Now to speed up my reloading.

[Mad Professor]

I don't think the systems that use tubes to feed bullets help that much. You still have to feed the tubes. I can set the bullet on the case about as fast as I can feed it in the tubes. You really need a feeder that has a collator to gain any speed. The same with a case feeder. Both are fairly expensive. But, the case feeder is more affordable, especially if you load multiple calibers.

I'd strongly suggest moving to a Dillon before putting more money into accessories on the LnL.

With a Dillon, you will want a 650 if you plan on a case feeder and/or a bullet feeder. And I just might have one coming up for sale in the next couple of weeks! With everything ready to go, primer tubes filled etc, I can assemble 1000 rounds in under an hour. 45 minutes is not to hard to do. That is with a case feeder and bullet feeder.


This is from this evening. 2+ gallons of 9mm.

 

[lasher]

i have Dillon XL650's. i hand prime while watching TV with the RCBS primer. only use 3 stages of the 650's, powder feed (thru a hornady LNL powder drop) , seating die, and a Lee factory crimp die. i deprime on an RCBS single stage, and size on another single stage RCBS. trim with Little Crow trimmers. Time consuming? Yes, but it keeps me busy and i enjoy it

 

[beastep]

Thanks guys. But Im not going to move over to a Dillon. I already have way too much Hornady stuff and really I cant afford it anyway. I know they are fantastic machines and may be better than the Hornady but they each have their pros and cons.

 

[Pokinfun]

mine just sets in the die, but you could use a bracket mounted to the back of the press.

I may just start with your system and add pieces on down the line. How do you support the full tube?

why do you believe a Dillon is better than the LNL? I like the tubes because it gives me ability to concentrate on the entire process and not just setting the bullet on the case.

I don't think the systems that use tubes to feed bullets help that much. You still have to feed the tubes. I can set the bullet on the case about as fast as I can feed it in the tubes. You really need a feeder that has a collator to gain any speed. The same with a case feeder. Both are fairly expensive. But, the case feeder is more affordable, especially if you load multiple calibers.

I'd strongly suggest moving to a Dillon before putting more money into accessories on the LnL.

With a Dillon, you will want a 650 if you plan on a case feeder and/or a bullet feeder. And I just might have one coming up for sale in the next couple of weeks! With everything ready to go, primer tubes filled etc, I can assemble 1000 rounds in under an hour. 45 minutes is not to hard to do. That is with a case feeder and bullet feeder.


This is from this evening. 2+ gallons of 9mm.

 

[beastep]

I dont really think its better. I only say they may be better because I have only ran one Dillon. I think there are probably certain things about it thats better but not overall.

 

[Pokinfun]

I dont really think its better. I only say they may be better because I have only ran one Dillon. I think there are probably certain things about it thats better but not overall.

I was asking Mad Professor why he thinks Dillon is better.

 

[beastep]

Oh. I see that now. Carry on, carry on.

 

[Mad Professor]

why do you believe a Dillon is better than the LNL? I like the tubes because it gives me ability to concentrate on the entire process and not just setting the bullet on the case.

I'm not really that loyal to Dillon. But I think that is what is needed to see substantial gains in speed. (outside of a Camdex or Ammo Load)

What I said was: "I'd strongly suggest moving to a Dillon before putting more money into accessories on the LnL."
I didn't clarify it but what I meant was that the gains achieved by adding accessories to the LnL in search of speed won't have much of a ROI (return on investment measured by speed) gain per $. The Optional LnL case feeder is decent. The collator works well, but the feed mechanism it into the press has issues/limits that I don't see in Dillon's application on the 650. Dillon's 550 is not quite as good, but in the limited use I've had with a case fed LnL, I think it gets a few points over the LnL.

I like the tubes because it gives me ability to concentrate on the entire process and not just setting the bullet on the case

I agree, but there is not any time savings to be gained. You simply created another task (loading bullets into the tube) and off-loaded some time assembly time into that process. Your net time gained is small if any at all. You have to feed the tube with a collator directly to the press to see a real gain in time.


Now the rest of this will not matter if you are red vs blue kind of a guy. But here goes anyhow:

A Dillon 650 with a case feeder and bullet feeder is about $1275, roughly $100 within the prices I've seen for similarly equipped LnL Ammo plant. I feel the 650 will outperform it substantially. Hence, my recommendation to not invest more money into a LnL. With a 650 equipped with case and bullet feeders, filling primer tubes seems to be the biggest thing slowing things down.

I owned a LnL and bought a Dillon 550. The only advantage the LnL had was that it would auto-index with each stroke. I don't get really excited about Dillon's primer system on the 550, but I felt it still had a slight advantage. In use, the auto-index wasn't much of an advantage as I thought it would be on the LnL. It is simple to move the shell plate as you are placing the bullet on the case. The Dillon 550 was much easier to fix a problem and back it up if necessary. The LnL was finicky but I soon learned how it to get around some of those issues. You can feel when problems are starting to happen and react to prevent a major hangup. (not really different than the Dillons in that regard) One I was comfortable with it, I think the 200-300 rounds per hour people are talking about are reasonably accurate. I could easily do the same with the 550 without auto index because there were less issue per 100 strokes. I chose to sell my LnL to help finance the 650 and conversions for it.

I wouldn't add a bullet feed or case feeder to a 550. I think the 650 is where the ROI gains really come. That said, I still have a 550 I use for smaller batches as it takes 200-300 rounds to start realizing the speed advantage after setting up and changing over the 650 from a previous caliber. For that reason I leave the 650s with the bullet feeder setup ready to run 9mm almost all the time. I run .40, .45, 300BLK, on the other 650. I might even experiment with different 9mm bullet types/weights on this one to keep from changing the setup on the primary. The 550 gets my other calibers.

I'm swapping one of the 650s to a 1050 and the bullet feeder will move to that. The 1050 is hands down smoother operating. It swages during the process and the primers are inserted in the downstroke instead of the upstroke. But it is stupid expensive and a relative Pain in the @SS to setup. Changing calibers is both time consuming and expensive. There is pretty much nothing better for processing/trimming rifle brass, particularly military brass.


For what it's worth. They say Dillon's machine numbers are supposed to represent rounds per hour without a bullet feeder. I think they are about 10-15% high but still not far off.

 

[Pokinfun]

I do not disagree, but you are talking about $1200 and the OP is talking about $85 on a 20 plus year old press.. I am not sure you are really responding to the OP's question.

I'm not really that loyal to Dillon. But I think that is what is needed to see substantial gains in speed. (outside of a Camdex or Ammo Load)

What I said was: "I'd strongly suggest moving to a Dillon before putting more money into accessories on the LnL."
I didn't clarify it but what I meant was that the gains achieved by adding accessories to the LnL in search of speed won't have much of a ROI (return on investment measured by speed) gain per $. The Optional LnL case feeder is decent. The collator works well, but the feed mechanism it into the press has issues/limits that I don't see in Dillon's application on the 650. Dillon's 550 is not quite as good, but in the limited use I've had with a case fed LnL, I think it gets a few points over the LnL.

I agree, but there is not any time savings to be gained. You simply created another task (loading bullets into the tube) and off-loaded some time assembly time into that process. Your net time gained is small if any at all. You have to feed the tube with a collator directly to the press to see a real gain in time.


Now the rest of this will not matter if you are red vs blue kind of a guy. But here goes anyhow:

A Dillon 650 with a case feeder and bullet feeder is about $1275, roughly $100 within the prices I've seen for similarly equipped LnL Ammo plant. I feel the 650 will outperform it substantially. Hence, my recommendation to not invest more money into a LnL. With a 650 equipped with case and bullet feeders, filling primer tubes seems to be the biggest thing slowing things down.

I owned a LnL and bought a Dillon 550. The only advantage the LnL had was that it would auto-index with each stroke. I don't get really excited about Dillon's primer system on the 550, but I felt it still had a slight advantage. In use, the auto-index wasn't much of an advantage as I thought it would be on the LnL. It is simple to move the shell plate as you are placing the bullet on the case. The Dillon 550 was much easier to fix a problem and back it up if necessary. The LnL was finicky but I soon learned how it to get around some of those issues. You can feel when problems are starting to happen and react to prevent a major hangup. (not really different than the Dillons in that regard) One I was comfortable with it, I think the 200-300 rounds per hour people are talking about are reasonably accurate. I could easily do the same with the 550 without auto index because there were less issue per 100 strokes. I chose to sell my LnL to help finance the 650 and conversions for it.

I wouldn't add a bullet feed or case feeder to a 550. I think the 650 is where the ROI gains really come. That said, I still have a 550 I use for smaller batches as it takes 200-300 rounds to start realizing the speed advantage after setting up and changing over the 650 from a previous caliber. For that reason I leave the 650s with the bullet feeder setup ready to run 9mm almost all the time. I run .40, .45, 300BLK, on the other 650. I might even experiment with different 9mm bullet types/weights on this one to keep from changing the setup on the primary. The 550 gets my other calibers.

I'm swapping one of the 650s to a 1050 and the bullet feeder will move to that. The 1050 is hands down smoother operating. It swages during the process and the primers are inserted in the downstroke instead of the upstroke. But it is stupid expensive and a relative Pain in the @SS to setup. Changing calibers is both time consuming and expensive. There is pretty much nothing better for processing/trimming rifle brass, particularly military brass.


For what it's worth. They say Dillon's machine numbers are supposed to represent rounds per hour without a bullet feeder. I think they are about 10-15% high but still not far off.

 

[D. Hargrove]

http://www.titanreloading.com/press-accessories/lee-bullet-feed-kit-lee-feed-dies-fingers $32.50

I use one of these and increased my round count a bit. Hope this helps you out.