Single stage -VS- Progressive

[GrumpyOne]

I talked with a few people at the range last night about reloading and one guy is looking to upgrade to a 650, so looks like I'll be buying his used 550! He's gathering a list of all the goodies and determining a price for me. I'm pretty excited.

Have no fear of buying them used. If (and that's a big IF!) they wear out, Dillon will make it good. The 550 is an excellent first loader, does rifle, and is pretty upgradeable.

Yeah, I'm not worried at all. This guy takes care of his stuff and he says that the 550 is still in excellent condition.

If I start with the 550, I'm really not going to miss all the bells and whistles of the LnL or 650, cause I've never used them! I'm sure I'll upgrade one day, but this one will last me quite a while.

You could drop it out the back of a truck going 80 mph, and it would still be in excellent condition, as all you would have to do is box up the pieces, send it to Dillon, and they would fix it. There is a thread about that happening on the forum somewhere. There is also a thread about someone getting a 550 that was completely rusted shut, not able to move any part of it, they sent it to Dillon and they fixed/replaced the press.

[BradGannaway]

I'll chime in on this one........

I say get the 550 AND a Lee Classic Turret Press.

In fact, I say get the Lee package first, spend about a month learning to reload on the Lee, then buy the 550.

I remember when I started reloading, my brother had a 550. He tried to show me how it worked, how to change calibers, and how to trouble shoot........I retained about 5% of what he told me. I almost didn't want to reload at all.

So I bought the Lee classic Turret package for just under $200. Read the Lee manual from cover to cover, read the "ABCs of Reloading", then got at it. For almost a year, I was happy with the Lee press. Then, I started shooting MUCH more and bought the 550.

I still use the Lee press to do my .308 and .380s since I don't load them as much, plus I use it to work up loads on other calibers since I can make it single stage only. After the load is worked up, I set it up on the 550 and run with it.

I sold most of the ancillary stuff I got with the Lee press for just about what I paid for it all.

So, that's why I recommend both........however.....YMMV

BSG

[rishii]

I talked with a few people at the range last night about reloading and one guy is looking to upgrade to a 650, so looks like I'll be buying his used 550! He's gathering a list of all the goodies and determining a price for me. I'm pretty excited.

Have no fear of buying them used. If (and that's a big IF!) they wear out, Dillon will make it good. The 550 is an excellent first loader, does rifle, and is pretty upgradeable.

Yeah, I'm not worried at all. This guy takes care of his stuff and he says that the 550 is still in excellent condition.

If I start with the 550, I'm really not going to miss all the bells and whistles of the LnL or 650, cause I've never used them! I'm sure I'll upgrade one day, but this one will last me quite a while.

You could drop it out the back of a truck going 80 mph, and it would still be in excellent condition, as all you would have to do is box up the pieces, send it to Dillon, and they would fix it. There is a thread about that happening on the forum somewhere. There is also a thread about someone getting a 550 that was completely rusted shut, not able to move any part of it, they sent it to Dillon and they fixed/replaced the press.

plus after a few years, if you decide to sell it, you would all of you money back, dillon's hold their value.

[cuzinvinny]

I recommend that you strongly consider the Hornady Lock-N-Load. It can be operated as a single stage press in that you can perform one step in the reloading process at a time. You can't stop the auto-indexing function, but that is not a problem, when the remaining die stations are empty, nothing happens. I loaded on a single stage RCBS press for 25 years. Fortunately by the time I started competing in IDPA, USPSA, and static steel, my son was smart enough to purchase the Hornady LNL. I wasn't very comfortable running the entire reloading process all at the same time, and am still not comfortable with that process. Instead I remove the spent primer and resize the case in the first die station, insert a new primer in the second station, and bell the case mouth in the third station. These functions are all done as a single step. I then add powder and seat the bullet as a separate operation. Using this two step process gives me the opportunity to specifically concentrate on the Powder Cop die, insuring that no bullets are seated on a case with no powder. In fact the Powder Cop is accurate enough to let you know if the powder charge is more or less than the desired charge.

I only specify the Hornady press since that is my only "progressive" reloading experience. If the Dillon 650 allows you to run only a portion of the reloading process, then by all means, also consider the 650. Just stick with a press that has the auto indexing capability and the flexibility to add or remove dies from the process.

[Aaron M]

Go with a Dillon if you want to do some serious reloading. Look at what most people recommend they are not wrong. It is always a good idea to have a single stage press around also for brass prep or loading a couple rounds up, but if you are getting serious about shooting high volume you need a press that can keep up with your habit.

Edited July 25, 2010 by Aaron M

[slemmo]

I started with a Lee Classic Turret and it drove me nuts, spending a half hour to load 50 rounds, and needing 150 for a practice session basically meant I never bothered to practice (I hate reloading btw) so after loading about 500 rounds on the classic turret I bought a 650 and it was like paradise in comparison. I'd say that if you read the manual in detail, by a couple books on reloading and take extra care in the beginning (experimenting with dummy rounds etc.) I don't think there's any problem with a beginner getting a 650.

[BradGannaway]

I started with a Lee Classic Turret and it drove me nuts, spending a half hour to load 50 rounds, and needing 150 for a practice session basically meant I never bothered to practice (I hate reloading btw) so after loading about 500 rounds on the classic turret I bought a 650 and it was like paradise in comparison. I'd say that if you read the manual in detail, by a couple books on reloading and take extra care in the beginning (experimenting with dummy rounds etc.) I don't think there's any problem with a beginner getting a 650.

I am about to buy a 650, and I know a beginner who just bought a 650 and it is KICKING HIS ARSE!!

I have to disagree with you on this one. Plus, I can still load about 125 rounds an hour with my Lee Turret. Granted, that's no where close to the 500 an hour I do on my 550, but again, I jumped right into that 550 after I loaded for a while on my LCT.

I guess it just depends on the person. Just my .02

[furyalecto]

When everything is running perfectly I can get just over 200 good safe rounds an hour on the Lee Classic Turret. I usually get between 160 & 190.

I loaded about 12,000 good rounds last year. Mostly 40, 9, & 38SC.

I just replaced the plastic bearing & primer spring/wire.

I just ordered a 550.

The Lee was great to learn on. Additional calibers were very inexpensive.

I am keeping it.

[John Z Sr]

Been doing this for almost 25 years, owned and used all Dillon models and have nothing bad to say about any of them, the 550 is the best value and most versitile in my opinion, I also still have and use 7 "Lee" single stage, the cheap $20.00 ones and each has a function. Never go wrong with a Dillon, just decide how many rounds you need at a time.

[raz-0]

I went with a lee turret and then later upgraded to a hornady LNL AP. I didn't have much budget or space, and going with the lee turret saved me some cash which I spent on things like calipers, reloading manuals, a vibratory tumbler, etc. Later I upgraded to  my progressive press, and the lee turret gets used for bullet pulling, push through sizing, and batch loading rifle ammo.

Through all of the above, I was loading .45 ACP. With the turret I was able to get about 100 rounds per hour, with the LNL, about 340.  My lee is still a very useful piece of gear, and without the auto indexing, just about right for letting me figure out all the details of reloading.

[reichebrown]

I started on an SDB loading 9mm. A friend at the club brought his sdb to Idpa practice when I mentioned I was interested in reloading. At the time I had no interest in rifle and I was hooked on the sdb. I added a second tool head for 45acp and ran batches of 1000 I between caliber changes. I added a single stage for .223 on a rock chucker. I loaded 1k in my first single stage experience and it was a practice in mental toughness. I have recently acquired a 550 for free (score!!!) and will more than likely be setting it up with a two die set up for .223. Head 1 deprive size trim head two prime charge seat crimp. Looking back the 550 could have been the best all around choice but I love my sdb. I will not be selling any of my presses though.

[kylehb]

I learned on a single stage press, although it was tedious I am glad it happened that way mainly for one reason, its easy for me to overlook something now and then and not be as thorough in checking to ensure everything happened right. The single stage press really only gives you one option - to reload each round one by one manually - and that makes it next to impossible to lose focus on what you're doing. Although I have yet to have any issues with reloaded ammo on either press, I still prefer to use the single stage for match ammo it just makes me more comfortable.

[Trimmy]

I started on a Turret press. It was cheap, and easy to use. I am really happy I started out on the turret press. For me reloading was a huge learning experience. I do not think I would have been as comfortable learning on a progressive as I checked everything at every stage for the first 500 rounds. I recently bought a Lee Loadmaster because it was $120 and I have been shooting a lot more then is practical to load on the turret press. I have spent a few hours tinkering and building things for it which I enjoy doing but it is only a temporary press until I can afford a Dillion 650. I have the loadmaster to point where I can run hundreds of rounds through it with no issue. If you have the money for the dillion go for it if not try the turret.

[BeerBaron]

guys, 4 year old thread. I'm pretty sure OP has bought a press by now!

[Trimmy]

Well just in case he hasn't haha