thinking about new press

[k arga]

been reloading for more than 35 years on my rocker chucker press, it's great for small lots of ammo but i can't stand to do a lot of pistol or 223 anymore. looking at dillon 550 b or xl 650. the cost is not a factor, just would like opinions on the dillon presses ,i know they are very good,which one is most favored.

thanks

[Hefights]

RL 550 is an excellent press for pistol and .223. Today I just use the 550 for pistol reloading, works great. Best results if you use powders that meter well. The powder measure is a very good one, but for powders like 700X its not ideal. It does ok with the coarser powders like 700X or Red Dot, but just be cautious if you are near a max load because with those type powders the measure is less precise. The best results are with powders like 231, Bullseye etc. I used AA 2520 ball powder for .223.

I went to single stage for all my rifle reloading, but the 550 will handle .223 easily. You may wish to adjust the cycle for a certain case prep routine. However, I just ran .223s through all stations without cleaning primer pockets. Cleaned off the case lube after they were in the hopper. They shot just fine.

[joem]

I have the 650 with the electric case feeder. It's great for big amounts of brass. If your not going to buy the case feeder then go with the550. Be sure to buy the low powder sensor because you can go through a lot of powder very quickly and it's not to good to load ammo with NO POWDER. Ask me how I know. If you process a lot of rifle brass get the power trimmer. It saves time.

[Maury Krupp]

I've got a 550; it does everything I need it to do. I can load single-stage, semi or full progressive.

It will turn out mass quantities of pistol or rifle with just a yank on the handle. With four filled primer tubes plus 100 primers in the machine 550 rounds per hour really is possible.

It will turn out match quality with a few more steps.

I prefer the 550's manual shellplate advance; it's smoother than the 650's auto and it keeps me in control of where each case is and when it gets there.

I don't mind not having a case feeder. The 550 feeder doesn't work with .308 or .30-'06 so having one is moot anyway.

All that said, if all I wanted was blammo, especially pistol blammo I'd probably go with the 650 for the little bit of extra speed and convenience.

Maury

[k arga]

thanks guys,this is what i was hoping for the real use of the press and not just dillon say so. please more feedback welcome.

[Hefights]

Dillon's like most better companies, they stand behind their products and have sent me small replacement parts over the years no charge. Unless you are really into producing mass quantities fast, the 550 is probably your ticket to happiness. Mine is an old one without any extra bells and whistles. When the powder hopper gets low I just pour in more powder. However you can likely get the nicer accessories more readily or as part of the package, so have fun.

[da gimp]

Dillon's powder thrower work's extremely well with Unique. Loading Bullseye is dangerous, if u get distracted can dbl or triple charge a case easily with no powder overspill.

[Jim in Salt Lake]

I have a 25 year old 550. Dillon just sent me a bunch of parts and a new powder measure after I called them with primer feed problems. You can't order most of the parts, they insist on sending them for free. You gotta love that and mine works like new now. I bought it to load .45ACP for pin shooting. Now I load .223 for our junior team. Buy extra tool heads. You can leave your dies set up and switch calibers by changing tool heads. If your caliber change uses the same shell plate, even easier.

To load the large quantity of .223 that our team needs, I use a two toolhead system. First tool head has a sizing die and a Dillon case trimmer installed. After tumbling the dirty brass, this first step sizes, decaps and trims the brass. I tumble it again to remove the case lube, then manually chamfer and debur the mouths (this is a great job for the kids). You can also clean primer pockets, uniform the flash hole, etc. if you desire. Second tool head has a decapping die (to knock tumbling media out of the flash hole), powder measure, bullet seat die, and taper crimp (again if you so desire). You also prime the cases at this stage. The new Dillon powder measure is a big improvement over over the ancient, worn out measure I had previously. However, I've found that spherical or flake powders feed much more consistently than extruded stick powder. We've had excellent results using Ramshot TAC (my personal favorite) and Alliant 2000MR. With these powders, we're getting consistency in charges to +/- .10gr. The extruded powders we've tried (Varget, IMR4895, Alliant AR Comp) give us +/- .30gr consistency.

This tool has been one of the best values I've had, you won't go wrong.

[Maury Krupp]

...The extruded powders we've tried (Varget, IMR4895, Alliant AR Comp) give us +/- .30gr consistency...

If you want better results with extruded, try this:

-Polish inside the measure, funnel, and powder bar to mirror finish
-Rub and buff moving parts with wax
-Tighten the bellcrank just enough to keep the square plastic washer in place on the powder bar (loose is good)
-Modify the new cam return design back to the old spring design (get springs at ACE or any good hardware store; 5-5 1/2in long)
-Go slow and smooth - Slow and smooth on the up, tap at the top to break any clogs, count a Mississippi or two to let the powder flow, slow and smooth on the down, tap or seat a primer at the bottom to settle the next charge in the bar

My .308 & .30-'06 throws are +/- .2gr (usually .1gr) with IMR or H 4895 and around 90% are that good with IMR4064 (but lookout for that other 10% ).

Maury

[Jim in Salt Lake]

Thanks, Maury, I'll give those suggestions a try. I had heard about the spring tip and am already using the old spring method with the new powder measure they sent. I'll try the polishing, waxing, and bellcrank adjustment. I'm going to be loading more .30-'06 this year so that'll be extruded. I've always used IMR powder for that, too.

For .223, TAC has worked so well for us, very consistent and not temperature affected.