what do i need with my dillon 550

[42769vette]

im 100% new to progressive reloading. ive never even seen one run, but i know i did 1000 rds of 223 on a single stage and wont do that again.

so im looking at the dillon website and for 420 i can get the press. the only thing ill load out of it is 9mm-40-45-380-223

what other accessories do i need

 

[Bacarrat]

Re: what do i need with my dillon 550

Strong mount with the Arko bin attachments for cases and loaded ammo, bullet holder mount for the Strong mount, some more primer fill up tubes, roller handle, and primer flip tray. Down the road you might want to pick up a couple of die heads and powder drops if you are doing multiple calibers. I have one for the large and small powder drop, as they take the longest to swap around when going from 223 to 9mm, or any rifle to pistol cartridge.

 

[ChadTRG42]

Re: what do i need with my dillon 550

and case feeder and any caliber conversions. Next option is a bullet feeder!

 

[lightman]

Re: what do i need with my dillon 550

I would suggest buying at least one set of Dillon dies.If you don't,make sure your dies are new enough that the mouth of the die has a radius cut around them.The mouth on older dies were cut flatter,or more square,and were harder to feed cases into.The extra tool heads are nice when you change calibers.You'll like that Dillon! Pete

 

[jet_lagged]

Re: what do i need with my dillon 550

To improve the ergonomics a bit and speed things up: strong mount, bullet holder to bolt to it, and a roller handle, as already mentioned.

I like the Dillon pistol dies with larger entry radius, but am neutral on the rifle dies.

Extra decapping pins for the dies.

I do like their die rings and the wrench to go with them, and use their rings on all my other brands of dies, just to standardise and not have to mess with an adjustable wrench or vice grips.

One or more extra acro bins, to hold brass and then finished product. But you can get them at a good industrial supply/tool store locally.

Extra primer tubes are cheap, but to take a 3 minute break from reloading to refill the primers actually works out better for me, instead of having hundreds ready to go.

Caliber conversion kits for what you are going to load. But you may be able to save a little bit and just get a needed part (powder funnel or locator button), as there is some commonality, like same shellplate (#1) for .45ACP and .308 Win or (#2) for .223 Rem and .380 Auto. Take a look a the caliber cross reference chart and figure out what will end up being duplicate if you get all the caliber conversion kits that you think you need.

Get several extra toolheads and powder dies, so you can leave you dies set up where you want them. The you can change the powder reservoir around and just re-adjust it each time, and not have to mess with you die settings. Or spend the $, and get several quick change kits. Really depends if you want to do a few hundred of each round, or you are going to load a whole bunch, and then not do that round again for a long time.

I have not bothered with a case or bullet feeder. Once you get going, things move along fast enough without them, unless you really go whole hog and get a 650.


Order direct from Dillon, or find a few dealers like Brian Enos or others with free shipping, as they can't price the actual product below MSRP.

And then a case length gauge for adjusting the rifle dies. If you don't already have what you need, I like the Dillon over the Wilson.


http://www.rushusa.com/html/products/dillon/dillon2.htm

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: what do i need with my dillon 550

I get by with the basic setup, a couple of additional powder measures, a dial caliper, and an electronic scale. More than this is outside my philosophical approach to handloading. I load to shoot and not vice-versa.

My rifle chamber is my case length guage, my target is my performance guage. I use SAAMI chambers and concentricity is not an issue I allow myself to become concerned about. I find my OAL with a dummy cartridge and a black marker.

IMHO, any complexity beyond this is fine for folks who like such activities, but I don't. My only concessions to precision are reaming flash holes and weighing each charge (more for confidence than for any actual need). The rest is in the equipment setup. I check the first few and last few rounds of every run to confirm these settings.

Greg

 

[Victor N TN]

Re: what do i need with my dillon 550

The Dillon 650 is a bit more money. But is REALLY worth it. Or at least I thought it was. My best friend had a 550 that I used a few times at his house. For NON-MATCH ammo, I'm loading 45 and 223 on the 650. For the 300WM and other less shot rifles I'm still doing everything on the RockChucker.

I agree with Greg on using the rifle in question as the chamber guage. Unless you are loading for multiple rifles of the same caliber. If that's the case, then going strictly by the book on Over All Length or printed headspace length is the way to go.

 

[aac_shooter]

Re: what do i need with my dillon 550

Do they make a case feeder for the 550?

 

[42769vette]

Re: what do i need with my dillon 550

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Victor N TN</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The Dillon 650 is a bit more money. But is REALLY worth it. Or at least I thought it was. My best friend had a 550 that I used a few times at his house. For NON-MATCH ammo, I'm loading 45 and 223 on the 650. For the 300WM and other less shot rifles I'm still doing everything on the RockChucker.

I agree with Greg on using the rifle in question as the chamber guage. Unless you are loading for multiple rifles of the same caliber. If that's the case, then going strictly by the book on Over All Length or printed headspace length is the way to go. </div></div>


this is what i plan to do. i still have my forester for ammo i want to be extreamly accurate. the dillon will be for ammo i want to go bang and not blow me up

 

[mdmp5]

Re: what do i need with my dillon 550

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: aac_shooter</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Do they make a case feeder for the 550?</div></div>

I believe they do, but it only facilitates pistol brass.

 

[mdmp5]

Re: what do i need with my dillon 550

another thing that is often overlooked you might want to get is the swager. This is essential if you are shooting blasting ammo, range brass especially. I have found the need to swage a ton of 9mm brass because the primers were stripping when seating them.

 

[targaflorio]

Re: what do i need with my dillon 550

1-800-223-4570 I think is the Dillon number. Is it a coincidence their number reflects a couple of popular caliber? They are helpful and efficient. Graf and sons might get you a discount on cash purchases

I load rifle cartridges on the 550 semi-progressively. Prepare the brass then use the Dillon to drop powder and seat bullets.

Varget and Benchmark drop within .3 grains consistently.

Good luck!

 

[wfjames22]

Re: what do i need with my dillon 550

I would definitely pony up the extra $ for a 650 (buy once, cry once). I have a buddy with two 550's and I have a 650, so I have loaded on them both. If I am going for speed and ease of loading ammo (prairie dogs or plinking ammo), why not have the auto indexing feature of the 650. I also have the case feeder which is really nice (without one you might as well get a 550). I load 223, 22-250 and 204 Ruger for prairie dog ammo with great results. I can turn out 400-500 rds/hour once I have the machine all setup. Its the only way to go for high volume loading of reasonably accurate rifle ammo, IMO. My Dillon loaded rifle ammo routinely shoots .75" at 100yds, with an occasional flyer due to a slightly lighter or heavier powder charge. As stated earlier, Dillon's customer service is one of, if not the best around. The only problem is that it can be hard to get through on the phone, sometimes.

 

[samnev]

Re: what do i need with my dillon 550

When you get the 550 or 650 and you load for 223 be aware that the Dillon powder measure is problematic when loading stick powders like 4895, 3031, 4064 and the like. I gave up on them because much of the time the powder would end up half in the case and half on the shell plate even if I belled the case neck. Not only that the drop consistancy was horrible. I finally gave up on stick powder and use ball powder, 748, for bulk 223 reloading and for precision I skip the Dillon measure and use an RCBS ChargeMaster 1500 Combo then resume with the Dillion. On occasion I mount my RCBS uniflow measure using a 450 powder die and their adapter instead of the Dillion measure.
Additional tool heads a almost a must if your loading multiple calibers. Saves a lot of time switching dies.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: what do i need with my dillon 550

I like to use the chamber as the cartridge guage, true; but I also make an effort to ensure that all my chambers are cut to a standard spec. This is one of the key reasons why I prefer the SAAMI chamber spec.

I also like it because it requires less dithering about case neck issues. I can do or not do concentricity things and the outcomes are relatively similar.

If this were not the case, the Dillon interchangeable toolhead could permit me to have a separate die setup for different rifles with the 'same' chambering. An extravagance? Maybe not.

The beginner tries all the techniques. The perfectionist refines them. The minimalist (me) eliminates those techniques which deliver diminishing returns, or are done simply for the sake of perfection.

Perfection is neither achievable nor necessary. A whole lotta perfection can be dispensed with while sacrificing surprisingly little accuracy.

The belief exists that only the finest ammo can deliver a marksman's true potential. This is true in only a minute fraction of cases. The truer belief is that only the finest marksman can deliver the true potential of the perfectionist handloader's ammunition, and such marksmen are very few and far between, despite the widely held private beliefs that the perfectionist handloader is one of those especially stalwart souls.

It pays to call a spade a spade and to own up to one's own limitations. While I may have once been one of the marksmen for whom great ammunition making precision was a benefit, I clearly am no longer. I find that <span style="font-style: italic">for me</span> a whole lotta the precisionista handloading techniques don't make a whole lotta difference on my target. It's a hard lesson, but a necessary one that we all need to learn in our own fashion.

Make sure you're making your ammo to standards that make sense for <span style="font-style: italic">your marksmanship level</span>. Forget perfection, those folks are over at BR Central.

Greg

 

[mdmp5]

Re: what do i need with my dillon 550

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Santo</div><div class="ubbcode-body">When you get the 550 or 650 and you load for 223 be aware that the Dillon powder measure is problematic when loading stick powders like 4895, 3031, 4064 and the like. I gave up on them because much of the time the powder would end up half in the case and half on the shell plate even if I belled the case neck. Not only that the drop consistancy was horrible. I finally gave up on stick powder and use ball powder, 748, for bulk 223 reloading and for precision I skip the Dillon measure and use an RCBS ChargeMaster 1500 Combo then resume with the Dillion. On occasion I mount my RCBS uniflow measure using a 450 powder die and their adapter instead of the Dillion measure.
Additional tool heads a almost a must if your loading multiple calibers. Saves a lot of time switching dies.</div></div>

I have never had this issue with .223 on the 550, unless I accidentally dropped a double charge or charged an unprimed case.

 

[m1garand30064]

Re: what do i need with my dillon 550

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Santo</div><div class="ubbcode-body">When you get the 550 or 650 and you load for 223 be aware that the Dillon powder measure is problematic when loading stick powders like 4895, 3031, 4064 and the like. I gave up on them because much of the time the powder would end up half in the case and half on the shell plate even if I belled the case neck. Not only that the drop consistancy was horrible. I finally gave up on stick powder and use ball powder, 748, for bulk 223 reloading and for precision I skip the Dillon measure and use an RCBS ChargeMaster 1500 Combo then resume with the Dillion. On occasion I mount my RCBS uniflow measure using a 450 powder die and their adapter instead of the Dillion measure.
Additional tool heads a almost a must if your loading multiple calibers. Saves a lot of time switching dies. </div></div>

+1000

That is one of my regrets. The dillon powder measure can only handle the ball powders reliably. I use 748 and BCL-2 in my dillon powder measure because they are the only powders that will meter consistently.

Get this: http://www.dillonprecision.com/content/p/9/pid/23633/catid/3/Plastic_Funnel

And this: http://www.dillonprecision.com/#/content/p/9/pid/23632/catid/4/AT_500_Oversized_Powder_Die

And just weight the powder out on a chargemaster.

 

[4Rail_Gunner]

Re: what do i need with my dillon 550

If your having trouble with the dillon measure throwing inconsistant loads with the larger stick powders, do a load development with 8208XBR Its a very fine stick powder. New to the market and Is shooting very well in alot of calibers

I load 223 with it now and when I do check my powder charge it has been accurate within .1 gr.