Dillon xl 650 vs. Hornady lnl ap?

tkdguy · Jul 10, 2010

Does anybody have an opinion on which of these would be a better choice? I load most pistol rounds, some small rifle and would occassionally want to change calibers. The Dillion can be purchased with a case feeder with after market bullet feeders. Hornady has a case feeder which was designed as an after thought. Dillion I think was designed from the start for a case feeder. Hornady does have blueprints for a bullet feeder later this year--but I would expect that they could have early production problems.

I currently own a Hornady Pro-jector 7 circa 1994, but it is slow!!!

The cost is not a problem for either. I have available about 4000 9mm and 38 or 357 cases to reload and 1200 .223 waiting on my shelf. My old Hornaday would take a life time. Thanks.

PhysicsGuy · Jul 10, 2010

There is also a bullet feeder for the dillon made by a 3rd party.

I've always loved dillons, but they should both get the job done properly.

Asking which one is better is kind of like one of those "9mm vs .45"/"chevy vs ford" questions.

best defense · Jul 10, 2010

I have a Dillon. Their customer service is great. I don't have any problem with Hornady. I especially like their bullets, but have no experience whth their loading machines. they probably work as well as any. I don't think you will go wrong with either.

Gunner69 · Jul 10, 2010

I've loaded thousands of rounds on both and would with out question buy the Dillon. To me it's a better manufactured piece of equipment, and their customer service would be in the top 5 in the industry.

The Hornady just seemed clunky to me, definitely not as refined as the 650..

IMHO you'll get more bang for your buck if you go with the Dillon.

terrylf72 · Jul 10, 2010

I have a Dillon 650XL and a RCBS Rockcrusher.. For the amount that you are going to be loading I would have to say go with the Dillon.

best defense · Jul 10, 2010

RE:

Gunner69 said:
I've loaded thousands of rounds on both and would with out question buy the Dillon. To me it's a better manufactured piece of equipment, and their customer service would be in the top 5 in the industry.

The Hornady just seemed clunky to me, definitely not as refined as the 650..

IMHO you'll get more bang for your buck if you go with the Dillon.

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My Dillon is a 550. I don't shoot enough to justify a 650 or anything close to a full automatic machine with bullet or case feeder. It has served me well for about 4 years now. I have had a couple of problems with my loads, but I don't think they had anything to do with the type of loader I use. More inline with how I set it up, or failed to set it up as the case may be. Before that I used a single stage RCBS for about 30 years. I still use the RCBS for things like my hunting rounds. Partly because I don't shoot as many of those as I do the competition rounds, and partly because I want to inspect every stage of loading when it is going into my hunting rifle. When I am hunting, I never ever want to have anything that goes pop when it is supposed to go bang. Especially when it is my trophy elk I'm shooting at.