The biggest substantial difference is that the Hornady 366 is an autoindexing/autoeject progressive. The old Pacific 366 is a manually indexing progressive. The autoeject and swing-out wad guide feature of the Hornady caused some redesign of the Pacific, so the parts are not 100% interchangeable.

I hesitate to speculate upon a fair price for a Pacific 366, but I don't think I would pay more than $200 for one in excellent condition.

 

The swingout wad guide on the Hornady 366 is pretty nice. And after a while, I have found the auto indexing to be a very attractive feature as well.

 

I believe the original designer of the loader was a fellow by the name of Deitmeier. He manufactured them for a few years and then sold out to someone else, who in turn sold to Pacific Tool and Die.Hornady bought the manufacturing rights of the loader from Pacific several years ago and improved on the design by adding the auto shell advance, swing out wad guide , shot/powder cut-off slides , and the loaded shell eject system. There have been a couple more improvements since then--a spring loaded primer seating ram and I believe they now have a powder and shot draining mechanism.

The 366 in either the Pacific or Hornady version is a darn good loader. I doubt that a Pacific should sell for the $200 tag quoted--it seems a little high to me. Pay a few bucks more and get the improved Hornady version.

 

Yup, that information is pretty good. Somewhere between the evolution of the machine the Bair press showed up, more like the 350 and 360 models. They are some different but very similar to the 366s. I don't recall ever seeing a Pacific only branded machine with the auto advance, but I think some of the first Pacific/Hornadys were still manual advance. I have one of each and most parts do interchange, but some don't. I'd think $150 on the older Manual advance would be in the ballpark and about double that on the auto advance would be in the ballpark. I did pay $125 for my manual and $225 for my auto new in the box. Yes, I'd take another for that price! :wink:

BP

 

I recently got a Hornady 366 auto in .410 used for $220. After setting it up and loading some, I feel like I got a good deal.

I've also got a Bair single stage in 20ga. I think it was made in the early 60's. The design of the castings and the dies are alot like the Pacific and Hornady. Loads a good shell too. :wink:

 

The info on the Deitemeyr is real good....I have one sitting on my bench and it still works just fine, looks a lot like the Pacific. Bored out the bar to take MEC bushings, its not as fast as the Hornady, but still makes real nice loads

 

I don't know exactly when the Pacific 366 changed to auto index, but I do know that my Pacific is auto index. I bought it new in 1978. It had a hook that followed the shell plate around and indexed it on the upstroke. When the loader was new, it worked great. Over the years, the wear on the hook caused the indexing to be a hit or miss deal.

After looking at the new Hornady models, I noticed the the auto index now has a pusher rather than a hook. I called hornady and inquired about a retrofit to convert my 25 year old reloader to the new pusher type. They sent me the kit for free if I sent them my old parts. The new index system works much better than the old ever did.

Needless to say, I was overjoyed at what Hornady did for me. Giving me parts to upgrade a 25 year old reloader for free was totally unexpected. My hats off to Hornady.

 

I too have the Pacific 366 reloader.My reloader has auto indexing,the swing-out wad guide,shot and powder shut offs, and the auto eject.

kscoyote,
my reloader has the hook instead of the pusher.
How hard was it to do the conversion?

 

Grayland,

Converting to the newer pusher type auto index assembly was pretty painless. As I remember, you simple unbolt the hook assembly and bolt on the new pusher assembly. I think it was only a couple bolts. It took less than 30 minutes total.

 

My Pacific 366 is also auto indexing and it has the swing out wad guide as well.
Dave

 

Looks, like I'll have to give Hornady a call.
Thanks for the Info.

 

I'm thinking of doing the same thing.The hook type indexer does have a few drawbacks.
Dave