Dillon 550 or 650/

[penman53]

I had a 650 with all the bells and whistles. I was always screwing with it to get primers to feed properly. It eventually in my opinion ended with me having a double charge and my blowing up a Smith and Wesson M and P 40C. Scared the hell out of me. I sold all of my reloading equipment and decided to buy factory. Well, now you can't buy factory half the time and when you can, price gougers are jacking up the price so much you can't afford it. So when I got into bullseye shooting, I had to get back into reloading. I bought a 550b because of its simplicity. I have to think more about every round and I hope that it will make reloading safer. One think about the 650 with a case feeder is you only have contact with the ammunition when setting a bullet on station 3. Pulling the handle over and over again is almost hypnotic. Hence all of the buzzers for primers and low powder.

I think in my opinion that you did the right thing regardless of the price difference.

Good luck and be safe.

Oh by the way make sure you watch out for those pesky Democrats, they are the cause of all of our troubles you know.

Wink

 

[_CY_]

here's a five part youtube video with loads of detail, showing setup from scratch for 550.

How to reload with a Dillon RL 550B Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRZrbv_8kx4&feature=related

 

[Shriner]

Do dillion guys buy another crimp die for your 3 die set? What about rifle cal with a only 2 die set ?

 

[steve831]

Do dillion guys buy another crimp die for your 3 die set? What about rifle cal with a only 2 die set ?

I used the Lee factory crimp die for my .223 and .308 loads when loading for the semi-autos. If it's for the bolt actions, I don't worry about it.

 

[Shriner]

Well what I ment as dillions are to run 4 die stations -deprime-bell-seat-crimp, do you use a second seat/crimp die for crimping and how you setup for 2 die cal's like 221 fireball,30-06,243win ?

 

[1911user]

Well what I ment as dillions are to run 4 die stations -deprime-bell-seat-crimp, do you use a second seat/crimp die for crimping and how you setup for 2 die cal's like 221 fireball,30-06,243win ?

You don't have to fill all 4 stations in the die head. Use what you need for rifle loading and leave the rest open.

For pistol loading on a 550, it is not an absolute requirement but people generally have separate dies to seat and crimp. In many cases, that means buying a separate crimp die.

 

[alank2]

Hi,

I had a 650 with all the bells and whistles. I was always screwing with it to get primers to feed properly.

I've never loaded on a 650, but the priming system of the 550 is one of the reasons why I love it so much. It is simple and it works great. I've loaded around 5K rounds on my 550 with big and small primers and never once had a problem.

I bought a 550b because of its simplicity. I have to think more about every round and I hope that it will make reloading safer.

You sound like a person who would appreciate my press monitor. I have a kit available right now for people who have soldering skills, but I am working on a completed, ready to go unit that I hope to have available in two weeks or so. This kit will greatly reduce the chances of a double charge or squib round by watching your press actions and alerting you if you are out of sequence with them. To see everything it can do, check out the operation manual:

www.sadevelopment.com/pressmonitor/Press Monitor Operation Manual_102.pdf

http://www.glockpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10592

Did you try the casefeeder for the 550? I've never heard much about them and wondered how well they work.

Thanks,

Alan

 

[Shriner]

Thanks 1911 am little cheap and would not want to have to but more dies than I need to ,and would rather spent money for more reloading supplies or guns.

 

[223 Shooter]

Loaded a couple of thousand rounds of .223 on the 550 that Santa left under the tree this Xmas. Had everything to load 30-06 (M1 matches), 9mm & 38 Spl, but had not gotten around to pistol loading. Did notice that if one was not careful, was easy to throw (or at least attempt to) a double-charge with the manual indexing. Nice thing about loading rifle ammo is that a double-charge makes a mess you can't miss (unless you are loading in your sleep). Then a fellow competitor in bullseye competition destoyed his .32 match pistol with a double-charge. He also used a 550. At that point I decided I need auto-indexing. Gave Dillon a call and they gave me an RMA # and full refund on the 550 for a similar 650. I can throw a double-charge, but hopefully, the 650 won't. I found the 550 to be an excellent, high-quality machine and expect the same with the 650. Obviously, my view of Dillon's customer service could not be higher. Take care and keep 'em in the 10-ring.

 

[tyromeo55]

Loaded a couple of thousand rounds of .223 on the 550 that Santa left under the tree this Xmas. Had everything to load 30-06 (M1 matches), 9mm & 38 Spl, but had not gotten around to pistol loading. Did notice that if one was not careful, was easy to throw (or at least attempt to) a double-charge with the manual indexing. Nice thing about loading rifle ammo is that a double-charge makes a mess you can't miss (unless you are loading in your sleep). Then a fellow competitor in bullseye competition destoyed his .32 match pistol with a double-charge. He also used a 550. At that point I decided I need auto-indexing. Gave Dillon a call and they gave me an RMA # and full refund on the 550 for a similar 650. I can throw a double-charge, but hopefully, the 650 won't. I found the 550 to be an excellent, high-quality machine and expect the same with the 650. Obviously, my view of Dillon's customer service could not be higher. Take care and keep 'em in the 10-ring.

WOW! What a way to dig up one of my old threads! I ended up with the 605 and could not be happier. The only thing that I had a qualm about was the extra cot of caliber conversions but it was made up for by the fact that I could use the casefeeder for rifle brass.