Dillon 550 vs Hornady Lock n Load AP

[Einthoven's Triangle]

Yeah John Walton is the man behind Gunstop Reloading! This man is as advertised! Period there is no one in his league, bar none! Nope notta!

Rucker get the 550! You will want the versatility! The Square deal is limited to dillon dies, or caliber conversion as I call them. If you wanted to churn out say XX handgun cartridge only it would work, but again pay now or pay later! After many years with a 550, I have no complaints, and this dates back to the 80's when it was 450 (since upgraded). Once familar with the operation, and plenty of primer pick up tubes, plenty of supplies, and time to devote to reloading a person can turn out 500rds an hour easy. If you expand your caliber needs your out of pocket expenses will be increased using a Square Deal. The 550 can load rifle rounds the 650 can not load, and the 550 is manaully indexed so for the noob reloader it works to his/her advantage.

[jac714]

The Square Deal B is basicall the little brother of the 550. If you are looking for just one caliber it is a winner. It has the ability to change calibers but not as easily as the 550.

I think it is a great deal for someone looking to get started reloading.

If you wish you can buy components and come over and use my 55o to see how it goes for you, let me know.

Later

[cobb]

Go visit johnboy, ask him which one, and ask him why. he's a quiet, thoughtful guy and he will tell you the truth. Serious, this is like having mario andretti working at the local dealership, or Eric Asimov or Pete Wells working at the local liquor store, this is real authority who will willingly spend an HOUR with you working thru your purchase, AND give you hours of live phone or in person tech support after you buy it, and do so happily.

Just to clarify for those that do not know who you are referring to, you mean John at Gun Stop, correct?

I'm pretty sure that's exactly who he's referring to.

I am pretty sure too, but there are those that have never heard of Gun Stop, don't know where Gun Stop is, let alone who John is. Most of us regulars can read between the lines, I just wanted the new guys to know for sure, that is why I asked for clarification from 1911fan who johnboy was.

[Pinnacle]

You will not be un happy with a SDB if all that you want to load with it is one caliber. Change calibers and that is where the heartache starts.

I know guys that buy a SDB and set it up for each individual caliber that they own.

If you need help please ask.

[DeanC]

I am real hesitant to recommend a new reloader to buy a progressive as his first press. He needs to get more familiar with 45 acp before he starts cranking them out. Rucker, PM Pinnacle and see if he still has that Lyman press he was selling before you try to set up a high volume shop.

[Einthoven's Triangle]

The 550 can be used as a single stage press till the reloader gets their feet wet. A reloader will always have need for a single stage press preferably a heavy duty one ie Rockchucker. While some caliber conversions on a 550 are simple as buy an different powder funnel like say reloading 45ACP already and you want to load 308 all you need is 30cal powder funnel. Where as loading some calibers might entail $38.00 conversion vs 5 dollar shellholder.

I say visit with John at the Gunstop. He has never steered anyone wrong!
Gunstop Reloading Supplies Inc.
14704 Excelsior Blvd.
Minnetonka, MN 55345
1-800-645-7644
(952) 474-0211
It is so simple to find the place. From 494 and the Crosstown head west till you get to Glen Lake Golf Course (north side of road) turn right at the stop light (says Glen Lake BLVD) just past the entrance to the Golf course and go up the hill along the perimeter of the Golf course. Then turn right or north and go till you get to Excelsior Blvd. There you will see BP Gas Station turn west or left. There is the gas station, a one story office building, the post office, and THE GUNSTOP with a big sign above the shop. You can not miss that.

An optional way is to head west on MN7 off of 494 to Williston Rd. This is the first stop light past 494 and MN7. Turn left or south onto Williston Rd. You will dead end so to speak into Excelsior Blvd. There is stop light at the intersection to your left there is Hardware store, and then the dance studior and THE GUNSTOP on the north side of the road.

Reloading is a passion embrace it!

[Pinnacle]

I am real hesitant to recommend a new reloader to buy a progressive as his first press. He needs to get more familiar with 45 acp before he starts cranking them out. Rucker, PM Pinnacle and see if he still has that Lyman press he was selling before you try to set up a high volume shop.

You know I was thinking about the very same thing Dean - and I have been pondering it for a long time.

I would recommend a 550 or a SDB to a first time reloader as long as thry got some good instruction FIRST.

Reloading is not something you just pick up and do - there is no book that you can read to learn it all - there are no shorcuts. This is why I am grateful for John Walton - he will take the time to teach you and warn you off of something of he thinks that you are going to kill yourself. Anyhow

SDB is no big deal but you really should run some 45 through a single arm press before you go hog wild and go progressive - just to see how it works one step at a time.

I have Pastor Paul coming over Thursday night - he tells me that he needs to load 400 40 S&W and he thinks that it would take forever on his single arm - which it will...

I think that i can have that done in little under a half hour..

[macphisto]

Dean, is that Ann Coulter

[JFettig]

I picked up the LNL yesterday and loaded about 100 rounds of 9mm. I used LEE dies with the factory crimp die. Its taking a little getting use to remembering to prime and insert cases and bullets etc.

Right now I'm using the standard metering insert, I have the pistol insert ordered. I have had a couple issues with powder drop, so far its been dropping +/- .2gr at a 7gr drop(blue dot). I've had it not drop powder a few times, I think it might be that I've been too gentle with the press and the powder doesn't settle into the insert. Other than that, the powder has been dropping reliably +/- .2gr, most of the time .1gr.

I didn't run graphite through it like some people recommended thats possibly it.

The shell plate for 9mm had burrs on 2 of the stations that I had to take a dremel and stone to, I tried filing it away but the shell plates are very hard material.

The ejector doesn't work with the FCD and doesn't really work with 9mm anyway. Its kind of strange that it works with .223(I ran a couple cases past it to try it) I ordered another ejector to modify. I figured out how to make it work and potentially keep it from getting in the way of the FCD.

Theres no real good way to see that you have a primer in the priming system without having a wood dowel and make a flag. I loaded up 2 rounds without primers... luckily these flakes are bigger than the flash hole and only a small amount of powder spilled.

I picked up a hornady scale at first, what a horrible scale! Its supose to be "magnetic" so that you get quick readings, the dang thing wouldn't keep bouncing! I had it set at 6.8gr, dropped my powder in the pan then it said it was too high, so I upped it to 6.9 and it was about right, but it kept moving so I upped it to 7.0 and it was too high again, all the way up to 7.3gr. I returned that and got the RCBS 750 electronic scale. Its nice, I'll prime a case, tare it then drop the powder and I don't need to dump it to check it. I dropped a lot of powder before I was confident to load a few rounds.
Most of the rounds I loaded up I did one at a time, just ran the 1 case through the 5 dies. I bought a powder check die to watch for this problem I'm having, I also bought a expander for the powder drop so I can actually check the powder drop with the spot it will open up.

I can't believe how much I ended up spending on this setup. I calculated it out, if prices stay the same and I order the 7.5 cent bullets it'll take me 10,000 rounds to pay it off. Luckily I load a lot of .223 55gr v-max rounds for varmint hunting, it'll only take 2-3000 to pay it off that way.

I'll probably start a new thread with pics in a week or so.


Jon

[Pinnacle]

It sounds to me that you are not haveing good luck with that Hornady press.

I am sorry to hear that. My Dillon 650 is completely trouble free.

[JFettig]

I wouldn't call it bad luck, just a few little things. Regarding the powder, I'm pretty sure its like I said, I wasn't letting it drop fast enough and maybe the powder didn't load back into the cavity.

I haven't heard of that issue before, I did a lot of searching the previous week.
The ejector not working with the Lee FCD is a known issue, same with it not working well with 9mm cases.

I really do like the LNL bushings, they make for quick easy die changes.


Jon

[1911fan]

The Dillon inserts allow fast changes too, One problem with small charges of large flake powder is its like trying to get Wheaties or Frosted flakes to fall through a funnel. You get a lot of natural clogging. I use Titegroup for as many loads as I can as it runs like water thru a meter. When loading rifle cartridges I try to use ball powder or SC or short cut powders so that they flow better.

You can also use Dillon dies in your LNL press,and i think they are the easiest to use in a progressive press as they seem to have a bit more radius at the bottom end to help get teh shells started into the die.

[JFettig]

The Dillon inserts allow fast changes too, One problem with small charges of large flake powder is its like trying to get Wheaties or Frosted flakes to fall through a funnel. You get a lot of natural clogging. I use Titegroup for as many loads as I can as it runs like water thru a meter. When loading rifle cartridges I try to use ball powder or SC or short cut powders so that they flow better.

You can also use Dillon dies in your LNL press,and i think they are the easiest to use in a progressive press as they seem to have a bit more radius at the bottom end to help get teh shells started into the die.

I thought I read somewhere that blue dot was ball powder, thats one of the reasons I got it. I'll take a look at Titegroup, is it ball powder?

I usually use Win 748 for .223 which meters real good. I haven't tried it in the LNL measure yet but probably will in a couple weeks. I also want to try H335, not sure if thats ball or not, need to do some more reading.

-edit-
one thing I did when selecting my powder, I looked through my lyman 48th edition and used the difference between their starting load and maximum, also used what I've read others have been using. TiteGroup has only a .5gr difference, Blue Dot has .8gr difference to give me a little fudge room.

Any other good powders to look into?


Jon

[Einthoven's Triangle]

Most powder measures will be very consistent, that is totally dependent on the operator!


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[1911fan]

Blue dot is a flattened ball or flake powder as opposed to a stick powder.

while it was a ball, it was rolled flat, and I find it has trouble in some meters.

Let me say that once I get my measure dialed in, I am very surprised by a .1 grain variation. Mind you that amounts to a 1/70,000 of a pound variation, so calling it at all unreliable is somewhat stretching the point.

I am not sure what cartridge you are reloading for, but for most autoloading cartridges, getting something in the upper half of the velocity scales will help in keeping function consistent. For me, any .45 load that is under 775 fps will not function with a 200 or above bullet. Just not enough recoil impulse to operate the action of MY 1911's without dropping the spring weights way down.