I've realoaded my own rounds for about 37-38yrs now. But, just about 300rnds of 270win year, another 3-400rnds of 22-250 and 22-250AI each year. Also about 60-80rnds each of 7mm Mag, 300 Weatherby, 30-06 same. About 500 -- 357mag, 9mm etc.

All of these rounds have been loaded on a RCBS Rock Chucker. Something that I noticed is that by loading single rounds, trimming, cleaning, measuring, weighing each round. Most of the time I end up with very very accurate ammuntion.

I just bought a RL 550B, Something I've noticed is that the "tolorances" don't look as tight on a machine that has a number so "stations". The Dillon dies are rounded at the bottom, I guess to allow for a little slack in the machines, etc. I know the powder measure says that it's guaranteed to .1grs. Do any of you have any experience on this machine.

One of the reasons I bought the new Dillon is that I'm shooting several pistols in 40S&W now along with the other rounds and reloading a box or two a night isn't going to cut it. I also am starting to cast my own bullets, which should help cut down on cost a bit.

As an example -- By it's very nature, the first station is the de-prime/prime size station - by doing it this way and feeding cases one after another, you don't have an opertunity to check primer pockets, both for residue and size. On my old press, I deprimed, polished and cleaned, you can't do that with this press, what kind of procedure do you use to get around this?

But, I'm a little worried about quality vs quantity. I would like some of your comments.

i use the 550 and enjoy it for my pistol rounds. the powder measure stays within .1 of a grain consistantly for me. i want to add the case feeder to mine soon. i use unique for my 45acp and 296 for 44 mag and both dispense well. the only caution is to check the first few loads as all dillion style powder dispensers may be off the first few times due to powder setteling. id sujest to set up all of your pistols to do on your 550

I've been reloading on a 550 for about 15 years and based on that experience, you made a good choice with the Dillon. I too came to progressive reloading from a good 20 years on a basic Rockchucker...still have it and use it once in a while.

I shot competitively for about 10 years and have reloaded tens of thousands of rounds on the 550 (.38 Super, .357, .40 Smith, .45 ACP, .44 Mag) and the quality is competition grade. Won a few trophies in bullseye, and shot my way (eventually) into A Class in IPSC/USPSA using ammo loaded on my 550.

I long ago stopped cleaning primer pockets since by repeatedly testing cleaned vs not cleaned, there was no measureable difference in accuracy in any pistol caliber of mine, ever. But, if it's important to you to clean primer pockets, you can run the cases thru the size and deprime part of the first stage only, take them out and do your cleaning, then pick it back up at the re-prime portion of the first stage and continue on.

So far as producing larger quantities of ammo, once you get used to progressive reloading, and confident in the quality of ammo you're making, you'll wonder how you ever got along without it.

I still do single stage for most of my rifle ammo since I shoot much less of it than pistol in batches of 20 or 30, but for batches of hundreds or thousands, there's nothing like a Dillon 550 or 650.

For whatever it's worth...

David Tubb, who has won 11 national high power rifle championships plus other titles, loads his ammo on a Dillon 550.

In Black Magic -- The Ultra Accurate AR15, author John Feamster states, "Another hot topic in the Highpower competition world is the question of whether progressive presses can produce ammunition of equal accuracy to that made on a single-stage press. At least when speaking about Dillon presses using carefully adjusted well-made dies, I believe the answer to be a resounding "YES!!" He then cites aggregate groups fired in benchrest competition of 0.219" at a 100 yards and 0.528" at 200 yards.

Not too shabby.

Hammer

I quess that answers my questions. Hell I've only shot one group in my life any smaller than his ag. A .16" group I shot last year just before the deer hunt (308win). Thanks, Hammer, I was certain that so many people couldn't be wrong. It just seems that a progressive, by it's nature would have a hard time being as "repeatable". But with that kind of endorsment, who am I to question?

I don't want to muddy the waters here....but I'm a bit uncomfortable with the lack of any trimming or length checking in most cases. Since Dillon trim dies (and expensive system)aren't available for that many calibers, does anyone have experience with this issue?
I've been looking at getting one of these beauties....

Dan

quote:

Originally posted by Dan H:
I don't want to muddy the waters here....but I'm a bit uncomfortable with the lack of any trimming or length checking in most cases. Since Dillon trim dies (and expensive system)aren't available for that many calibers, does anyone have experience with this issue?
I've been looking at getting one of these beauties....

Dan

Dillon trim dies are usually used prior to loading brass and not part of the actual loading process.

There are many ways to trim brass ranging from the Gracy, RCBS, Lyman, etc power trimmers that do a speedy job.

And some folks use the RCBS X-dies which supposedly reduce the need for trimming.

In my younger days, even trimmed brass shorter than should have but did not have to trim again.

Hammer

quote:

Originally posted by Dan H:
I don't want to muddy the waters here....but I'm a bit uncomfortable with the lack of any trimming or length checking in most cases. Since Dillon trim dies (and expensive system)aren't available for that many calibers, does anyone have experience with this issue?
I've been looking at getting one of these beauties....Dan

Have loaded all my match ammo on a Dillon 450 (upgraded to 550 features except for the frame) for many years. Shot high master scores across the course to 600 yards w/Dillon loaded ammo. The 550 measure will throw +/- .1 gr. using H450 or other ball powders without any special care. I used a lot of H4895 for short range loads and my 550 would throw within +/- .15 gr. when cycled a bit slower.

I usually deprime w/a punch so that cases can be trimmed using the Lee trimmer in a cordless drill each time prior to loading. A habit picked up when loading for the M1. Found it easier to trim every case than to check all cases and trim only the long ones.

Can't beat the Dillon presses IMHO!

Regards,
hm

I've been loading on my DIllon 550B since they were first sold. It is THE only way to load large volumns of accurat pistol ammo in a big hurry. I still load all of my rifle ammo on a single stage but I don't shoot more than 900-1000rds a year.
The powder measures are very good but 0.1gr guarantee I doubt. Certain powders meter better than others. As far as brass prep, I don't other than tumble before sizing then inspect & start loading. For magnum pistol, I trim by hand when needed. Semiauto stuff, never trimmed one in my life & I used to shoot 15,000+ a year.

What about primer pockets, does anyone bother with cleaning them, each time, every other time, every??, or not at all, do you "drill" pockets to make them all concentric?

I used to clean the primer pockets but when loading for volume it uses up the time I spend at the range shooting them.

I'm going to go ahead and open a can of worms here. I think what should be taken from the experiences referenced above is that many of the procedures we have learned and used in reloading are there for safety sake and really have little or no effect on overall accuracy, i.e., "exact" powder loads, cleaning primer pockets, trimming flash holes....

I load my pistol rounds on my Dillons (a converted 450 and a 550) and recently started loading .223 rounds. I can tell no accuracy difference in the .223 rounds loaded on the Dillon progressively vs. those I load on the RockChucker one at a time, weighing EVERY load, cleaning every primer pocket, trimming all to same length.

What do y'all think?

MKane160

Mkane, I think you are exactly correct.

Some years ago I did a test, loading 100 rounds of .220 Swift EXTREMELY carefully on my Rockchucker single-stage press, and another 100 rounds on the Dillon 550 without pocket cleaning or any of the other semi-anal procedures so dear to many of us.

I fired all 200 rounds, in five-shot groups alternating between the batches, in a (long!) single day at the range. Fortunately the weather was quite cool, so not much time was lost to barrel heating-and-cooling.

When all the groups were measured at the end of the marathon, there was NO STATISTICAL DIFFERENCE between the two batches. It was about the last time I cleaned a primer pocket, except for blackpowder cases, or weighed every powder charge in a production run.

The rifle was a highly-accurate heavy-barrel varminter with a good scope, and capable of showing me any differences that might exist between the methods of loading. No such differences appeared.

Thanks, fellows, I will use the 550 with confidence. I really just wanted to play devils advacate and make certain what Dillon claimed could be backed up by real life users.

I purchaced several rifle dies and a 40S&W set of dies, along with the powder alarm and auto powder dump, strong mount, I'd like a case feeder, but I've got to hide it somewhere else for awhile. Wifes getting a little nervous at my "hobby" expenses lately. Hard for her to understand how I can save by spending, I told her it wasn't any different than her "sales". I'm not sure she bought it.........

Only cartridge I've reloaded on my 550 that has been less accurate than on my Rockchucker has been the 22 Hornet and it is a a difficult cartridge to begin with.

All others I have not seen any difference in accuracy.

Joe A.

quote:

Originally posted by Joe A.:
Only cartridge I've reloaded on my 550 that has been less accurate than on my Rockchucker has been the 22 Hornet and it is a a difficult cartridge to begin with.

All others I have not seen any difference in accuracy.

Joe A.

Have my own experiences with the 22 Hornet. Had problems myself. Currently have a satisfactory load using the Dillon and a 35-grain Hornady VMAX and 13.0 grains of 'Lil Gun. Also, pistol instead of rifle primers.

Hammer

I came to the reloading forum tonight to post a question asking if progressive presses load good ammo, and I find this thread at the top of the list! Can I add a couple of questions of my own? How fast are these Dillon presses, and how well do they do loading magnum rifle cases? I regularly shoot two revolvers and 5 rifles, all center fires. The rifles include .300 WSM, .358 STA, and .458 Winny. How do these big cases do in a progressive press; accurate and fast enough to justify the expense? I shoot a few times a week and after 31 years I am getting tired of spending so much time at the loading bench. On that note, I have given up a lot of the more anal brass prep and loading steps I used to take because they just aren't worth the time. My most accurate rifles are sub-moa, but not bench rifles. They can't tell that the primer pockets are cleaned, all the brass weighed within 1.5%, powder charges individually measured, or that my 22-250 fires only Norma cases with necks all turned and accurate within .0005-all 300 of them! The builder of my first custom varmint rifle said I could do all that and it would turn out really consistent ammo, but that personally he would rather shoot than reload. I now believe that was a polite way of saying it was unnessary.

The advertised Dillon speeds are pretty close to right.

The only case that might have a problem is the 358 STA due to its length. But it would do well in the Dillono 650, which has more clearance than the 550.

Hammer

I reload for anything out to 600 yards on a Dillon (both 550 & 650) without any worries. I do all my 9mm, 38SPC, 40 Schmidt und Veasel, 45ACP, .223 and .308 in one big production run for each caliber about every two years. I usually make about 5,000 of each of the pistol calibers, 4,000 of .223 and 2,000 of .308.

Careful die set-up and close monitoring will give you many buckets full of very accurate ammunition.

I do all my rifle brass preparation before I throw it into the hopper. I just put a universal decapper die in at station one to knock any crud out of the flash holes.

I'm trying to save up for a 1050, just 'cause.

LD

I thought I had all my questions answered buy not yet....

I already have dies for 22-250, 22-250AI, 243win, 270win, 270AI, 7mm Mag, 308win, 30-06, 300 Weatherby, 30carbine, 9mm Luger, 38/357mag, 40S&W --- Most of them are RCBS -- how important is it to use Dillon dies in their press?

All my rifle dies are RCBS and I have had no problems using them in my Dillon 550.

quote:

Originally posted by AI22-250:
I thought I had all my questions answered buy not yet....

I already have dies for 22-250, 22-250AI, 243win, 270win, 270AI, 7mm Mag, 308win, 30-06, 300 Weatherby, 30carbine, 9mm Luger, 38/357mag, 40S&W --- Most of them are RCBS -- how important is it to use Dillon dies in their press?

Any brand of standard dies will work in a Dillon.

For handgun, the Dillon dies tapered entry allows faster smoother operation.

In rifle, all my dies are other brands except the 223 Rem. They all work fine.

Hammer

Fellows, thanks for the follow-up. I plan to make the Dillon press my next press. I've been meaning to make the step to a progressive for some time--once set up there's nothing like it.

Cheers,

Dan

I just finished loading the ammo for our annual prairie dog hunt to South Dakota this year, 204 Ruger and 243 Win. I use my Dillon 550, both rifles will shoot 1/2 MOA with the ammo loaded in the 550.The 550 is a great piece of gear.

Head Trauma

How many rounds did you run of each and about how long did it take you, how long does it take to set up each caliber, change powder, etc.

Thanks, Mike

Am slow in setting up a Dillon toolhead the first time. Also keep dedicated powder measures. Have aftermarket micrometer powder adjustment tools on each powder measure. Also keep a separate Dillon press setup for each primer size - small rifle, small pistol, large rifle, large pistol. Am also lazy.

But once a toolhead is setup, takes about fifteen seconds to change calibers and maybe a minute to confirm powder charge.

Hammer

Here's my dillon 650 set up to load .223. I get outstanding accuracy from a bushmaster full size ar-15, using various bullet/powder combos. It uses a Hornady case activated measure linkage. I never tryed to use the dillon type sliding bar measure for rifle shells. I use the dillon measure for all my pistol calibers.



This is a close look at the Hornady linkage. I use Hornady new dimension dies, they work just fine in this application. Hornady has improved their case activated linkage, this one is no longer available.



I don't clean primer pockets on hardly anything anymore, certainly not handgun ammo. Hunting loads get the full case prep treatment, trim, PP cleaned, flash hole de-burred, chamfered with a vld tool. Those get loaded on my bonanza co-ax, so few it don't pay to set up the dillon.

If I have to do a primer size change, it may take 10-15 minutes to change calibers. Otherwise a switch is only 5 minutes as far as the press goes. You always have to load primer tubes, fill the measure. I have multiple tool heads, with the dies staying set up in each. I load everything I have components for, in each caliber, usually limited by bullet supply. Then I don't have to change very often. Right now I'm at 8 conversions; 357 sig, .357 mag, 40 S&W, 44 mag, 45 acp, 45 LC, .223, and .308.

I'll post some groups that I just shot last saturday, as soon as I find the target, scan it and run it onto image event to post here!