Dillon 650 vs Hornady LNLAB

M

meatmachineman

Handloader
Jan 25, 2012
276
0
Wincheringen":1s5vwdtx said:
If you're thinking Progressive, get the Hornady LNLAP. They are around $400, plus come with 500 free bullets, so that takes you down around $300 and are every bit equivalent to the Dillon 650. I'm not knocking Dillon at all, they are a great press and I own a couple (SDB, SL900).
Click to expand...
Wincheringen, I read this from you on the RCBS Turret thread and was wondering if you could expand a bit on this. Currently, I'm in the gutter of progressives with a Lee Pro1000. I've loaded thousands upon thousands of pistol rounds on that press. It can be temperamental, but once dialed in, runs well. I'm at a point now, though, that I think it's time to upgrade progressives especially with a few thousand 223s on the horizon that are going to need to be loaded. Not factoring in price, I've never heard anything but but good things about Dillon, including the 650. But those that are familiar with me would say it would be an understatement to call me a tightwad. Couple that with all the expensive goodies to get a 650 nicely outfitted and I think I'd be close to experiencing a stroke when I see the price tag. Just wondering if I could get some info and impressions on that Hornady machine.
 
The LNLAP is a 6 station auto progressive, the press includes a case activated powder measure. Midway has them for $429, I bought mine locally for under $400. I just checked and Hornady is still doing their 500 free bullet promotion for 2013. That effectively saves you another $100-$150. The press only takes bushings, of which 5 are included and 10 packs are about $40. They offer fast caliber changes. The powder measure is a rotating drum and includes the pistol drum for small charges. The only thing required for caliber changes is a shell plate (none included), another $30-$40.

The Dillon 650 is a 5 station auto progessive. Dillon includes 1 caliber conversion (no dies). The machine itself is $567. It includes a slide bar type powder measure, it includes a small bar for pistol charges and a magnum one for larger rifle charges is available. Caliber conversion kits are $78. Quick changes of the dies are facilitated by a removable tool head, additional tool heads are $28 or $108 for one with another powder measure.

Both machines offer case and bullet feeders.

Pro's of the Hornady-
Better powder measure for all powder types. You can see the actual measurement where with the Dillon its just a hex bolt you turn in and out with no way to know how far you've turned it.
Lower intial cost & lower cost for conversions.
Parts are available at local shops.
Excellent customer service and lifetime warranty.

Pro's of the Dillon-
Its a Dillon.
Wide variety of extras to add to it.
Top notch customer service, lifetime warranty.

Cons of the Hornady-
Slightly lower published production rate. I haven't run mine up to full potential yet and I don't have a 650 to compare it to. My SDBs and SL900 both live up to their published production rates though.
Cons of the Dillon-
Expensive! Up to $200 for a caliber change!
Not as good of a powder measure (especially for extruded powders).
 
My vote is for the XL650. The powder measure does far better than people give it credit for with the extruded powders. In my experience it's accurate to 0.1 grain every time. The caliber conversions are solid and is accomplished by switching the entire toolhead, shellplate, locator buttons, and the casefeed adapter. The caliber conversions are expensive though. For every caliber I load for I have a separate toolhead with dies and powder measure. A toolhead with a powder measure runs about $108 directly from Dillon.

The Dillon is expensive, but I know I got what I paid for. Any issues with the XL650 can be fixed directly by the end user. It does take some fine tuning though. I have done 1000 rounds an hour before on it with no issues.
 
Last year I was primarily interested in churning out a lot of .45 ACP brass, and asked some questions about progressive presses. Was very interested in the Dillon Square Deal B.

Held off, and am glad I did, because now I'm also interested in building a lot of 5.56/.223 ammo...

And it might be fun to build a year's supply of .308 match ammo in a couple of hours one evening...

So - I'll be making a choice on a progressive press that will handle both rifle & handgun ammo this year! The more of these discussions I read, the better!

Guy
 
Back in December, I picked up an XL650 as my first progressive press and I can't recommend it enough.

This is a great resource that's worth checking out. His forums have a TON of good Dillon info.
http://www.brianenos.com/pages/dillon.html

I think it's a bit of a miss match though to compare them as equals. I see them as both being progressive reloaders, but they both have their niche.

- The Hornady, from my experience, is easier to swap calibers. If your goal is to load a moderate number of a wide variety of cartridges, it's not a bad piece of kit.

- The Dillon 650 is a god damned brute at churning out high volumes of one cartridge. I use it for 9mm Luger and it's ridiculous just how fast ammo can be cranked through. The setup is considerable, so swapping cartridges would be a bit of a pain. But to be clear, the Hornady cannot come close to the production numbers the dillon can. For doing a high volume of practice/comp pistol ammo, it's the best tool for the job.

That said, I think my final build out will be a dedicated 650 for the 2k+ pistol rounds I'm going through, a 550 setup for 223 to feed the ARs, and my single stage for all my super, precise hunting caliber work.
 
I have the hornady , with the brass feeder , I'd buy it again . I've never had an issue with it . hornady also has a bullet feeder for use with jacketed bullets .
 
Thanks for the input thus far. AzDak42, based on what you mention as far as the presses' strengths, sounds like I may be better suited to a Hornady. When I do pistol, I'll usually do 200-500 at a time and will also do several different calibers... so not really high volume. Plus I'll be adding 223 into the mix, initially at a higher volume, but should fall in line with my pistol volume.
 
Robert , 6mmbr or accurate shooter did a comparison between 3 or 4 progressive presses . I know it was the hornady , RCBS , dillon , I can not find the article to link you to it though . it talked about the pros and cons of each press . maybe you can look around there and find it .
 
SJB358":hmuet8y2 said:
This is great info. I would like to get into a progressive for some of my guns.. Shooting 44, 45 and 30 carbine for example. I just don't have the patience to do very many of them on the single stage.

The Hornady looks pretty good, with the ability to run rifle rounds as well, if I ever wanted to.

http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/i ... 0005095100

http://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/pro ... uctId/5988
Click to expand...


Scotty,

I'd be leery of running M1 carbine in a progressive, unless you prep them first. The carbine headspaces on the mouth of the case, and it will fire out of battery. Case length is crucially important for the carbine.

I always trim mine a hair shorter than spec, just in case the dirty H110 I use in it causes some fouling build up. You definitely don't want a long carbine round.
 
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