Press Questions

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Hello All,

I want to get back into reloading and I'm starting to work through an equipment list; which will probably be put together over the late summer and into fall. Tonight I'm trying to figure out a rifle press; handgun is a little easier. For rifle I am leaning towards a turret or a simple progressive to save space while also not moving dies around as much. The primary calibers I want to work with are 223, 308, and 30'06.

The stage I'm leaning towards is a Dillon BL 550. I like the fact it acts more like a turret since it is manually indexed. It also seems to be overbuilt and will allow each step to broken up, which seems a lot more ideal for rifle.

With all of this said - does anyone have experience using a BL 550 for rifle? If so, what are your thoughts? How do you rank it against stages at similar price points?

Best,
Anthony
 
Not many here will have heard of the BL550. It uses the shell plates and die holders of the 550B, but lacks the powder drop and the priming system. If you're not looking to reload thousands of rounds, it might be a good choice. There are lots of 550 components out there. Having all the dies in their own plates is convenient and assures repeatability. The Hornady Lock n Load system has some of the same advantages. Once each die is adjusted in its own collar, they twist lock into the press very quickly. There are other presses besides Hornady's which can use the system.
I like my 550 progressive, but the primer feed has been balky at times. Overall, it's great for turning out lots of consistent ammo in a hurry, but if I were just going to load a limited number of rifle rounds, the BL550 might be a good option.
 
My 1st press was a dillion xl650. I first got use to it by loading a few hundred rounds as if it was a single stage just to get use to it. But after that i started going slow with all stages at once so that way i didnt screw up. But now im comfortable with it. It can load most rifle cartridges as well and with toolheads you don't have to keep playing around with dies
 
This won't be my first press, unfortunately previous presses were sold about ten years ago. No room for presses living in a small city apartment... I have had about three or four single stage presses, a Dillon SQB, Dillon 650, and Dillon 1050 (literally purchased for less than SQB) over the years. The 1050 is really missed, at the time I was shooting a little over 1k rounds of 45 a month...

Now I want to load match grade rifle ammo. I want to be OCD with these loads. I want to go a little slower and measure everything. I want to take care and swage primer holes and trim/clean up brass. The BL 550 seems like a nice way to get single stage precision with a lot less space.

For pistol the plan is an xl650. My father doesn't care for his 650 and wants a 550. So I'll pick a 550 up for him and get a 650 in return.
 
This won't be my first press, unfortunately previous presses were sold about ten years ago. No room for presses living in a small city apartment... I have had about three or four single stage presses, a Dillon SQB, Dillon 650, and Dillon 1050 (literally purchased for less than SQB) over the years. The 1050 is really missed, at the time I was shooting a little over 1k rounds of 45 a month...

Now I want to load match grade rifle ammo. I want to be OCD with these loads. I want to go a little slower and measure everything. I want to take care and swage primer holes and trim/clean up brass. The BL 550 seems like a nice way to get single stage precision with a lot less space.

For pistol the plan is an xl650. My father doesn't care for his 650 and wants a 550. So I'll pick a 550 up for him and get a 650 in return.

I think with this plan why not just a solid single stage with the hornady lock n load conversion .
Figure it would be more OCD to do each stage one at a time
As much as I keep saying I am,going to up grade from my hornady 007 single stage to a progressive for rifle I just think a bit and realize I don't mind loading rifle on a single stage especially with the lock and load system.

Now for my bulk blasting ammo I just bought a lee pro 1000 worked great for 2200 rounds of 30 carbine and I load 223 bulk blasting ammo on it now. I have about 500 55gn FMJ bullets left to load.

Now for pistol I will most likely end up with a 650 at some point. If I ever find myself shooting more than a few thousand rifle rounds a year again I might go progressive for 30-06,8mm ,303 brit.?
 
For bottleneck cases, you only have a two-die operation, so you:
sizing/deprime and, possibly, prime on the down stroke.
Then, you have to pull the case every time, measure it, and trim and perform any other case prep work.
The, you can charge the case using a bench-mounted powder measure (or use a powder dispenser and funnel to pour the powder into the case), inspect the charge height in the case, and immediately seat the bullet.
So, what exactly is faster about a progressive press? You would be just as well off doing batch processing with a single-stage or use a Lee turret for the two die operations. Money saved will get you more components.
I would either get the Forster Co-Ax (universal shell holder and slot that dies slide into so there is no unscrewing) or I would get a Dillon 1050 and the Dillon case trimmer mounted on the tool head. The Dillon 1050 would allow you to automatically swage primer pockets at station 3.
I only use a progressive for straightwall cases, and find the Hornady L-N-L and Dillon 1050 to meet all my needs.
However, you need to get what will make you happy, no matter what any one else thinks, but I would NEVER own a manual-indexing progressive press.
 
See this is what seems right about the BL 550.
1) Seems more like a turret than a progressive press
2) It seems built to tie in a funnel for a powder pour

What are the issues you have a manual indexing progressive?

I agree the 1050 is absolutely great press, but I can't justify the price for the amount of reloading I'm doing right now... Perhaps in the future.

Also, the Hornady L-N-L looks really similar to a Dillon 650 - how would you contrast them?
 
I was thinking about several single stage presses. In fact I liked the idea a lot until I started laying out the space for them. I like the idea of leaving the dies alone for the most part. Metal will never really go back to the same place twice - it is a living and breathing thing. Anyone who has worked with an optics bench at some point in their career should agree with this statement. Anyway, the turret type setup should let me not move as much metal for conversion and die transition.
 
The Dillon 650 runs much better than the L-N-L.

I'd get into more detail, but there are already many long detailed posts here someplace on the subject. You can search for them much faster than I can rewrite everything.
 
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