Bill,
I've been using a Dillon RL550B for some rifle ammo... for my 'short line' ammo for NRA High Power rifle (200/300yd, offhand slowfire and sitting/prone rapid fire) it loads ammo plenty good for that purpose pretty much as is. I've been tinkering with using it for precision/long range ammo, but haven't really committed to it yet.
Most of the people I know that load anything fancier than blaster ammo on a progressive tend to do a two-pass setup - tumble the cases, run them through the F/L die, then do whatever case prep tickles your fancy - clean primer pockets, trim case length, then tumble the lube off the cases. After that they have a batch of clean, sized, & prepped cases ready to run through, prime, charge, & seat.
I've started using a universal decapping die from Dillon in station #1 on the second tool head (power/seating operations) to punch out any tumbling media that might have found its way into the flash hole. The Dillon die is rounded and smooth in the right places, operates better in a progressive press than others (RCBS/Lee, etc.)
I've got a LnL AP on the way - picked one up used for a good price, $250 including dies & shell plate. Now I just need to add a case feeder (and plate for *that*). The main reason I got it is that I find myself loading a *lot* of .223 Rem... most of it stuff that can be done progressively (ball powder, magazine-length, etc.) and I'm really wanting the case feeder to relieve some of the tedium. After I get the 6 or 7k of .223 cases all F/L sized and prepped, then I'll probably be going back through and loading them up using the LnL AP, assuming no major problems.
There are some 'tricks' to doing precision ammo on a 550, due to the way the floating tool head can slop around in the press frame. It'll be interesting to see what all has to be done to load precision rifle ammo on a LnL AP.
Monte
