Jim
I can only speak for Dillon, as Tony the Tiger said, "They're great!"
I've got four Dillions, from the first one they made, the model 300, two Square Deals and one 650. They all work wonderfully. All four are in use. Do I need four, no! But it sure is nice to be able to set down and load ammo in one caliber and switch over to another machine and load another.
The only problems I've had with these machines have been user produced. The only breakage has been caused by the jerk on the handle.
Jim

http://dillonprecision.com/ is the web site. You buy that for a speciifc caliber setup (14 caliber available, pistol not rifle). The Dillion 550 is the machine that you can change the calibers with standard dies. This is the Dillion alot of people talk about. It will take wither rifle or pistol dies. I have had mine for 12 years and it is great. I have wore out primer cup springs and they just send new ones no questions asked. I haven't used any one elses since I have been happy with this. The RCBS and the Hornady do seems nice when I have played with them in a store.

Hcliff

What are thier square B machines? Are they caliber specific or can you just change dies ? I know the popular opinion is that Dillion makes the best progressive , but which brands would fall in the good catagory?And lastly what is Dillions website address? Thanks.

I have the Dillon RL550B also. It is great. I've loaded from 32auto to 30-378 on it. I got a conversion kit for 470NE, but haven't used it yet. If your not looking at putting out as much money yet, then they offer the AT550 or whatever that is the basic press that you can add the powder measure to later.

Another Dillon fan here. I have (3) 550s, my dad uses one of them, & they just go & go. If you break one, Dillon will fix any part free. There may be others but I haven't seen any as simple or durable. The 550 uses Dillon dies or any 7/8" body like Redding. RCBS, etc. I onl yuse mine for pistol stuff but others like them for rifle ammo as well.

Another question. On reading the website info on the 550B it says that in station 2 you bell the case mouth and charge the case . How is this accomplished ? I cant see how you could charge a case through the die (RCBS) that I have here at home yet they say you use std. dies. Thanks for the help.

The 2nd station is a Dillon powder die body/powder measure. It is hollow & has a hollow case neck expander that the powder falls thru. The rest of the stations use the "std." dies.

The Dillion AT500 and 550B are almost the same press.The AT500 is fully upgradable to the 550B and is basically a fancy single stage press.It will load only one round at a time.Is the press for those on a budget that wish to at some point upgrade to a full progessive loader,however if you figer all the upgrades $ you will save in the long run by getting the 550B to start with.
Just my 2 cents.

Another VERY satisfied Dillon user here. I've got a 550B, and it's a lot more convient that the SDB if you want to change calibers. Check out thier website, call them and they will send you a catalog. Customer service is superb, they are a great company. Save up a little extra and buy the 550, you won't regret it.

John

Another happy dillon customer here. Mines a XL 650, the one all others are compared to. It too can be used for everything from the smallest pistol to the magnum rifles. It is also a true progressive, auto primer feed, case feed, low primer alarm, and powder sensor alarm.

When you decide on the one you want, go here to order;
http://www.brianenos.com/pages/dillon.html. Brian will save you 5 - 10% under what dillon factory dirrect costs. He's also quick about it, I had a large order from him in 5 days from time of order.

Here's mine set up for .223;



The powder measure is Hornady with their case activated linkage. It comes with the die and linkage for the measure. It will also work for the RCBS measure and one other.



In this pic the powder die is hidden by the powder sensor, but you can clearly see the linkage. All you handle is the bullet, pull the handle, it puts out a loaded shell for each handle stroke.

Yet another satisfied RL550B owner. I love this press and everytime I think of using another I just shake my head back to reality. these presses are fast, accurate, durable and come with the No BS warranty all the other have mentioned. I strongly recommed using Dillon's dies in every caliber you can purchase them. they make using the press a dream compared to using some of the other dies. I like Redding dies a lot too and those would be my second choice for calibers not offered by Dillon. The later Lee dies will work as they are now sufficiently long enough. I highly recommend this press. Just check my avatar

Is there a problem using RCBS dies? Thats what I have now , with the exception of some Lee factory crimp dies.

No Jim, no problem using RCBS, Redding, etc. as long as the die body is a 7/8. I have several RCBS sets for use in my 550B. You will have to buy a Dillon "tool head" for each set of dies, a "cartridge conv." for each diff. case head cartridge you want to load (ie. 40S&W, 10mm, .357Sig use the same conv.). Hope this is helpfull, give Dillon a call, they'll walk you thru it.

Your question on the Square D... It uses a differnt size die, one set comes included in the price already set up. If all you load is pistol, it is what you want, it does take longer to change calibers, but it self indexes. I use one because I reload a massive amount of .45 for IDPA,ISPC, and practice, so it is set up for that caliber and not changed.
Your question on other dies for the 550....you can use any of the standard dies, but the Dillons have a longer taper to help quide the round in, so if you dont have the dies for a certain caliber you want to reload, I would get the Dillon dies, but if you already have the RCBS, go ahead and use them.
So if you are going to load rifle, or be changing dies much, get the 550. If you are going to set it up for pistol and not change much, get the SD.

That's the best advise; just call Dillon. The friendly folks there will be glad to answer any and all questions.

Something else the others didn't mention: Dillon has a 30 day return policy. Buy whatever model choice you decide on and use it for 30 days. If you load at 500 rounds per hour every waking hour of the day, that's about 240,000 rounds!If it doesn't work like advertised, send it back for a full refund.

I have the Square Deal B for straight walled pistol cases--it has auto indexing, and the RL550B for all rifle and the bottle-necked 357Sig case. Love them both.