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Need Progressive Loader Help


Crosscut Jack, SASS #67759

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I have been using a rockchucker the past 8 years and am now thinking about moving up to a progressive. I know get a Dillon 650. A little more than I can afford.

So, does anyone use the RCBS turret press or The Hornady Lock-N-Load Auto progressive and what are your preceptions of them? Do you like them, love them, or hate them?

If need be I'll just stick with my rockchuker. It does a good job and I like it.

Thanks ta ya all for the help

Crosscut Jack

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I went from a Rock Chucker to a Hornady LNL auto and have never regretted it. I had never used a Dillon, but did not want to spend the extra money. With the bushings for all dies and extra powder drops, it takes about 2 minutes to change caliber, with most of that checking the powder drop weight and setting the lockout die for a different powder charge.

 

Hamley

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I have a friend that has been reloading for years. He uses the Hornady Progressive and really likes it. He does all of his and my reloading and we are starting to shoot quite a bit.

 

Lone Rider

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+6 for the L-N-L. I've been using mine for 5 or six years to load 44-40, 38 spcl, 40 S&W, 9mm and 45-70. Works great with all of them

 

Fingers (Show Me MO smoke) McGee

 

"The trouble with quotes on the Internet is that you can never know if they are genuine." - Mark Twain

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I learned to load on a pard's Dillon, but couldn't afford one myself, so I bought a Hornady LNL progressive. Love it and have never had a problem. In case you're wondering, your RCBS dies will work just fine.

 

The press doesn't come with shell plates, so you'll need to order those for your caliber(s). The set comes with 3 quick change collets, but if you have multiple die sets, I highly recommend you get some for each set. Makes die changes a breeze. I also recommend a few extra case retainer springs, which run around and underneath the shell holder. Once in a great while one might snag and get kinked. Sometimes they work fine with the kink, but at only $11 for a pack of 3 (at Midway USA), it's cheap insurance.

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I don't own a Sturdy brand safe. I haven't ever liked or kept any of the Colt's gunz I've had over the years. And, I switched from Dillon to Hornady presses.

 

The Hornady is well built, very safe, and offers the flexibility for those little excursions into the unknown that often seem like a good idea when loading black powder.

 

If I just wanted to knock out a lot of ammo, in one pistol caliber, and never had any other uses for a progressive, I'd run a Dillon because they are faster than the Hornady.

 

But, the safety of the primer system on the Hornady when working with black powder is very important to me, and the ease of changing the process mid-stream is very valuable to me. The other thing I like about the Hornady is that it is easier to recover from a mistake than on the Blue presses.

 

So, I don't think you'd be compromising to get a Hornady over a Dillon -- unless absolute speed of production is the goal.

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Researched all of them and settled on Hornady Lock-N-Load AP. Never had a problem. I did find that my RCBS Cowboy dies worked best for expanding the case mouth on the .45 Colt (Hornady powder-thru expander die never worked for me). All other dies are Redding.

 

Good luck,

--Ranger Dave

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Since you already have your dies, you can get a Dillon 550B from BrianEnos.com for $429.95 including shipping. I know very little about the Hornady press, but it appears to me to be (feature wise) similar to the 550B.

Basically true, but couple of differences are the Hornady auto indexes and has a 5-hole head for dies. Cabelas has them on sale for $380.

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Basically true, but couple of differences are the Hornady auto indexes and has a 5-hole head for dies. Cabelas has them on sale for $380.

 

Plus $30 shell plate comes to $410. Sounds to me as if the Dillon extended care plan (lifetime warranty) is an extra $20. I do like the fact that the Lock-n-Load auto indexes.

 

I'm just trying to help the pard (who mentioned he couldn't afford a Dillon) make an informed decision. Since I don't own stock in either company, as long as he's happy, I'm happy. Forget loading, let's go shoot! :)

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Jack I've used about every brand of progressive loader, but never the LNL. Had the previous version of the Hornady which was very nice but finicky and it had a ton of adjustments. The LNL may have solved the issues I had and I have a pard who loves his, the 5 position tool head would be nice for adding seperate seating and crimping stations or a powder check. Bought a rockchuker with the 4x4 progressive conversion, it was ok, strong like all get out but "clunky" as far as I was concerned. The lee 1000 was a total waste of money and for me produced more junk ammo then good, glad you didnt inquire about it. Right now a Dillon SDB does all my main match stuff, had one before and sold it to a friend then wound up buying another, from a friend. Were I going to replace it now I'd probably buy a 550.

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I bought a LNL-AP last November and it is a great progressive press. Picked up a used Dillon 550 at a gun show last weekend that needs some parts. The Dillon only has 4 die positions so I will miss the Powder Cop and will have to get used to indexing the shell holder manually.

If I was buying another new press I would get another LNL.

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You get 500 bullets when you buy the LNL/AP press as well and 100 bullets for each set of dies. I have the .45 ACP XTP bullets coming, a $130 value which makes the press cost at $280. With the 100 bullets, the dies come to about $25 a set depending on which bullets you get.

 

Most of my friends use Dillon. I've only had my LNL for about a month but I'm happy.

 

Hornady has a lifetime warranty of their press as well.

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You should stay away from the progressive presses. You want a conservative, or at least a centrist.

 

Another "Single Stager" here as well. Maybe that's why it takes me so long to recover after a match? Smithy.

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I know very little about the Hornady press, but it appears to me to be (feature wise) similar to the 550B.

 

Howdy

 

Feature wise, at least as far as the most important features are concerned, it isn't even close. Four stations and manual indexing with the Dillon 550, five stations and auto-indexing with the Hornady L&L. You have to step up to the Dillon 650 to get the same features.

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I bought a LNL-AP last November and it is a great progressive press. Picked up a used Dillon 550 at a gun show last weekend that needs some parts. The Dillon only has 4 die positions so I will miss the Powder Cop and will have to get used to indexing the shell holder manually.

If I was buying another new press I would get another LNL.

 

You might like the RCBS Lock-Out Die. You do not have to visually check it. I've not used one, but assuming it would work on the smaller cowboy loads, I would have preferred it over my Dillon Powder Check because it would lock up the press instead of beeping.

 

Here's a video of a fellow loading on a LNL. He's got the Dillon Powder Check set up wrong though.

 

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I use the Hornady Powder Cop on my L-N-L. I don't use a powder thur expander, but I do use a seat/crimp to give me the extra hole. The Horandy Seat/Crimp die works great, no need for two seperate dies. Good Luck

Hornady Powder Cop

 

Jefro :ph34r:

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The lockout die link in Buck's post is what I use and it works great with the LNL. I like that I don't have to watch it like the powder cop. It takes a little bit to get it set up the first time, but time well spent for one less thing to worry about.

 

Hamley

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The lockout die link in Buck's post is what I use and it works great with the LNL. I like that I don't have to watch it like the powder cop. It takes a little bit to get it set up the first time, but time well spent for one less thing to worry about.

 

Hamley

 

The main complaint for the RCBS Lock-out Die is the difficultly of understanding the written instructions for setup. Here's a video that demonstrates the setup. It looks like it'd be the business. Interestingly enough to me, it's being demonstrated on a Dillon 650, so apparently it works on many presses.

 

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