Looking for opinions and personal experiences with lee pro 1000 the loadmaster along with the Dillon 550/650 systems. I will be using this for .223/5.56 and 9mm only. Currently using a lee classic turret and im wanting to spend less time loading the plinking rounds.

thank you

Hornady LNL Progressive; Period. The Lee is flimsy,(and I love Lee dies) and the Dillon has serious design flaws; the die head floats so I do not trust it's alignment. And it feeds brass in from the right; not a good thing.
Hornady. Period. I have had one since the first Pro 7; my friends who had Lees and Dillons have all gone to Hornady; true.

I have the Lee Load master

It is a unit that with care will produce great ammo

That being said....it is by no means in the same class as the Hornady LAL

If I had to do over the LAL would be on my bench instead of the Lee

I haven't heard much about the LnL but I am open to information. I was fiddling with my buddies 650 and it seems very simple and runs without a hiccup. I plan on using the dies I have on whatever press I end up with, so it has the take the common size like the 650.

In your opinion, whats the perk of the LnL vs the others ?

thank you

Not saying the Lee won't work; it will, but a friend had trouble with his. The Hornady is far more solid than either the lee or the dillon; you feed cases in from the left, whereas the dillon feeds from the right; What your right hand needs to be doing is stay on the tiller, not doing other things. And the hornady is a solid head; dillon uses the slide in and out modules, which move up and down; how can that be a good thing? I do not have a case feeder; it is plenty fast without it. I have friends that had both lee and dillon and I have used them. Hornady is better and I know there are dillon lovers out there; of course they work, but imo, are not the best in this category; the Hornady is. I do not work for Hornady. Simple? Yes, the Hornady is simpler than the dillon. Dies? yes, they all use common dies. Dillon uses a lot of advertising and a slick magazine/catalog and that attracts lots of guys; I don't blame them. Hornady does not need to market that way.

Im not savy on that reloader so i apologise for my ignorance, How do you hand load the brass and bullet into the press or does it have a tube for the brass similar to the others?

thank you

BTW i found that press at midsouth for 395- what all do i need outside of the press? Already have dies just need the parts for that specific press to load 9mm and 223

I have a Lee Loadmaster. It works. I always wanted a 650. Bought it this summer but not set up yet. I know several local shooters loading match rifle ammo with out issues on the 650. Our local Coast Guard Pistol Team loads on the Hornady Lock and Load.

I would say if it's what you can afford get the Lee but the if you can go higher I'd go Dillon.

I use lees for pistol rounds I don't think, I would use it on rifle rounds

I would buy the Hornady. I bought a 650 with all the extra's and returned it because it worked poorly. The primer seating and feed did not work most of the time and the double charge detection system would not stay adjusted. I sent it to Dillon for repair at 3 weeks old and they did not fix it properly when I sent it in for repair.

The Dillon die heads "float"; they move around, up and down; not a place you want any movement. Plus, as I said, the brass feeds in from the right. You put the brass in the shell holder with your fingers if you don't have a case feeder, which I found is not worth the expense and hassle, for me. It is real quick to handle brass and bullets with your left hand whilst your right is working the tiller. Can't do that with dillon.
All you need is a press and a shell plate for each caliber you load. I don't have, or need, a case feeder; plenty fast as is.

I have the Hornady LNL Progressive and it works well, although mine is an early production model. My S-I-L has the newer version and there are a couple design changes, such as the cartridge ejector, that I wish my press had. I load brass and bullets individually in my press but the brass feeder and bullet feeder are optional equipment that can be purchased so that all the loader has to do is run the ram lever.....well, at least until the primer feed tube is emptied. LOL

hornady, hands down..
i have owned the piggy back and own a dillion sdb and a hornady lnl ap - and worked alot with the dillon 550 .

here's the thing. the hornady is the dillion 650 for less than the price of a 550.

buy extra primer cams and primer shoe springs .. as you'll need to figure out how to make it work 100% and its easy to bend a part...

if ANY powder falls out of the case, on ANY progressive, stop and clean it up.

took all of 15 mins to have mine timed and working to my satisfaction ...
if you don't trust powder throwing, take the thrower off and weigh each charge.. easy to do, just use a funnel

My feeling is that the hornady lock and load system is a bit of an issue. I was unable to remove the slop caused by their quick change bushings.

What these guys are referring to as slop with the dillon is that the tool head sits in a slot milled in the frame of the machine. The tool heads allow you to change calibers very quickly, which if all you are worried about is 9mm and .223, probably is not that big of a deal, ie the ability to quickly swap die heads is not very important for you. The LNL has these bushings which use rubber O rings to accomplish quick changes. I honestly think they are probably about equivelent if you are willing to putz with either one. I had bad luck with the bushings, and as I had Dillon equipment already, I just got rid of the Hornady.

The 650 does have a somewhat touchy to switch primer system, but as you are going to be just using small primers, that might not be a big deal for your purposes. However, once you learn it, it works and is pretty easy to change.

The Dillon case feed system is probably the first one that was/is functional for home reloaders. To me, RCBS, Lee, Hornady's case feeders all look like variants of the dillon system. In my experience, the dillon case feed is probably the least touchy of the lot.

As for price, the dillon is probably the most expensive.

For pistol work, they both will be fine. I think the dillon will be a touch more reliable (note the comment about buying a bunch of extra parts for the Hornady) but neither will give you the same level of precision for rifle that a single stage can give.

I load my 3 gun rifle ammo on a dillon, and while its a little better than 1 MOA, if I do everything with a single stage I can get it down to .75 MOA in the same rifle. Most of the guys I know have Dillon equipment, and seem quite happy with it, but admittedly, we are all folks who got in to it before the LNL came out

The hornady has the rep around here as being a little more "precise" than the Dillon. In my experience that isn't so, but others seem to do well with them. They definitely are a bit less expensive, but not hugely so.

If you can, find someone who has one or the other and try both. A lot of the differences are user preference. Really, both have strengths and weaknesses.

Don't count out the RCBS Pro 2000. 5 station progressive, available either manual or automatic indexing. Also has bullet feeders available for it. Easiest design to change calibers on as the powder measure mounts to the press frame, not the die plate. If you don't want to use the primer strips it has a conversion to standard primer tubes; though I really like the primer strips for their safety and easy, fast loading with the included tool.
Looking at the 2015 RCBS catalog they are also bringing out two new progressive presses, a Pro Chucker 5 and a Pro Chucker 7

To me the Dillon has a better feature set and more options.

As was stated above the Dillon can be a little difficult about primer changes. It also can be faster and easier with the quick change system that Dillon sells.

Dillon is more expensive up front. That is a common theme in the discussions of the two.

But that wont make a lot of difference after the first few thousand rounds are loaded and shot. Kind of like HK versus Glock. After a few thousand rounds what is the difference. None really. One costs less, the other has more resale. I am not re-selling anyway. Considering the costs of the brass and powder and bullets you need to feed it all, again to me there is no difference.

There is always a trade off. And there is always mechanical variances and some amount of learning curve with any machine whether it is a reloading press or a race car.

Using my Redding single stage and going through diligent match prep on the cases, measuring everything very close , and throwing charges with the RCBS 1500 and even measuring those closer, I can get very accurate 223 ammo. How much depends on the shooting day. I have seen bullets in the same hole, half inch, and even 1 inch groups.

With the Dillon I can load up 500 quality 223 rounds that produce good accuracy in a short amount of time. How good? It depends on the day and rifle. But MOA is common. Sometimes better. Sometimes much better. But I rarely go through any big amount of prep either. It produces excellent 223 and 45 for me. And even better 38s than I could buy,

Dillon dies are quite good with their machine too. While I primarily use Redding dies for everything, Dillon dies give good results too. Beings I am quite big on Redding competition seater dies , and have seen the results from using them, that enters in to the overall set up.

I am sure Hornady makes a good machine too.

Hornady supports there machines better now than they used to I believe. Dillon is top notch in that regard and always has been.

What will make the difference in the end is what machine you are used to, that you know how it runs and operates, and how it fits in your loading process.

Hornady!

My 1st progressive press was a Hornady Pro-7. Only priming, powder charging and base plate indexing were automated since the operator had to manually feed a case, place bullet on a charged case prior to seating and, finally, pick out the finished round. The weakness of the Pro-7 lied in the priming system which depended on a swinging arm powered by a flimsy wire spring which, at best, could be termed as not reliable. Anyway, the Pro-7 served for many years and, despite the often jamming priming system, it brought appreciable speed in reloading operation ; caliber switch was also simple and fast.

Later, I bought a Dillon XL650 with case feeder, which I'm still using today with complete satisfaction (.45 ACP, .44 Mag, .357 Mag, .38 Spl, 9 Para). I'll start by saying that the Dillon is less suited for a beginning handloader. It is very fast but needs to be adjusted finely by an experienced operator who understands what's happening at each stage inside the press and dies. Calibre change is more tedious and critical as you really need to tailor adjust case travel (from case feeding ramp to shell plate) and precisely align the sized/deprimed case at the priming station. The reason is obvious but easy to overlook: different case diameters (while Dillon's manual warns about it, I think the point should be more emphasized and underlined). Both adjustments are quite simple and consist in (un)screwing an allen screw. Another piece of advice is to stick to the smoothest working primer brand you encounter. Like individual rifle preferences, progressive presses can be individualistic in primer choice and, true enough, a less than perfect match between a primer cup and its anvil might cause an annoying and time consuming jam...

I'll also straighten 3 misconceptions I picked up in the above posts :

1. whether you make use of the (optional) case feeder or not, in no instance will cases be handled/fed by hand. Without a case feeder, you need to regularly (re)fill a case feeding tube holding a limited provision of empty brass, which will then be fed automatically ;

2. the right hand never leaves the operating lever and the sole manual intervention of the left hand will be to place a bullet on top of a charged case prior to seat ;

3. the floating head holding the dies! It floats alright... but only when not in use. Let me explain, as the Dillon manual states (true, it should be insisted upon...), all die adjustments should be made while there's a case inside the sizing die AND a primed case (NB. : a fired primer is OK too) at the priming station. Both steps will take care of existing play of the die head (omitting these precautions may create cartridge OAL variances).

Finally, Dillon's service is great (all repairs are free forever) and great sites and forums will cater to any question you may wish to rise: e.g. http://www.dillonprecision.com/ , http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showforum=4.



BTW, one thing that really bored me was the powder measure adjustment via a simple bolt. I replaced it with custom micrometer powder bar kit specially made for Dillon by Unique Tek (ww.uniquetek.com). Very handy and accurate, for sure.

Thank you for all the replies,
I will be pulling the trigger on the LnL this week. Does anyone know where it can be had cheaper than 395+tax and shipping?

Reasoning-LnL is half the price which equals more trigger time. All ill need to get for it is the plate and for personal preference im getting the adjustable powder bar deals so i can just have one for each round i load.

Again, Thank you for the information and if anyone knows where i can find this for less, or as a package for less that would be great.

Andre; the Hornady no longer uses the swinging priming arm of the Pro-7; I have one and just set up a new LNL for a friend; it now uses a straight like feed;
MIkes; you are making the right choice. check Grafs and natchez, and midsouth; one of them will have the best price.
BTW I do have the Dillon powder measure on my Hornady Pro-7; I like the bar system better than the swinging metering system for no good reason; back when I got mine, it did not come with a powder measure; now they do.

How much is the case feeder for a Hornady?

Using these machines with out a case feeder is not too progressive IMO.

Trust me; they are vastly faster than a single station even when I am feeding brass into it. Your left hand needs something to do anyway. You must not have one or you would see how fast they are. Case feeders are, for me, just an expensive accessory that would not improve my output enough to warrant the expense and hassle. I don't load more than a couple hundred rounds at a time anyway.

No of course not as I have a Dillon. The case feeder is part and parcel to these for my use.

If the Hornady works as well for you without one then that's fine too.

Does Hornady make a feeder for it? I don't know and was just curious as to the cost versus the 650.

Yes they make one. The design of the dillon is such that it has to have a case feeder as without it, it would be a very slow hog; as I said above, the cases feed in from the right. The Hornady does not require a case feeder to be very fast. The dillon does.

dcpd,
I know, the LNL has switched to a primer feed slide, a huge improvement as compared to the former Pro-7 swinging arm.

BTW, I know of a XL650 user who dispenses with the case feeder. He reloads as fast for 20-30 rounds (case tube's capacity depending on case length) before he's due refilling the tube. He's slowed down of course, but less than one might expect, except for heavy loading sessions >200 rounds . Anyway, if not for sheer production speed, I'll opt for comfort any day.

Go look on Brian Enos forum for competitive shooters. There is a reason why nearly all these guys (who shoot thousands of rounds a month) use one or another Dillon.

Please tell me the reason because I have used both and I can't fathom why anyone would choose a dillon over a hornady unless they were sponsored by dillon, or just followed the crowd (Dillon did come out first with a progressive press).
Again, of course dillons work fine; it is just that hornadys work better.

quote:

Originally posted by CMcDermott:
Don't count out the RCBS Pro 2000.

I have a Pro 2000 manual. It is a good press. However, I have had some problems with the primer system. I have the conversion unit on order to convert over to tube feed. I have Federal primers on hand and the APS strip filler to me is a PITA. YMMV. That said, by the time I add the cost of the tube system to the Pro 2000, you are in the price range of. Dillon 650. If I had it to do over, I might have went with the Hornady LNL. But, if you want to buy CCI APS preloaded strips, then it might be worthwhile to look at the Pro 2000. When I get the strips filled and everything adjusted, the press does a great job. I will say that I have loaded multiple different pistol calipers and 223 Rem and there has not been very much adjustment required to change calibers. I will say that I like the spring arm case retaining system of the Pro 2000 or the buttons on the Dillons better than the spring case retainer of the LNL.

100% of the Dillon presses and dies are made in Arizona, USA; and come with a simple NO-BS lifetime warranty. I like that in a product...

Rich

A 550 will do everything you want in those two calibers, and you do not have to switch primer sizes or the shell plate/holder. One of mine has loaded about 150,000 rounds of 223/300 BLK in the last ten years with no issues.