I've had a Lee Loadmaster press for a couple years and pretty much want to throw it in the garbage at this point.

So what is a better progressive press?

From my understanding the Lee Dies I have will work in the other brands correct?

Let me know thanks.

NOTE, to people who don't read the thread before posting, OP has already got his press.

So we will know when you post a press recommendation. dryflash3

dillon

Dillon++++++++++

Dillon 550, 650, or 1050 in order of cost of ownership and speed. 650 if you value automatic indexing over the 550's manual index. The 550 is pretty easy to get along with, though.

The only common progressive that does not use standard dies is the dillon square deal.

I went from a loadmaster to a Dillon 650, it was one of my better decisions and I recommend it.  The Hornady LNL guys will be in soon, and they should work well too.

Dillon 650. I have a hornady.... don't hornady

As you see above Dillon is the popular choice.  I load on a Dillon 650 with all the bells.

To answer your question any of the dillons 550 or better or maybe the lock and load.  That is all cas and round count dependint.

My dillon 650 with case and bullet feeder will do over 1k per hour as it is set up.

I cant speck to the lock and load but for the dillons I will try and breack them down

550 multiple calibers less than or equal to 1000 rounds before you what to change calibers.  Do not by the case feeder if you load that much get the 650.

650 multiple calibers more than 1000 between changes preferably 2500 or more between changes.  OR up to 20K per year in one caliber.  DO NOT buy a 650 with out the dillon case feeder.
650 is also ok for smaller runs if money is not tight.

1050 large quantity of one caliber. 25k per year or more.

SDB hand gun only and requires dillon only dies that do not work with any other press I do not recomed it to anyone.

Edit to add dillon is the hands down winner in the competitive shooting world.

I'd like a 650 for pistol rounds.  I'm not sure if there's compatible parts for rifle rounds I reload for the bulletfeeder and casefeeder, I wanted a 550 to get the hang of it first.  Two presses (not including the single stage I have) are my goal.

Well went and picked up a Dillon XL650, anyone want a Lee Loadmaster its for sale.....

Almost anything you could want would work with the case feeder. The Mr Bullet Feeder is only available with 9mm/38, 40, 45, 30 caliber, and 22 caliber dropper assemblies. They are not cartridge specific, but rather caliber.

The 45 setup will collate and feed 44s as well without issue, which I have used to feed my star sizer in the past. But no dropper assembly exists to use it on a reloading press.

I bought a Dillon XL650 based on what people above me are saying. I have no regrets other than not doing it sooner.

I think you will be very happy with that I hope you also got the case feeder.

If your run into trouble geting it set up feel free to IM me and Ill see what I can do.

Gonna have to save up, got the basic kit and 6 caliber conversion sets while I was there, saving my pennies now for the case feeder and mr bullet feeder.

The DILLON XL650 is pure joy

In all seriousness it was a major mistake to not get the case feeder immediately. The 650 is not set up to be easily fed by hand.

Its like putting a crappy scope on a nice rifle, it will work but its not ideal.  The 650 is not easily fed by hand but workable, especially if money is a little tight from blowing your cash on the press and dies, conversions, tool heads etc.

The 650 w/o case feed is a great improvement over the Loadmaster and a good place to start upgrading as funds allow.

Congrats OP on your new press

Welcome to Dillon OP. I had a RCBS Pro 2000 for several years. Got tired no case or bullet feeders coming to market.

My press will now load a 100 rounds in 4 minutes w/o being a madman on the handle.

That's pretty quick. What kind of set up do you have?

Sir,I too have been a Dillon user for many years.  I started with a 450 later converted it to 550, and now also have a 650.  I highly recommend them both.  Keep in mind the Lee dies you have will work in the sizing and decapping stage and the seating/crimping stage.  The Dillon powder die also bevels the case mouth of pistol cartridges and you won't need your Lee die equivalent.  Remember when you buy the Dillon caliber conversion kit that there is a powder funnel/belling die included and to buy extra powder dies along with extra tool heads depending on how many different cartridges you will reload for.  HTH, 7zero1.

What's wrong with the load master? I'm thinking about getting it as my first press

Nothing at all.  It's just not progressive which limits your speed.

Lots of things....startyour own thread for more information.

I went LNL-AP, but I am almost 100% pistol and wish I would have gone 650. Requires lots of fine-tuning and polishing of small parts, removing edges, etc.

When it runs though, it's great.

LEE makes decent dies, and bullet molds

the LEE Turret press is a great starter press

anything they do progressive, is junk IMHO

Dillon dominates the progressive press market for good reason.

Same here.  Dillon makes it much easier to switch from one caliber to another without dinking around with fine tuning.  If I had it to do again, I'd get a 650 with case feeder and powder check system.  Buy in is a little more pricey, but you'll spend less time working on the press and more time loading.

If I hadn't just spent too much $ on a 1903A3 that I'm getting back to "shooter" status, I'd probably have bought a 650 setup for Christmas.

The Dillon XL650.

For those who are on the fence, just notice that you basically can't find anybody who chose blue (Dillon presses) and regretted it.

You can find lots of people who switch from other colors to blue, but you almost can't find anybody who switches back to another color.

Once you have experienced greatness,  "very good" isn't good enough anymore.

Dillon 1050 is the heat if you need the volume.

I did my research quite a bit ago and picked Dillon.  No regrets.  I just punched out another batch of 5.56x45 last night.

All I can say is wow I wasted a lot of money on Lee junk, this Dillon XL 650 is awesome. Got it mounted to my bench and cranked 0ut a couple hundred rounds of 380 with literally no hiccups, the Loadmaster would have taken a lot longer wish I would have went Dillon sooner.... this thing is just smoother easier ect it's better in every way than the Loadmaster.

Nice to see you enjoy it. Dillon is expensive but I have not regretted any of their products.

Just a heads up- their shipping fees are pants on head retarded at times, so try and make sure if you're ordering a small part or single piece that you get everything you need. If you break a small part, however, call them and they will mail you a new one out asap.

The 650 is fairly bullet proof, the wear parts I have replaced a couple of times are the shuttle that pushes the cases forward, the little plastic / delvin retaining cone on the powder measure rod, and the plastic bell crank cube on the powder measure.

Before you go crazy modifying your 650 with "upgrades", most of them don't do much. The wheel bearing to replace the cam rod didn't make much difference IMO and neither does the "bearing kit" that goes on the shellplate. YMMV and they are cheap if you want to try them out.

I've heard people say otherwise but when you get a case feeder, I have had no issue using hornady case feed plates, which are a bit cheaper. I have about half hornady casefeed plates and half dillon and both work as well as the other. Perhaps it is because my case feeder is the older model? There have been several iterations since mine...

Aftermarket toolheads on ebay are perfectly fine and very inexpensive. Tool head "clamp" kits imo are of little and dubious value, but they don't hurt anything either.

Buy a frankford arsenal primer filler and dicker with it until you figure it out. I have a dillon rf100 filler but the frankford is a much better value. Having a primer filler tool also reduces the need for a bunch of spare primer tubes.

Periodically clean your primer tubes and magazine with a patch with a little alcohol on it. By periodically, I mean every now and again, it's not a frequent need. Primers are the most dangerous thing you handle and an exploding primer on a 650 can cause all the primers in the tube to go with it. Primer residue can also be dangerous and build up over time. It is rare, but the 650 is the press of choice of most volume shooters so you hear of it every now and again. Wear eye pro while reloading and don't neglect inspecting your cases.

The uniquetek micrometer powder bar is a little spendy but a terrific upgrade. When you adjust your dillon measure you will find there is some backlash in the adjustment screw- not much, but I always adjust a little more than I need then turn it back in the other direction to fine tune my charge. The uniquetek makes this a nonissue and gives you reference marks so you can repeat your loads easily, instead of using guess and check methods.

Some people have been 3d printing some small parts, like case feed bodies and arms. Makes sense to me and they're just cheap plastic parts from dillon, so you might look into it if you're just shy a single part from making a conversion, since so many parts are shared between kits.

Thumb screws or a quick detach attachment for your powder measure are a nice quality of life upgrade. I hated having to get use a hex key to remove or adjust my measures!

But the Dillon as it is is pretty bombproof, and most of the good upgrades don't make it "better" in the sense of making better ammo or whatever, they just make it a little user friendlier.

Cool thanks.

Yeah I'm not doing any upgrades until I get used to it.

First on my lists are several quick change set ups so I can just leave the tool heads set up, already got 3 on order.

I also ordered a couple of Kinetic Arc Metalworks racks for the quick change kits to be stored on.

Next will be the case feeder.

Then the Mr Bullet feeder.

After that I will see what I I want to upgrade.

Oh and I made a bracket out of 6"x6" 1/3" thick angle iron to mount the press/hang it on the wall while not in use as I use my bench for a lot of different things so it can't stay mounted to the bench all the time.

If you plan on getting a case feeder, Dillon Xl650.

If you do not plan on getting a case feeder, do not get the Dillon. I recommend the Hornady LNL AP.

I can go into details if you want, but that's my advice after loading on both of them for almost a decade.

650 and don't look back unless you have the coin for a 1050 (or their recently announced successors) or a Mark7.

Hornady guys love theirs for a minute then wish they went blue.

This makes sense.  Left hand manual case feed versus same as the handle side.

I have a Hornady w/case and bullet feeders.  It runs after tinkering with it, but I’ll be replacing the whole set up with a Dillon 650 this year.

Great post

I have a Hornady and love it. I keep reading how Dillon is "the best" so I bought one to try and ended up selling it to keep the Hornady. Both presses have their issues. I just prefer the ergonomics of the Hornady and found it is no harder to setup than the Dillon. Both companies have terrific customer service.

If you start with Dillon I am sure you will be happy. For me I liked the Hornady better and the powder measure on the Hornady is much better than the Dillon.

Dillon Super 1050, everything is done on the down stroke including seating the new primer. Will use the RCBS Rock Chucker for load development and loading .44mag and .243Win on.

@DRAINSMITH