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dillon 550 or hornady lnl ap progressive

  • dillon 550

    Votes: 13 72.2%
  • hornady lnl progressive

    Votes: 5 27.8%

  • Total voters
    18
Have had the Lee Loadmaster and currently work with a Hornady LnL.
I'd probably be still using the Loadmaster, but gave it away to a guy who scraped me up and brought me home after a motorcycle accident.
I bought the LnL because of of multiple reasons:
  1. Watched a guy struggle like crazy with his 550 and primer jams. Plus the 550 cost $200 more...
  2. Checked out all the progressives they had at Cabelas, and the LnL seemed to be very well built with a sensible mechanism.
  3. Watched the Youtube video of all the different progressives in use. The LnL seemed to work well.
  4. People hate on the Lee Loadmasters, and I found mine to work very well. The biggest difference between Lee and everyone else is they are built cheaply with lots of plastic and cast aluminum. That gunk breaks easily if you apply force.
  5. With the Black Friday sale price for the LnL ($275) and the "get loaded" option, getting 500 7mm 139 gr BTSP , I think my total cost came to ~$150. I'm a cheap MF'er.
I've been running it for ~7 years now. Probably done 4K rounds through it (haven't shot much with my travel).
I don't load for speed any more - I take the time to enjoy what I'm doing and produce consistent, quality ammo. When I would use the Loadmaster, I could crank out > 500 rounds of 9mm per hour. That was with auto case and bullet feeders.
Now, just doing it on the LnL with hand case feed and hand bullet feed, I do 4-5 per minute, or 200-300 per hour. And I'm not rushing at all to keep that pace.
Some observations:
  1. Hornady's warranty and service is exceptional. I broke the indexer head on my unit because of a stuck 308 case (not enough lube), and had a new one in 2 days.
  2. Every progressive has its quirks. You need to understand the ones for the ONE you own, then dial it in for those quirks. Otherwise, your reloading will be very frustrating. To give an example, much of my life I have designed and built automated machinery. Three identical units, built side-by-side with all parts coming from the same manufacturers and from the same machining centers, have the same operating program and electronics, will have three different personalities. I relate these differences to harmonics. These differences come out in subtle nuances (sensitivity to temperature, better operation at different speeds, different accuracy, etc.) The finer aspects of reloading are subtle nuances, especially if you're reloading for accuracy.
  3. The Hornady's bushing system is well designed and works very well. The only location where the same step happens on the progressive is the deprime and prime locations. I move the powder drop around, and move the bullet seater. It makes sense for different calibers. The important thing to note, every time you set up to load, you MUST check your ammo. Both powder drop and final dimensions.
  4. The powder drop system is outstanding and remarkably accurate. When I'm single stage loading lots of bottleneck rifle cartridges, instead of using my auto powder feed scale, I will use the powder drop. The 0.1-0.3 grain case to case difference in weight I might get from the powder drop does not affect my accuracy. My heartbeat does more to do that.
  5. Lube is crucial. Not enough lube on a rifle case and you're forked with a stuck case. I've used a custom lanolin mix, imperial wax, some other wax, tried silicone spray (pretty good for pistol cases) and find I like a mix of coconut oil and 99% IPA the most. It doesn't gum up or discolor the cases, a very small bit will go a long way, and it's cheap and easy.
  6. Finesse is your friend on any progressive. Get to know the forces needed to do the job. Never strong arm anything, or you're going to break something.
Things I don't like about the LnL:
  1. The powder drop mechanism has springs that are too strong. I replaced mine with rubber bands and I love how it works.
  2. I want a case feeder and bullet feeder BAD.
  3. Filling the primer tube is the slowest operation. I wish it held more than 100 primers. At least it's easy to fill and hard to screw up.
  4. Powder spills will really gunk up your primer seating mechanism. For this I keep a can of compressed CO2 and blow it out every 10 or so cases.
  5. The primer seater needs to be kept well lubed or it will seize. Frustrating when this happens. Took me a while to learn this and haven't had a problem for a LONG time. There was a period where the LnL sat for 18 months because of my travel. Never even lubed it while it sat. Cleaned and lubed everything before restarting (wife's cigarette smoke from the other part of the garage left a film on everything). BTW, there's a wall between her smoking area and my cave.
  6. The primer seater doesn't like flash holes that aren't properly chamfered or deburred. Some of the range pickup brass I use has been crimped and I'll crush a primer cup trying to get it in. This gets back to the finesse part. I learned what force it takes to seat a cup, and I apply no more or less. Applying less gives a cup that isn't seated all the way in, and that's a strike/no bang on an AR. You get a feel for it.
Over the last 2K rounds I loaded, here are improvements I see could be made to it:
  1. Deprime station drop hole in the plate has as bigger hole. This is probably the biggest problem I have. The cup will be pushed all the way out but not fall. I have a tin below the LnL to make a distinct TINK when the spent primer hits. The stuck cup happens about 1 in 50 times.
  2. Would like to have a primer seated verify spot. Sounds alarm if case doesn't have primer.
  3. Powder cop. (Yes, I know I can just get a die for this).
  4. Vibrator for the powder hopper that will vibrate for 2 seconds after the ram is dropped.
All in all, I'm very happy with mine. When I get pissed at the LnL, it's because I'm the one being a dumb fark, and the problems are of my own making. If I were to get another progressive, it would be a Dillon, just to try one, and would be a 650 or 1050. It would get mounted 2 feet over on the bench from the LnL. If I didn't have a progressive and wanted one, I'd start with a LnL or something like it.
To wit: I have 4 different single stages, three are currently mounted. Each one is slightly different than the other, and I keep and use them all because of the advantages each one has.
 
Have had the Lee Loadmaster and currently work with a Hornady LnL.
I'd probably be still using the Loadmaster, but gave it away to a guy who scraped me up and brought me home after a motorcycle accident.
I bought the LnL because of of multiple reasons:
  1. Watched a guy struggle like crazy with his 550 and primer jams. Plus the 550 cost $200 more...
  2. Checked out all the progressives they had at Cabelas, and the LnL seemed to be very well built with a sensible mechanism.
  3. Watched the Youtube video of all the different progressives in use. The LnL seemed to work well.
  4. People hate on the Lee Loadmasters, and I found mine to work very well. The biggest difference between Lee and everyone else is they are built cheaply with lots of plastic and cast aluminum. That gunk breaks easily if you apply force.
  5. With the Black Friday sale price for the LnL ($275) and the "get loaded" option, getting 500 7mm 139 gr BTSP , I think my total cost came to ~$150. I'm a cheap MF'er.
I've been running it for ~7 years now. Probably done 4K rounds through it (haven't shot much with my travel).
I don't load for speed any more - I take the time to enjoy what I'm doing and produce consistent, quality ammo. When I would use the Loadmaster, I could crank out > 500 rounds of 9mm per hour. That was with auto case and bullet feeders.
Now, just doing it on the LnL with hand case feed and hand bullet feed, I do 4-5 per minute, or 200-300 per hour. And I'm not rushing at all to keep that pace.
Some observations:
  1. Hornady's warranty and service is exceptional. I broke the indexer head on my unit because of a stuck 308 case (not enough lube), and had a new one in 2 days.
  2. Every progressive has its quirks. You need to understand the ones for the ONE you own, then dial it in for those quirks. Otherwise, your reloading will be very frustrating. To give an example, much of my life I have designed and built automated machinery. Three identical units, built side-by-side with all parts coming from the same manufacturers and from the same machining centers, have the same operating program and electronics, will have three different personalities. I relate these differences to harmonics. These differences come out in subtle nuances (sensitivity to temperature, better operation at different speeds, different accuracy, etc.) The finer aspects of reloading are subtle nuances, especially if you're reloading for accuracy.
  3. The Hornady's bushing system is well designed and works very well. The only location where the same step happens on the progressive is the deprime and prime locations. I move the powder drop around, and move the bullet seater. It makes sense for different calibers. The important thing to note, every time you set up to load, you MUST check your ammo. Both powder drop and final dimensions.
  4. The powder drop system is outstanding and remarkably accurate. When I'm single stage loading lots of bottleneck rifle cartridges, instead of using my auto powder feed scale, I will use the powder drop. The 0.1-0.3 grain case to case difference in weight I might get from the powder drop does not affect my accuracy. My heartbeat does more to do that.
  5. Lube is crucial. Not enough lube on a rifle case and you're forked with a stuck case. I've used a custom lanolin mix, imperial wax, some other wax, tried silicone spray (pretty good for pistol cases) and find I like a mix of coconut oil and 99% IPA the most. It doesn't gum up or discolor the cases, a very small bit will go a long way, and it's cheap and easy.
  6. Finesse is your friend on any progressive. Get to know the forces needed to do the job. Never strong arm anything, or you're going to break something.
Things I don't like about the LnL:
  1. The powder drop mechanism has springs that are too strong. I replaced mine with rubber bands and I love how it works.
  2. I want a case feeder and bullet feeder BAD.
  3. Filling the primer tube is the slowest operation. I wish it held more than 100 primers. At least it's easy to fill and hard to screw up.
  4. Powder spills will really gunk up your primer seating mechanism. For this I keep a can of compressed CO2 and blow it out every 10 or so cases.
  5. The primer seater needs to be kept well lubed or it will seize. Frustrating when this happens. Took me a while to learn this and haven't had a problem for a LONG time. There was a period where the LnL sat for 18 months because of my travel. Never even lubed it while it sat. Cleaned and lubed everything before restarting (wife's cigarette smoke from the other part of the garage left a film on everything). BTW, there's a wall between her smoking area and my cave.
  6. The primer seater doesn't like flash holes that aren't properly chamfered or deburred. Some of the range pickup brass I use has been crimped and I'll crush a primer cup trying to get it in. This gets back to the finesse part. I learned what force it takes to seat a cup, and I apply no more or less. Applying less gives a cup that isn't seated all the way in, and that's a strike/no bang on an AR. You get a feel for it.
Over the last 2K rounds I loaded, here are improvements I see could be made to it:
  1. Deprime station drop hole in the plate has as bigger hole. This is probably the biggest problem I have. The cup will be pushed all the way out but not fall. I have a tin below the LnL to make a distinct TINK when the spent primer hits. The stuck cup happens about 1 in 50 times.
  2. Would like to have a primer seated verify spot. Sounds alarm if case doesn't have primer.
  3. Powder cop. (Yes, I know I can just get a die for this).
  4. Vibrator for the powder hopper that will vibrate for 2 seconds after the ram is dropped.
All in all, I'm very happy with mine. When I get pissed at the LnL, it's because I'm the one being a dumb fark, and the problems are of my own making. If I were to get another progressive, it would be a Dillon, just to try one, and would be a 650 or 1050. It would get mounted 2 feet over on the bench from the LnL. If I didn't have a progressive and wanted one, I'd start with a LnL or something like it.
To wit: I have 4 different single stages, three are currently mounted. Each one is slightly different than the other, and I keep and use them all because of the advantages each one has.


Couldn't have said it better myself. Especially the part about all progressives having quirks. Yes... Even Dillon
 
I have has a 550 Dillon since 1991 simple easy to use and it works. Bad points ,the only trouble i have had was the primer set up wearing out. Dillon sent me a new on a new manual and all the upgrade part. i have taught 4 newbies how to reload with the 550 Dillon and after a while they bought the 550 it is a great learners machine as it can operate as a single stage as well as a progressive. I have loaded 38/357 mag, 9mm, 40 S@W, 45 acp, 223 , 308, 30-06, 300 Weatherby mag and 338 Lapua on the 550.
 
I do all my rifle brass prep on my 650, having a case feeder makes sizing and trimming brass far less tedious as you end up with a sized & trimmed case for every pull of the handle and only have to handle the cases to dump them into the case feeder
You then only need to trim primer pocket crimps and run it back through to prime, charge, seat,& crimp.
I used to trickle each charge by hand but it seems I get as good or better accuracy using the powder measure.
 

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