Looking for a press for 223 and 45 ACP. Want to make moderate quality ammo fast on an affordable press...what is my best option?

Doesn't have to be the "fastest" press, but needs to be a lot faster than my rock chucker.

Depends on what is affordable to you. The Dillon 550B is a great progressive press and could be had for around $500 used before this latest craziness. Still a bargain here or there if you look hard enough.

Add a lot more than $500 for caliber conversions and other non-standard items to make it work like it should.

$500 plus dies is getting up there. Definitely willing to buy used, but budget isn't that high

I've never used any of the low cost progressive Lee presses, so I can't comment on their quality (but they seem to get mostly good reviews)... I think those are about as cheap as you are going to get for a progressive press. And you can get one already setup for 45ACP and one setup for 223... both for under $500 (running on sale right for about $234 each).

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1022386158?pid=772721

Personally, I'm a fan of my Hornady AP Press, but those are running almost $600 these days... few years ago you could pick one up for almost half that cost.

I was going to ask about Hornady. I use nearly everything else Hornady except my chargemaster lite and rock chucker. Dies & tools are all hornady.

I'll check out the Lee. Never used anything Lee but I'm aware it's less expensive than most. I might just hold off on buying something to see if prices on the Hornady or Dillon come back down, but thanks for sending options on the Lee. Didn't know what they had.

If you buy Lee, I suggest buying from Titan Reloading Products. There is a forum dedicated to Lee machines owned by a member here at THF. PM for details. My presses are all Lee but I do not have a progressive...I have an O-frame, a four-hole turret, and the APP processing unit.

I'd go with the Hornady over a Dillon if cost is a concern.

Hornady presses are excellent for cost savings since you don't have to worry about toolheads, can easily swap powder throws from pistol to rifle loads, and the shellplates are affordable. I reloaded more than 30k rounds on my LnL AP before I finally upgraded to an XL750 this year. The Dillon is a better machine, make no mistake, but everything about it is more expensive.

I have a bunch of presses from a varied lot of manufacturers, from Progressives to singles. My most versatile press I own to date is a Lee classic cast turret press.
It has a total of 4 stations for dies and it can be used like a progressive or advanced manually. I use a bench prime but a priming attachment is available.
I still use it for the majority of my loading and I regularly make rifle ammo on it shat shoots sub MOA to 500 yds (farthest I can shoot right now).
the turrets are easily removable and you can change calibers in about 20 seconds if you get a separate turret for each caliber.
It is not as fast as a full on progressive, it is a single stage ram with a turret (if that makes sense).
I load for about 30 calibers and almost all are on pre set turrets that are ready to go.
It is very versatile and priced very affordable. Lee's equipment may not be the best, but it works.

Hornady makes a good one, and is the only progressive press I have reloaded on. So limited experience

Ditto

Dillon.

Dillon

550 Dillion with 2 heads have a Dillion person set them both up and you are off and running. Ron

I use a Lock n Load AP for rifle and handgun calibers. Works great for me. Bought used a number of years ago.

From what I have read, if you do not buy a Dillon, you will be fighting other brands occasionally. Or they will completely break down, and you're sourcing parts.

"Affordable" and Progressive Press, don't really go into the same sentence. About like affordable race car. They just aren't. Not the ones that work anyway.

I have a Dillon RL550 that I bought new in 1994 and it has been worn out twice, factory rebuilt twice, and the only thing it cost me was shipping to Scottsdale twice.

Get the Dillon.

Well if the hornady is $500 anyway, I might as well get the dillon I think.

We had a gun club at work for a long time that would loan out equipment including a dillon 550, so I have some experience with it and the experience was good. That thing could load good quality ammo fast. So perhaps I'll just be patient and hope to find a deal on one at some point.

Good stuff ain't cheap and cheap stuff ain't good.

Fast, cheap, quality, you can only have 2, you pick.

I'd be ok with it not being as fast as a Dillon or if the ammo was a bit lower quality than a dillon that would be ok too. But I want the press to be reliable and meaningfully faster than my rock chucker.

I understand. I went the super cheap route for pistol. I got the Lee classic turret. It automatically rotates the turret to the next station on the down-stroke. Empty case goes in, size/decap, re-prime on the down stroke (requires safety prime). Flare and charge (requires auto-drum). Seat. Crimp, repeat. Way faster than my rock chucker, way slower than a true progressive. I have $300 in the set up, maybe a little less. I loaded about 300 rounds yesterday for the first time. I got what I paid for and as much pistol as I shoot, it'll be fine. I would load bulk 223 on it but all my other rifle stuff will remain one at a time on the single stage.

Those are good options as well for a lot less money than a progressive.

And already mentioned.

I looked at it. 3.8 stars on midwayusa and about half the price of a used Dillon. Just doesn't make much sense to me at that point.