650XL or Hornady Loc n Load

S

soup

Member
Folks ,

I'm thinking about getting a progressive press , either Dillon 650XL or a Hornady Loc n Load . No matter which I'll get the case feeder . Both companies have good customer service and warranties
I load Varget in .223 for my AR and I'm concerned about metering into a small neck with a progressive press . I have no knowledge of either machine , but read of issues with the 650 , this was a while ago and perhaps it has been corrected . I also load 38/357-44 - and 22 K Hornet although I load the Hornet on a single stage .

If anyone has any expierence with these issues I'd appreciate the help. Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

Semper Fi
Soup
 
i dont think metering through a 223 neck will be as much of an issue as will getting a good consistent throw of stick powder through any powder dispenser. i gave up on that a long time ago and only hand charge (powder funnel, lee charging die and my Chargemaster) them on my LNL when i'm loading up hunting rounds. I have plinking rounds i load with the powder dispenser using H335.


38's will fly through the LNL like candy - and i'm pretty sure the 44's will too. Straight walled pistol is the only stuff i do run as mostly full progressive - i deprime and tumble before hand on everything.


otherwise i love my LNL as the caliber changes are sooo easy with those bushings.

if you go that route make sure you get a powder charge die and the right insert for each caliber though for quick caliber changes so you dont have to fuss around. that way you can just drop the powder dispenser on top, change the metering drum and you don't have to fuss around adjusting the die over for every caliber you run.
 
I have the Hornady Loc-N-Load. I have to say that the powder measure is very accurate. Mine, as I suspect all the early ones did, has a problem. I would not buy one again unless I knew for absolute certain it has been resolved. If there is a fix Hornady has not sent me the updated parts to make it right...when the cartridge is finished there is a little wire spring thing that "ejects" the finished round out of the shell plate and into a waiting little plastic box. Sounds simple enough, but it either gets to that point and locks up the whole shootin' match, or it throws the finished round through a 5/8" thick piece of drywall!!!
I remember when I first got the thing there were people selling new "redesigned" ejector springs on the web, I made one that looked like theirs but it didn't work. I took a Dremel and rounded the edges of my shell plates and that made it so I could at least use the stupid thing. It is ridiculous to have to manually hand pluck every cartridge from the press so you can resume loading. I know I am not the only one that had this problem. Surely to mother loving god they have come up with a fix by now...but, they were stupid enough to make it that way to start with!!! I would suggest you thoroughly check before you buy.
 
I've loaded thousands of rounds on my Hornady LNL AP.

I will tell you that that the press I have, has not experienced any of the problems that the poster above has motioned.

I have made 1 adjustment to the indexing pawls in 4 years...

I will add that the thrower is very consistent with ball and small stick powders. I however cannot verify Varget, as I always trickle using Varget for precision loads...

The 650 I assume is a very good machine. I have heard that their powder measure is a bit more finicky...
 
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they changed the shell ejector system a few years ago. none of the new models have that goofy wire on them anymore, and updated parts are available to bring your older model up to date.

as realhunter said - i adjusted my indexing pawls early on when i got the press and haven't fussed with them since i got them dialed in.
 
I have both 650 Dillon and Hornady L-N-L and both are good machines and both have their idiosyncrasies.

For pistol I would chose the 650 no doubt. For rifle it would be a toss up. I still cannot get my primer system on the Hormnady to work smoothly continuously.
 
I've had the 650 for about 5 years. All the alarms and feeders, etc. Total out of pocket about $1200. It's paid for itself a few times over, I only load 223 in it. I have no experience with LnL.

The issue I had with the primer system on the 650 was with crimped cases. A Dillon swager ended that silliness in the prep stage.

I'm sure either one will be money well spent. I have the added benefit of a local shop that carries everything I might need for it.
 
I've had the Hornady AP press for a couple of months, after spending about 2 decades on the Rock Chucker. It is a great press. It needs a few tweeks out of the box (apparently they all do). But it kicks out a lot of good quality ammo. I don't use the primer feature much as I prefer to hand prime. Seems like most issues on progressives are due to priming.. Can't comment much on the 650.
 
the one thing i wish the LNL had was a swaging system similar to whats available for the Dillon's. being able to swage that pocket through the case feed plate would be a real bonus.
 
Originally Posted By: Plant.Onethe one thing i wish the LNL had was a swaging system similar to whats available for the Dillon's. being able to swage that pocket through the case feed plate would be a real bonus.

They have a swage system plate that works really well on the L-N-L. I have one works good just wish it would work with case feeder

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pR8GBP37qmk
 
thats my point - being able to use the case feeder would be a huge bump in efficiency.


hard to choke down $180 for a swaging system that i cant use with my $300+ case feeder when i already have a set of rcbs on-press swaging dies...
 
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