Great write-up: Dillon vs. Hornady vs. Lee

[Oreo]

I found a great write-up that imo fairly compares the big three brands of progressive presses. The guy actually bought one of each & spent about 6 months with each one. It's a long but thorough .PDF file:

http://www.comrace.ca/cmfiles/dillonLeeHornadyComparison.pdf

[ISUSteve]

I've read that too. It seems to be a fairly unbiased and fair assesment.

[colorado4wheel]

Having owned a LM, I can say with ZERO reservations that it's not 1/2 the press the 550b is as far as function. Of course he was talking about the 650 which I have no experience with but even with the Lee running the best it ever ran it's no contest the Dillon 550 is vastly superior. I also can't believe he used the adjustable charge bar on the Lee, it was worthless on my setup. The Dillon my not have a scale but at least it's accurate. His assessment on the LM is fairly glowing. Interesting enough, I think he should have tried the Lee Dies on the Dillon and LnL. My Lee Dies seem smoother on my 550. I am also a little surprised he kept the LnL with his reported issues with 9mm case ejection. Interesting read. Accurate, well thats a little harder to agree with. Perhaps the LnL-650 are both more fussy then my 550 and as a result the Lee looks better in comparison. Many of his comments on the LM just did not jive with my experience at all.

[ISUSteve]

When I first got my LM, I was ready to throw it out the window. But I only live on the 2nd floor and it wouldn't have been in enough pieces to suit me. Once I got it setup, I meaning Chris (shadowdog), its been working great. I've loaded on 550 and I've got to say that I don't think the 550 is worth the extra money. That is, if you can get your LM to run.

[Oreo]

I recieved my LNL AP in the mail the other day. It's my first press. Just taking the thing out of the box & spending some light time familiarizing myself with it- It seems like a well built piece of equipment. I've never seen the other presses in the article but from what I've seen so far his assessment of the LNL is dead on.

[colorado4wheel]

When I first got my LM, I was ready to throw it out the window. But I only live on the 2nd floor and it wouldn't have been in enough pieces to suit me. Once I got it setup, I meaning Chris (shadowdog), its been working great. I've loaded on 550 and I've got to say that I don't think the 550 is worth the extra money. That is, if you can get your LM to run.

I was also real pleased with mine at first. But when something goes wrong it's real hard to problem solve the thing because their are so many things that can/could be the problem. Any priming issue on the LM can be
1) Carrier Alignment. Which is a totally free floating alignment. There is no Zero to help you get it right. Even using their alignment process it can be different ever time you do it. BTW, did you know the tip of the punch is a good tool for helping to check your carrier alignment. I do now, it's just maddening how complicated it is to get everything right on the machine.
2) Any number of burrs, dust, in the primer tray/trough.
3) Shellplate case ejector/indexer wears easily over time.
4) Primer sliders fragile/vulnerable damage cause tipped primers.
5) Slider activator can hang up/bounce on machine.
6) You just can't feel the primers going in the hole so even if everything is perfect with the machine BUT the case has a small issue you will get a crushed/tipped primer. This can lead to the next one getting crushed because now the primer setup is jammed and you don't know it cause you can't feel what is going on when you prime. This then leads to another damaged slider. It starts all over again.

Sure people have gotten the LM to work but after seeing the other side of things I see the flaws in Lee LM design.

[ISUSteve]

I was also real pleased with mine at first. But when something goes wrong it's real hard to problem solve the thing because their are so many things that can/could be the problem. Any priming issue on the LM can be
1) Carrier Alignment. Which is a totally free floating alignment. There is no Zero to help you get it right. Even using their alignment process it can be different ever time you do it. BTW, did you know the tip of the punch is a good tool for helping to check your carrier alignment. I do now, it's just maddening how complicated it is to get everything right on the machine.
2) Any number of burrs, dust, in the primer tray/trough.
3) Shellplate case ejector/indexer wears easily over time.
4) Primer sliders fragile/vulnerable damage cause tipped primers.
5) Slider activator can hang up/bounce on machine.
6) You just can't feel the primers going in the hole so even if everything is perfect with the machine BUT the case has a small issue you will get a crushed/tipped primer. This can lead to the next one getting crushed because now the primer setup is jammed and you don't know it cause you can't feel what is going on when you prime. This then leads to another damaged slider. It starts all over again.

Sure people have gotten the LM to work but after seeing the other side of things I see the flaws in Lee LM design.

1) Yeah, their carrier alignment sucks. My was wrong from the factory. You have to pull the case inserter part and push the handle. Chris told me how and its been good ever since. Loaded about 4K round through it now.

2) I took mine apart and mine was perfect. My indexer plastic piece was bad though.

3) They wil wear out, just like all mechanical things. The great thing about the LM is that you can buy replacement parts for about $2/part. I don't see any wear on mine yet. I've also heard that you can Lee and they might send you a new one.

4/5) Never had this problem.

6) I agree 100%. Not being able to tell if the primer is good or not until it comes out is a problem. When first starting up, this bothered me. Now, the primer system is working great.


Overall: Its a pain to setup and finish what Lee should have done at the factor, but you get what you pay for. If you're willing to do the work, its a great press.

[WalterGA]

Having suffered through tens of thousands of rounds I loaded on my crappy LM, I can honestly say that I just wish I'd gotten up every morning that I owned the LM and poked myself in the eye with a sharp stick, instead! :)

I finally shipped the LM to Uncle Don, who, I understand actually sleeps with a LM. Didn't even have the heart to accept his kind offer to pay for the shipping.

[lcarreau]

Uncle Don's house is a home for wayward Loadmasters.

[WalterGA]

Uncle Don's house is a home for wayward Loadmasters.

I was happy to send that old LM to Uncle Don. He finally admitted that he doesn't use the auto shell-feeder! :) Hope he gets some use out of it!

[lcarreau]

I was happy to send that old LM to Uncle Don. He finally admitted that he doesn't use the auto shell-feeder! :) Hope he gets some use out of it!

I wish you had been around GTR when Dillon offered UD a 650 to try out for free, no questions ask, paid shipping both ways. That was a classic thread.

-Lonnie

[slowride]

I still load on the Lee CTP, and for the $$$ it's hard to beat, but I will admit that a Dillon will be in my basement at some point in time!

[gokyo]

I should say I have only ever worked with my Dillon 650. My lips are stained from blue cool aid.

The article confirms that, like every thing lee makes, it is inexpensive and not of the highest quality (you get what you pay for). Not to say Lee does not work, it just cheep.

It confirms some of my frustrations with my dillon. Powder mess, diffuclty changing from one caliber to another etc.

I might be interested in taking another look at a Hornady.

But in truth. I love my Dillon. I am invested. The hornady would have to be a lot, I mean a lot better to even make my christmas wish list.

As for the accuracy of the ammo. Some times I wonder if my dillon can make precision 308 as well as Federal can. I think I might try some Redding dies.

[Shovel66]

Very nice comparison in easy to read PDF format. I only have one beef. I wish he would have used the 550B instead of the 650. I think that the price, features, and ease of use/setup would have been more comparable.

From my research and and reading forum threads, it seems that the 650 is more difficult to set up, has more features, and a little more expensive than the 550.

Shovel

[colorado4wheel]

The article confirms that, like every thing lee makes, it is inexpensive and not of the highest quality (you get what you pay for). Not to say Lee does not work, it just cheep.

That is so not true. Some of it is cheaper and better then the more expensive stuff. It's really a product by product issue.

[JerryO]

I found a great write-up that imo fairly compares the big three brands of progressive presses. The guy actually bought one of each & spent about 6 months with each one. It's a long but thorough .PDF file:

http://www.comrace.ca/cmfiles/dillonLeeHornadyComparison.pdf

I am impressed, This is very good, BUT

How did he seat bullets with a powder check die installed in station 4 of the loadmaster? He must have very small hands or be very nimble to seat the bullets at station 5.

Also, When not useing the loadmaster case feeder, he should have used the case slider and not tried to put the cases into the shellplate. Just drop the cases in front of the case slider as the ram is going up.


JerryO

[kimberguy2004]

To those who have been able to get the LM to run, my hat is off to them. I never could. I went Blue after a couple of months and have never looked back. I prefer to spend my leisure time at the range than replacing and adjusting parts.

That said, Lee has a place. I would never put anyone or their equipment down because that was all they had room for, or was all they could afford, or it was all they wanted to spend. To ech his own. Granted the 650 was a lot of money, but consider the quality you get for less than the price of a good 1911..To me it's worth every dime, not to mention the avoidance of a lot of aggrevation..