Next: How bada$$ are Dillions??

[ICUDIEN]

I was looking at the site and they are only like $420, so is that all I'd need(other than dies)? And are they easy to figure out/ set up?

[Dennis]

Just set my system up since Christmas. It takes a little studing, but for the most part it's easy.

I chose to go with the RCBS system as Cabelas has a great kit and I mainly reload rifle rounds.

If I were reloading pistol rounds, I would have went with a Dillion. There great machines, but "personally" I feel you need a little more hands on with loading rifle bullets.

Just my opinion, Good Luck

[dcloco]

For pistol OR rifle they work great.

Load 9mm, 40 S&W, 357, 44, 45, 223, 243, & 308 on mine.

If loading pistol, buy the Dillon NEW style dies...they rock.

...and the "blue koolaid" is addictive. :)

Of note, once you are set up and have a few thousand rounds under your reloading belt, it is very easy to crank out 1000 QUALITY rounds per hour on a 550B. But, you have to have help. With 5 primer tubes full, I load the CLEAN brass in the turret and pull the handle, while my "help" places the bullet in the powdered and primered round. Rotate the turret and go again. Your bullet loader checks the powder amount and away you go again.

[psharon97]

If Im loading for my rifles where I want to precisely know the powder amount in each of the rounds, I prefer a single stage press. If I'm loading in bulk and precision fire isn't the objective, then I have a Lee 5 stage press.

[ICUDIEN]

I would never do any rifle loading on this machine it would strictly be for pistol. I do ALL of my rifle on a Single stage.

[dcloco]

I would never do any rifle loading on this machine it would strictly be for pistol. I do ALL of my rifle on a Single stage.

Bought a Forster Co Ax yet? :)

[ICUDIEN]

No sir. I have a Rockchucker, I have only been reloading for a couple of years but I am going to start buying Forster dies from now on. I hear they make great stuff.

[kleeber]

I like the 650, especially for pistol, because with 5 stations you can use the powder-level check die. Gives me peace of mind when I'm loading cartridges where a double charge could go unnoticed on a progressive. When I pull a case to check the powder weight on a scale, I always to it at the powder check station so I can't screw up and put an empty case back in.

There's a lot going on when you pull the handle, so it can take a while to get used to them. But, if you do lots of single stage loading, should be no problem.

Get the case feeder. The Dillon dies are quite nice.

[Hammer]

Don't know nothin' 'bout reloading.

Don't know nothin' 'bout no Dillons.

But blue is a nice color.


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[GaCop]

I've been loading on a 550 since 1988. I do various pistol calibers along with 7mm/08 and 308. I've seen no difference in accuracy loading rifle rounds on the Dillon versus using my RCBS Rockchucker. The last few years, I leave my 550 set up for 45 acp and load all my rifle rounds on the RCBS. I've had zero problems with the Dillon after loading thousands of rounds over the years.

[laportecharlie]

I bought a used Dillon 550 (not a B) in 1986. I called Dillon with a question and by the time I was off the phone Dillon was sending me the parts to upgrade to the "B" configuration, exchanging some dies that I didn't need for some I did and the same with a case trim die. All at no cost!. That same machine has loaded well over 300,000 rounds and has been rebuilt twice by Dillon at no cost to me. Dillon changed the entire reloading industry with their "No BS" warranty.
Charlie

[EFBell]

Hammer don't know nothing about dillon because he only has about a dozen of them. He will need about a dozen more before he fully understands them. I have heard that he is working on a belt operated line shaft powered by an old polaris 4 wheeler with a tire removed to operat all 24 at once when he finally reaches the 24 dillon mark.

I only have one (original 450) that I have had for almost 30 years. So I really haven't learned too much yet either. Probably because it never gave me any problems.

[Hammer]

.

... powered by an old polaris 4 wheeler...

Actually a Yamaha 600. The six speed transmission adds something to the process.

Converting the Yamaha to propane since there is 4,000 gallons next to the shed.

The Dillon 1050 is easier to convert to hydraulic than the Dillon 650.

The shotshell presses are Spolar. Spolar gold goes well with Dillon blue.

The original dozen Dillon are on the east side of the shed where the sun rises over the continental divide.

The others are on the west side where the sun sits over the Snake.

But some haven't been unboxed yet.

[Senderofan]

Purchased my 550B from Brian Enos a couple of years ago. For a fairly simple machine....it puts out some very nice rounds. If you're needin' high production numbers...the 650 or ultimately the 1050 would serve you and generations after you.

I'm thoroughly satisfied with my Dillon.....I still use my Rockchucker for all my bolt rifles though..

Good Luck,

Wayne

[ICUDIEN]

Thanks Everyone!

[Monkeymaster]

Dillon 550 for pistol rounds.
Had a lee progessive, nothing but trouble.
I have a rock chucker for the rifle, and the dillon for my revolvers.
Takes a little trying out at first, keep radio, tv off and wife and kids out if you have them, after that, sweet !
Dillon will treat you like royalty, just call and ask.
They are 1st CLASS !

[dcloco]

Thanks Everyone!

LOL!....but how much did this thread cost you? Sorry bud...."blue koolaid" is about as bad as the "savage/stevens" hobby.

[ICUDIEN]

I was thinking about the RCBS progressive since I hear their customer service is second to none also. But after hearing all of you guys talking about "Blue koolaide" you guys might have changed my mind for good!

[hershey]

you won't be disapointed with dillon customer service either.

got 2 550's. for pistol you can really crank out the rounds, for rifle blasting ammo it is very fast too. if you need precision target ammo you will need to slow down a bit, but David Tubbs sais he loads much of his ammo on one (per his video), so i'd say thats a good vote. the type of powder you use does affect the accuracy of the throws. if it don't meter well in most throwers, then it won't meter as well in a dillon either. i quite often use the dillon to finish my rounds. i/e deprime/size on an rcbs, do all my case prep, then hand load primer and powder, then seat and crimp in the dillon, basically it saves some time in crimp stage, as you don't have to touch it again once you plop the bullet on top the case.

[rjtfroggy]

Personally I like the single stage RCBS (rockchucker), I like the solitude and just being able to clear my mind for a couple hours a few times a week. I also like precession so I weigh all my loads, electronic dispenser onto a digital scale and then every 5-6 rounds onto the balance scale, I try to stay under .1grn.
I do this with rifle or hand gun ammo,even all my shotgun stuff 12,16 20,and 410, but hey I'm retired and have the time. If I decided to go progressive it would probably be the RCBS just to stay with what I have been using.

[Hammer]

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See where lots of folks use the Dillons for handgun calibers but not for rifle.


There is a lot of match grade 223 and 308 rifle ammo loaded on Dillons. A local commercial loader uses Dillon Super 1050s and loads close to 20 million rounds of rifle ammo a year. Loaded a ton of 7mm Rem Mag over the past year since the local gun shops could not get any national brand factory ammo for it. Has no customer complaints.


One rifle cartridge I don't load on a Dillon is my 14 Walker -- and that is because the case mouth is too small and you load the powder through the primer flash hole before seating the primer.

And I do keep three RCBS AmmoMasters set up for semi-progressive loading of the 585 Nyati class of cartridges.

Dillon now has a semi-progressive for the 50 BMG.

Have all the regular single stage and turret presses made in the last umpteen years -- Bonanza CO-AX, Hornady, Lee, Lyman, Redding, etc., plus some custom made ones. Keep two RCBS Rockchuckers setup for loading 222 Remington as a nostalgia thing. They all work fine and I enjoy them. Not a bad thing to say about any of them.

But the prairie dogs and the cape buffalo keep calling and it takes serious amounts of ammo for them.

It is a pain to load 25 ACP on a Dillon as my fingers are too big and I must not be nimble enough with tweezers. Then again, it's a pain to load 25 ACP ammo on a RCBS Rockchucker too.


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[Hammer]

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One of the most embarrassing things I learned after 35+ years of handloading is how little our time is worth.

I take great pride in my ammo and have done about every case prep and ammo accuracy trick ever discussed over my lifetime. Even keep bullet swaging presses setup to swage my own jacketed bullet designs. (Ever hand make rebated boattails. Takes seven die sets.) Have traveled thousands of miles and spent days with the best benchrest shooters in the country to learn from them. Have run controlled experiments on hundreds of variables in order to quantify the improvement of each technique and its synergy with other techniques.

Each round means something to me.



Then I learn that my commercial loader friends figure ammo making labor at $10 per thousand loaded rounds.

$12 for match ammo.

And this from commercial loaders who have been in business for over twenty years with very happy repeat customers.

That hurt.

It also means I'm paying my cowboys too much.


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[CJ in WY]

Have yet to uae the 550B for the 9mm and 45colt (Have yet to pick up the shell plates ???
It does however do a great job of reloading the doggin rounds that use ball powders! Easy to get a few hundred reloaded for a day of doggin.
204 39Sierra Tac, Benchmark??
223 40Vmax Tac & 2200
223AI 40Vmax Tac & 2230-C
22-250 75 Amax H414
243 55Nosler H414

The Rock Chucker IV gets all the long range stick powdes and the Lyman turrent gets the pistols reloaded.

[Senderofan]

Have yet to uae the 550B for the 9mm and 45colt (Have yet to pick up the shell plates ???
It does however do a great job of reloading the doggin rounds that use ball powders! Easy to get a few hundred reloaded for a day of doggin.
204 39Sierra Tac, Benchmark??
223 40Vmax Tac & 2200
223AI 40Vmax Tac & 2230-C
22-250 75 Amax H414
243 55Nosler H414

The Rock Chucker IV gets all the long range stick powdes and the Lyman turrent gets the pistols reloaded.

You won't be disappointed once you get the 9mm and .45 up and running. As long as primer tubes are filled....you can really crank out the rounds.

Wayne

[CJ in WY]

[quote=Senderofan ]

You won't be disappointed once you get the 9mm and .45 up and running. As long as primer tubes are filled....you can really crank out the rounds.
Wayne

I must be weird? The 9mm is lucky to get to get 50 rounds a year through it (Hi-Point that goes bang every time but is not minute of prairie dog!) and the 45lc/454Casull usually dont get more than a couple hundred. The Doggin rounds dont get as many as I would like but still get 500-1500/each....
The Dillon really does reload as good as the single stage presses.....as long as I dont resize AR brass and use ball powders!!

Hammer
$12/1000 for labor on match ammo Man do I feel like a slaker!!