Dillon 550b or Hornady LnL Progressive?

[billybob44]

Same here PappyD.
Our oldest Daughter got married about 8 years ago out in Scottsdale. So me, being the loyal Dillon customer that I am, had to check out Dillon's home office.
You're right Pappy, kind of small showroom (Although full of BLUE), the "Grandmother Type" of lady @ the counter was very friendly--She ask if I wanted to tour the plant..The next thing I know, an "Ole Boy" named Joe was taking me back through the whole plant..Very nice people+VERY nice plant..
Did you know that they do all their own photos of the "Dillon Girls" on their catalogue , upstairs in the Dillon Plant--They have a whole studio upstairs, with Mike Dillon's office there.

Was a good time for me..Bill.

 

[U.S. Patriot]

I was at the same place, and decided on the 550. I use Lee dies, as I already had them. The powder drop is accurate, and I actually like the manual index.

 

[dieselrealtor]

Another one for Dillon, the LNL review by LMW played a part in my decision.

I really didn't want to have to "tinker" with my press. There were too many reviews of the LNL that indicated that it needed constant love.

I have had to do very little to my 550 to keep it running smoothly. It is however becoming expensive as I really like to have quick caliber change kits with powder drop so that I can change calibers in about 3-5 minutes. I need 3 or 4 more quick change kits to be complete for all the calibers I currently shoot.

Buy the 550 & if you hate it put it up for sale, they typically sell fast.

 

[lovemywoods]

Between him and Evan, that family has cost me well over $2k since I joined INGO in '09.

I'm a Dillion owning, multiple M&P carrying, bio-belt wearing, Peltor using, ZT carrying, NFA lovin', Big Green Egg lustin', also-love-your-woods, Rice family fanboy.

Thanks for the laugh Chezuki.

I'm always pleased to know that I may have had an impact on my INGO friends. Sorry the impact was aimed at your bank account.

I've learned so much from INGO about all things firearms that I'm glad I can give back in some way.

 

[looney2ns]

My son in law and I both bought LNL, and haven't looked back in over 10,000 rounds produced on each. As long as I don't do something stupid, it does it's part just fine.

 

[indygunguy]

I've owned both. I found the Hornady to be finicky. I traded it in for a 550. I much prefer the 550. It runs with less maintenance and tinkering.

 

[Cam]

Haven't used a LNL, but after using my 550B the first time, I have no need to try anything else. Don't know how many rounds I've loaded with it since, but I'm guessing somewhere around 30k and not a single problem.

 

[ljk]

Don't know about LNL, Dillon 550 is what I have been using for the last couple months. Everybody is saying get a Lee single stage and Dillon progressive and I'm pretty much all set.

Setup is straight forward, I got the 550 incomplete AS-IS from an estate, the support form the people of BLUE has been nothing but fantastic. .

 

[Sirshredalot]

550b owner here...no contest....you can go slow or fast, rifle or pistol, and the most versatile machine made next to a cast iron American made single stage press(RCII here).
About 10K rounds into it...was used heavily when I got it...nary a hick-up
A little graphite on the primer slide and no sticking.

I like hornady stuff....love the ammo and dies, but the presses are just not in the same league as the Dillon stuff...IMHO

God bless
-Shred

 

[trophyhunter]

I've owned every one of the early Hornady Projector models through the current LNL, fair enough to say there's not a single feature that makes the Hornady a better or more desirable press than the Dillon 550.

You'll kick rocks at a LNL after using the 550 with an optional skylight kit from Inline Fabrication after the first hour. Polish the metal bottom interior of the Dillon powder hopper, buy Dillon dies and you'll be amazed at the quality and consistency of the ammunition you'll produce with it.

 

[ZbornacSVT]

If you haven't purchased yet, we do have a few Dillon 550s and 650s in stock.
Be glad to help out any way that I can.

 

[RipkinC]

550b will retain resalevalue (10-20% less than a new one) imho easyer to set up and more reliable across its lifetime

 

[chezuki]

I've NEVER heard a Dillion owner say "I wish I'd went ahead and bought the Hornady".

 

[Leo]

I am starting to feel guilty about my care of a 550. I never took it apart to clean or lube it. When some build up gets under the primer slide, I just spray it with gun cleaner and dry lube, and let the debris drip in a waste basket. People have made several videos of detail stripping them and "properly" lubricating their 550's. I bought mine in 1992 or 93, hard to remember. No wear, no failure except a little plastic bushing on the power measure. I guess if I don't step up the maintenance, it will be worn out in another 100 years or so.

 

[trophyhunter]

I am starting to feel guilty about my care of a 550. I never took it apart to clean or lube it. When some build up gets under the primer slide, I just spray it with gun cleaner and dry lube, and let the debris drip in a waste basket. People have made several videos of detail stripping them and "properly" lubricating their 550's. I bought mine in 1992 or 93, hard to remember. No wear, no failure except a little plastic bushing on the power measure. I guess if I don't step up the maintenance, it will be worn out in another 100 years or so.

Quality has a habit of being boringly reliable ~I hit mine with the air gun occasionally and a drop of CLP where it might matter and a dab of grease on the ram wiped off to leave a film and it never stops running right. I check mine with the alignment tool every 15K rounds or so and it's always spot on.

The dies however get cleaned regularly, anyone who's not had the pleasure of seeing how Dillion designs their dies with the quick take down feature that won't lose your adjustment settings on the seating and crimp die you'll think twice about ever using brand X again.

 

[ckcollins2003]

Quality has a habit of being boringly reliable ~I hit mine with the air gun occasionally and a drop of CLP where it might matter and a dab of grease on the ram wiped off to leave a film and it never stops running right. I check mine with the alignment tool every 15K rounds or so and it's always spot on.

The dies however get cleaned regularly, anyone who's not had the pleasure of seeing how Dillion designs their dies with the quick take down feature that won't lose your adjustment settings on the seating and crimp die you'll think twice about ever using brand X again.

You can take them apart without losing your adjustments?! Alright... now that might be worth buying. That's the one thing I hate about cleaning the Lee sizing dies, they are a pain in the ass to take apart to clean and get put back together. The seating and expander dies aren't bad at all, but getting the depriming rod back into that freaking nut is a *****.

 

[rvb]

You can take them apart without losing your adjustments?! Alright... now that might be worth buying. That's the one thing I hate about cleaning the Lee sizing dies, they are a pain in the ass to take apart to clean and get put back together. The seating and expander dies aren't bad at all, but getting the depriming rod back into that freaking nut is a *****.

The 'cores' of the seating and crimp dies drop out when you pull a clip. The decap part of the sizer just screws out.
The sizer has the nice feature of the spring-loaded decap stem, also. One of the guys that helps with my matches was having problems with primers pulling back in with another die. I suggested all the usual tips of rounding and polishing the stem, but no luck... I told him to try the Dillon sizer and his problem went away...

though I confess to not cleaning my pistol dies very often...

-rvb

 

[trophyhunter]

You can take them apart without losing your adjustments?! Alright... now that might be worth buying. That's the one thing I hate about cleaning the Lee sizing dies, they are a pain in the ass to take apart to clean and get put back together. The seating and expander dies aren't bad at all, but getting the depriming rod back into that freaking nut is a *****.

The de-cap/sizing die doesn't have the quick take down feature but it's a snap to take apart and put back together compared to a Lee (literally a snap the de-capper is spring loaded) but it's fool proof to take apart and re-install quite unlike the Lee's. I'll never bash a Lee product, you get what you pay for and they are responsible for more entry level people getting into loading than probably all the others combined but you'd never be inclined to use most of their products after getting your hands into Dillion for a little bit.

 

[ckcollins2003]

The 'cores' of the seating and crimp dies drop out when you pull a clip. The decap part of the sizer just screws out.
The sizer has the nice feature of the spring-loaded decap stem, also. One of the guys that helps with my matches was having problems with primers pulling back in with another die. I suggested all the usual tips of rounding and polishing the stem, but no luck... I told him to try the Dillon sizer and his problem went away...

though I confess to not cleaning my pistol dies very often...

-rvb

I've heard great things about their dies. The only thing that has kept me from getting any other than Lee at the moment is the price and the fact that I don't shoot competition. I'd love to have some Redding precision dies for my rifle, but I'd need a better rifle first lol. FYI, I hadn't cleaned my dies in a long long time and I had to do it once I read this and before I responded... thanks.. haha.

The 'cores' of the seating and crimp dies drop out when you pull a clip. The decap part of the sizer just screws out.
The sizer has the nice feature of the spring-loaded decap stem, also. One of the guys that helps with my matches was having problems with primers pulling back in with another die. I suggested all the usual tips of rounding and polishing the stem, but no luck... I told him to try the Dillon sizer and his problem went away...

though I confess to not cleaning my pistol dies very often...

-rvb

That sounds much better than having to get the wrenches out. I completely agree, Lee is great for the price. I know there are better options, just something about getting the job done for a low price that's pleasing. I might have to get a set of Dillon dies, if nothing else just for 9mm to see the difference. I guess I'll be going blue on everything... might as well make it match right