I have been handloading for two years on a single stage forester coax.  It produces really good rifle ammo but the amount of time i reload is an issue.  I want to start loading 45, 9mm and 223/556( practice ammo).  I am pretty much between these systems I am not concerned about saving money on good equipment( like my lifetime).  I have found spending money on good equipment plays in less drama in the reloading room.  Pretty much all of my 308 is for precision so I doubt I will ever load that on one of these presses/systems.  I am inclined to go with the Dillon 650 then add automated things later like a bullet feeder, primer tube filler etc.  I have watched countless YouTube videos,  so far Gavin Tobe channel is pressing toward the Hornady but I never really think he gives the Dillon a fair accessment because Hornady pays his bills.  I have seen other guys not draw similar conclusions about the Dillon but they only have a Dillon.  My two reloading mentors locally both have Dillon 550bs and both say Dillon once again they only Dillon.  Please don’t say the answer is in front of your face if you only have a Dillon.  I recently met a pistol guy the was very value oriented and his stance is Hornady once agin he only has Hornady.  Any good solid non bais advice is appreciated thanks.

I have the LNL and a Dillon 1050, I have loaded a lot with 650's. The LNL is very light duty, consumer type compared to the 650 or the 1050.
I have almost given up on the LNL due to fail after fail, it is not meant for heavy production or volume.
I just keep it set up now for 30-06 to feed the Garand, not high volume or precision.

I have 2 LNL's and a Forster coax - LNL' s 9, 45, 357, 556, 460, 454 etc all bulk ammo - there is nothing wrong with them I have loaded 10's of thousands of rounds with them , many years ago I had a 550 which never produced decent results. I got rid of it.

So two opposing views - Red or Blue - for every horror story there is an equal one for the different color.

Thanks guys.  This truly is a red pill or blue pill decision. I guess the answer is their is no right or wrong decision.  I am really leaning toward the 650 because the used market seems to indicate if I need to sell it it won’t be a issue.

I did a lot of homework just like you did. I love Hornady bullets and brass but their reloading equipment, not so much. For precision loading I went with the RCBS Rock Chucker and for volume loading I went with the Dillon 650. Out of the box, my Dillon was oily and my first powder spill was a real mess. I took it apart and washed it in Denatured Alcohol then lubed sparingly according to Dillon's video and all was good. The head plate sit's somewhat loose and if you don't keep that in mind when setting tolerances you can have issues. Buy their video and follow their instructions for setting up your dies and you'll be fine. Their powder measure system is not bad as long as you use spherical powders. Even the short cut powders varied too much for my liking. The shell plate is not bad but it must be adjusted correctly which can take a little trial an error. If it's not right you may have problems seating primers.

Fortunately, there are fixes available through uniquetek.com. I installed their shell plate upgrade, new primer exit chute, head clamp and upgraded powder measure bars. The powder measure bars still do not do extruded powders to my satisfaction but spherical's are now spot on. All in all, these are upgrades that I might say are mandatory and fortunately they're not that expensive. One note about the clamping system. The tap they give you is cheap, get a decent one and the drill bit has terrible runout. All the kit consists of is the 9/64 drill bit, a 8-32 tap, helicoil and cap screws. You can get all of these things locally and do the mod yourself. I won't be buying that kit from uniquetek again. You might want to buy one kit just to see how it's done but watch out for that cheap tap and drill bit.

My neighbor has a 650 also but without the upgrades and the difference is like night and day. As for my precision loads in the RCBS Rock Chucker, it just works perfectly every time. Buy good precision dies and you'll be very happy with the results.

Owned a lnl for ~5yrs.

Own a 650 now.

Won’t ever own anything but a 650.

.38/357, 9mm, 40, 45.

Load rifle on single stage as I don’t load high volume of them. .223, 30-06, 6.5cm.

TLDR anything but hornaday. I have one id gladly sell you. Wish i never bought the POS.

Most of the complaints with either red or blue can be fixed with proper setup.

That said, I have had both, currently have Hornady LNL ap, mainly because the factory is less than one hour away and I like supporting local industry.

I run 9, 44, 223, and 243 on it. The initial setup for each caliber takes some time but after that it's less than 5 minutes to swap calibers and most of that time is spent setting up the powder measure.

I have a hornady and now it just sits.   I didn't minded it until I tried to use the caeefeeder and that part of that set up is awful.   Using it without the casefeeder it was fine.   The Dillon case feeder is just about idiot proof.

That’s where I lost the love for my lnl and it turned into hate.

Stupid case feeder just sucks.

I have had my 550 for atleast 6 years now and loaded all my stuff on it and love it.  I recently got a 650 and use it for 223 and 9mm.  It makes those long reloading sessions MUCH easier.  I will admit, I still use my 550 a lot, but more for my low volume stuff.

Thanks guys lots of really great info.  I appreciate the your  time sharing your experiences and for me I believe all the advice has reenforced my decision to go with the 650.  My single stage press is a forester coax and it is a awesome press.  I feel like I saved 100’s of dollars listening to guys about starting with that press.  My precision ammo is ridiculously good and I got their with very little fuss.  So that lesson was not lost on me while researching progressive set ups.  I think there is a learning curve/nesscary upgrades etc with any progressive press but it sounds like the Dillon will serve me well.  I will likely always produce my match rifle ammo on the coax but for practice ammo or match pistol ammo I think the Dillon will get the job done.

I think you'll be happy with that combo.  i actually size all my match ammo on the Dillon, but still do my bullet seating on the coax.  Saves me a bunch of time.

OP

Disclaimer ... I am a Dillon fan boy, bleed blue, whatever ... Dillon's have earned their spot on my bench.

That typed ... regarding your 550 or 650 decision, the following is intended help with that.

The 650 is IMO designed to be operated with a case feeder.   The case feeder is what makes this press faster.   If you don't use it with the case feeder, you have to load brass in what is IMO an awkward spot and/or into a tube by hand. SO my point is .... buy the 650 with a case feeder when you buy the press and learn them together, if you want to get more of the benefits out of the press you are paying for.    Secondly, the 650 has a 5 hole.  So if you want to run some kind of powder cop, the 650 is what you want.    If you want a powder cop, read no further here, stop researching and order the 650 with a case feeder.

The 550 is also great press, if you don't plan to run a case feeder and don't need a powder cop.  It is an uber simple press to operate, super easy to set up and clear when needed, and will make buckets of ammo as fast or nearly as fast (am talking start to finish and set up time) as a 650 WITHOUT a casefeeder.  It is what I load on.

The 650 and 550 are both great presses.

I have operated the three presses you mentioned.  I won't type much about the LNL, just some things to consider, because I was taught years ago that if I didn't have something good to say, best to say nothing at all.   I will say, both Dillon models being discussed here hold their resale value well, while the red ones don't....draw your own conclusions.    Or,  still on the red/blue/other point, if you are interested in what color 86% of the responders of those surveyed at a National Shoot load on, click here.   I think these guys are like me and like to make ammo, not endless tweeks and excuses, but hey, that's just an opinion from someone who has operated the three you asked about and keeps his eyes and ears open around active reloaders.

Your local Mentors telling you Dillon are giving you great advice....listen to it.  Will stop there.

I now load all my various pistol rounds  (under 10k per year) and regular rifle rounds (under 5k per year) on a 550, and load my precision rifle on a single.   I generally load inventory in the winter to carry me for the rest of the year, baring new rifle/pistol work ups.

I have no problem throughout the year finding the the supposed extra 12 hours of time a year to spend loading 15,000 rounds on my 550 over the 650 with a case feeder (in theory 400 hr v 600 hr).    If you load less volume than that, or waste any time in your life surfing the net/watching meaningless TV shows/sitting in bars ..... a few extra hours throughout a year are easy to find ..... but I digress.   I am less interested in speed, more interested in quality and process simplicity.   The 550 right out of the box as it comes is a great, boringly consistent, proven, small footprint, easy to change, quite, no drama, economical, 400/hr at safe speed press that fits my needs perfectly, your needs may be different.

Bottom line, you can't go wrong with either the 550 or the 650 with a casefeeder.   Caviat, competition volume, up to and including automated uber high volume rifle case prep would be a whole other discussion.

(Edit for this ... get some extra primer tubes ((and potentially a tube filling aid)) or you will be stopping every 15 minutes or less to fill primer loading tubes under either scenario)

Thanks for the post.  I have decided on the Dillon 650 with case feeder.  I am also going to order the inline fab ultra mount, skylight and custom handle.  This week I just loaded my first 45 acp pistol rounds on my single stage.  Wow that was a learning experience.  I thought coming from precision rifle reloading pistol would be a piece of cake.  I found out very quickly I should have purchased a separate taper crimp die instead of trying to seat and crimp in one operation.  Holy crap it took me 2 hours to get that right.  Of course one of my reloading mentors says “ why didn’t you just seat all your bullets then remove the seating stem and crimp all your bullets with the same die ( head slap)”. So at least for the next 70 rounds it’s a all in one operation.  Definitely going to run a 4 carbide dies for pistol with powder check across the pistol calibers.  Does anyone have an opinion on wet tumbling vs dry tumbling and using the Dillon 650?  I have seen some guys believe the Dillon doesn’t run well with wet tumbled cases and some don’t have a problem.  I am thinking of buying the big Dillon vibratory tumbler mostly because of the volume of cases it can clean.  Currently I wet tumble but I don’t think that’s gonna work real well with the volume I want to do in a session.  I like even numbers so I am thinking at least run a thousand maybe not all at once but definitely between caliber changes.  Meaning I’ll buy everything needed for a 1000 round run minimum before even thinking about changing the machine.  I am also considering the Frankfort arsenal auto prime to load primer tubes any advice on this type of device would help me out.

I wet tumbler on mine without much issue.

My powder funnel will hang up on the inside of the cases every 50rds a little, simple swipe of my finger removes the brass residue, takes 4sec.

It's 650 vs LNL AP.  The 550 is inferior.  I own the LNL AP, but got to use a 550 for a while.  I took an NRA Metallic Cartridge Reloading course.  The instructor had a Dillon 550 and a few single stage presses.  The 550 is terrible in comparison.  No auto indexing is a non-starter.

I like my LNL AP a lot.  The powder measure is always dead on.  It's easy to remove dies at any time with the LNL bushing system.  I could switch from 9mm to 45ACP in about 5 minutes.  It takes 30 seconds to swap the dies themselves.  The other time would just be verifying they are still set to the correct levels from the last time I used them.  My only complaint is that sometimes the primer system can get hung up.  Now that I've had it for a while and done a few thousand rounds on it, I don't have many issues.

You can get amazing deals on used LNL APs.  My equipment paid for itself after couple thousand rounds because I got a LNL AP with enough stuff to reload about 4000 9mm included.  Dillon has good resale which means you'll get your money back, sure.  The Hornady can be had so cheap that you wouldn't lose money selling it.  Realistically, the investment would be so small that you'd never really want/need to sell it.

If I we're doing it again, I'd still get the LNL because of my limited budget.  If I had unlimited funds I'd try a Dillon just to see what they're like.

I was in your same predicament about 1 year ago and I went with a Hornady LNL with no case feeder. Although I looked very hard at Dillon I went Hornady because it is more suited to my needs. I load pretty low volume 100-300 rds per session but a bunch of different cartridges/loads so quick set up is more important to me. I load .44 mag with 4 different bullets so I have 4 different seating dies pre-set and just pop in the one I need. To me the time and frustration saved is far more important and not to mention a lot cheaper than Dillon. I have had zero problems with my machine and I’m very happy with my choice.

This is a common recurring thread.  It often comes down to Ford/Chevy debates in many ways.  The good news is I don't think there is a mistake either way.  I personally prefer the Hornady LnL; their customer service it on par with Dillon, though they don't promote it as much.  There are features to the Hornady I like, such as the bushing based die system, and the powder drop is quite good.  The AutoIndex is nice (i.e. the Hornady LnL is equivalent to the 650; not the 550).  They 650 and LnL both have 5 die stations, and when reloading, I use all 5, and could even use a 6th at times (550 only has 4).

Biggest items of note with the LnL is the primer system design is prone to not sliding into alignment so reliably, due to powder build-up and such.  It's manageable, and a non-item once you figure out how to really run that press, but there's a learning curve.  The shell-plate indexing system generally requires adjustment every few months or so.  Again, with an allen wrench, it's a few second process.  Once you learn how to make it hum, it's a non-item.

I've run 10's if not hundreds of thousands of rounds through my LnL.  I'm at a place that if I wanted a Dillon, I could have a Dillon; though it's tough not to think Dillons are pretty proud of their stuff, compared to what Hornady charges.  I'm satisfied with my LnL, and do really like the way the dies can pop in and out so quickly with that system.

For ammunition quality, it makes great ammo.  For production rate, it's a progressive.  It cranks ammo as fast as you can keep the primer tube full, insert a casing, and insert a bullet.  I don't mess with automated case-feed or auto-drive systems.  I prefer the quality control of being the one touching and inspecting each case by hand as it goes in.

Would I be just as satisfied with a Dillon as with my LnL?  Probably, there's not a big mistake to make here.

I use my 550s (large primer and small primer) and Prometheus Measure for 99% of all my long range ammo.  I even load up to 338 Lapua on a 550...

I am very happy with it and have no reason to change.

I own a LNL AP and one of my best friends owns a 650 that I've loaded thousands on.

I say get both.

If I'm loading medium volume where I don't want to use a case feeder I use the LNL.

If I plan on using the case feeder I would hands down get the 650.

The reason is due to the design. The cases feed from the left on the LNL so they're easy to load by your left hand as you actuate the press with your right hand. The flow is nice and you never take your right hand off the handle. They load from the right on the 650 so it's more difficult to load in a case with the hand you are actuation the press with.

I love my LNL AP and since I mostly load rifle I found it a better fit for me since I hand prime off the press and load every case by hand. That was a nightmare on the 650.

I also have my AP and my LNL classic "calibrated" with one another so I can swap dies between the two presses without changing any settings. To my knowledge this is not really at option (although possible in theory) with the 650.

I just purchased a new Hornady LnL after much research. The choice was actually between the 650 and the LnL. My previous experience with progressive loaders was with Star. That's a hard loader to beat if you love precision. None of the current progressives come close. I didn't say they didn't work well just not as well made. I did have hands on with the Dillon and it just felt loosey-goosey. The LnL is much more of a precise feeling loader. I see many of the comments are referring to the older LnL's. They are on Gen3 and there is a lot of difference between the Gen's. They are working the bugs out and I think about there.

The real deciding factor was cost. The 650 setup for one caliber (no dies) is $590. The Lnl AP I bought Cost me $645 delivered to my door. Included in that prices were Hornady Custom Dies with taper crimp for 9mm and 45ACP. Also 38/357 Custom dies. Also included was shell plates for all 3 calibers. So for $50 more I was ready to load 3 calibers out of the box adding powder, primers, and bullets. I will admit I couldn't find a LnL to lay hands on so I ordered blind so to speak. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the press and the build. I won't say it's up to Star standards but it's close. AND much easier to setup and use. It's very smooth and so far so good. My opinion may change as I get more time with it. Who knows. On the resale value. I looked long and hard for a decent price on a used one. They are few and far between and the cheapest I found was $300.

My 2 cents worth, spend it wisely.

I have a ~11 year old LNL and it’s given me loads of headaches, primarily the previously mentioned case feeder and primer feeder systems. But I also have issues with fairly inconsistent powder drops. It is the non-threaded hopper design so I don’t know if they have improved upon it since I bought the system. I tried all the recommendations like running graphite through it and to remove static by rubbing drier sheets on the outside (why the f would this ghetto hack be a Hornady recommendation?). Anyways, for plinking rounds it’s alright if you don’t mind stopping all the time due to random parts jamming up (it would be a great system if the Swiss designed the timings and meshed components).  If I need to produce reliable, accurate, consistent ammo, I go with my single stage.

If you decide to go with the 650, you really need to go with the Case feeder from the gitgo. The case feed on the press was designed for a case feeder, which means you need to fill a tube in a relatively awkward spot with small batches of cases . . . unless you let the case feeder do it for you.

See if you can find a video of a 650 running without a case feeder so you can judge whether that setup is good for you. I could never find one :)

The 550 is only a 4 hole press, so you would be limiting your future flexibility. Despite being manual index, it is closer in throughput to a 650 without a case feeder than you would think.

A 1050 should pretty much be set up and left alone running a single caliber. Changeovers are expensive and take a while. Expensive and only a one-year warranty.

The Hornady LNL is a decent 5-hole press for multiple calibers and will operate fine without a case feeder. Many of the complaints about the LNL have been resolved by part changes over the years (eg primer punch redesign, case feeder pivot mount). Buying the redundant parts to give the quickest caliber changes is also cheaper on the Hornady.

The 650 is obviously a good 5-hole press, more expensive, and more so with each caliber change. It is not without its own issues, but is likely to come up faster and stay running smoother longer without readjustments than the LNL.

Hornady's and Dillon's warranty are identical on the 550, 650, and LNL.

Either the 650 or the LNL are likely your best choices, and IMO either will serve you well.

Just look at it this way:  Nobody who went blue ever says he made the wrong choice.

You can't say that about people who go red.  Some of them do admit later that it would have been better to buy the Dillon machine.

I posted in this thread last year.  I own both a LNL and a 550 now.  I still prefer the LNL, but both are good.

I agree with a blue 650. I don't think its a blue pill vs red pill situation. Or it may be until you use both. The LNL is great and it will get the job done but the 650 is a better product. Comparing the LNL to the 550 is unfair in that one is auto indexing and meant for a little more volume.

Im new to the 650 but on the 550 I have not opened the bag of spare parts in 14 years of owning the press. my friends LNL has been down for parts orders at least once a year for the past 6

I have both the 550 and 650 now. Both are great I now use the 550 for small batch and the 650 for bulk(or bulk for me, 1000 a run)