Just bolted a new press...Pictures Added

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And it's a Hornady Progressive! I know, it's not a Dillon, Contender spent some time showing me how the Dillon 650's are set up and oh yes, they are nice. But, I started looking at the differences. I'm left handed, and to me the Dillon seems to be set up for right handed people. The Hornady still looks to be set up for right handedness, however the work space appears to be more open. I'm not criticizing Dillon, it was actually a hard choice between the two. I guess ultimately the price difference was the deciding factor.

Brownells has a couple very nice videos on YouTube about the Hornady AP. I just got it bolted down. Last year I bought a stand for the Dillon, and it actually fits the Hornady as well. This allows me to stand up as I reload and puts the case more at eye level. Hopefully this is more comfortable.

Anyway, I've got about 5 gallons worth of clean 9mm brass. Time to get busy.
 

Enigma

Hunter
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FWIW, the Dillon RL650 has been discontinued, and replaced by the RL750. I believe that you would have had difficulty locating a new RL650 if you had decided to go that way. Hope you enjoy the Hornady!
 

contender

Ruger Guru
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Kevin was talking about seeing my 650's,,, and knew the 750 is now the press they sell.

He is right about the Dillon press being more right handed friendly,,, but I don't have first hand use experience with the Hornady to know how much they will work for a lefty.

My only thought was about the money thing. While Dillon does cost more,, and Hornady makes their offering very attractive,, in the long run,, the Dillon seems to be the better value. Not too many years ago,, I can recall the Dillon stuff was less expensive. They had to increase pricing to keep up with inflation etc. Well, the resale of Dillon stuff is quite good,, and I've had most of my Dillon stuff long enough to where if I sold it,, used,, I'd get as much if not more than what I paid long ago. From my BRIEF study into Hornady's stuff a while back when researching something else,, I noticed a difference in resale value of their stuff vs. Dillon.
Do NOT get me wrong,, Hornady makes some excellent stuff,, & I have several things made by them. I have just grown accustomed to the NO BS warranty that Dillon offers. That,, combined with prompt, live customer service,, makes me a strong customer.

But I know that the Hornady progressive Kevin got is top quality & he'll enjoy it as well!
 

375supermag

Blackhawk
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Jan 1, 2013
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553
Hi...
I have two Hornady LnL presses set up on one of my benches.
My son typically runs them and he is left handed and he runs them without a case or bullet feeder. He feeds cases and bullets with hisleft hand and runs the press with his right hand. It works very well for him.

We don't have our Dillon 550 ready to run yet, so no idea if he will find it as user friendly for a lefty as the Hornady are.
 
Joined
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Thanks, When I get it set up and adjusted I'll take some pictures. Today was absolutely beautiful and 70 here in DFW, so I went to the range, which surprisingly was almost empty.

And yeah, I do know about the 750 replacing the 650. The local gun store here which specializes in reloading supplies, still has some 650's. Last time I was there, I think they still had 3 of them in fact.
 

Ron IL

Bearcat
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I have used a Lee classic turret for several years. It is the first and only press I have had. I am left handed too and this one is lefty friendly. I have not even looked at another kind. If it was designed the other way I would not be liking it so much. I am lucky I hit it right the first time.
 
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I've found the Hornady press doesn't need a few extra pieces to work, but it will make it better, so last night I ordered an expanded for the powder die. I also ordered a micrometer plug for the powder measure. I guess they don't ship the press with these because they want to keep the price low. But the micrometer will show the amount of powder, so you can repeat amounts. The powder through expander only makes sense in a progressive.

My other press is the RCBS turret press. It seems to be very left hand friendly. I've used it for about 7 years. It's going to be used for the calibers I don't shoot as much, like 41 mag, or 357 max.
 
Joined
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OK! Got it all set up for 9mm. I had to order the Powder through expander sleeve. It goes into the powder drop funnel and expands the case as powder gets dropped. I read some really poor reviews on the internet about them, hard to adjust etc. Not sure who these people are writing the reviews. After about 5 minutes I could see how it works and the adjustment for the amount of expansion is very convenient.

Anyway, here's a few pictures.
k4Qk9yyl.jpg

The KMS Squared lights from the Dillon 650 will fit this one. However, its a bit long and there are two LEDs on each side that wrap around and shine right in my eyes, so some black tape fixed that issue.

Contender, those lights are incredible! Thanks for posting about them a while back. They are very bright. It's also on the "Inline Fabrication" stand. I like it, because I can stand up to reload and everything is at a comfortable level. Pretty solid as well.

sYEum5bl.jpg

Here is the linkage for the expander sleeve. The unit as a whole is a bit tricky to get adjusted, but it really only took about 5 or 10 minutes to fiddle with it and get everything in place. I also got the micrometer to be able to visually see the adjustments for the amount of powder. I don't know if I'll need it, but it can't hurt.

3rKdeKEl.jpg

The Dillon die set. These are pretty nice. You can take them apart for cleaning without removing them from your press.

Dillon stuff is really well made. I probably should have bought the Dillon 750, I'm not sorry I got the Hornday though, I'm sure they each have some strong points. I'll see how much I like this after I load a few thousand rounds of 9mm.
 
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About the light :lol: I bought the light before the press. However, on the KMS website, they show the Hornday light as a straight strip of light with the small circle at the top, (More light from the side than straight down.) The Dillon "U" Shape is better, with the light straight down. Also the clearance is the same.

I just loaded some 9mm, going very slow and checking the powder weight for each bullet. It's very impressive how these things are designed.

I also see why Dillon owners make a big deal about the warranty. Before, I've only used the RCBS Turret press. There aren't really any moving parts, really nothing to bend or break at all. On a progressive, all the different pieces work together. A lot of small pieces and parts at that; and eventually something's going to bend or break.
 

375supermag

Blackhawk
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Kevin said:
About the light :lol: I bought the light before the press. However, on the KMS website, they show the Hornday light as a straight strip of light with the small circle at the top, (More light from the side than straight down.) The Dillon "U" Shape is better, with the light straight down. Also the clearance is the same.

I just loaded some 9mm, going very slow and checking the powder weight for each bullet. It's very impressive how these things are designed.

I also see why Dillon owners make a big deal about the warranty. Before, I've only used the RCBS Turret press. There aren't really any moving parts, really nothing to bend or break at all. On a progressive, all the different pieces work together. A lot of small pieces and parts at that; and eventually something's going to bend or break.

Hi...
I have two of these presses on one of my benches and after quite a few thousand rounds of 9mm, 10mm, .45ACP and .357Mag, nothing has bent or broken yet.
Is there some adjustments that need to be made from time to time? Yes...but they are few and far between.
Are the LnLs perfect? No...but they run fairly well if kept clean and maintained well. The major issue is keeping the priming system clean and, to a lesser extent, keeping loose powder out from under the shell plate.
My son typically runs both of ours and can easily produce excellent ammunition in quantities of upwards of 4-500 rounds per hour when he preloads the primer tubes without a bullet or case feeder.

I will suggest that one avoids the Hornady seating and crimping dies...we have had some issues with them maintaining bullet seating depth. When we replaced the bullet seating and crimping dies with RCBS dies, that issue went away.
 

Ron IL

Bearcat
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Wow that is a lot of hardware to just drop powder and expand the case. The Lee disc powder dropper is just a little simple thing. One thing it doesn't do is fine tune the amount of powder. You get what you get with the disc size. I did drill one out just a little to fine tune a 45 load years ago. Now if I want to do a special test I will just drop one slightly lower and then trickle it up to what I want. For plinking I am not to concerned about 3 or 4 tenths. When I loaded my 223 stuff it meant a lot. I just do range 9, 38, and 45. For chrono or accuracy tests I weigh each load.
 
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This has been a nice press so far. The powder drop system seems accurate. I just loaded 50 rounds of 9mm. I'm still going slow and weighing each round individually. They were all the same today.

I did have one primer get put in at a slight angle and it's stuck. I'll just toss that case, I think I know why, the vertical tube which holds the primers got loose somehow, and caused it. Something to watch out for in the future I suppose.

But the time saved on a progressive is very, very nice. I had no idea.
 
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Kevin,
If you have a lot of cases, just toss it. Me, I'm a tightwad so I would save the case :D . Just put it in the priming slot and s-l-o-w-l-y deprime/resize it. I've done it in the past with no problems and it saves you a case.

Your setup looks good and you should get a lot out of it. Reloading is one way I relax and I get the satisfaction of making my own ammo.
 
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Ron, I've got thousands of cleaned and deprimed 9mm, about a 5 gallon bucket worth, however many that is. No one at my range seems to pick up brass of any kind. Even stuff like 44 special or 38 Super.

And yes, reloading is very nice. Tasks like this which require concentration help me relax as well.
 
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