Supertac45

My first which will be shortly will be a Dillion XL 650.

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Les Baer 45
Sig Man
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edr9x23super

I started with a Dillon 550B and have not looked back. Stick with Dillon, you will not go wrong.

I use Dillon dies for 99% of my reloading, the only exception being the open gun I used to have, the tolerances on the Schuemann barrel were so tight, I used a redding .38 super competition seating die with a micrometer adjustment to control the OAL of the rounds.

Save yourself some controversy and give Mike Dillon a call.

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"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined". - Patrick Henry

FearSheeple

Why did you decide to go with a 650 as your first? How many rounds do you plan on reloading/month?


I'm intrigued by the redding dies, so I'm not stuck on using their dies, being able to adjust w/o wrenching is pretty convinient, especially for fine adjustments! Every time I look at a different brand press I go right back to dillon...I hate to be a bandwagoner but it seems like a damn good company/press.

mousehunter

I don't understand all the problems with a case feeder - the system used on the Lee Loadmaster is so simple it is pathetic, and it works quite well (I have issues with getting the case from the feeder to the shellplate - but not with the feeder system itself).

It has 4 tubes on a turrent, with a shallow funnel (with 4 holes) on top. Drop about 50 shells into the funnel, and shake for a couple of seconds - presto, the tubes are full. Normally press movement will keep shells falling into the tubes after that, rotate the turret if the tube you are using is empty
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funny thing about gravity, cases always fall primer side down.

Tubby45

The Dillon and Hornady case feeders hold a lot more than 50 shells. 50 shells isn't even a warm up.

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Wolf357

I started rolling my own on a Rockchucker that was included in the RCBS Master Reloading Kit I purchased from Midway 14 years ago. Last year I added an RCBS Turret Press, along with an RCBS Little Dandy powder measure to my increasing collection of reloading tools. This year I purchased a Dillon SDB, which has proven to be a mighty fine little machine for loading pistol ammo. But I'm still glad I waited until I had acquired some reloading experience before I decided to buy this auto-progressive press. And, even though other folks will still do whatever they want, I will always advocate starting out on a single stage press, which I still use for specialty loads and rifle ammo.

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A modern firearm is just an inanimate tool that is incapable of discharging until a human finger pulls the trigger.

dukalmighty

I started out with a lee pro 1000 progressive,i bought a lee classic single stage cause it also came with a reloading manual for 26.00,I then bought a dillon 550 I use the same powder charge for my 9mm 40S&W and 45 in unique a 9mm case has less volume than a 40 so you're assumption that powder jiggles out doesn't happen especially on a manual indexing press you control the movement on and even on the pro 1000 auto indexing it wasn't an issue.You need to have a solid reloading table that doesn't jiggle around.I reload for everything i shoot on my dillon and i use the single stage lee for making rounds i only shoot a few of like 308

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The only gun you will ever want more than the others Is the gun you don't have when you need It

Arkhangel

I too started with a Lee Pro in 9mm. Recently got a Lee Classic Single stage. I shoot mostly 9mm, and do about 600 per month. I load .40 and .45acp on the single stage, since those I dont shoot as much.

If I had to do it all over again, I would get a single stage first, if only to learn what is going at each stage of the process, which the progressive does for you. I also got the single to do rifle(.308), and later .223

SY

Sergeant Mac

I just started out with a Lee 3-hole turret press with auto index, and attempted to upgrade it to a 4-hole turret press with auto index. The cheap plastic collar broke, and now I have a manual 4-hole turret press.

.....and I'm perfectly happy with that.

I'm still nervous enough at this point that I can't see myself using a progressive anytime soon. I'm checking every single seated primer, looking in every charged case, weighing every 5th charge, and measuring OAL on every 5th round.

SSDD

There is nothing wrong with QA checks!