CliveWard Posted November 13, 2008 Report Share Posted November 13, 2008 Hi All, Reloading on the single station press is getting tedious now with the amount I shoot. Calibres are in order of volume used: .308 WIN .22 Hornet .243 WIN I'm quite fancying the idea of the Hornady LNL with case feeder or the Dillon 650 with case feeder. The idea is to rattle through sizing and maybe also trimming with the Dillon electric trimmer on the press or off with the Giraud, then chuck the sized trimmed brass in the tumbler. Then run the lot through again priming, charging, seating and crimping. Should save some time with no cases to handle. From what I understand the Hornady is easier for calibre changes, but the Dillon maybe a better machine. Anyone here using either for rifle loads? Cheers Clive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliveWard Posted November 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2008 Did some research and ordered the Hornady LNL AP and the electric case feeder and all the associated shell plates and feeder wheels...wallet is nearly £700 lighter Still looking at the best and quickest trimmer. Cheers Clive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ds1 Posted November 18, 2008 Report Share Posted November 18, 2008 Only thing I would do different is to tumble the cases before they go into any dies - other than a universal de-capping die. The crap on the cases can damage a dies internal finnish. David. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliveWard Posted November 24, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 24, 2008 Hi David, Makes sense but I've always done it the other way round, especially if full length sizing as the tumbler cleans off the old lube and cleans the primer pockets. Press arrived this morning. Looks very well made. If I get time I'll get it bolted down and set up tonight. Cheers Clive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliveWard Posted November 25, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 25, 2008 Hi All, Didn't start looking at the press until 11pm last night due to paying work being more important that playing. Anyway after reading horror stories of it being difficult to setup on the USA forums, with parts breaking, presses not indexing, etc. I set to work. Advice is RTFM but contrary to the manuals most of the assembly is done for you. In summary: Bolt press down. Install shell plate. Fit primer feed tube. Clean and fit powder measure. Was all done by 12pm. Press functions and indexes perfectly. I haven't fitted the case feeder yet as I'm waiting on the case wheels from Hornady and some other bits. The only annoying snag (which I was already aware of) is that you can't use Lee factory crimp dies in station 5. You can use them in station 4 but then you can't use a powder check die. More annoyingly I've discovered since ordering the press, there is a new version due out very soon that has a different case eject mechanism that solves this problem. Time allowing I'll see if I can get some rounds loaded tonight. Cheers Clive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronin Posted November 25, 2008 Report Share Posted November 25, 2008 Clive had I read the thread at the start I would have recommended the RL 650 or 550B from Dillon (I have a 550 and love it) I use it for loading rifle ammo from 22-250 up to 30-06, I leave the shell plate holder set up .473" and use a RCBS press for larger stuff (WSM's and 338 LM) The Dillon is an excellent press, sure the same will be of the Hornady LNL, I dont use the press in progressive set up, just do one stage at a time. (decap, reprime, powder and bullet) Best thing I have to save time loading is a lyman 1200 powder trickling is so much easier now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baldie Posted November 25, 2008 Report Share Posted November 25, 2008 Hate to say it Clive, but you bought the wrong one. The dillon is in a different league. Hornady arent known for progressive presses....dillon make nothing else. We have a 650 fully tricked out, that has loaded into the million cartridges , its been going well before the pistol ban, and is still working flawlessly. I have a 550, and reload .223 on it...at a great rate of knots. I hope the hornady does what you want however, its usually quality stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliveWard Posted November 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2008 Hi Guys, Thanks for the input I did look at the 650 and even 1050 earlier in the year but having now used the Hornady it's more than enough for what I want. I may even have dropped a bollock ordering the case feeder. I managed 100 rounds in 20 minutes last night without it and that was going very slowly. But the case feeder should have dividends when I'm loading in bigger batches. Powder measure was easy to set and throws very consistent charges. For really quick load changes the charge inserts can be replaced in seconds. I ran a full tube of powder through it off the press and noticed it does chop the extruded powder quite often, but when mounted on the press you don't feel it at all. So far I'm very pleased with it. The proof of the pudding will be tomorrow at the range. Cheers Clive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baldie Posted November 26, 2008 Report Share Posted November 26, 2008 Excellent Clive. Powder thrown from progressive measures are usually fairly accurate, providing you have a baffle in the measure tube. I,ll put money on you wont tell the difference with a progressive load, and a hand weighed load, under 300 yards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronin Posted November 26, 2008 Report Share Posted November 26, 2008 Hate to bang on about em, but the Dillon measures work a treat with SC or ball powder - they dont, however like long grained fare though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliveWard Posted December 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 Hi All, Just a bit of an update. Got the case feeder working. Luckily I followed the instructions on how far to mount the press from the bench edge in the press manual. If I hadn't the mounting plate for the case feeder kit wouldn't have fitted. Fitting the case feeder was no problem. A few bits weren't very clear but I got there in the end. Unfortunately the supplier sent the 110V version. They are not marked with the voltage the only sign is smoke wafting from the case feeder as the insulation on the transformer cooks...lol. Got a 240-110V transformer from RS which solved that little problem and the transformer in the case feeder seems to have survived. The case feeder doesn't like .22 Hornet at all. Takes it about 4 minutes at least to fill the drop tube so at times I was having to wait for the case feeder which rather negates some of it's benefits. Having said that the ejection wire doesn't like .22 Hornet either but it's no real slow down to just flick the loaded round out with a finger. I did a bit of timing and a loaded round was dropping out every 4-5 seconds taking it easy. After an hour I had tin full of 300 rounds of .22 Hornet. Should keep me going for a little while. Hopefully the case feeder will fair better with the .308 Cheers Clive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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