Looking to upgrade to a progressive press

[Haftard]

Im looking to upgrade from my leee turret press to the lee load master or the hornady lock and load ... Or is there another progressive press out there for unde. 500 bucks that i shouldblook into ... Mostly have lee dies but i must be able to load up to load 30 06 on the press

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[DizzyJ]

Just go with the Dillon 650.

Seriously.

 

[P7M13]

I have had the Loadmaster, and I have the Hornady Lock and Load Auto press. I would not try to load 30-06 on either one of those, at all.
There is small amount of flexure in the Lock and Load that can cause enough OAL error on your cartridge, so that it would not chamber.
Get the 650.

 

[Haftard]

Realy ... So the hornady press is no better then,there dies?

 

[P7M13]

IMO, the LnL is much better than the Loadmaster. Both will produce fine ammo for all pistol, 223, 6.8 SPC, 6.5 Grendel, etc.
What I found with the LnL, if you are loading with only ONE round on the carousel, e.g the last one or two in a run, the loaded cartridge will have a longer OAL and the case might not have been fully resized. These are the ones I find that get rejected by my ammo checker.
I tried loading 308 plinking rounds once, got a case stuck and snapped off the carousel head trying to push the ram down. Rather than shear the cartridge rim, it snapped the ram. Nope - not herky enough.
Between the Loadmaster and the LnL, the LnL seemed much more stout.
I'm happy with my load speed on a single stage for any cartridge 308 or larger.
The LnL produces fine, accurate ammo for anything up to 6.8 (for me), but I check each round.

 

[Member 5605]

Depends what you want to load and how much of it.

I have a single stage, cast turret and loadmaster.

90% is still done on the turret. Only large bulk runs of pistol ammo are on the proggie.

 

[Papercidal]

Just go with the Dillon 650 I've had both the Lee progressive presses (the pro 1000 is not bad) and I've even seem one of the hornadey presses that almost worked and the Dillon is just worth it even if you have to hand fill the case feed tube to start with.

 

[Haftard]

well im fine with my output for 30 06 on my turret and,im realy comfortable with it reloading 357, 38sp, 30-30, 308, and 30-06 ... But the out put is not realy what i want .. I can get a few 357 scooting out of the press, but 308 is kinda a pain in the neck ... So im more or less just lookong for more output ... Dosnt the dillon take a bunch of bells and whistles to get going? And isnr changing,calabers a pain?

 

[Papercidal]

well im fine with my output for 30 06 on my turret and,im realy comfortable with it reloading 357, 38sp, 30-30, 308, and 30-06 ... But the out put is not realy what i want .. I can get a few 357 scooting out of the press, but 308 is kinda a pain in the neck ... So im more or less just lookong for more output ... Dosnt the dillon take a bunch of bells and whistles to get going? And isnr changing,calabers a pain?

Not too bad unless you need to change primer size it takes about 90 seconds more than your turret Press to change calibers.

 

[Haftard]

Whats the diffrence between the 550 and the 650 other then price?

 

[Papercidal]

The 650 is a true progressive press that auto indexes and is designed for a case feeder the 550 is a upside down turret press.

 

[Crohnos01]

I have both the Hornady LNL and the Dillon 650. I don't load rifles brass on either however as I prefer to be overly anal on my rifle loads. I can tell you this: there are a lot of folks that think anything but Dillon is junk. I can honestly say that I like both presses for different reasons and am annoyed with both presses for different reasons. I wouldn't say to forgo the LNL just because it's not a Dillon; especially if price is a concern. If you are going to be loading multiple calibers, the LNL is much cheaper and easier to change out calibers on. Both presses require some tweaking and if you decide on a Dillon, pm me and I will tell you about some 3rd party additions that make it much less annoying in some of its functions.

 

[BAMCIS]

For around $500 take a look at the Dillon 550. A little more you can get the 650. Oh, and they hold their resale value. (Don't ask how I know this.)

Bottom line, they've all got their quirks, or own way of doing things. You can't go wrong with any of the major brands.

 

[techiej]

I have and continue to be happy with my LNL (about 8 years now) - currently load 9, 38, 357, 44, 45, 45 Colt. Used to load 308 & 30.06 - only reason I stopped is that I no longer shoot 30 cal rifles (health/age related).

IMHO (based upon my and some of my friends' experiences) - If you are going to be primarily loading 30 cal rifle I would get a good single stage. If you're going to be loading a lot of different calibers then get a Hornady LNL. If only a few calibers then a Dillon 650. Differences aren't too great and each has it's own +/-'s...the reason for which one would be overall cost.

 

[bbbass]

Just go with the Dillon 650.

Seriously.

OP knows he wants one.

The 650 is a true progressive press that auto indexes and is designed for a case feeder the 550 is a upside down turret press.

I have a 550 semi-progressive and an RCBS single stage. The 550 was called an upside-down turret but actually is much easier and faster to turn than a turret.

The 650 has got all the bells and whistles but to me that is just more stuff to hang up or go wrong. I prefer the process control that the manual advancing feature of the 550 provides. The 550 produces plenty of production speed for me, since I really enjoy sitting at the bench.

Having a single stage or turret for real rifle cartridges allows the utmost control over accuracy of the loads.

.308 for plinking??? Must be a young guy. But rich guy.

 

[LSWC]

I'd give a 650 a whirl, and I'm happily settled in the 550 camp. Caliber conversions are easy, inexpensive, and the machine pumps out enough rounds to feed a family.

 

[DizzyJ]

I've been using a progressive for close to 30 years. I couldn't imagine doing pistol caliber cartridges on a single stage except for maybe precision magnum. Even my .41 mag gets the progressive treatment!

 

[Cardinal]

I just converted from an RCBS single stage to a Dillon 550.

With the single stage experience, switching to the 550 is easy and I am amazed at how quickly I can crank-out excellent rounds.

I am totally impressed with the 550.

 

[Haftard]

OP

.308 for plinking??? Must be a young guy. But rich guy.

I am,young but i have a scout rifle and i loaf my 308 kinda on the light side ... But i do load it with 220 interlocks for hunting the brush ... With the muzzle brake i have and the light loads its accualy realy enjoyable to shot ...
But i think im going to look into the dillon 550 ... I didnt like the auto intexing on my lee .. But can to take out the auto indecks for the 650 or are you stuck with it?

 

[bbbass]

With the muzzle brake i have and the light loads its accualy realy enjoyable to shot

I made some light loads for my .308... it's nice for target shooting but I never considered that to be "plinking". I also have worked over the trigger so it's butter smooth and has no take up.

I've seriously considered putting a muzzle brake on it. Went so far as to buy one. But I'll have to have my barrel modified and it would cost me $150. I still want to do it but I spent the money to buy another revolver. You think it made a big diff in recoil?