Dillon 550C

[DsGrouse]

I tried a buddy's Dillon on loan for a few weeks.

Long and short of it. I don't like having to fiddle with everything all at once. I ended up moving to a Lyman T8 turret press. I've two now and 10 heads.

I prefer to prime off the press. Either a Lee app or by hand.

I've loaded 100 30-30, 150 375 win, 25 38-55, 300 45 colt, 200 44 mag in the last two days.

I run my turret press like manual indexing progressive. I run one cartridge through all the stations.

Size,

Flare,

Powder drop

Bullet drop

Seat.

Crimp.

With the new Lee bullet drop dies, I can crank out one every few seconds.

I keep looking at the Frankford Arsenal X10 for 9mm. 40/10, 45 loads, but have held off due to reports that it is more finicky than a Dillon.

Honestly, I have more ammo loaded than I can shoot in a year. Part of what I've been doing this week is organizing everything i'ce loaded in the last 18 months so I can shoot it. I've a safe full of it, under my loading bench, in a cedar chest, and in three dozen MTM boxes. Not to mention cardboard and plastic tubs labeled for accuracy and load development.

While the turret presses may be slower than a progressive, their output still outpaces my shooting.

[Ernie]

was it a yea or a nay?
[/quote]

I used a lot of words to say that most of my learning curve issues with a Dillon Square Deal and Hornady LNL were with the auto-indexing feature. The 550 doesn't have that and only requires a flick of your thumb. I'd say YEA.
[/quote]

Thank You. I am not liking the auto indexing either so that is part of why I am leaning toward the 550.

[Ernie]

I tried a buddy's Dillon on loan for a few weeks.

Long and short of it. I don't like having to fiddle with everything all at once. I ended up moving to a Lyman T8 turret press. I've two now and 10 heads.

I prefer to prime off the press. Either a Lee app or by hand.


While the turret presses may be slower than a progressive, their output still outpaces my shooting.

Thanks for the input. I have a Redding press that I have not unboxed but the extra turrets are too expensive and I like the Dillon set up better. I am not in a hurry and prefer to add powder by hand from my RCBS powder scale set up and I have the Lee app if I want to deal with the primers that way. I am just tired of the problems with the auto index and the Dillon seems to be made better than the Lee.

[DsGrouse]

I tried a buddy's Dillon on loan for a few weeks.

Long and short of it. I don't like having to fiddle with everything all at once. I ended up moving to a Lyman T8 turret press. I've two now and 10 heads.

I prefer to prime off the press. Either a Lee app or by hand.


While the turret presses may be slower than a progressive, their output still outpaces my shooting.

Thanks for the input. I have a Redding press that I have not unboxed but the extra turrets are too expensive and I like the Dillon set up better. I am not in a hurry and prefer to add powder by hand from my RCBS powder scale set up and I have the Lee app if I want to deal with the primers that way. I am just tired of the problems with the auto index and the Dillon seems to be made better than the Lee.

Yeah, I most often use my rcbs chargemaster that for rifle powders. However, I do have a Harrell's precision culver measure that does very well with stick powder.

options one and two for dropping powders from a charge master into a case. Clear funnel for pistols, green funnel for anything over 20grns.



The various culver powder measures I use, I've two of the Schutzen pistol measures and one of the larger bladed culver measures for rifle powder.






I like the dillon 550, it just wasn't for me. If i were to be honest, I didn't know enough at the time to make full use of it, and since then, I've refined how I like to reload. That makes the progressive, even manual index, a moot point for me.

[Ernie]

Thanks for the information. I am just not ready to pull the trigger yet and make the change. I may have to take another look at the Redding press.

[cpaspr]

$90 for a caliber conversion? But, but, but . . . Last time I looked they were about $45. Sigh.

I have a 550B. An earlier version of the 550C, without the zerk grease fitting (at a minimum). I've subsequently pulled the priming setup off of it, as I bought mine used and it didn't have all the tubes, and I was used to hand priming. I now basically use it to cut down on steps. With handgun ammo, I'll size and deprime in station 1, then bell in station 3 (with the powder measure for station 2 not installed). Then I'll clean the primer pockets (yeah, I'm one of those guys, but I use a cordless drill to do it, so it's quick), and re-prime the brass. Then I can either load small batches on an RCBS JR3, or large batches on the Dillon using station 2 for powder drop, 3 for powder die cop and 4 for seat and crimp or seat only, with crimp being a separate trip through the press.

One thing I discovered, at least for my particular powder measure, is that it is not consistent with the fine powders like H110. I was getting dangerous swings in powder drop quantities when loading .30 Carbine. So I had a friend pull the bullets and salvage the powder (I didn't have a collet puller), and reloaded them all on a single stage press.

When I bought the press, I planned on using it as designed. And did, a few times. Given how I use it now, and the amount of ammo I'm shooting these days, I probably wouldn't buy it again. But that's me, and my situation, and it was twenty years ago. If I was shooting much more frequently, yes I'd buy it again.

[DsGrouse]

I had the same problem with my rcbs chargemaster. It does not like dispensing fine powders, h110, 4227, enforcer, 1680, bullseye etc.

For those i swapped over to the culver powder measures from Harrel precision. Set it and it drops tjat every time.

Long stick powders can have a tiny swing 0.1 grains but thankfully i've the chargemaster for that.

[Ernie]

When I bought the press, I planned on using it as designed. And did, a few times. Given how I use it now, and the amount of ammo I'm shooting these days, I probably wouldn't buy it again. But that's me, and my situation, and it was twenty years ago. If I was shooting much more frequently, yes I'd buy it again.

Thank you for your input.

[The Happy Kaboomer]

I like to pull the handle and get a loaded round..........I don't do any operation off the press........That defeats it's purpose.........I run 4 Dillon Square Deals(auto indexing) with 9 caliber changes........Once the press is loaded you get an excellent loaded round with each pull of the handle.

[BrokenolMarine]

I have a 550b as well. I have had the press for decades, bought it for loading for PPC. We'd buy the supplies in Bulk from Georgia Arms. Two of our Sergeants would drive down from VA in a F350 pickup hauling an enclosed trailer taking a group order from all the Shooters from two /three departments and Georgia Arms would have the order ready and waiting. We'd guarantee the order with a credit card, but pay on arrival with cash. We had been ordering this way for years, so they had the pallets banded and wrapped, waiting for them on arrival. Loaded with the forklift and they'd turn around and come home the next day. Everyone would kick in a few bucks for the gas/motel/food for the two Sergeants. Still came out way ahead. My standard order was usually about ten or fifteen thousand bullets, twenty thousand primers split between small and large pistol, and ten to fifteen pounds of powder. Mine was on the smaller side.

A number of these guys were shooting PPC, IDPA, Bullseye, Skeet, Trap, Bowling Pins, and other matches. They would order for all those.

My press has toolheads for 38 wadcutter, Semi, wadcutter, 9mm, 40, 45acp. It paid for itself over and over again. I never added toolheads for rifle calibers.

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