I loaded 400, 40 S&W and 500, 45 ACP on my single stage press over the last couple days..
The 45’s I loaded are 255 gr semi wad cutter, over a nice drop of bullseye! They shoot one ragged hole off a rest at 50 yards!

Wow, impressive! If I had to load those single stage, I'd bang my head on the bench after every loaded round!

I did 500 223 and 100 38 spec in an afternoon. It was a bear on a single stage press.

That’s why it took 2 days, I’d walk away for an hour then come back to it..

I’ll definitely not be trigger happy when it’s time to shoot!

I don't own a progressive, but I'm entertaining it.

I used to have a Lee loadmaster, it worked, but charges were all over the place up to a full grain off in some cases when it was working and you were in a good grove you could do 300 rounds in an hour. One hiccup ruined that number.. it also always would leave a smiley face on the primer.. which really pissed me off nothing you could do would fix it.

If I get another one it will be a Dillon square B or whatever it’s called..

Just loaded 1000 9MM rounds today on LNL. Took me around 2 1/2 hours. Brass was already prepped and primed though

Thinking about the Hornady progressive.

I don’t know anything about the hornady one, it looks good

I just passed 20k of pistol + rifle loaded on my Hornady progressive and some days I love it, some days I hate it. The best feature is absolutely the powder drop, but that can be adapted to Dillon presses without much trouble. The quick change bushings are great, and I like them more than the idea of having separate toolheads for calibers. But damn if it isn't finicky. Some days it'll run fantastic, and then some days I just can't get primers to seat deep enough, or spent primers to eject. I've tried every bit of troubleshooting on the planet, and just can't figure it out.

Dillons are a little more trouble to set up, but they will run forever and have a better warranty. People normally say to go Dillon if you've got the budget, and I pretty much agree with that. The Hornady will save you a few bucks, but come with a few more headaches.

Pistol loading is just for my use. and my families use. Right now, I am relegated to single stage only. Basically all the same equipment I load rifle ammo with is used for pistol. It sure is slow! I just cannot justify a Dillon 1050.

Hicks....I ditched the priming process on my hornady. I prep all the brass first. Then its like butter cranking them out. Most of my rilfe I just use it like a single stage. But have cranked out 223 plinking rounds. Most of my rifle stuff is precision. Pistol is a breeze. Did not like the primer process on the LNL. Maybe just me. But if you have a hiccup it jimmies up the process. It certainly has some little hiccups to figure out. But once you do its fabulous. I think I learned all the bad things one at a time, the hard way.

Unless you are loading commercially, or just have the money to spend, there’s really no reason to go with a 1050. They are certainly awesome machines, but more costly all the way around for caliber conversions, parts, etc. The 1050 only carries a one year warranty as well, versus the no BS, lifetime warranty with their other models. It you want a true progressive, the 650 (now the 750) is really tough to beat. And the cost is pretty comparable with the Hornady if you compare apples to apples as far as setup and accessories. The Dillon will run you a little more, but I feel it’s worth it.

Thanks, Cody.

How tough is the Dillon to swap out dies? Pretty much only two pistol cartridges I need to load on a progressive.

Just buy a second toolhead, and leave it set up. I think the toolheads are around $30 from Dillon. I bought two really nicely machined aftermarket toolheads on EBay the other day for $52.00 shipped for the pair. Get a second powder measure, and leave the whole kit set up. Pop two pins, and the toolhead slides right in. A caliber conversion kit from Dillon will have all the necessary parts needed to convert the rest of the press. The only headache in the conversion is swapping the priming system over from one size to the other. It takes a little time, but it’s not difficult, and gets a lot quicker once you do it a time or two. I load 9 mm, 38/357, 45 ACP, and I’ll probably pick up a .45 Colt conversion in the near future. I’ll run a big batch of each prior to converting to the next cartridge to save time.

I have the same, as well as toolheads with 300 BO, 6.5 Grendel, 223

Robby

Ive loaded tons of pistol and 556 on a single press over the years and its a labor of love/hate for sure. Picked up a 1050 about a year ago set up to run 556 and its next level fast and accurate, although
can be a little finicky at times. A 650 or 750 is in my near future for sure. For the cost of 2 or 3 Cal conversions kits for the 1050 you can own a 650 or 750. I see good used Cal conversions for sale for discounted prices all the time. Not so much on the 1050.

I'm running four Load-Masters, all stock, and setup per the Lee instructions. Probably the best improvements, actually unrelated to the press, have come in the last couple of years. The Auto Drum powder dispenser was a significant change from the Auto Disks not only in delivering a specific charge (rather than that offered by the disk cavity) but delivering that charge accurately. The ease of keeping a drum for each proven load is another benefit.

One of the rules that I came to with the Load-Masters, I started pulling the lever on the first one over twenty years ago, is that the primer pocket needs to be conditioned be that by swagger or uniforms. When you start this work, you realize just how poorly shaped a primer pocket can be, especially with pistol brass. The pocket work can be tedious but has typically been a one-time step for me as I don't shoot range brass, and all my shooting is done on my range, recovering my brass. The smiley face is typically produced by the drag encounter from the primer pocket mouth, while the force is applied through the punch as the primer is seated.

The second improvement, mentioned above, was again not to the Load-Master itself, but with Lee's introduction of the APP (Automatic Processing Press) this year. One of the processes offered with the APP is primer pocket swagging. What makes the APP significant to this is the case feeding, mainly when using the Multi-Tube Feeder and Collator. This once time-consuming task to run the Load-Master trouble-free is fast and fun to accomplish if you are one that likes the mechanical reaction that takes place on a progressive press.

I load 25 Auto, 32 Auto, 380 Auto, 9mm Luger, 9mm Makarov, 45 Auto, 218 Bee, 30 Carbine, 25-20 Win, 32-20 Win, and 7.62x39 on the Load-Masters. I load a total of 30 different cartridges, all the other being loaded with a turret press.

Some pictures for the above post. I use the Lee Bench Plates so I move presses around to suit my needs. There is another bench out of view to the right.



The APP decapping 45 Auto brass, these for tubes empty pronto! A switch to swagging is a quarter turn to replace a die on the top and bottom of the press.

Loaded 1000 9mm on the 650. To lazy to
convert the 650 to 223 and I already had tool head setup for 550 so used it.
Loaded 1200 223 so far probably load another few hundred and call it good for now.

I once considered getting a progressive press when I had 2 teenage sons living at home, and they had friends who loved free ammunition. But since they moved out , the single stage has no problem keeping up with the demand.

Buy a 550 or 650. The 550 keeps up with me just fine and is pretty easy to swap calibers between. When you start adding case feeders the caliber change starts to be more of a headache; that being said if I went to a 650 I’d have a case feeder on it for sure and possibly a bullet feeder.

I can load 300-350 an hour pretty comfortably on the 550 while I feed bullets and cases by hand. A full caliber conversion (with dies already in the separate toolhead) takes less than 20 minutes even if I have to swap primer sizes.

Another vote for the Dillon 550. I bought one in 1993 and it has been factory rebuilt twice. Estimated rounds loaded on it about 150,000.

I have loaded 9, 40, 45, 38, 357, and 223 on it, and it keeps on producing.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr