I have a cheap Lee single stage press. It does a great job of loading all the different calibers of rifles and my handguns. Unfortunately, it is slow. I now shoot a lot more than I used to and my sons now like to shoot with me, especially the handguns. I have 9 different rifle calibers and a .380 ACP, three .357's, a 9mm, and a .45 ACP. I don't have the time to load all the ammo we need with the equipment that I now have. I would like to draw upon the experience on this forum for recommendations as to the equipment needed. Cost is somewhat of an issue but not the overriding concern if a strong case can be made for a particular piece of equipment. Thank you all in advance.

What rifle cartridges to you handload for?

I would keep the Lee and get a Dillon 550B. For your needs listed it will be the best bang for your buck. It will load any handgun cartridge you can throw at it and will do nicely on most rifle cartridges up through the standard rounds. It will keep you up to your eyeballs in loaded ammo... 500 rounds an hour is nothing on this machine. From a reliability standpoint they just plain work. And Dillon's customer service is first rate period.

Or get a 550B dedicated for the handguns and small rifles (.223..) and a Redding T-7 turret for your larger rifle cartridges.

I agree with David. At some point you have to upgrade to a progressive. I did that back in the 80’s with a Dillion 550B and have been totally pleased with Dillion.

Like David I have a Redding T-7 press, for the rifle caliber sizing. I use the Dillion to dump rifle powder and seat rifle bullets. It would take twice as long to do that on a single stage press.

Check out the Hornady. Caliber changes are inexpensive and quick

DILLON Dillon Dillon !. Need I say more .
I have and have used most every single brand !.
I own a Dillon 550 B and have had it for more years than I can remember . As a matter of fact I think it was just a 550 when I purchased it .
Best Dam loader I ever bought BAR NONE !.I feel the same way about RCBS Dies !. Although I do own other die sets as well . I've been using RCBS since 1967 I also have there loader the old " RockChucker ".
Dillon Dillon Dillon !!!!...

The Dillion maybe ok for what you want to do.
However it requires developing new set of habits.
Try loading 500 rounds an hour and some will not have a powder charge.

i've had a 450 550 and now a 650 dillion and the 650 is by far the best of them. But like ireload2 says a progressive press require concentration on all the stations with every pull of the lever

The first progressive I bought was a Dillon SquareDeal B (SDB) after I too found a single stage press ungodly slow for straight-walled pistol ammo. I load .380acp, 38spc\357mag, 44mag, 45auto and 45 Colt. It has auto indexing which means you only need 3 procedures:
1 load a fired case at position one.
2 load a bullet at position 3
3 pull the handle for a completed round.
You can do that for 100 times until you need to refill the primer tube. Carbide dies mean a quick spritz of lube is all that's needed. (Actually you don't need lube at all, but nobody recommends it.) In tens of thousands of rounds I have never had a single one without powder. Perhaps that is because I tend to use easy-metering powders; no big flake shotgun-type powders.

My next Dillon was the RL550B because I bought a baby Glock in .357SIG which is a bottle-necked case. Can't load them on the SDB. The 550's removeable toolheads make caliber changes a snap. On it I load, 223RemAI, 22-250Rem, 25-06Rem, 30-06 Spfld, 338-06AI, 35 Whelen. I still use that old RCBS Jr press for 416Rem mag cause I don't load many of them per year to warrant buying a toolhead and shellplate.

You'll never regret spending money on Dillon products. They are, in a word, lifetime purchases. Yours, your sons and their sons.

Of course you could always buy a whole bunch of those Lee presses, one dedicated to each caliber and put your offspring to work pumping out ammo assembly line fashion.

Dillon 550B. I've had mine about 10 years, with no problems. I've loaded thousands of 44Mag and 45ACP rounds, plus .223, .222, .243, 7mm08, .308, and .270Win. It helps to stay with ball powder or short cut powder to help with the flow thru the powder measure. You can also try what I did when I bought mine. I called and talked to the customer service rep, BEFORE I bought one. The people on the phone actually use the products.

Nashcat

Another vote for the 550B. It's pretty straight forward to setup *& use. A bit more than a Lee, but I hear too many stories of problems so I'ld spend the extra $80 or so & get the 550B. Yes, it requires more concentration when loading on a progressive, but 300rds an hour is a pretty lazy pace to keep one out of trouble.
If a progressive makes you nervous, a Lee turret would be a logical step up & easily double or triple your output.

When I needed to make a step up to a progressive, from a lee 4 hole turret, I took a bigger step all the way to a XL650 dillon. I'm glad I did, it's an impressive machine. If you're ham handed and break ANYTHING dillon will replace it FREE! As in NO CHARGE, not even postage!

That said, the 650 will cost more for caliber conversions than a 550 or most other progressive machines. Completely set up for one caliber,(you order it set up for whatever you load most minus the dies), it comes with the appropriate shell plates, tool head, powder funnel/die and proper primer set up. It also comes with a low primer alarm. The case feeder is seperate, don't do like I did, I didn't get it with the case feeder. It get old in a hurry having to stop to drop more cases into the case tube!

Here it's set up to load .223

And again .223, showing the hornady case activated powder die.



I currently load 357 sig, 38 special/.357 mag, 40 S&W, 44 mag, 45 acp, 45 long colt, .223 rifle, and .308 rifle.

Grizz
I've got a 650 also but I use Dillon's powder measure.
Please tell me what you are using there in the photos.
Jim

Arky, here's a better pic of the case activated powder measure die, and the Hornady powder measure. With this set-up I can load match .223 rounds using varget powder and the nosler 69 gr. j4 match bullet. I'm going to try benchmark soon for that, it is a finer grained extruded powder, like the ssc IMR powders. That die is the old style, they've upgraded it recently, supposedly improving it. Dunno, but this one works just fine!

Grizz
Thank you for your above and beyond the call picture.
That looks a whole lot more reliable then Mike Dillon's offering. I may give it a whirl.
Again thank you
Jim