Hornady Vs Dillon

[tallgrass]

I have a Dillon 550 and like it a lot. A friend of mine just recnetly purchased a Hornady LNL and the little bit I have used it is beginning to make me think I like it better than the Dillon. He says customer service the one time he needed it was great.

Just want to know if there is anyone who has used both heavily and what your opinion is.

Thanks

[standles]

I have used both. I used a hornady projector then converted to the lnl. I had major problems that the factory though trying could never correct. Mainly it was due to inconsistent operation and forever more having to adjust the shellplate and rotation mechanisms.

I bought a Dillon 500 and have never looked back. In my opinion the Dillon is a better made machine and mre reliable. The customer service was good with the hornandy but I have not needed Dillon Customer service after ~12000 rounds of vairous calibers.

My only decision now is to upgrade to the 650/1050 or not.

Standles

[bgary]

Same here. I loaded about 100k rounds on a Hornady ProJector, mostly because I was too stubborn to buy a Dillon like all my friends had while that press was still working. I figured that whenever it broke, I would replace it with a Dillon.

To its credit, it never broke, it is still cranking out rounds but for its second owner. I switched to a 550 about 5 years ago, and then upgraded to a 650 about 3 years ago, and would never look back. The 650 does everything the Hornady did (quick-change, progressive, etc), but it is easier to use, takes less tuning, and is just rock-solid dependable.

My only regret is, I wish I'd switched sooner.

Bruce

[raz-0]

I have a hornady LnL AP . It has been pretty painless except for 9mm. Which was a huge PITA. It's a good press, but not necessarily engineered with the shooter who seats and crimps in separate steps in mind. I use cheap lee dies with it, and have taken to just grinding a bevel onto the dies so the ejector works without a big headache of fine tuning.

Now that they have a powder measure that bells and you don't have to do a final crimp in the last stage, you can leave the last stage empty and it'll be pretty painless.

I have to clean the primer and subplate after about 5000 rounds. That's pretty much it.

9mm subplate needing a polish was about the only hornady specific issue I've had. Had some problems with the lee 9mm dies to boot, but can't blame the press for that.

Only other major issue I had affected Dillons as well. Apparantly a lot of slightly out of spec winchester small pistol primers made the rounds, and we all suffered with LIIIIIITTLE slivers of primer brass fouling the priming system on our presses.

[1911user]

short version: if the 550 meets your needs, keep using it. If it does not, the hornady may be a good option if the 650 is too expensive to purchase now.

details:

I recently sold my 550 dillon setup to purchase a hornady progressive press. I used the 550 for 6-7 years loading pistol ammo. There really wasn't anything wrong except it only has 4 die stations and that didn't become a "problem" until I started loading rifle ammo and wanted a 5th die station for a powder check die. I was unable to verify powder inside the case and still sit in a comfortable position for loading. I had become comfortable seeing powder in every pistol case before placing a bullet. Seeing the measure operate for rifle loading just wasn't enough for confidence even with no squib loads using the dillon measure. I use the rcbs check die now and like the way it works.

I thought about a 650 but it is an expensive upgrade for just a 5th die station especially when a case feeder seemed like a foreign concept. I would also need 5-6 conversion kits which are $65-70 each for the 650.

I bought the hornady setup to keep the 550-like conversion and press costs and gain a 5th die station. Mine has worked fine for the 500 rounds or so through it and I plan to keep it. A 650 is a nice machine also.

A case feeder may affect your decision also. The 650 case feeder costs $190 and comes with 1 feed plate. Additional feed plates are $36 each. $20 or so of each 650 conversion kit is for caliber specific case feeder parts.

The hornady case feeder lists for $310 and sells for $250-$260. It comes with no case feed plates and the plates cost $25 each. However, it does come with all of the adapters needed for every caliber. You can run the numbers to see what setup makes the most sense. If cost is not a major consideration, go 650 and don't look back.

If you do decide to get the hornady setup, I'd wait a few weeks to make sure it has the newest powder system which will allow case belling and powder drop in the same station like Dillon does now.

Ask if you have other questions.

[tallgrass]

Appreciate the input. I am planning on keeping my 550 for reloading pistol ammo, but would like the 5th station for the powder check station when reloading for my rifles.

[Adam B]

I had a hornady and it was a nightmare, I used it for 2 days trying to load 9mm and 38 super with quite a few problems. I sent it back and bought a 550 and havent had a problem since.

[Front Man]

Buy Hornady bullets and load them in a Dillon press.

Problem solved.

FM

[wsimpso1]

Honady has five stations, works nice, costs a bunch less than the Dillon 650 and makes great shooting ammo.

The press works great for rifle as it comes. When I was playing High Power, I loaded everything on it, including my 600 yard ammo. Loading VV N135 and Alliant RL15, the measure threw within 0.1 grains. I used Bonanza/Forster dies with the micrometer adjustment.

For pistol, the Hornady powder measure would occaisionally throw a light charge. I never could figure out how to make it behave properly with those little charges, so I fixed that by fitting a Dillon measure with a Uniquetek micrometer adjustment for pistol loads. Works great.

Billski

[raz-0]

For pistol, the Hornady powder measure would occaisionally throw a light charge. I never could figure out how to make it behave properly with those little charges, so I fixed that by fitting a Dillon measure with a Uniquetek micrometer adjustment for pistol loads. Works great.

Billski

Hunh, the press comes with the rifle insert. It's useless for light pistol charges. Teh pistol micrometer insert i have throws VERY consistent charges though. At least with tightgroup, which seems to meter well in it.

[1911user]

I'll second the consistency of the hornady powder measure and previous experience was part of the hornady LNL AP attraction. I was using one for single-stage rifle and pistol loading over a decade ago. It threw very consistent powder charges even with flake pistol powders. It came with micrometer adjustment for both rifle and pistol inserts. I also purchased those type powder inserts for the new press setup; they are an accessory now, not standard anymore.

The powder measure does not have a baffle but an RCBS uni-flow baffle fits with a little tweaking.

Edited June 29, 2006 by 1911user

[Rafsob]

I have a hornaday and have nothing but problems trying to keep it timed and calibrated. The metal to plastic parts to the primer mechanism is a nightmare. The assembly fo the primer seater is a dismal mistake. I have had to send for reaplacement parts on a continuous basis and am not a happy camper.

I use a Redding Turet press for most of my reloads and only use the Hornaday for my .45 Colt loads for Cowboy Action Shooting rounds. I will consider a new progressive press in the future and may get the Dillon.

If you are thinking of getting a new press, forget the Hornaday if you don't want any problems!!!

[1911user]

I have a hornaday and have nothing but problems trying to keep it timed and calibrated. The metal to plastic parts to the primer mechanism is a nightmare. The assembly fo the primer seater is a dismal mistake. I have had to send for reaplacement parts on a continuous basis and am not a happy camper.

I use a Redding Turet press for most of my reloads and only use the Hornaday for my .45 Colt loads for Cowboy Action Shooting rounds. I will consider a new progressive press in the future and may get the Dillon.

If you are thinking of getting a new press, forget the Hornaday if you don't want any problems!!!

It sounds like you have an older priming system. The newer one is very similar to a dillon 550 priming setup and works well in my experience. The only plastic parts I can think of on the newer press are the handle ball, a piece that holds the upper part of the primer mag tube in place, and a roller on the primer slide.

[Malak]

I have not loaded a zillion rounds on any one press, but have loaded on quite a few. If money is not much of an issue here is the order

Dillon 1050

Dillon 650 w/case feeder

Hornaday LNL w/case feeder

Dillon 550

SDB

I own a LNL and have loaded quite a few rounds of 308 through the Hornaday with no problems, they shoot REALLY well. I bought the press mainly for rifle, the rock chucker was just painfully slow. I had very little issues tuning it.

But if you have the change laying around, get the 650 w/ a case feeder. And if you only shot one caliber get the 1050, that this unbelievable.

Bottom line, its hard to go wrong with blue, but the LNL is a great unit for the money.

[tomfturner]

The biggest problem with the LNL is the timing mechanism. I don't have the Dillon (yet), but the casefeeder inserts and the timing issues are built "like a truck" on them. They are "no fail" parts that would cause a "catastrophic" failure if they break. On the LNL you have to watch for wear on the teeth, because the plate moves half it's movement on the up stroke and half on the down stroke. To me this is a poor design, because you have 2 points of failure on each stroke. Since it has a "caming" system agaist a star-gear on the bottom of the ram, it also creates the potential for breakage that isn't immediately noticed and "is fixed by brute force" tearing up your machine.

The Dillons (1050, 650,550) all are better designed for this aspect of usage. Most of the parts that CAN cause stopages or problems are positioned to the top of the ram. There are a number of peices that move on top of the ram under the shell plate, but they are all right in front of you. As such they are MUCH beefier machines.