Poll: Upgrading one of my presses Dillon 550c or Hornady LnL

[JO JO]

I am thinking of upgrading my dillon square deal , it just has such a small frame and small working
window ,
I am considering a dillon 550c or hornady lock and load ap , I am not in a hurry just asking if anyone has used these as I have not used either?
I know one is manual index and one is auto index
thanks

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[Greenbug]

Didn't like the Hornady LNL AP I had.
Jerky movements, spilling powder, jammed up primer system, and the "pawls" were prone to breaking and getting out of adjustment.
No experience with the Dillon, but I hear good stuff.

 

[Eveskcige28]

I dont have any personal experience with Dillon's but have a lnl. I really like it. The priming can very occasionally cause problems but as long as everything is kept clean it's alright. And I disagree with the spilling powder comment. It has the index move half a click with up stroke and down stroke. I've seen videos of other presses where it seems to whip the cartridges around real fast. If you are gonna be doing 1000s and 1000s of rounds I would get the dillon. But if you have multiple or several different calibers the conversion for hornady are much cheaper.

 

[aasbra]

No experience with the Hornady, but I have a Dillon 550 and a 650. The 550 is a nice machine; if I only wanted one press to do most everything on, but weighted towards loading a variety of different handgun calibers, it would be my top choice. It is pretty versatile, easy to use, and well built.

It was purchased by my Dad probably 30 years ago and loaded countless rounds before it came to me. Still going strong.

 

[DizzyJ]

Go blue.

 

[ron]

Dillon 550 owner for 30 years. I would highly recommend. I don't like the auto indexing
of other presses. Rotate the turret with left hand as you reach for another piece of brass
with the right hand. Caliber conversions are much easier and cheaper than the 650. Dillon
warranty service is second to none. I have broken numerous parts on my 550 and always had
prompt free replacement parts. I reload for 6 pistol and 6 rifle calibers.
Cranking up some 9.

 

[oremike]

I have 2 L & L's I sent the first one back to Hornady after about 400,000 rounds made for a rebuild. They know I use it commercially so charged me 80 bucks for the overhaul. While that one was in the shop I bought a second one to keep my business going. Now the rebuilt one just deprimes the brass before cleaning and new press makes ammo with only clean brass. I'm hoping this makes the presses last longer. I looked at switching to Dillon but aside from the press the cost of the caliber conversions was too much for me when I have all the hornady pieces and parts already.

 

[kamshaft]

I grew up on Dad's Square Deal B. I bought myself a 550 and really like it and the manual indexing. When my brothers got into reloading, I gave each of them the same advise: buy a 550 and if they didn't like it, I'd buy it from them. One brother took my advise and has no regrets. The other accused me of just wanting a second 550, an accusation to which I readily admitted, and bought a Hornady. The Hornady works fine and is a great press but sometimes he wishes he had a 550.

 

[fxdc]

Ok
Sooo I dont own either, but if I were to I would go BLUE!

Ii those are the only choices.

 

[JO JO]

The opinions and poll results confirm what I thought it is hard
To beat the Dillon,
Dillon has constant high reviews and the hornady reviews are mixed at best
But one thing hornady does have is their products are sold locally

 

[erslll]

I have a couple of 550s and have no regrets. So far I am only loading pistol calibers. One is set up for large primer and one set up for small primer. Makes change over pretty quick. As of now, the large primer press just does .45 ACP while the small primer press does .40 S&W and 9mm. Make sure and check out Inline Fabrication for a roller handle and light.

 

[HighlandLofts]

My grandson is starting to shoot a lot so I need to get a progressive press.
For me it will be the Hornady setup. My oldest son back east has two of them and loves them.
Them main reason for Hornady is there are several semi local gun stores close by that sells Hornady, RCBS and Lee products.

As far as I have seen there is only one semi local gun store that sells Dillion.
And I already have two complete Hornady LnL single stage set ups. One set up for handgun and one set up for rifle. Each set up has it's own powder measure and scale.

I have delt with both Hornady and RCBS customer service and both are excellent.
Friends who have Dilion set ups say the same with their customer service.

To each their own, i like the option of jumping in the truck and go to a local store for what ever I needat the time. I'm not in to mail order.

 

[11Charlie]

I have the LnL and love it. You do need to keep it clean for the priming but it works great parts are always available and I can switch between calibers quick and easy.

Have heard great things about big blue but have never had the opportunity to run one.

 

[fxdc]

Ok
Have to say I'm a green guy....
My best buy was the Pro 2000.

I get 5 stations and the choice of MANUAL AND AUTO Progressive.

In other words I have a GREEN 550 AND 650 rolled in to one machine. And no primer feed issues!!!

550 4 stations
650 5 stations

 

[techiej]

I - and some of my friends - have the LNL and love it. I have other friends that have 550's & 650's and they love them as well.

When I made my decision a number of years ago it came down to overall cost & changeover speed for the number of calibers I was reloading (2xrifle and 6xpistol). FWIW - I also use their bullet feeder for 9mm & 45acp. If I were only reloading for 2-3 calibers I would probably have gone with the 650.

They are both great presses and both companies stand behind their products with support & service. Never heard of either charging for replacement parts (other than springs which are consumable items).

 

[Mikej]

I like these threads. I'm not sure why I read them every time they come up? They always read pretty much the same. Any way, carry on and pay me no mind. I'm an RCBS single stage guy. Most likely I'll always be. I like the slow, methodical way.

 

[bbbass]

The opinions and poll results confirm what I thought it is hard
To beat the Dillon,
Dillon has constant high reviews and the hornady reviews are mixed at best
But one thing hornady does have is their products are sold locally

Meh, Dillon has great reps on the phone, internet ordering, fast shipping, and great catalogs with lots of items besides reloading equipt!

I own both a Dillon 550B and an RCBS Jr. I use the Dillon for all my pistol cartridge reloading and the single stage RCBS for any rifle cartridge. I don't like auto-indexing and I prefer the control of single stage, but it's not fast enough for my pistol reloading needs since I'm a competitor and go thru a lot of pistol rounds.

I don't have a LNL. But I can tell you that the Dillon 550 series is built strong! Changing calibers may be expensive, but it's so easy and the parts are beefy. Worth the extra expense. Also, I love the manual index wheel... I can pull a pin and interupt the sequence if anything goes wrong in the process. But you still need to keep the press clean if you want good results, especially the primer cup and slide. Go Blue!!

 

[osprey]

I have often thought I needed to upgrade to a progressive of some sort and have looked at the dillion 550 pretty seriously. But, when I really think about my loading habits it just really doesn't make sense for me. I load for many calibers and rarely load more than 100 rds a sitting. Usually it is 20 of this 50 of that and so forth. Pure volume is not what I do. So, for me a turret press made more sense. I ended up with a redding t7 with 4 heads. I can leave 8 of my most used die sets in the heads adjusted and ready to go. It works for my needs and is much faster than a single stage. I also have half or less of what I would be into a dillion for. Just another option to consider. I have to admit though, those elaborate dillion setups are dead sexy.

 

[JO JO]

I have decided to go with the 550c
Thanks everyone for the inputs

 

[bbbass]

I have often thought I needed to upgrade to a progressive of some sort and have looked at the dillion 550 pretty seriously. But, when I really think about my loading habits it just really doesn't make sense for me. I load for many calibers and rarely load more than 100 rds a sitting. Usually it is 20 of this 50 of that and so forth. Pure volume is not what I do. So, for me a turret press made more sense. I ended up with a redding t7 with 4 heads. I can leave 8 of my most used die sets in the heads adjusted and ready to go. It works for my needs and is much faster than a single stage. I also have half or less of what I would be into a dillion for. Just another option to consider. I have to admit though, those elaborate dillion setups are dead sexy.

My best shooting buddy had (he's gone now) a Lee Classic turret press. Well built, strong, sturdy, very useable. I don't know anything about the Redding except it seems they make good stuff, I have a Redding die, and I've often given some thought to replacing my single stage RCBS with a turret. To me it's a speed and ease of use improvement that is somewhere in the middle ground between single stage and auto-index. They are affordable from what I've seen.