Dillon Or Dillon?

[cgknoxmd]

I will be purchasing reloading equipment soon. A reader in Field & Stream recommended the Lee Pro 1000 at "half the price of the cheapest Dillon" and implied that he thought the Dillon was overrated. The guys at the gun club (and here at the forum, as well), seem to not even think there is anything else worth considering. I've got two good friends with Dillons, one which really doesn't say that much about it, and the other, who insists that it is the "Cadillac" of presses and I would be disappointed with anything else.

Truthfully, I've never been impressed by Cadillacs. I like Dillon as a person, and from reading the Blue Press, it's almost enough to make me buy it. But I cannot tell just by looking or reading from Dillon's advertising exactly what it is that makes the Dillon products worth two to four times the money. Can someone please explain this to me?

[blkbrd]

The 550 & 650 have LIFETIME warrentys. They are the standard in the industry, most readers of Field & Stream are guys that will not shoot anywhere near the volume as most competitive IPSC or IDPA shooters. The average reader of Front Sight the USPSA magazine will use a Dillon and shoot alot.

It is a case of you can buy a Dillon now or wish you would have. Yes they are expensive but they last forever and they allow you to load Lots of ammo and practice which will make you a better shooter.

[zhunter]

I have heard rumors , are there really presses other than Dillon?

Me thinks NOT!!

Get a 650 and NEVER look back

[HSMITH]

The biggest difference is in the primer feed and the powder measures. The Dillon primer feed is very solid and reliable. Lee primer feeds are pretty poor. The Dillon will run for thousands of primers once adjusted. the Lee primer feed needs constant tweaking to stay running.

The Dillon powder measure is rock solid, consistent and works well with just about any powder you can find. The Lee powder measure is a POS, and only runs with very fine or spherical powders. The Lee disc measure won't throw the exact charge you are looking for, 3 or 4 tenths of a grain is the spread between discs with most powders. The Dillon measure will adjust to exactly the charge you want.

As far as the basic press itself goes Dillon wins again. Castings are big and beefy, Lee is just big enough.

Having used both the Pro1000 and the 550B I can tell you that the Dillon is by far easier to use, maintain, adjust and keep running. The Lee works, but that is about it.

The Lee Loadmaster is a much better press than the Pro1000, but it still suffers from a rinky dink primer feed and the same POS powder measure. If Lee would put a good primer feed and adapt a good powder measure to the Loadmaster they would have serious competition for Dillon, but until they do the Lee presses just don't compete.

[XD Niner]

I bought a Hornady Lock-N-Load progressive press about ten weeks ago. After continuing to futz with it for two months, I couldn't get it to run reliably. A 20% dud rate is unacceptable to me. Mostly it was the primer feed system. Even after replacing most of the parts (at Hornady's expense) it still would not feed primers consistently. The good news is that I sold it on eBay for about $40 less than I paid for it.

I ordered a Dillon XL650 with all the goodies from Brian about a week and a half ago. It should arrive on my doorstep later this week. Buy a Dillon. The frustration with at least the Hornady way outweighs the minor difference in price.

[mscott]

I've been more than happy with my Hornady LNL, but it seems to be luck of the draw. I guess I got lucky since I've had no problems at all. I bought it due to price with a case feeder, but since the LNL prices have gone up a lot I would go with Dillon. I had a LEE a couple years ago and it's great if you only shoot a little bit, but for serious ammo it won't last.

[SmittyFL]

I've never used anything but a 650 so I can't comment on the quality of other brands. But I would offer two thoughts:

Dillon supports the sport

Dillon's customer service is second to none. It is the standard by which all other companies should be compared. Not just gun companies, but all companies. In an age where customer service is a foreign concept to most, Dillon excels.

[MoBigAl]

+1 to Smitty!!

I have had 550B for many years and could not be happier with it's continuing outstanding performance. It just keeps cranking out ammo year after year. I load at least 10 different calibers and have no problems with either accuracy or reliability.

Edited September 5, 2006 by MoBigAl

[BSeevers]

Dillon

or spend time justifying a Lee to yourself or friends. These are lifetime purchases if you want them to be.

You can argue 9mm vs .45 all day but Dillon is it.

Buy it from Brian. I believe its the same price as Dillon direct but free shipping so its net cost cheaper

PS Don't think we have stock in Dillon, Hell one guy pisses me off every time I get him on the 1-800 but I think my Dillon is the best. 500K, maybe twice that, loaded

Ok its not a Caddy its a Mercedes/Rolls/Bentley.

Edited September 5, 2006 by BSeevers

[Jim Norman]

I have a Dillon 650 and two 1050s. The 1050s are set up to load a lot of one particular caliber each, the 650 is my "Gee I think I'd like to shoot XXX this week a bit press" It is quick to change between calibers, it is quick to adjust and also to change between primer sizes. If I was reduced to owning only one press it would be my 650 HANDS DOWN!

Think of your Dillon as investment, not as an expense. You can load easily over 500 rounds an hour at an easy pace, more if you push it. Essentially, one hour loading equals a match plus some practice. Not too bad.

Jim

[Rob Boudrie]

The 550 & 650 have LIFETIME warrentys. They are the standard in the industry, most readers of Field & Stream are guys that will not shoot anywhere near the volume as most competitive IPSC or IDPA shooters. The average reader of Front Sight the USPSA magazine will use a Dillon and shoot alot.

It is a case of you can buy a Dillon now or wish you would have. Yes they are expensive but they last forever and they allow you to load Lots of ammo and practice which will make you a better shooter.

Lee has a lifetime "rebuild for 50% the current retail cost" - which is interesting when you consider that the street price of a Lee (mail order) is generally about 40% off retail. More likley that not, the 50% represents a greater amount than a new press leaves the factory for when entering the retail distribution system.

[Ken Mays]

Calling the Dillon a Cadillac isn't really accurate. It's more like an Accord or Camry: solid, reliable, efficient, and comfortable.

Lee makes some decent gear, especially for the money -- their Anniversary Kit is a good value, as are some of their other tools... but their progressives are kludgy, cheap, and not very robust. They use a lot of plastic, and I've heard from some Lee owners that they go through a lot of broken parts.

Dillon built a better mousetrap, and they are constantly refining their product. I've had a 550 for about six or seven years, and there have been several upgrades applied to the new 550s since then... not that I've ever needed any.

I agree with the poster who said that the average Field and Stream reader isn't going to load more than a few thousand rounds a year. For the total amount of frustration that a Lee is likely to give you over a year's time, you'd find the cost difference between Lee and Dillon very easily justified.

I have some gripes about Dillon, mainly that everything else is too expensive for what you get, but their presses are definitely worth the money and I'll never regret buying mine.

[bgary]

average Field and Stream reader isn't going to load more than a few thousand rounds a year

ObNote: the average Field an Stream reader probably doesn't *shoot* more than a *hundred* rounds a year.

$.02

B

[Loves2Shoot]

How much is your time worth? That makes it easy for me to go with the Dillon.

[shred]

If you only want to load hundreds of rounds a year, if hardly matters what press you use-- when you get into the thousands and tens of thousands a year that the spectrum goes almost entirely blue. Hundreds of thousands a year and you get into full-auto crew-served ammo loaders...

[Flexmoney]

I'd guess that greater than 90% of those that shoot thousands of rounds a year load on a Dillon. And, of that group, those in the know, order it from our host.

http://www.brianenos.com/store/home.html

[EricW]

Dillon is a lot like American Democracy: it's not perfect, but it's the best game in town by a LARGE margin. What's ironic in a way is that given all the firms that have had the opportunity to copy Dillon's design - directly if they so chose, no one has yet to improve upon it.

And I don't know what your true budget is, but consider your time when you are evaluating your purchase. If you really get into the sport, you're going to be shooting many thousands of rounds a year. Even shooting one match a month is a 2000+ round a year proposition. Two to three matches a month plus practice and you'll bounce up to the 8K mark without trying too hard. Consider the time that you'll spend *not* fixing a broken press. Also consider purchasing as many labor-saving devices as your budget will allow. The time spent doing case prep, loading components and loading primers tubes can easily equal the amount of time you spend pulling the handle. The big case cleaner and separator and auto primer filler can pay huge time dividends even if you're only loading on a 550.

And buying from Brian is an excellent choice. He will steer you in the right direction for your needs.

[JFD]

The Pro1000 and Loadmaster are actually pretty expensive when considering you may be futzing around with the stupid things more than you're actually loading ammo.

Lee loses all value once you move beyond the auto-index turret press. The turret press gets old quick when you need to load more than 200 rounds in an evening. The rotation of the turret settles the powder, and unlike the "progressive" presses, the measure works very well on the turret press. I always primed by hand after batch resizing, so it still took a while to load 200 rounds.

My 650 is pretty new, but I've loaded several thousand .45s and at least 12K .40s with nary a mishap. The biggest problem I've had is maybe 7 spent primers ending up on the floor instead of the primer catcher. Operator induced errors have been limited to overloading the case feeder until I acquired the proper coffee can (an overloaded case feeder tends to cause cases to drop upside down).

[ima45dv8]

As I've said before, lots of people shoot guns -- IPSC shooters wear 'em out.

I didn't consider it before, but the same goes for presses.

When an IPSC shooter offers me an opinion on a piece of equipment, I listen harder than I do when it's offered by magazine writers/gunstore commandos/television hosts (Mr. Bane possibly excepted )/police who don't shoot this sport/military who don't shoot this sport/etc. You came to the right place to ask the question, Chris. It looks like the answer is Blue.

Edited September 5, 2006 by ima45dv8

[Peter K]

Buy a Dillon! Which one depends on the quantity of ammo you want to make.

I have had a Lee Loadmaster and it was a pain to operate this press and keep it runnin´!

Now I have 2 Dillon 550 and I´m very happy with 'em!!!!!! One is set up for small primers and the other one for large primers. I`ll never give them away!

If I would load very large quanities of one or the calibers I´d take a 650 or even a 1050!

Buy your Dillon from Brian!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cgknoxmd]

SOLD!

BTW, dV8, I have found myself only trusting the seasoned LE/Military guys for good info, and asking, "Does anybody shoot competition here?" when I need info from someone in the gun shop. What a coincidence.

[ima45dv8]

SOLD!

BTW, dV8, I have found myself only trusting the seasoned LE/Military guys for good info, and asking, "Does anybody shoot competition here?" when I need info from someone in the gun shop. What a coincidence.

Chris, please don't think I intended to demean all LE/Military folks, especially those who happen to be competent, knowledgeable shooters. I know quite a few who fit that mold but they seem to be a small percentage of the total number of LE/Mil I've met. A much larger segment is comprised of those who haven't yet realized that experience carrying firearms is not the same as competence with firearms.

So which Dillon press did you decide to get?

[Chills1994]

By the looks of it, this guy likes to load on Dillon presses. It also looks like he's got the money to have gone to Africa quite a few times to hunt antelope and cape buffalo. So in the past he might have blown his money on something inferior for progressive reloading, but he quickly found out which press his money was better spent on.

http://forums.sixgunner.com/One_example_of.../m_27446/tm.htm

He probably does have a Rolls or a Bentley, and doesn't think too much about Cadillacs either.

[thefish]

I will be purchasing reloading equipment soon. A reader in Field & Stream recommended the Lee Pro 1000 at "half the price of the cheapest Dillon" and implied that he thought the Dillon was overrated. The guys at the gun club (and here at the forum, as well), seem to not even think there is anything else worth considering. I've got two good friends with Dillons, one which really doesn't say that much about it, and the other, who insists that it is the "Cadillac" of presses and I would be disappointed with anything else.

Truthfully, I've never been impressed by Cadillacs. I like Dillon as a person, and from reading the Blue Press, it's almost enough to make me buy it. But I cannot tell just by looking or reading from Dillon's advertising exactly what it is that makes the Dillon products worth two to four times the money. Can someone please explain this to me?

I had never reloaded any type of ammo and was advised by several people to buy a 650. Thus, when I started, I had a very steep curve to ascend. I had to learn about reloading in general and at the same time learn all the in's/out's of the 650 which as I'm sure you know by now, can be extremely temperamental. It literally took me months and dozens of calls to Dillon to finally get it right (there were some malfxng parts on machine). I came very close to tossing it in the local river. But...once I finally got it to go, I must say that it is completely awesome and essentially trouble free. I am especially impressed by the uniformity of the powder delivery and when using Redding die, the consistency of OAL, etc. So, I'd say a very probable PITA for a novice, but right now, I'd would never trade mine.

[raz-0]

I have a hornady LNL-AP. I actually think the primer feed system is one of it's strong points. when setting up give it a quick light polish on the bit that moves back and forth, and a small dowel with a few pieces of brass jammed on the end inserted into a loaded primer tube, and it feeds fine.

If having to do the dowel thing is a sign of a flawed system, than talk to the dillon owner i stole the idea from for pretty much the exact same reason.

There's nothing out there to match a 1050, but the LNL-AP gives the 550 and 650 a run for the money depending on how you configure it. Customer support has been good as well.

With the new models with powder and belling in the same stage, it's really a 650 competitor.

however, when I bought it, it was a good $180 less than a dillon 650 when all configured. Now with a case feeder, dies, shellplate, etc... it is about the same price as a 650, and dillon has somewhat better customer service and a lot more customers willing to help you out.