help me upgrade to a progressive press

ras_oscar said:

I am pondering purchasing a new Progressive reloading press. I have been using a Lee classic turret press for several years and feel very comfortable with its operation. I’d like to stay with Lee for that reason. I’d also like to reuse as many of my present components as possible. Below is my reasoning for the press I have tentatively selected. I’d like to community to review my reasoning and comment if I have missed any important considerations for my needs.

Presently I use a Lee classic turret press fitted with a lee autodrum powder dispenser and the old style Lee primer feeder. I use it to reload 9mm, 45 ACP, 44 Mag Win 308 and 30-06.
I have gotten to the point where my QC checks are every 10 rounds and the loading session I completed last weekend ( 400 9mm and 400 45ACP) did not indicate any adjustments to the press were required. I believe I have developed sufficient attention to detail to safely move up to a progressive press.

Pro 1000
This press only allows use of 3 dies at a time. Using a FCD is important to me because I store my ammo loose in an ammo can. Need to reduce the likelihood of bullet setback. Also, the dies need to be manually set up each time dies are changed. I like the ability to plug in a turret with a new set of dies.

Breech Lock
The dies need to be manually set up each time dies are changed. I like the ability to plug in a turret with a new set of dies. Also, the primers need to be manually inserted onto the seating arm (same as my turret press) I assume this press could be fitted with an automatic bullet and case feeders.

Load master
I believe this is the correct press for me. Full automatic is possible. Set up die sets in interchangeable turrets. The only reservation I have is in all the youtube videos I watched, the press was set up with a universal decapping station in position 1 and a separate station to resize and prime the case. Is there a reason I could not leave the first die slot empty and do deprime/resize and then prime on at the same station? There was discussion of issues regarding aligning the case in the shell plate to allow priming to work.

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If you get a Dillon 550, I could be convinced (not really convinced, just ask) to help set it up after all the Covid stuff eases up.

squaregrouper said:

Getting the lock ring adapters greatly lessens the trouble.

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If I put lock ring adapters on my dies, will they still fit into the original red plastic lee die box or do I have co come up with a separate storage system?

KyleRogue said:

Stuck at home I've looked at specs and reviews for Dillon, Hornady lock n load, MEC, Lee, rcbs, etc. until my eyes hurt. Watched a video of somebody loading one cartridge with a Lee single stage - learned a lot, but I don't want to spend that much time on each round.

Got lots of guns in 357/38spl to feed. One case of 357 mag costs nearly the cost of a Dillon 750, and more than a square deal, so I'm tempted.

Also restoring an original Winchester 1873 in 44-40. Dillon doesn't have die for that, but Lee does, so I might get a single stage for that.

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You will make your money back very quickly on a Dillon if you are reloading 357, 44 mag, or blackout. I reload 357 in varying loads for about 12 cents a round. If you shoot frequently the savings add up very quickly.

KyleRogue said:

Also looking into reloading - are the Dillon's ordered online or is there a dealer in the central MD area?

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Ordering straight from Dillon is a good option but keep in mind that they don’t run sales. Some third party sellers will occasionally offer blanket holiday sales of all their products for 5 or 10 percent off and offer free shipping. Keep an eye on who charges tax and who doesn’t as well. Another trick is to see who offers cash back through sites like activejunky.com. I order everything I can through brownells because they usually have a 10 percent off coupon, no tax, and I get another 4 percent from activejunky. Unfortunately they don’t carry Dillon stuff so I only provide this as an example! Evergladesammo runs sales on most holidays and doesn’t charge tax. You have to sign up for their emails to get the codes. If you pay attention to all these things you can easily save a couple hundred bucks when dropping 1-2k on a complete loader setup.

teratos said:

Yes. Dies are generally mix and match. I have Lee, RCBS, and Lyman dies running in my Dillon.

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Same here. But also have Dillon dies.

I got Dillon carbide dies for the main calibers I load.

teratos said:

I have one too. Got it long after I got my progressive.

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I started with a Lyman Spar-T turret press.

When I restarted in reloading, I gave that press to my Dad, and setup a 650 and Lyman Orange Crush (O frame) single stage at the same time.

I also started with a Lyman turret press over 30 years ago. I got a Star Universal set up for .45 and .38 Spl. It has very few adjustments to go out of whack. There is a Dillon in my future because I have a Garand to feed. I like Lee dies, but I had a Lee Load-All for shotshells that just never worked. I went to a MEC and never looked back.

I finally got a progressive last year and went with the Hornady Lock n Load. Love this press!

I was in the same boat as the OP. I went for the Lee Auto Breach Lock. Mine has the case feeder which works fairly well but occasionally lets one slip by upside down. Also the safety primer is a POS. I bought the correct safety primer for this press after being told the one from my turret press wouldn't work on the new press. Lee service and support is very good but I'm a little disappointed in this press. No way can you load as many rounds as they claim. I got better with practice but still have trouble with a smooth workflo.

Blue and dont look back. 550 is great but a 650/750 w/ a case feeder and fully progressive shell plate is even better.......unless you dont value your free time.....

Does anyone run or have experience running RCBS Prochuckers? Im a fan of RCBS products (been running a rock chucker for years) but taken back a little by the prices on the progressives. Curious if there are benefits in their presses to justify to premium.

Everything I have read is avoid the Lee and RCBS progressives

Dillon and Hornady for progressives.

I started reloading years back and progressives were still in the RCBS inline progressive stage. I reloaded ALOT on
a Lee original turret press. Then both Lee and Dillon began offering progressives, this was 1984 or so. I read advertisements
on the Lee three station Pro and the four station Dillon 450B. I liked Lee's products but looking the presses over in the ads,
I couldn't go with the Lee, too much engineering in the Dillon drew me to it. So I popped the bigger bucks and no qualms in
the years since.

Have a Hornady LNL AP with case feeder, moved up from a Lee pro1000(familiar with the 4 hole pro 4000 and Loadmaster), and have used a Dillon 650, have only seen the XL750. IMO for high volume of 1 or 2 calibers, get a 750, medium to high volume of several calibers, Hornady LNL, absolute cheapest way to get into progressive reloading, but experienced enough to spot frequent problems, can try the Lee.

The Lee worked, barely, primers are easy to load up with the flip tray, but it won't feed the last few primers by design, and everything being plastic gets jammed up with dirt and scuffed by moving metal parts, causing more jams. It's not smooth, not precise, lots of flex, and not much leverage, so it works, but slowly, and with a lot of stoppages, mostly jammed, missed or flipped primers. The old 3 hole design required another setup or another press to use common post sizing/crimp dies instead of crimping with a bullet seater die, but the pro 4000 and loadmaster have 4 and 5 stations respectively. The 4 hole pro 4000 and loadmaster still include the same crappy primer chute and pull chain powder reset on the crappy auto-disk powder measure. The Lee presses need separate parts to convert primer sizes, otherwise tool heads are cheap and easy to swap, shell holders are cheap and easy to swap, the carriage/ shell holder assemblies are cheap enough to swap a couple frequently loaded calibers quickly, powder measure sucks.

I bought a LNL AP with case feeder, it's a huge step up from Lee, includes feeder parts and priming parts for most calibers, just need easily swappable shell plates and feeder wheels, the LNL die adapters are really quick and nice to swap individual dies around if you want to use it as a single stage for things like decapping or sizing with lube, then reconfigure to load cleaned/sized rifle brass, best around IMO. The primer system is great, sliding bar style with tubes, add a vibrating tube loader, and primer filling is fast and easy, knock off some casting flash and burrs, and it feeds 100%. Best powder measure in the buisness, includes all parts for rifle or pistol adjusters, can but extra quick detatch adjusters to pre-set frequent loads without having to buy complete measures, has a kit to bell pistol cases in order to allow a bullet feeder. The bullet feeder is expensive, and the rifle and pistol feeders are not compatible, you can load bullet tubes, or just drop bullets down a bullet feeder die to speed things up a little compared to setting by hand from a tray. The press has a few sharp edges, burrs and casting flash, most of it doesn't matter, but some does in critical spots on moving parts like the underside of the primer shuttle, it runs smooth, indexing 1/2 station on the upstroke, and 1/2 on the downstroke, but the sharp edges on the detent pockets under the shell plate made it jiggle a little powder out of some cases, chamfering the edge and a little grease under the shell plate makes it click into position smooth and steady. The handle is uncomfortable, but lots of leverage, there are aftermarket roller handles available. Once setup it runs nice and smooth, maybe a minor stoppage or flipped peice of brass every 100-300 rounds. Good primer system, great powder measure, great die system, good for swapping several calibers, decent quality, some tweaks to keep it running well.

The Dillon 650 was my first choice when upgrading from the Lee, it is the gold, or more accurately Blue standard in reloading, used a couple and got the hang of it. Caliber swaps are decently quick, but expensive, it uses swappable tool heads, so you can swap calibers quick, but still have to remove/adjust individual dies to change configurations, like sizing lubed brass in one step, then finishing cleaned/sized brass separately. The primer feeder is reliable, a little carousel, but it dumps good primers if there isn't a case present unlike the Hornady which won't feed new primers till it needs to. The powder measure uses a charge bar, works, but not as good as Hornady. Once set tyhough it runs nearly 100%, the case feeder is better, as is the bullet feeder, and it comes with a roller handle. The press is finished better, and the new 750 basically uses a similar primer shuttle to the Hornady, and runs a bit smoother. So 650 OK priming system(good on the 750), good powder measure, Good swappable tool heads, expensive to swap many calibers, but good to use for one or two, especially if they share primer sizes or shell plates, great quality, few tweaks needed.

ras_oscar said:

If I put lock ring adapters on my dies, will they still fit into the original red plastic lee die box or do I have co come up with a separate storage system?

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The lids will not snap closed with the lock rings installed.

ras_oscar said:

If I put lock ring adapters on my dies, will they still fit into the original red plastic lee die box or do I have co come up with a separate storage system?

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You can buy deeper die boxes from Hornady for not much money

https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item/00005544600/die-box-large-(for-hornady-dies)

I ran a Lee Loadmaster for a while, then the divorce hit. I literally JUST NOW got it out to setup. It always ran fine, except the primer system did screw up quite a bit. I have recently done some research, and gonna give it a try again. To get the Dillon 750, with case feeder and everything else,,, you are up to $1300 +. I talked to a friend of mine who ran a Lee 1000, then a Dillon 650, he loved the Dillon, but said the Lee did the job fine. He found a great deal on the 650 used, still ended up over $1000. His recommendation to me was get the Loadmaster running again. So that is what I'm doing.

THier said:

I ran a Lee Loadmaster for a while, then the divorce hit. I literally JUST NOW got it out to setup. It always ran fine, except the primer system did screw up quite a bit. I have recently done some research, and gonna give it a try again. To get the Dillon 750, with case feeder and everything else,,, you are up to $1300 +. I talked to a friend of mine who ran a Lee 1000, then a Dillon 650, he loved the Dillon, but said the Lee did the job fine. He found a great deal on the 650 used, still ended up over $1000. His recommendation to me was get the Loadmaster running again. So that is what I'm doing.

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As I said before I have the Hornady LnL I hand prime never even took the priming pieces out of the box. By the time you load the primers in the tubes you arent losing that much time. I use the Frankfort Arsenal hand primer which I love and is much better then the Lee hand primers I used for years. I can hand prime 600+ cases an hour with the FA

Loaded up a batch of 308 for when the virus is over. As I was sitting there trimming case mouths, a thought occurred. Is there an on press solution for progressive case trimming and deburring, or is that always done by hand? I have taken to prepping a batch of cases after i'm finished seating bullets, just so next time I can start with the fun part.

ras_oscar said:

Loaded up a batch of 308 for when the virus is over. As I was sitting there trimming case mouths, a thought occurred. Is there an on press solution for progressive case trimming and deburring, or is that always done by hand? I have taken to prepping a batch of cases after i'm finished seating bullets, just so next time I can start with the fun part.

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Dillon makes a press top casr trimmer

https://www.dillonprecision.com/rt1500-electric-case-trimmer-motor-only_8_8_26199.html