Best Progressive Press For the Price

[max384]

one post compares hornady's lnl with dillon's 650...the lnl should be compared to the 550. i believe the lnl has an auto-index feature missing on the 550, but that's not really a detriment, imo...manual indexing ain't that much of an impediment; i've occasionally had to back up a station during the process.

a 550, 650 or hornady lnl is a good choice for a high-output press capable of producing excellent ammo...all will amortize their cost in short order and handle handgun or rifle with equal ease.

budman

Why do you say that the LNL should be compared with the 550?

I believe the Hornady LNL compares much more closely with the Dillon XL650. The 550 only has four stations (LNL and 650 have 5), the 550 is manually indexing (LNL and 650 are automatic indexing), and the 550 only has a casefeeder for handgun cases (the LNL and 650 have a casefeeder for both handgun and rifle cases). Price is the only factor that compares more closely between the LNL and 550.

[budman46]

max,

in comparing the hornady to the dillon i was going on my familiarity with the dillon 550 unit and pictures of the hornady. the lnl has 5 stations and auto-index, but why do i need 5 stations? auto index? i have 2 square-deal b's...trust me it isn't always the advantage it might appear to be! the lnl advertised loading rate more matches the 550 than the 650, while its price is closer to the 650, ya got me on the case feeder, though!

i wouldn't feel slighted with any of the presses in question.

budman

[ForwardAssist]

Having a 5th station lets you utilize separate seating and crimping dies, or, it allows you to run a powder cop die.

Personally I wouldn't select a press without auto indexing because not having it adds an unnecessary step and it potentially increases the risk of double charging a case.

Just my opinions though.

[asavo757]

Right now I'm loading mostly 9mm and some .45. I bought dies for .40 but haven't started loading it yet since I don't shoot it much. I really want something that I can load all my ammo for the month in a few hrs. Right now I'm shooting about 800/per month but I want to ramp up to 2-3k in a few months.

if you are looking to load all three calibers with the same press than you might want to think about the 550. its easy to change calibers and from large to small primers. 9mm and 40 can be done with the same caliber conversion kit just pick up the extra powder drop and your ready. I can change from 357mag to 45acp in less than 10 min. it takes my buddy 20 plus with the lnl.

[Brick]

snipped
9mm and 40 can be done with the same caliber conversion kit just pick up the extra powder drop and your ready.

Shell plates are the same, powder funnel and locator pins are a different size.