I have always been a single-stage user, but I find it way too slow for loading large amounts of handgun ammunition.

Is the Hornady Lock-n-Load a good choice?

George

Check out the RCBS Piggy Back units. They just attach to your single stage press and you have a Progressive Press. I have been using a Piggy back II for about 12 years. I first had it on an RCBS Rock Chucker and now use it on my Lee Classic Cast Press. I absolutely love it and I can still use my Single stage Press for rifle ammo.

Steve E..........

Hornady and Dillon are both fine products.

What ever you do DO NOT buy a press that does not automatically index the rounds.

If you have to index them manually, let someone else have it!

When I purchased mine the Dillon had (at $10 extra) a video on the assembly.....I bought the dillon for that reason. Years later I bought a LNL AP....also a fine press

i have a dillon 650 it is a awsome press. you just can't beat dillon's customer service

I have a dillon 650, I HATE it. I would buy anything else!

buckeye, what don't you like about it?
Peter.

I have a Dillon 550 and it works just fine... the only problem I have ever encountered is when changing from large primer to small primer..but I am told all the progressive presses have the same issue.

That said were I to do it again I would go with the 650 to have the auto indexing feature.

If want to spend the money by a dillon

But I have loaded tens of thousands of rounds on my lee 1000s I have 4 of them 40 s&w 38spl 9mm and 44mag I might buy a couple of more its very nice to have a press set up for each caliber

I have been using an RCBS Piggyback II for about 12 years, I guess. It has its quirks, but it does what I need for it to do...

Thank you all. I should have mentioned it in my original post, but automatic indexing is a requirement.

George

The Piggy Back II I have indexes automatically with each stroke of the handle. I would have bought a Dillon 650 but couldn't afford it. After getting and using the Piggy Back II for 12 or 14 years I guess I might as well stick with it, I love it anyway.

Steve E............

I think you limit the choices to those which can take a case feeder, since you might want one, one day. That pretty much means a Dillon 650 or a Hornady LNL. I have a Hornady and it works very well for me. I've loaded a lot of rounds on a Dillon 650 as well, but I "feel" the lever strokes better with the Hornady press and seem to get fewer rejects from things like primers not fully seated or short stroking on the down stroke. Maybe it's just me.

The Lees have a case feeder. They really help production.

I use a Hornady L-N-L AP and the only problem I have with it is the small primer feed. I have a S-I-L and also a friend that both have L-N-L and neither one of them has any problem with large or small primers. I think they are a great machine, especially with the 500 free bullets when you purchase it.

I bought a l&l last year to keep up with my plate shooting. It takes a little learning to get it dialed in but once it is set up it works well. Progressive loading takes a bit of a different mind set but once I get going filling the primer tubes becomes my limiting factor.
C.G.B.

When I frist got my progressive forgetting to fill the powder or primers can lead to a whole card board box that has to be sorted.

Ive got a square deal on 9mm and a 650 with a hopper on 45 acp. Theyre both good presses just depends on how much time you wanna spend reloading.If your gonna be short on time get a 650.

Don't forget the Dillon Square Deal, auto indexing, and quite a bit less expensive. I have two on the bench, .357, and .45ACP

quote:

Originally posted by acsteele:
Don't forget the Dillon Square Deal, auto indexing, and quite a bit less expensive. I have two on the bench, .357, and .45ACP

But it requires proprietary dies so a cartridge change costs about $80.

George

That is true, but those dies come with the equivalent of a shell holder, and once set up on the press can be removed and reinstalled without the need for further adjustment.

Rich

George

I have used a Star Progressive Loader since the late 1960's. I have found it to be the "Holy Grail" of Progressives, Nirvana, Utoipa, Perfect...In Every Way...

They are no longer made, but you can still find them around. Nothing else even comes close, IMHO.

I have several friends that have Dillon machines and they all like them. They do seem to have good customer service.

quote:

Originally posted by Peter:
buckeye, what don't you like about it?
Peter.

Lots of problems with seating primers fully, the powder check station never stays in adjustment, constant 'cleanliness' problems with powder all over the platform. Not to mention it needs a better system for collecting live primers that are not seated and run down rhe ski slope.
the new problem of the week is the autocase feeder -- cases not entering the machine from the tube.
Everyone claims it is a fast unit. By the time I finish fully seating or seating primers in cases that did not get one after they run through this press, there is very little time gain between it and the single stage Lyman I have been running for 30 years.
Everyone raves about the customer service-- I have not been impressed by them yet! I have spent a long time-- repeatedly on he phone with them too! the biggest thing that ticks me off is they are not available on sunday-- generally when I try to reload after a cowboy shoot. I can not get them on the phone until monday noon in my time zone-- not really good for me. they also take a very, very long time to respond to e-mail!

buckeye,

what are your office hours on Sunday where you work?

I have been loading on Dillons exclusively for nearly thirty years, other than my A4 for big-big stuff like my 505 Gibbs. A buddy and I loaded over 100,000 rounds of 45 acp on a SDB over several years with ZERO malfunctions. We had a 3lb coffee can full of spent primers when we stopped saving them.

I'd suggest you work on running the handle fully up and down when you load; operator error is the basis for all of the issues you have raised. That said, I have a very nice Lyman single stage press I would be more than willing to trade you straight up for that POS Dillon you are so burdened with.

Here is your chance to eliminate all of your reloading problems...

Deal?

Rich

George

Actually I do not want automatic indexing.
I always place a bullet into the powder charged case before I turn the shell plate. That way i am sure tht no powder gets "flung" out of the case.
This is especially important when loading say a 44 Mag with 20 to 24 grains of powder, ie the powder is near the top of the case.