BUY. THE. DILLON.
Lee Classic turret, take your time and learn
Hornady AP, you can do it!
Lee Loadmaster, speed on a budget
Dillon 550, the safe choice, just save up for it
Mods here are shit
Interesting. That has not been my experience with mine. The coil spring to which you refer has given me no trouble, and fiddling with case positioning is not something I have to do. The machine has weak points, but the case retaining spring is not one of them IMO. As I've said in other threads, the timing on mine was a touch off from the factory, but it was easy to adjust, and having gotten it set properly, it has given me no trouble since.
972 and others, have made some great points. I've stayed out of this because I have no experience with the 550 or the Hornady. Since we've strayed a little bit though into procedures, I will re-iterate that a Lee Classic Turret will do everything well, but at a pace much faster than a single stage and much slower than a progressive. Since you really do need a different, more manual press for rifle brass prep, the LCT will allow you to jump in and make good ammo, and then when you are ready for a Dillon, it will still accomplish your prep needs, as well as the oddball caliber that you want to try out. So, I vote for LCT and a Dillon. :-)
Key question is how often and what volume will you load 223? Unless you need a special 223 load, I would buy 223 on sale and load 9mm on a Dillon Square deal. I have a 550 and I use my Lee Dies and my Lee disc powder drops to save money for multiple pistol calibers. I hate case prep so I buy my rifle ammo.
Last edited by ranger; 02-10-2016 at 01:44 PM.
Nothing says that you have to size your rifle brass on a single stage. I load 5.56mm ammo on my Dillon 1050 all the time, and the method can easily be adapted to other progressive presses. I use two toolheads. Toolhead A contains a small-base sizing/depriming die, and Toolhead B has the powder die, bullet feeder, seating, and crimp die.
My process is, I install Toolhead A, lube my brass with Dillon Case Lube, and run all my brass through once to size, deprime, and swage. Then I tumble the batch of brass to remove the lube and trim them to 1.750" on my Giraud. Finally, I install Toolhead B and run the brass through again, to prime, seat a bullet, and crimp (if necessary).
I could set up a Rapid Trim 1200 on Toolhead A, but these days I prefer to trim on my Giraud. It takes a little longer, but I think the result is better.
-C
My blog: The Way of the Multigun
If you're not ham-fisted and are willing to take your time you can start right off on a 550. Loading isn't rocket science but it does need patience and diligence to ensure you don't squib or double-charge a load. That being said, I started out on an LCT due to cost and I haven't bumped up to a 550. When I've got the time I load 100-200 rounds a week and that turns out to be about 30-60 minutes a week at the loading bench.
The LCT is Lee's best press IMHO. Adding the Safety Priming system makes priming quick and it's safer than the priming tubes used by the bigger presses (crushed primer = one detonation on the LCT; crushed primer on a 550 = daisy chain detonation and some ear ringing ). Lee's disk powder system is pretty consistent as long as the press is put together correctly.
Send me a PM if you'd like to talk more about it. I've set up a number of people on the LCT and most have been really happy. It's not going to replace a 550 though...
Last edited by ER_STL; 02-10-2016 at 02:52 PM.
This is true, I only use the single stage because I already had it and a swager for it. I am constantly tempted to buy another tool head for a 1200 trimmer and one of those aftermarket swagers for the 550. My 5.56 volume doesn't quite justify that cost yet, although I think about it every time I prep brass.
Slight thread drift but related - those that load 223, do you think you save enough money loading 223 to justify the case prep effort? I can justify loading 9mm, 40, and 45 but I cannot justify loading 223, 6.8, or 6.5 Grendel.