Have you guys read this comparison of Hornady LnL AP to Dillon?

[KeithB]

This guy seems a little biased toward the LnL, and right up front he seems to have a gripe with Dillon. what do you all think?

http://www.comrace.ca/cmfiles/dillonLeeHornadyComparison.pdf

[yoshidaex]

everyones got their own opinion. You can't satisfy everyone.

[glockrocker]

This is Dillon country. On a quiet night you can hear a Hornady rust.

[mlmiller1]

Well written piece with excellent comparisons. Anytime a person draws a conclusion about something that isn't an absolutely quantifiable subject, it is merely an opinion, not fact. If it takes him 15 minutes to do something & it takes someone else 5 minutes, he may say it is a slow process whereas the other person may say it isn't. He didn't spend enough time measuring runouts & so forth on ammo until his little footnotes at the end. I've had a Lee Loadmaster but would never have another one. He liked his & it worked well for him. Opinions.

When Hornady outsells Dillon & if I start having trouble with the dillons, I may consider getting one but in the meantime, I'll just keep my 650s. That is my way shorter opinion. :-)

MLM

[ChuckS]

I just feel sorry for the guy! They have such long winters in Canada!

Edited January 6, 2008 by ChuckS

[DarkSmileyX]

A pretty good comparison really, it pretty much backs up most things I've read/heard about all three presses. After reading that there is no way I'd buy the Lee and I'm still glad I bought the XL650. I thought about getting a LNL AP last year while the 1000 free bullet promotion was in effect but the press choking in ejecting small caliber rounds (9mm!) is a really big deal to me.

[Kingman]

Opinions are like _-_-_, everyone has one. Well written piece though.

[shred]

I'm not sure why he likes the idea of changing powder bars in the Dillon powder measure (tried it, much nicer to get another measure), but it seems like the summary at the end is "Dillon is nicest, but most expensive, Hornady less so, Lee cheapest". Ok, no big shock there.

The support is what's really going to tell. Most people I know buy Dillon because a) everybody else has one, so you can get assistance/parts/etc easily, they have a great rep for quick, zero hassle support and c) they work well.

The Hornady is about as good or better on C, for what this guy does, but the A and B parts??

[Larry White]

He did a good job, He came to a diffrent conclusion than I did, thats why all three companies are still in business.----------Larry

Edited January 6, 2008 by Larry White

[Steve Moneypenny]

dillon is king... he's entitled to his opinion... but just look at nationals statistics. and sales numbers.

[ChrisStock]

He brought up what I believe are valid points, IMO. I enjoyed the comparison, and leave this thread a bit wiser. Thanks for sharing!

[Canuck-IL]

The support is what's really going to tell. Most people I know buy Dillon because a) everybody else has one, so you can get assistance/parts/etc easily, they have a great rep for quick, zero hassle support and c) they work well.

The Hornady is about as good or better on C, for what this guy does, but the A and B parts??

'B' is not a problem in my experience ... free parts mailed the same day after minor breakage, at least one arguably my own fault.

/Bryan

[XD Niner]

I started out reloading with a Hornady LNL AP. It looks pretty good on paper compared to the Dillon XL650 and does have some real advantages as the author pointed out. However, after 3 or 4 months of frustration, I called Brian and bought my 650. For me at least, there is no real comparison. The Dillon is just light years more reliable and consistent than anything I could get out of the Hornady. YMMV.

[bgary]

I'm just having a really hard time grasping that someone has loaded a million rounds on a Loadmaster.

[gm iprod]

I'm just having a really hard time grasping that someone has loaded a million rounds on a Loadmaster.

I have a hard time grasping that there has ever been a Million rounds laoded on all the Loadmasters, EVER

I once had a guy want to trade one in on a Dillon, I said he could have 500 bullets if he took the piece of Red "stuff" out of the shop and paid cash for the Dillon. He agreed, when I went to go home I found it tucked neatly under the front edge of the counter by the door.

Some people know who he was!!!!

My brother has a Hornady Projector, he got it very cheap ($50 and I think he was robbed), by the time I replaced the powder measure (with a Dillon) and rejigged the primer mechanism, twice, he gets about 300 rounds an hour in 9mm. They all work and he just leaves alone, doesn't change anything. With the Hornady I don't see the LNL as an advantage, left alone they work fine, way better than the Lee, not a s good as anything BLUE.

[benos]

My one-sided question is - I wonder how many Lee or Hornady dealers hear, when a customer is ordering a LM or LnL - "I'm sick and tired of my Dillon press, and I want to order a LM." I hear the reverse of that almost every day.

[Chris Keen]

I've never heard that cause I bought a DILLON!

When I started asking around, all I heard was buy a Dillon and you'll never be sorry. And they were right.

[benos]

It's truly amazing how often I hear something like - "I heard the Dillon was best, but I was trying to save some money, so I got the LnL or the LM. But I'm just tired of messing with it - I spend more time trying to make it work than I do loading ammo."

be

[KeithB]

the more i read about the LnL AP, the more i am glad i bough a Dillon

[ramcphee]

I found the article well written, but it was slanted to the LNL from the opening remarks. I have loaded on a Hornady LNL for approx. four years, and the points he made about the Hornady are valid. However he doesn't bother to talk about the shell plate retaining spring coming apart (which happens far more that it should) also that parts become misaligned easily, especially the pickup from the case feeder. I found that I was realigning almost every time I used the machine, which really slowed the number of rounds per hour completed

. Also if you use a power check or lock out die with the press, then you must keep a finger on the case that you have placed a bullet in the case mouth so it will enter the seating die and not fall out of the shell plate.

The shell plate retaining springs is an old problem, since I had a Hornady Projector before the LNL with the same problem. I finally had it with having to check and realign parts, and now have a Dillon XL650. I originally purchased the Hornady with the case feeder because it was a lot cheaper than the 650. With Hornady's price increase the difference in price between the LNL, and the 650 just doesn't make any sense to purchase the LNL.

Also the case feeder on the LNL is noisey, and it won't pick up all the cases in the hopper. The last five or six cases it will never feed, the Dillon feeds everything that is in the hopper. A small point but valid.

When the LNL is running properly its a dream to use smooth, fast, and produces a quality round, but I have had too many fix the press before I can roll, sessions.

I haven't had the 650 long enough to tell you I'm thrilled with it, but it does have some features that I like. Time will tell.

[Matt P.]

Another value with Dillon that was not mentioned in the article is the resale value. Dillon seems to hold it's value much better and longer which makes it easier for all of use Blue users to get in and out of different models and accessories.

Blue for me. Machine works very well and they are a company that stands behind their product. What more does a guy need.

[mobocracy]

My one-sided question is - I wonder how many Lee or Hornady dealers hear, when a customer is ordering a LM or LnL - "I'm sick and tired of my Dillon press, and I want to order a LM." I hear the reverse of that almost every day.

When I bought mine, my dealer (John Walton, Gunstop in Minneapolis) said "I sell them all, but you have to decide if you want to buy the Dillon now or later, because everyone ultimately does."

I'm on my second (first was a SDB, current is XL650) and never regret any of it, well, except for the 650 spent primer catcher. I even sold my SDB on Ebay for about 70% or so of the new value and all the die sets I had went real fast, too.

[gm iprod]

Another value with Dillon that was not mentioned in the article is the resale value. Dillon seems to hold it's value much better and longer which makes it easier for all of use Blue users to get in and out of different models and accessories.

I forgot about that, I hardly ever get any Dillon to sell used, I grab every machine I can, I rarely sell used progressives from anybody else, they always cause problems (mostly the previous owner sold them because they were causing problems) and they are not covered by the same warrantee as Dillon. Hornady are better than most I have to say. Nearly every used Dillon machine that comes up for sale around here has 4 or 5 of the sellers best freinds lining up to beat me to the deal. He gets what he wants for the machine and they know Dillon will look after them 5 years or more from now.

No contest.

[BSeevers]

It amazes how many times you have to repeat. Argue .45 vs 9mm or STI vs SVI, but Dillon is the only press to buy.

I think the majority of people in the USA are penny wise, pound foolish

[KeithB]

It amazes how many times you have to repeat. Argue .45 vs 9mm or STI vs SVI, but Dillon is the only press to buy.

I think the majority of people in the USA are penny wise, pound foolish

I bet the 1000 free bullets sold quite a few presses.