I am considering getting a progressive press and would like to know a little about it.

I used to find myself loading 50 to 100 loads per session and don't do more due to time constrainments. The biggest problem I have is that I am constantly loading for 2, 3 or sometimes more calibers at one time.

Will the quality of the ammo suffer?

At the moment I use a bench mounted priming tool and an electronic dispenser/scale with single stage press for the rest.

At this rate I can load up a bit more but wonder if I can really benefit from a progressive press.

How long does it take to set up for different calibers?

The quality won't suffer.
You will still want to weigh individual charges for long range (600-1000 yard) match ammo.
If the various calibers us the same size of primer you can swap from caliber to caliber very quickly with a Dillon 550 or 650 (I have both, and much prefer the 650). You have separate tool heads for each caliber.
If you are switching primer sizes it takes a while to re-set up. Right now I do large "runs" of the various calibers. That is easy with .308 and .223 because the brass is so cheap. Eventually I will have two 650's, one set up for small primers, and one set up for large. I do my load development on a single stage, but the proggressives have changed my life for the better.
JCN

Fuuny you are asking this, as I just responded a few days ago to almost the exact same question, relative to the Dillon, Hornady LnL, and the Redding Turret presses. Here is a rewrite of that response:

I owned a Dillon 550B press and I loaded 19 calibers on it. I had all the attachment goodies, along with 6 power measures. I basically can't say enough good things about the Dillon 550B or the company as well.

My only complaint on the 550B is that for rifle ammo, I had trouble seeing the amount of powder in the case. Being a progressive, there isn't a whole lot of room to take a peek. Some cartridges and loads are better than others.

The Hornady LNL is a five stage machine, just like the Dillon 650. You can put in a powder check die in that fifth station and it will tell you if you have a load that is a bit low or a bit high on power. Nice.

I got spoiled using a single stage and checking all my charges at one time by scanning the loading tray and I lost that in the 4 stage Dillon 550B.

I looked into getting a Dillon 650, but the cost of conversions is so high, it is a pointless press unless you only load for one or two calibers or have deep pockets filled with money.

Eventually, I opted to sell the 550B and get a Hornady LNL progressive press. This is very much like a Dillon 650, except the cost of conversion is drastically less and the loading rate is about the same as the Dillon 650.

The Dillon 550B would be perfect for about 300 to 400 rounds of ammo at a time. The Hornady Lnl and Dillon 650 are about twice that when set up with the case feeder. This rate also allows for filling primer tubes, which does take a substantial amount of time, given the number of tubes you are filling.

The Redding Turret press is also a good choice, although the loading rate is less. The way to find the right press for you is to consider the following: 1. The total amount of ammo you load at one time for one month. 2. The number of calibers you load.

The Redding Turret, the Dillon, or the Hornady LNL will all do it for you. The difference is loaded rounds per hour, not quality of handloads, as they all will do an excellent job. The Hornady LNL or the Dillon 650 will do about 600 to 800 rounds per hour. I haven't used a Turret press, but I am guessing about 2 to 4 times what you can do on a single stage press.

The other catch is calibers loaded. It gets expensive loading many calibers or many loads on the Dillon equipment. It is simply the way they are designed, you have to buy a lot of expensive pieces. For the Dillon, you are looking around 40 to 120 dollars per caliber. For the Hornady LNL you are looking at 10 to 50 dollars. For the Redding, if you load 2 or 3 calibers, you are there.

Price the Hornady LNL progressive press at Midway, then add a shellplate (about $28.00), a lower assembly for the powder die (about $16.00), and powder mesasure adapter (about 8.00) for each caliber. If the new caliber fits the shellplate and you are willing to reset the powder measure, you are all ready to go if you have dies. Do the same for the Turret press, which for 2 or 3 calibers you won't need to buy anything. For 4 or more, you need to add 40.00 for a new top plate for each group of 2 to 3 calibers. Go to the Dillon precision website and do the same for the 550B.

You have to make a trade off between cost of equipment and the # of rounds loaded per hour. None of these presses will give you bad ammo, if you do your part.

I looked at all of these and I opted for the Hornady LNL, even though I had to sell the Dillon stuff at 75 cents on the dollar.

Do keep in mind, loading at a higher rate is not a bad thing. Consider this, you come home from dinner on Friday nite thinking you are going shooting in the early am. It is 8 pm and you find you are out of ammo. You sit down in front of the Hornady LNL or the Dillon 650 and two hours later, you have 400 to 600 rounds of ammo waiting to be shot and you are in bed by 10:15. You can't do that with a single stage, period. The 550B and the Turret press will be somewhere inbetween those two extremes.

Hope this helps,

RobertD

RobertD,

You need to move next door to me. I've got the 650 for .223 & .308. You've got the Hornady for our hunting ammo. I've got a Redding Turret for precision load work up.

JCN

PS Your post is a masterpiece. Please keep it handy for when this topic comes up every week.

John,

I would love to move from the oppressive state of California. Unfortunately, I couldn't find work in "friendly" states and Silicon Valley starting hiring again. So, I am stuck here for a few more years.

It would be fun to have a shooter / hunter next door, though!

RobertD

Express, there is another option...buying a used Dillon.
Why: -the warranty is "forever"
-Dillon's reputation
-most often can save $.
My Dillon 450 is now over twenty years old, and has never given me a moments trouble. True I've broken some parts, but I broke them...they didn't give up on their own. My point: all was fixed -most of it free, with one phone call to Dillon.
I'm not dissn the L&L, but I will sing the Dillon song at every opportunity. Don't let the $ fool you when buying equipment, Dillon is great equipment.

Yep! Dillon's warranty can't be beat. Neither can RCBS's either. I haven't tried the Hornady's warranty yet, so I can't comment.

RobertD

There is yet another progressive option - the RCBS Pro 2000. If you have a die plate per caliber so you don't have to swap dies it has the fastest changeover time of any of the progressive presses (2-3 minutes max, most of it changing the shell plate). Changing the primer punch adds maybe 2 minutes to the process if you have to fiddle a lot to get just the adjustment you want; usually only takes half that long. If you have to change the powder measure's drum from pistol to rifle etc then it takes longer, much easier to have a second powder measure (about $60 ).

Really, if you are only loading 50-100 rounds at a session I don't see that a progressive will save you much time. You will spend more time to setup a caliber and dial in the powder measure setting for the load than you will in actually loading 50 rounds on the progressive. With a progressive press it makes much more sense to load at least several hundred rounds before changing the settings to another caliber. And it will only take you the same amount of time to load several hundred rounds on a progressive as it takes you to load that 100 rounds on a single-stage press.

If you already have Hornady's single stage press or an RCBS RockChucker press then some of Hornady's Lock-n-Load bushings on your existing single-stage press & dies would make more sense from a financial point of view. If you had a Forster Co-Ax single-stage press ($200) I don't think you would be making this post, it's even faster changing dies than the LnL bushings and you rarely have to adjust the shell holder; but you do need to use the Forster lock rings on your dies ($3 for each die).

I have a dillion 550 and a rockchucker . Would not trade either period . Great products with great no hassle warranty .