Quote Originally Posted by willie View Post
Hornady has its fan boys and for good reason. I spent a large number of hours studying the Hornady progressives. Some say that they require more tinkering and adjustment than Dillon machines. I would say the difference between the two brands is not quality per se. My opinion is that Dillon engineers used a fairly trouble free, less complicated design. Today many shooters fire 10-20,1000 rounds per year of reloaded ammo. Dillon serves this group well. For the person shooting 4 or or 5 1000 rds/year, brand choice may not matter.
I have a good amount of experience with Hornady and Dillon progressive pressss.

My first experience with the Hornady was in the form of the long-out-of-production Pro-Jector. This is a wonderful old press. I still have it and it is set up to load 45 ACP. It doesn't get used much because I don't shoot much 45 nowadays.

Being a fan of the PJ, it was only logical that I get a Lock N Load when that model was introduced. Essentially a Gen2 version of the PJ with the changes being to the primer system and the tool head.

The PJ used a swinging arm that carried the primer from the tube to the shell plate. The LNL uses a slider piece to do essentially the same thing. I actually prefer the PJ swinging arm because it gives me a chance to glance at the primer and make sure it isn't upside down or cocked sideways coming out of the tube.

The tool head went from the standard series of five threaded holes to a system of five QD bushings. Dies are screwed into these bushings and then put into the tool head. Hornady says the QD bushing system lets the operator changes dies without having to unscrew anything so once dies are set they stay set. Yeah that's true but I've also found the bushings can work loose over time and not lock in tight so I prefer the plain old screw-in system of the PJ.

Other changes have been incremental and involve the loaded shell kicker. The latest one (at least the latest I've used. There could have been more changes over the last few years.) uses a small nub under the shell plate that cams the loaded round out of the press. It works pretty well and gives room for Hornady's case feeder.

Later, wanting a way to quickly swage primer pockets, I bought a Dillon 650 for the main purpose of using it with the Swage-It system. The SI is a swager button that replaces the primer seater punch. Frankly, it doesn't work very well and was a disappointment. In my experience it either doesn't swage enough or pushes up too much and pops the case up through the shell plate. But it was still better than trying to swage with pretty much everything else out there so I made the best of it.

Fast forward a little and Hornady introduced the LNL AP swage kit. This replaces the shell holder with fingers that cases fit over. The swage die itself goes into the tool head. Essentially cases are swaged upside down so it takes some getting used to. But the system works very well and swages pockets consistently and cleanly. Being that the fingers on the shell plate hold the cases when being swaged, there is no concern over damaging case rims. The Hornady system is the best thing I've used for primer pockets short of something like a Dillon 1050 that will size and swage without changing anything on the press.

So, long post to get to my point. I have basically reversed roles with the presses. The Hornady has now become a dedicated swager and ammo gets loaded on the Dillon. The Dillon probably is the better press but there is nothing wrong with the Hornady.

Looking at it objectively I'd say get the Hornady if you plan on progressive loading multiple calibers. Skip the case feeder and just insert cases by hand. It will load good ammo and cartridge conversion will be simpler than the Dillon. But if you're only loading one or two calibers the Dillon is a solid machine. Actually what makes the Dillon the way to go is its case feeder.

I haven't used the 750 yet but I'm sure it is a good machine. It was rumored to be in the works for awhile. I had been hoping for something with six die stations instead of five. Maybe that will come with the XL850...

I do have to wonder what Hornady has in the works for the LNL. The basic press hasn't changed much that I know of since they added the little kicker nub mentioned above. Are they working on a new press with six stations? Maybe something that will deprime cases and swage pockets like the 1050? Hopefully.

Anyway, I hope everyone is having a good weekend and staying healthy and safe.

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