that Dillon has DOMINATED the high power rifle matches for many years.

I have a Dillon Square Deal B and a RL 550. I bought the Square Deal first, and really liked it. Later, when I started shooting rifle matches, I bought a the 550. I like that one even better.

I weigh the powder charge every 100 rounds. The pistol press (Square Deal) throws repeatable charges right on the money. The larger press, however, has about a .2grain variation in the charge weights. I find that acceptable for plinking, but I hand weigh charges I use on match ammo.

I have busted a few parts on my pistol press, and Dillon has replaced them free, even when I offered to pay for them, they refused. They really mean it when they say a lifetime guaranty