Anyone owned both a Hornady LNL AP and a Dillon 650.

I'm just curious if any of you guys have either owned both or heavily used both. I've got 2 of the LNL AP and in general been very happy with the results, I also love the ease of changing the powder drop stems for different weight drops and love the quick change die bushings.

I did have a couple light loads this last weekend. Some was due to insufficient load testing on my part with a mew pistol but seems there is a bit more to it. I got home and tested lots of powder drops with my RCBS scale and they were right on. I had been crimping to .469" and I just tightened it up to .467" to help with more consistent pressure. I can't help but wonder sometimes if a Dillon might help but the rational side of me thinks its just a "grass is greener on the other side" kind of scenario.

This always leads to fighting on the reloading forums. But I'll give it a go from my experience. I had an lnl ap for about 15 years. It's a good press. I bought a 650 4 years ago as a second press and quickly realized I liked it much better. The lnl is a good press. I just wasn't crazy about the case feeder and a few other quirks in the press. One reason I would get light loads on the lnl was that the bushings would back out over the session. The powder die was especially guilty of this.

No experience with the Dillon but Hornady does have thin wave washers available that will prevent the dies from backing out on their own. They sent me some free a while back and that problem was solved.

Here's the article that convinced me to go with the LNL. http://www.comrace.ca/cmfiles/dillonLeeHornadyComparison.pdf

Yeah I've got a wave washer under the powder measure, its very tight now.

I’ve used both presses quite a bit. I eventually sold the Hornady. 

Both will load great ammunition. For me, the LNL AP was too finicky with respect to the casefeeder. I use 3 Dillon 650s, and I love that machine.

Yeah I don't have a case feeder, just hand feed. Honestly that's one thing I didn't like about the 650 the way it loads cases up in the right rear corner, it basically forces you to either use a feeder or constantly fill up the clear tube with cases by hand. With the Hornady you put your new case almost right next to where you insert your bullet to be seated so it very easy to do both with one hand at the same time.

mspingeld wrote:No experience with the Dillon but Hornady does have thin wave washers available that will prevent the dies from backing out on their own. They sent me some free a while back and that problem was solved.

Here's the article that convinced me to go with the LNL. http://www.comrace.ca/cmfiles/dillonLeeHornadyComparison.pdf

 
I have two Hornady LNL's. One for large primer and one for small. Both Dillon and Hornady's have their little quirks. After much research (YouTube) the majority have been eliminated. I like hearing about these washers/shims. On one press I had to check my sizing die every 70-80 rounds or it would pop out. The powder measure would do the same. I would take a rubber band and wrap it clockwise around the powder measure and put it around my expander die to keep the measure from loosening. Now these shims should fix these final issues. One issue that almost made me go to Dillon was the 9mm brass tipping from the case feeder. It would average 40-50%. I dreaded loading 9mm. After much discussion and debating with Hornady they sent me a new shell plate the cured the problem. Bill is now a happy camper.

Bill

Love my 650 and I thought the powder measure was a pain but guess not.  Lol. For me it’s very accurate

Well the LNL powder measure is quite handy. The powder measure inserts are only like $10 and allow you to change the powder drop in seconds by swapping the inserts. So I can go from 4.5 grains of WST to 3.8 WST and back again in seconds. Just gotta make sure the dies & powder measure doesn't rotate enough to disengage the LNL bushing, as mentioned the free wave washers they send fix it up. It would be nice if they would come up with a way to individually tension each LNL bushing inside the female socket. That way you could adjust them occasionally to have the perfect tension instead of just relying on an O ring.

I'm a dinosaur and use a single stage press but a friend of mine has both the Lock and load and the Dillon and likes the Dillon better.