Hornady or Dillion

After pricing out exactly what I want and or to have each perform in the way I want/need . I'm back to thinking I'll go blue . My thinking was to go red and get the bullet feeder and just feed the case manually . I had always figured I'd set the bullet by hand and have a auto case feeder regardless of the press I got . How ever With the Hornady indexing during the up stroke I figured I'll just get the bullet feeder instead of the case feeder . If I do that it puts me right around the same cost as the Dillon with case feeder . I think I'd much rather have my cases auto fed and be able to use my higher end seating dies and manually set the bullets on the cases .

This has been a great thread for me to really work out what's going to be best for me . I still may go red but blue is in the lead for the moment .

But what about that movement you get with the red press bushing mounts?
Click to expand...

There is no movement on the upstroke of the ram . The movement one sees is when you retract the ram and the rubber o-ring allows the bushing to bounce as the case is retracted from the die . Once you are retracting the case . All the important stuff is done and the movement does not effect the case or completed cartridge . I size my cases to with in .001 of each other head to datum point using my Hornady single stage that uses those bushings . It also seats bullets very consistent so although there is movement with the bushing . It's all on the rams down stroke which does not effect the operations of the press .

But I've read and pretty much everybody that uses the AP says your powder measure will come loose . So that's an issue for sure but one that appears to have a few easy fixes .
 
The whole purpose of these threads is to get feedback which hopefully leads to an informed decision on a purchase. Between this thread and all the others out there you should have enough info to make that informed decision. You have most certainly heard from each side.

Whichever one you choose I believe will be right for You regardless of what everyone else thinks. As I've said before, we could put 100 people in the same room with the exact same equipment and supplies and no two people would do it the exact same way.

Regardless of the color or model used it's the finished product that matters in the end. The way I do it and the products I use may not fit your needs or conform to the way you reach the finish line.

Doesn't make either right or wrong, just different.
 
I have a LNL without case or bullet feeders and has worked very well for me. If however I wanted a progressive with a case feeder then the 650 would be the way to go.
The powder measure coming loose has been fixed with the shims that Hornady will send for free. Mine has never come loose since installing them.
 
Good point about the QD bushings coming loose. I'm new to a Hornady presses but did purchased and try Horandy Classic (plus a RCBS Rock Chucker) before settling on Hornady's Iron Press for my single stage press. The QD bushings came loose all of those presses when I've resized brass or used my Redding .40 push through. The QD bushings are convenient but I prefer traditional screw in system like I have on my Dillon. Switching stuff out is faster. So they all of have the good and bad design features.
 
I did a lot of research before buying a progressive. I asked the owners of presses what they thought of their press.

There were more Dillon owners than anyone else. Out of 25 I found 1 unhappy owner.

Most of the Lee owners told me go with something else.

Hornady seemed OK but there were a couple reasons I didn't go for it even though most seemed content with their press. At the time Hornady had the case expander and powder drop using 2 stations which meant there was no extra station for a powder check die. After I bought the Dillon Hornady combined the 2 stations. Still that would have been an expense after buying the press. After owning the Dillon for sometime Hornady redesigned the shell plate. Would have been more expense for me to change over. I still think the Hornady is a good press but they seem to need more timing adjustments.

I've owned a Dillon 550b, 650 and 1050. Never a problem with any of them. Customer service has been great. If I were buying another progressive it would be Dillon.

One word of advice I give anyone buying a progressive. Get a powder check die. It's not about "IF" you get a bad charge but "WHEN". This die will help you catch it.
 
I don't know about the Hornady QD bushings coming loose, but I was annoyed by my Dillon powder die loosening under the weight and vibration of the press and measure, no matter how I cinched down on the lock ring.
So I clipped a little thin narrow cardboard washer out of a primer box and screwed it through that. I had to make a tiny adjustment to keep the case mouth flare where I wanted it, but it has stayed put.
I think I'll send that off to Uniquetek and see if they would like to sell a package of gasket material washers for the purpose.
 
go dillon

I have had Dillon 350, 550 and 650 presses and have never had an issue with any of them. I had a 650 that went through a flood and rusted severely and Dillon exchanged it, so I will stick with Dillon
 
I had a LNL bolted to the bench a couple of years, right next to a Dillon XL650.

I watched the owner of that LNL have bent small parts, primer hangs, problems with case feeding, problems with keeping consistant rounds coming out of the machine...
All the while the Dillon 650 plugged along with about zero of the above issues.

The two biggest issues I had with Dillon was slopping powder when it indexed,
And spitting spent primers,
Both solved for about $40 on the aftermarket.
 
Dillon 650 here. I wanted a case feeder, the case feeder on the Hornady is a complete after thought. Don't ever recall reading or hearing about someone buying a 650 and regretting it but have about buying a AP instead of the 650.

But don't forget about the 500 free bullets:rolleyes:
 
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