Dillon 550B or XL650?

[grwd]

It would be nice if somebody has owned both a Hornady and an XL650 to tell me if it is worth the extra expense. QUOTE]

Ive had both, I am very happy with my 650.when you spread out the increased cost over all the thousands of rounds you are going to load, theres not a meaningful difference in cost.

THe only way Id say go with the LnL is if theres no way you can afford the extra $ for a dillon initially. -and even then Id say just hold off and save up.

 

[Profreedomokie]

I got the 650 because of the automatic indexing.I think it's worth it. I load .45acp,.308, .223, amd 300 Whisper on it. I load .380,9mm,.38spl,and .357mag on a Sq.Deal B. Both machines have been great.

 

[alank2]

Hi Nraman,

Go to the www.brianenos.com site and check out his comparison between presses. I personally like the 550 because it is absolute simplicity and you can change from one caliber to another very quickly and with little work. If you need to pump out larger volumes and less caliber changes, I'd look at the 650.

You can't go wrong with Dillon, they are great presses and they take care of their customers.

Good luck!

Alan

 

[Nraman]

Thank you for all the information.
I appreciate it.

 

[rifleman 1981]

if you are a novice to progeressive reloading, as has been stated meny times in this post, then the 550b is the way to go hands down, and I'd buy a new one, that way you won't be flustered about wheither or not all your parts are there if you run into problems, just my 2 cents

 

[Fyrtwuck]

I just went through the same ordeal......... 550 or a 650, after having a Lee loadmaster progressive I wanted to stay with a progressive press so the 650 was the one that made it home. I am using Lee dies but they are just long enough to work, after seeing the video on Dillion dies I'm glad I stayed with the Lee dies. Dillon does make wonderful stuff but boy do they know how to complicate things.

The 650 is a complicated machine and if I had not had the experience with the Lee progressive press I would be a little overwhelmed. Even after a few runs with the 650 I wonder if I should have gone with the 550. I did get the strong mount which is THE way to go for mounting and would also suggest getting a few extra primer loading tubes as well

I use Lee dies on some of my toolheads. A little trick I found was to install the locking nut from the bottom of the toolhead instead of the top where it's only held by one to two threads.

 

[Nraman]

What bothers me after a closer look is that it seems that to really take full advantage of a 650, you have to spend a lot of extra money and changing calibers makes it even more expensive.
I'll stick to my Hornady 366 progressive for the time being. A friend has a 1050 that he might sell cheap soon. I might consider that one.

 

[doublearon]

It literally takes me all of 2 minutes to switch calibers on my 550B. About a minute for the tool head, and a minute to swap shell plates and locator buttons.

How long to change the priming system?

 

[Nraman]

if you are a novice to progeressive reloading, as has been stated meny times in this post, then the 550b is the way to go hands down, and I'd buy a new one, that way you won't be flustered about wheither or not all your parts are there if you run into problems, just my 2 cents

I have been looking around and it seems that a lot of people are happy with the Hornady LNL. I have the older Hornady model 366 which is not bad. Hornady's customer service is absolutely great. What turns me off with the 550B is the price, four stations, manual indexing, price of additional parts.

 

[tyromeo55]

How long to change the priming system?

Just a min if you have another complete priming system. A little longer if you have to convert the one you already have