I'd like to hear thoughts from the community on what you think the better value would be in 2020. I'd particularly like to hear from Pro Chucker owners, as most individuals I know either use Dillon or (like myself) Lee presses.

I do not use a Pro Chucker so take that for what it's worth, but - Dillon has become the gold standard these days for good reason. Personally I've never regretted buying Dillon, and most other Dillon owners say the same. If you browse the competition shooter forums (like Brian Enos Forums for example) where guys really load and shoot a lot of ammo, you'll find a lot of Dillon users, a small group of Hornady users, and very few loading on any sort of RCBS.

With that said, I'm not a brand fan, if the Pro Chucker genuinely has better features it might be worth a look, but even more important is how well & smoothly the whole system works and that's partly where Dillon has most others beat.

I went from my Lee Turret press to a 550B and never looked back. I now have a Square Deal B as well dedicated to pistol. The Lee wasn't bad as a starter, but the quality of the Dillon presses is a whole new level. One issue that the 550B corrected for me was the Turret ring on my Lee would tilt a bit as I pressed brass into each die, resulting in lopsided ammo. Not a big deal for pistol (still plenty accurate), but a huge deal for rifle stuff. The Dillon presses are solid and the toolheads (basically same as the Turret ring) are machined to mate perfectly with the press with no play.

Fellow members,

I appreciate the feedback. Still hoping some Pro Chucker owners will chime in, as I am contemplating my next press purchase.

I own the Lee Breech Lock Challenger, Classic Turret, and the Auto Breech Lock. I reload 9mm, 40 S&W, and .308 Win at the moment, with plans to begin reloading 45 ACP, .357 Mag, and .270 in the near future. I began reloading on the single stage, as recommended by many seasoned reloaders. I then progressed to the LCT, as I wanted to speed up production and I liked the quick caliber change capability. It was an affordable upgrade as well, since I didn't have the bacon to procure anything else at the time. I was browsing the interweb one day while in Korea and managed to score the Auto Breech Lock for $60. Six months later, PCS'd here to JBLM, and have been utilizing it to reload 9mm and 40 S&W. It's not too shabby, production on it is faster than my previously mentioned presses. The only quirk I've had out of it has been the case feeder from time to time not pushing a case completely into position (once every 50 rounds or so). So far I think it has required no more "vigilance" than a more polished progressive would. Loading jacketed or plated bullets has been a breeze and I can churn out 500 or so an hour.

However, I prefer to use coated bullets, the Blue Bullets in particular. They have been very accurate in my loads and an affordable option. I've had no success expanding cases appropriately to use coated bullets with lee powder thru expanders, which has forced me to use a Lyman "M" die when I wish to do so. Since the Auto Breech Lock only has four stations, I have to run resize and prime in one pass, then change dies to expand, drop powder, seat, and lastly a light crimp in the second pass. The Breech Lock Pro makes this easy with the quick die changes, but it lengthens the process. Hence my interest in a 5+ station progressive.

Of note, I had issues with lopsided ammo when utilizing the LCT and even the Auto Breech, until I ordered custom seating stems from Lee. That corrected the problem, for me at least. The Lyman "M" also greatly reduced instances of this occurrence, prior to receiving the stems.

One other thing that maybe useful info...You can use the Lee Short Charging Die to powder drop for pistol ammo, if you like me expand in a separate station.

Looking forward to seeing more feedback and tips from the community.

A bit of feedback on that topic, since I shoot cast/coated bullets almost exclusively in my pistols (and that is one reason I do not use a Lee progressive) - the 4 station Dillon 550 does all of those operations correctly. Station 1 resizes on the upstroke and primes on the downstroke. #2 expands/flares and drops powder (the powder funnel is the expander). #3 seats the bullet. #4 crimps. The most critical detail is to seat and crimp in separate stages, as you know.
If I pre-stage primers in the tubes, I can do ~550 rounds per hour. With loading primers every 100 rounds, it's more like ~450 rounds per hour.

That may expand your options a bit. The 650 is a little faster, but it's real advantage is if you include the case feeder and better yet a bullet feeder too. the 5th station isn't that big of a deal with normal loading, although it allows you a powder check die. However, many of the competition guys loading in large volumes suggest going with a 550 or straight to the 1050/1150, and skipping the 650/750. YMMV of course.

I cannot offer input on the RCBS. But I have been thru the "progressive progression" over the years. So I will share my experiences, hopefully the info on the brands I have used may help you since I have gone thru the gamut? I was a Lee guy like you for a while.

In order I had them:

• Lee Pro1000 - Actually liked the press, it ran decently while I had it, but I went from 9mm to adding 223 immediately and the Pro1000 with 3 stations was not enough for me. I want to say I had the Pro1000 a month maybe two. No issues in the limited use and knowledge I had, just not enough stations.
• Lee Loadmaster - Went straight to the loadmaster. This press worked well for me right out of the box, I loaded thousands of rounds with it. The removable dies holder was great for swapping calibers. I had a few random and sporadic primer issues when starting out as I let press get dirty, then it would not feed a primer and the AA#2 I use is pixie dust and gets into everything. I ran this press 2 years, maybe longer? It started getting finicky indexing as the index rod was worn.
• Hornady LnL- -I blame this purchase on Madpick. I went to his place one Sat to learn about loading 300blk and got to run his LnL for a few minutes. Ran so smooth and easily I bought one that week, it literally is that much better than anything I had from Lee. Lee are great to start with but stepping up to Hornady was a no brainer and after years gaining experience I could appreciate the difference. I added lots of calibers and options over the 4 years running that press. bought base press. Then bought a used case feeder, lots of toolheads, shell plates, thrower micrometer. Full inline mounts, roller handles, bin holders, etc. Went from 9mm&223, to 300blk, 308, Grendel, 45acp. Added bullet feeder for 9mm and 45acp so press was full automatic, just dump in components and pull handle. I lost track of the the number of rounds I ran thru that press. The flexibility of the individual locking dies is hard to express. It really does let you change things on the fly or fix some problems midrun without having to empty the press and start over.
• Dillon 650 - This one is Marcus's fault. I had no plans or intention to try blue, loved my LnL but his price on this was great and came at a time I actually had the ability to grab it. Compared to the LnL the 650 I have (setup by marcus and previous owner) runs just a hair smoother. Nothing major, nothing like the jump from Lee to Hornady, just a hair smoother in overall press cycling. The loss is that no longer have the individual LnL die setup. Not a big deal, but has taken some getting used to. Downsides are that the primer system is forced new primer every cycle, even if you do not seat a primer it ejects the unused new primer down a separate ramp and loads another new one in the system. Good news is there are commercially available and 3d printable options to disable that, as well as stop casefeed. Overall I was impressed enough with the Dillon that I ended up selling my LnL and converting fully to the Dillon. It has cost more $ and I am not fully setup yet as I have not been shooting much lately and not needed to reload all calibers to setup the dies.

Long and short - while the last 2 presses were a minor difference I can say imho the dillon is the leader by a minor margin, they just run a hair smoother all around. Comparing any press to a Dillon is a tough handicap to overcome. They do cost more, so the extra $ may not be worth it to many, but if I had the $ for a Dillon (new or used) I do not think I would even consider a relatively unknown like the pro chucker 5. The RCBS has been out for a number of years and has not garnered much attention or popularity that I have seen? That may make it difficult to find help, parts, or aftermarket upgrades going forward?

All that said if I were in the market to buy a press in 2020 I would get a used 650 before I bought a new unit from any other brand. The knowledge base and aftermarket support for it just cannot be beat and is a factor many fail to consider when looking for a press. The used 650's should be hitting the market as many people just have to have the latest and greatest and will upgrade. They will be a huge upgrade from the lee's you are used to running.

Gentleman,

I appreciate all of the feedback and information provided in this forum. Hopefully it has been beneficial to others as well. I was fortunate enough to acquire a Dillon 550 recently and I'm in the process of getting it up and running. I have limited space to go with a 650/750 (and I lack the self control to not trick it out with every bell and whistle). Also, the ease of caliber conversions was another selling point. I compete quite a bit and Yondering's advice made sense to me. I'm still a "Lee Fan" and won't abandon them; their products work. They just need a little extra attention to detail and some TLC, which is never a bad thing when it comes to reloading.

I still hope to see some RCBS Fanboys chime in though. I know your out there, don't hide!

HAHA Great choice!! I know a competition shooter that has a bunch of 550's, swears by them and sees no reason at all to go 650/750/1050. Yes the mod factor for a 650 is high, much like an AR, you have to accessorize!!

I am still a lee fan myself, all my dies other than my 308 precision are Lee dies.

Nice avatar btw.

Glad to help, I think you made a good choice. There are a few things, like switching calibers and the primer stuff mentioned above, that the 550 is better for than the 650.

One thing about a Dillon press - you can generally get your money back out of it again if you decide it's not what you want.

I really like my 550s You made a wise choise.

Ok you guys a little highjack here, but you have me thinking about the dillon 550 basic. My biggest question revolves around the sizing and trimming of bottle neck cases. When I resize 30-06 and 223 case they tend to grow quite a bit requiring trimming. How do you deal with this when trying to load on a progressive besides the obvious double resizing?

There are a few different ways/options of handling it. I do not have a 550, so not sure if it has any specific limitations. I will not touch on cleaning/tumbling.

1. Old School way. You run brass thru press to decap/resize, then trim offline before going back and doing loading on the press.
   
   • manual trimmer like lyman, etc, either run by hand or with a drill attached.
   • One of the many powered automatic trimmers. I use this method with a Giraud trimmer.
2. fully automated with a Dillon trimmer mounted on/in your toolhead. you decap.size and trim all on the press. Due to station limitations I do not know if it is possible/feasible to do all operations in one pass thru the press unless you have maybe a 1050?

I have a feeling most (at least those I have talked with) have two toolheads setup if they are loading progressive. One is a "prep toolhead" this will have decap, sizing and any other case prep dies on it. Once thru that press cycle they would trim and check for cracks, etc in brass. Then they have a loading toolhead which will have powder drop, powder cop bullet drop/seat, crimp, etc, etc. The only variation to this I know of is the RCBS X-die that is supposed to keep brass from stretching and growing. However it requires special processing of the brass initially before you can use the Xdie. Once prepped into the Xdie system, this die could let you start with clean but unsized/deprimed brass and load in one pass. You would nee to check brass though each cycle to keep an eye on length over time.

Silly Dillon people.

Even with my far superior Hornady LNL, though, i do two passes with the brass. My process is:

- Vibratory tumble in corncob to get the main crud off, maybe a half hour.
- Lube brass, size/deprime
- Wet tumble to remove the lube and make it byooootiful
- Trim and/or swage, if needed
- Prime, powder and bullet on the second pass through the press.

I do some brass with the X-die so I don't need to trim it, but the process is still the same. I want to be able to remove the lube before I load the case; even with "powder safe" lubes I find them messy, and they attract dirt to the cartridge.

Schoolboy,

No apology needed. As a matter of fact, I've had this on my mind as well. I've only loaded rifle rounds on my single stage (a long and tedious process) or on my Lee Classic Turret (just my .223 for plinking). Now that I'm the proud owner of a 550, I'm looking to speed things up a little bit, without losing precision.

I'm now debating if I need (want) to purchase new dies to use on the 550. I currently have Lee dies, but been looking at getting some of those "sexy" Redding dies. I've produced accurate rounds with the Lee's and it's not like I'm using some fancy match grade rifle, just a Savage Hog Hunter in .308. I just replaced the Tupperware stock with a Choate stock (heavy as hell and not the ideal choice for stalking, but I muscle through it).

MadPick,

There are times when I look back to when I purchased my first press and recall putting the Hornady LNL back on the shelf and want to slap myself. Knowing what I know now...lol.

Lamrith, MadPick thanks for clearing that up. I think I'll be looking a little harder a progressive's now just in case I see one pop up at a pice I can swallow.

Chandlor.randall, if your happy with the accuracy that the lee dies are giving why not at least try them with the new press first. The other dies to check out are the rcbs gold medal/matchmast dies with micrometers and bullet windows to add convenience.