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Posted: 4/12/2012 8:56:04 PM EDT
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Really I need help making sure I've picked the right one. I wan't to make sure there are no "gotcha's" that i'm missing. I'm not new to reloading at all but I've never owned a progressive before. In the past I've only ever worked on a rock chucker. Thanks to NFA guns and rising ammo prices I think I'm finally ready to invest in a progressive. After looking at Lee, RCBS, Hornady and Dillon I think I want to get a Dillon 1050. I'm looking to pull a lever and have the press do everything. Drop the brass into the case holder, resize, deprime, swage primer pocket, trim OAL, drop powder, check powder, drop bullet and seat it. From what I've found neither the 1050 or the LNL-AP will do this on a single pass but both will do it on 2 passes. If I get the Dillon I can reload both 9mm and 5.56 by simply swapping the top end (which I'll have 2 of for each caliber anyway since two passes are required to do everything I want) and maybe the projectile sorter on the feed tower. I want to simply pull the lever and watch finished ammo fall in the bin. I'm looking for pretty much the cheapest loads I can make that are still of reasonable accuracy. I'd be more than happy with ~1moa in 5.56. Most of the 9mm will be shot in an NFA mac11 so as long as I don't shoot myself while using it, I've had a good day.
Is this reasonable? Will the LNL-AP accomplish this better? Is there another brand I missed that will do all this in one pass? |
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IMO, get the 1050 and insert the bullet by hand. Your going to want to look into the cases to see powder level anyway (at least on the pistol stuff). the 1050 is quite a machine. I have had a few different progressives and the 1050 has been the best by far. They all have their glitches, so be aware of that.
Frank |
| The 1050 is the only that will swage primer pocket on the press while processing brass , it is also hands down a nicer press then anything else Dillon makes , think yugo verses Beamer. you only need one head for 9mm, actually you need one head if you use goog lock rings |
| How much are you shooting in each caliber? I would give Brian Enos a call and talk to him before I went in on a 1050. You still have to resize and clean the lube off the 5.56. Depending on how much you shoot, a 550 or 650 with a case feeder may be a better, cheaper option. |
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How much are you shooting in each caliber? I would give Brian Enos a call and talk to him before I went in on a 1050. You still have to resize and clean the lube off the 5.56. Depending on how much you shoot, a 550 or 650 with a case feeder may be a better, cheaper option. His requirements were swedging the primer pocket while on the press. If that's truly a requirement, the 1050 is the only press I can think of that does that. BUT, you only have to do that once. Every other time you reload the brass the primer pocket is already swedged. So a 650xl + Dilling Swedger may be a good alternative once you think in those terms. |
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Quoted: The 1050 is the only that will swage primer pocket on the press while processing brass , it is also hands down a nicer press then anything else Dillon makes , think yugo verses Beamer. you only need one head for 9mm, actually you need one head if you use goog lock rings "yugo verses Beamer", seriously? The 650 with a casefeeder is a fine machine and certainly Dillon's top of the line non-commercial press. The 1050 is a commercial machine designed to be set up with a single caliber and run forever like that. Therefore, it's not, 'caliber conversion friendly' (both time and money wise) and they are considerably more expensive in the beginning. Even with the 1050, one must make two passes with necked rifle calibers, a case prep and a reloading pass just like every other press out there. Quoted: Quoted: How much are you shooting in each caliber? I would give Brian Enos a call and talk to him before I went in on a 1050. You still have to resize and clean the lube off the 5.56. Depending on how much you shoot, a 550 or 650 with a case feeder may be a better, cheaper option. His requirements were swedging the primer pocket while on the press. If that's truly a requirement, the 1050 is the only press I can think of that does that. BUT, you only have to do that once. Every other time you reload the brass the primer pocket is already swedged. So a 650xl + Dilling Swedger may be a good alternative once you think in those terms. And, at the cost difference between the 650 and 1050, he'll be able to get a Dillon press mounted trimmer or Hornady bullet feeder too. When you add in the cost differences for caliber conversions, then he could get both for the same funds. |
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How about the option to buy a Dillon 650 outfitted with X dies (no trimming needed) and a case feeder. Just be more selective on your choice of brass so you never need to decrimp the primer pockets.
You can use commercial (uncrimped) brass or you can get pre-processed military brass that has already been sized, trimmed to length and decrimped. These options will mean that on-press decrimping (a one-time operation) does not drive your press selection. |
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Quoted:
IMO, get the 1050 and insert the bullet by hand. Your going to want to look into the cases to see powder level anyway (at least on the pistol stuff). the 1050 is quite a machine. I have had a few different progressives and the 1050 has been the best by far. They all have their glitches, so be aware of that. Frank I want this to be as automated as possible. I may miss powder in a load but I wont miss a powder cop's scream. Quoted:
How much are you shooting in each caliber? I would give Brian Enos a call and talk to him before I went in on a 1050. You still have to resize and clean the lube off the 5.56. Depending on how much you shoot, a 550 or 650 with a case feeder may be a better, cheaper option. Last year was 33k 9mm and I've recently acquired a ton of 5.56 rifles. I'd say at least as much. of that Who's Brian Enos? Everything I've been reading says by the time you outfit the 650 with all the upgrades you've spent as much as a 1050 but without some of the 1050 features. Quoted:
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How much are you shooting in each caliber? I would give Brian Enos a call and talk to him before I went in on a 1050. You still have to resize and clean the lube off the 5.56. Depending on how much you shoot, a 550 or 650 with a case feeder may be a better, cheaper option. His requirements were swedging the primer pocket while on the press. If that's truly a requirement, the 1050 is the only press I can think of that does that. BUT, you only have to do that once. Every other time you reload the brass the primer pocket is already swedged. So a 650xl + Dilling Swedger may be a good alternative once you think in those terms. Given that this isn't for what I'd call precision ammo, merely to get my price per round down, I'd imagine that crimped primers are going to be mixed in with brass I've already loaded. Quoted:
How about the option to buy a Dillon 650 outfitted with X dies (no trimming needed) and a case feeder. Just be more selective on your choice of brass so you never need to decrimp the primer pockets. You can use commercial (uncrimped) brass or you can get pre-processed military brass that has already been sized, trimmed to length and decrimped. These options will mean that on-press decrimping (a one-time operation) does not drive your press selection. I'm looking to set this up to minimize the stoppages when loading. I'd like to only have to worry about berdan primers. |
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You still have to resize and clean the lube off the 5.56. Hmm.... I've wondered this before. Let's say that you used a carbide expander ball, so the inside of the neck didn't need lube. Would the 1050 do: Deprime swage lube die size/trim (rt1200) prime drop powder seat bullet crimp If so, the lube could be removed after, I would think. But I realize that there may be other reasons why an all-in-one workflow like that just wouldn't work. The government auctions for once-fired LC brass might be a good source of brass for such endeavors, I think they usually work out to $30-$40/k, and the 1050 would swage them. Anyway, OP, unless you want to spend every day tumbling brass, you'll need at least a couple of tumblers, and five of them would not be overkill. And if you want automated... check this and this out. 
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You still have to resize and clean the lube off the 5.56. Hmm.... I've wondered this before. Let's say that you used a carbide expander ball, so the inside of the neck didn't need lube. Would the 1050 do: Deprime swage lube die size/trim (rt1200) prime drop powder seat bullet crimp If so, the lube could be removed after, I would think. But I realize that there may be other reasons why an all-in-one workflow like that just wouldn't work. The government auctions for once-fired LC brass might be a good source of brass for such endeavors, I think they usually work out to $30-$40/k, and the 1050 would swage them. Anyway, OP, unless you want to spend every day tumbling brass, you'll need at least a couple of tumblers, and five of them would not be overkill. And if you want automated... check this and this out. You have tob e careful with not using lube, even with carbide dies. You should always use lube for bottle-neck rifle rounds. As for leaving the lube, the only lube that I know of that you can leave on is Hornady One Shot. It does not affect powder or primers. |
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You still have to resize and clean the lube off the 5.56. Hmm.... I've wondered this before. Let's say that you used a carbide expander ball, so the inside of the neck didn't need lube. Would the 1050 do: Deprime swage lube die size/trim (rt1200) prime drop powder seat bullet crimp If so, the lube could be removed after, I would think. But I realize that there may be other reasons why an all-in-one workflow like that just wouldn't work. The government auctions for once-fired LC brass might be a good source of brass for such endeavors, I think they usually work out to $30-$40/k, and the 1050 would swage them. Anyway, OP, unless you want to spend every day tumbling brass, you'll need at least a couple of tumblers, and five of them would not be overkill. And if you want automated... check this and this out. You have tob e careful with not using lube, even with carbide dies. You should always use lube for bottle-neck rifle rounds. As for leaving the lube, the only lube that I know of that you can leave on is Hornady One Shot. It does not affect powder or primers. i would always clean my brass after using any lube, but that's just me. watch this video, some food for thought if your reloading 5.56/223 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42b3P8Zt4Fs&list=FLH5TN-XHBxaZ_KPjfXpDa5Q&index=12&feature=plpp_video |
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You still have to resize and clean the lube off the 5.56. Hmm.... I've wondered this before. Let's say that you used a carbide expander ball, so the inside of the neck didn't need lube. Would the 1050 do: Deprime swage lube die size/trim (rt1200) prime drop powder seat bullet crimp If so, the lube could be removed after, I would think. But I realize that there may be other reasons why an all-in-one workflow like that just wouldn't work. I have a 1050 and have spent time thinking if there would be a way to do this (as I sure many folks have) and the bottom line is that there is not an acceptable one, for me anyways. The 1050 has enough stations to theoretically do everything in one pass, but the limiting factors are where the swaging and priming takes place. You could put a resizing die or universal decapping die in the first station. There is also not a station in between the swaging station and the priming, so you would have to replace the swage die with the trim die with the rt1200 in the second station. Doing this would mean that trim die might not support the case enough for the swaging rod to fully swage the crimp. The other concern I had, even if there were enough stations is just the amount of brass trimmings I find in the cases after trimming. |
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You still have to resize and clean the lube off the 5.56. Hmm.... I've wondered this before. Let's say that you used a carbide expander ball, so the inside of the neck didn't need lube. Would the 1050 do: Deprime swage lube die size/trim (rt1200) prime drop powder seat bullet crimp If so, the lube could be removed after, I would think. But I realize that there may be other reasons why an all-in-one workflow like that just wouldn't work. The government auctions for once-fired LC brass might be a good source of brass for such endeavors, I think they usually work out to $30-$40/k, and the 1050 would swage them. Anyway, OP, unless you want to spend every day tumbling brass, you'll need at least a couple of tumblers, and five of them would not be overkill. And if you want automated... check this and this out. You have tob e careful with not using lube, even with carbide dies. You should always use lube for bottle-neck rifle rounds. As for leaving the lube, the only lube that I know of that you can leave on is Hornady One Shot. It does not affect powder or primers. i would always clean my brass after using any lube, but that's just me. watch this video, some food for thought if your reloading 5.56/223 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42b3P8Zt4Fs&list=FLH5TN-XHBxaZ_KPjfXpDa5Q&index=12&feature=plpp_video Your video 
This thread is interesting. I've been contemplating a progressive lately for 9mm and .40.. |
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