Dillon 550/650 vs Hornady AP

[avvidclif]

My experience with progressive loaders goes back a few years (70's) to the Star loaders. At that time the 650XL was brand new and the Hornady AP wasn't even thought of.

I would like the opinion of those who have used both and what they have now and why. Please if you haven't used both don't answer, I have read the pro's and cons of each till my eyes crossed. I've read the Dillon forums and the Hornady forums. From what I can read the Hornady is more steel and the Dillon is aluminum. I'm prone toward the steel over aluminum. I'm aware of the Dillon warranty. I guess aluminum just scares me.

FWIW I bought one of the first things Mike Dillon sold back when he was still an airline pilot. Guess what it was?

 

[ed308]

I've used both and favor the my Dillon 650 over the Hornady LNL. I like the priming system on the Dillon better. Switching calibers is easier on the LNL. Many say the LNL has a better powder system, but I've have had problems with the one on my 650. I also own a Hornady Iron Press. Not a LNL but I break more parts on it compared to my Dillon. And it has a priming system similar to the LNL since it has a automatic priming system like a progressive press. I've just broke the primer plate for the 2nd time. So will be calling them again. All and all, I think Dillon builds a more robust press and would the 650 over the LNL.

 

[avvidclif]

I've used both and favor the my Dillon 650 over the Hornady LNL. I like the priming system on the Dillon better. Switching calibers is easier on the LNL. Many say the LNL has a better powder system, but I've have had problems with the one on my 650. I also own a Hornady Iron Press. Not a LNL but I break more parts on it compared to my Dillon. And it has a priming system similar to the LNL since it has a automatic priming system like a progressive press. I've just broke the primer plate for the 2nd time. So will be calling them again. All and all, I think Dillon builds a more robust press and would the 650 over the LNL.

I'm going to wander around a bit today and see if I can eyeball both of them. Something about your response on the powder measure doesn't make sense to me??? Same for primer feed??

 

[Rusty Gun]

This is slightly off topic as I have the 550 B and I have not used both presses. My younger brother has the LNL and came over to visit as I was finishing up some 45 acp and watched as I switched to 9mm and then we made 100 rounds for a range visit.
He said the Dillon seemed to be more robust, the design was what he called “cleaner” and he is currently looking to buy a Dillon.

 

[vmax]

My experience with progressive loaders goes back a few years (70's) to the Star loaders. At that time the 650XL was brand new and the Hornady AP wasn't even thought of.

I would like the opinion of those who have used both and what they have now and why. Please if you haven't used both don't answer, I have read the pro's and cons of each till my eyes crossed. I've read the Dillon forums and the Hornady forums. From what I can read the Hornady is more steel and the Dillon is aluminum. I'm prone toward the steel over aluminum. I'm aware of the Dillon warranty. I guess aluminum just scares me.

FWIW I bought one of the first things Mike Dillon sold back when he was still an airline pilot. Guess what it was?

I suggest you go to youtube and look at
76highboy reloading channel

He does instructional videos on reloading and he started out with Hornady and eventually moved to Dillon
He went through all of the little known issues /fixes of the Hornady presses

Just search for the videos that cover the topic you want but he has used both and talked about them and the differences in detail

 

[TheMailMan]

I owned both, had them mounted on the bench at the same time. The Hornady found a new home and I'm gladly loading on my 650.

If you want to actually load on a 650 let me know. I'm always glad to help a fellow reloader.

People go from red to blue all the time, rarely do you see someone go from blue to red.

 

[ed308]

I'm going to wander around a bit today and see if I can eyeball both of them. Something about your response on the powder measure doesn't make sense to me??? Same for primer feed??

People complain the Dillon powder drop not drop as accurately as the Hornady system. Good enough for me. I'm getting .5 MOA with Varget through my ARs. Some use the Hornady system on their Dillon presses. What breaks on my Hornady is the base of primer plate that attaches to the press. Cheap part that needs to be beefed up IMO. It may be pot metal.

My biggest complaint about my 650 was slinging powder as I cranked the handle. As the plate moves a case to the new position, the shell holder jerks into position and slings powder out of the case. You can trim the spring under the shell plate to smooth out the transition. You can replace the metal ball with a plastic ball, add a bearing kit and some other devices to help smooth it out. It's a know problem that you'll need to adjust. But all presses have they good point and bad points.

 

[vmax]

My 650 detent issue was solved by trimming the spring by half a coil

 

[Dawico]

My biggest complaint about my 650 was slinging powder as I cranked the handle. As the plate moves a case to the new position, the shell holder jerks into position and slings powder out of the case.

The LnL AP does that too.

If you start to seat the next bullet before the shell plate hits the detent you can settle it.

There are mods to keep it from happening too.

 

[avvidclif]

Well my Hornady AP will be here Fri. Also got dies and shellplates for 38, 9mm, & 45. Way I figure it Hornady will owe me 800 bullets.

 

[ed308]

Congrats on the new press.

 

[xdmikey]

Congrats OP.

I hope you have better luck than I'm having.

hornady started out being very willing to send replacement parts but not so much anymore.

 

[Brains]

I found the "red to blue" comment quite interesting. Full disclosure, I didn't ever buy the red, but after putting hands on I did buy the blue press (650). The Dillon "felt" better to me in my early research, and I preferred the ability of the Dillon to swap full toolheads to change calibers, versus swapping out the individual dies. But that's really splitting hairs, the L&L AP felt pretty darned good in its own right.

The accuracy of the Dillon powder measure is pretty darned good if you use ball or extruded powder, I don't load with flake so I can't speak to that. I get repeatability under a tenth of a grain, no complaints at all. The Hornady measure does basically the same thing with a different design (sliding bar vs. rotating cylinder), so I'm not sure how it either would be reliably different, but I've only spent significant time with my own. Both designs are filling and emptying a cavity based on volume rather than weight.

I know you'll like the Hornady press though, it's a great tool.

 

[avvidclif]

It arrived today. Al I can say is it's impressive. The machining is beautiful, it's heavy, and the assembly manual stinks. I have it all put together and the dies in it but not adjusted. All of the rotating linkage has zerk fittings. Nice. It's massive compared to the others I have owned and the RCBS Rockchuker next to it. Be tomorrow afternoon before I can finish up and see how it runs. Being familiar with the old Star Progressives the fit and finish is not up to that but the operation is smooth.

Out of the bos, assembled and for comparison.

 

[Reinz]

avvidclif, I did not see any mention of the first Dillon product that you bought way back when. Please forgive me if I overlooked it.

Four different presses come to mind that we’re not a commercial success until the last one listed.

Star press with Mike’s .223 conversion.

RL 1000 - the very first Dillon press and similar to the 1050.

RL 300

450 - the first Dillon that made a profit.

 

[avvidclif]

I bought one of the first 223 conversions for the Star from Dillon. Wore out 2 carbide sizing dies in just over 200,000 rounds (actual count I don't remember but ATF has the records). When I sold it the press was still in fine shape. It worked great for me. I lost interest in reloading after that.I always thought about buying one of his presses but never did. BTW he was still a commercial pilot back then and Dillon Mfg was in his garage.

 

[Reinz]

I bought one of the first 223 conversions for the Star from Dillon. Wore out 2 carbide sizing dies in just over 200,000 rounds (actual count I don't remember but ATF has the records). When I sold it the press was still in fine shape. It worked great for me. I lost interest in reloading after that.I always thought about buying one of his presses but never did. BTW he was still a commercial pilot back then and Dillon Mfg was in his garage.

Thanks
Great story, I love hearing good stuff about these fine old presses. I have a handful of Stars, but no 223, sure wish I did!

 

[avvidclif]

Star never made one for 223. Mike Dillon had the dies and shell plate custom made to fit on a Star, that was his conversion. I actually used 2. One was set up to resize, deprime, and I made a pin to fit the priming station which swaged out the crimp. Then they were tumbled clean in a cement mixer using chemical cleaner. After that another Star was set up to drop powder and seat/crimp the bullet. Both had case feeders and indexers. I had another that was set up for 38 Special with case feed and index. Years ago I decided I wasn't interested in reloading and sold all of it. Now the wild hair bit again and I'm getting set up again. So far I'm impressed with the Hornady LnL AP. I finally got all the stuff together and loaded a few 38's tonite. It sure is nice to be able to remove a case at any station and/or remove any or all dies and not have to re-adjust. Spill a little powder because of operator error, Ok remove one bolt and the the shell plate and clean up the mess, no big deal. Not like the Star. It's going to take a bit of getting used to but so far so good. I can see where a case and bullet feeder would make this thing walk and talk. I know on the 38 Star I could run 500/hr by myself and not work very hard.

Still looking for a Star just for S & G.

 

[sergeant69]

i bought one of his RL1000s back in the early 80s and set it up in the gunstore behind the counter and people would watch me load on it then buy the ammo i had loaded. mike and i had several talks over the phone about my complaints of how the primer pocket swager failed to get rid of the primer pocket crimp in 223 military brass. nice guy.
i have had a 1000, 650, 3 550, and a 1050. right now only have a 550. i got an AP in 2010 (?) and couldn't get it to load over 5 rds in a row b4 it jammed. numerous discussions with their cs, lots of replacement parts etc. after a coupla months i finally gave up and ordered a 650. got it set up and loaded 1000 223s that night w/out a hitch. lots of people like the AP, hope urs works out.

 

[rman]

too bad you weren't in the market a few months back. I just got rid of my LNL with a shit ton of extra parts, primer tubes, accessories, and some die sets. Have fun!

Sent from my SIG Sauer