Dillon vs the world

[gehrheart]

I grew up using Dillon and RCBS
I had to be different many years ago an I went with LnL set ups.
... I have never looked back. Never once regretted it. I dont envy the 650xl. That being said.. wouldnt mind having one. Dillon makes great stuff. Im happy with the LnL and will stay with it. The latest one I bought three years ago has now over 10,000 round through it and not a single breakage.
The older one... I have no idea how much has gone through it..
My days 650XL... be mind boggling to know how much has gone through that!!!

its a win which ever way you go.

Use it to load .45, 9mm, 40mm, and .223
use a layman turret press for most of my .357/38 stuff. and loading the .458socom stuff.
Use a Hornaday single stage for the rest of my rifle stuff.
use a lee cast with a decaper die to remove primers.

 

[deadshot2]

They use several of Lee's patents.. Sorry, had to throw a jab in there.

But they made them work far better than Lee did. I bought a Lee progressive once. Still have it. Makes a great volume de-priming tool for my 9mm brass just before I put it in the tumbler.

Now if someone would just use Lee's patent on Collet Dies and Factory Crimp dies. Then we could buy dies that we don't have to do the "finish process" ourselves. Doesn't lee bother to de-burr and polish ANYTHING???

 

[solv3nt]

Absolutely no reason on earth not to jump on it before it gets away.

Here's the haul:
Dillon 550b
.45 Dies
.222 RM dies
Remington 700 .222 Remington Magnum
Other Miscellaneous stuff

I won't give you the final price, but it's a SMOKING deal

 

[Michael]

Here's the haul:
Dillon 550b
.45 Dies
.222 RM dies
Remington 700 .222 Remington Magnum
Other Miscellaneous stuff

I won't give you the final price, but it's a SMOKING deal

Holy crap, that is a heck of a great package!!!

 

[solv3nt]

Ya, no joke! Less than 400 rounds fired through the 700.

 

[TRP3]

Recently picked up a Dillon 550B as my first reloader. I as well watched many you tube vids and did a bit of research and comparison prior to buying. The reviews of all the Dillon presses and cust service are so good I had to go with a Dillon. It took me a while to determine which to go with ( the 550 vs. 650) Although the 650 has some other options which are very desirable, It seemed a bit over the top to go with the 650 once all the goodies were added so I decided the 550B was my ticket. If I were reloading 1000's at a time I would have prob gone with the 650. My initial set up is for .308 and I have to say this thing is Awesome! Setup is straight forward. Make sure you have a very Sturdy solid surface/bench to mount on. Initially, I thought the manual index plate would be a pain, however I believe now it's actually nice to have because you can pace the process to your own comfort level and really take your time checking each station to ensure you are happy will the result on each die input prior to cranking them out. It's easy to remove a casing during the process to inspect sizing, loaded powder, bullet seating and crimp. IMO die setup was simple and straight forward. Since I started with once fired military brass, I found I like to first tumble/clean the brass, then use only the sizing die station and re- size/de-prime all cases first. Once that brass is all trimmed, swagged and de-burred and primmer pockets cleaned, I re tumble the brass again. If using priviously fired brass you will find that brass prep is really the bulk of the work. Once on the press, whipping out completed rounds are a piece of cake! Good luck with your setup. As you have probably come to find out, primers, bullets, powders and brass are hard to find right now. Once your all set up you will love this machine. Don't forget that Dillon case lube! That stuff works great.

 

[P7M13]

The old adage, "you can't go wrong with a Dillon" is absolutely true. Their NO BS warranty is also priceless.

I started out on a Lee Loadmaster and did thousands upon thousands of 45, 40 and 9mm. They work, changeout is easy, but unless you want a kaboom you always check your work and calibrate your equipment once you start out on any press.
Now on a Hornady LnL, and it has markedly higher quality than the Lee. Also use Lee and Hornady single stages for rifle rounds.
On both, set them up right and they will work well.

No matter what Dillon you buy, you get a high quality, well designed product.
If you're disappointed, go look in the mirror because YOU are doing something wrong.
I watched one guy jam repeatedly on his 650 with primer feeds, but my observation was he set it up sloppily.

So when I gave my Lee away, I looked at Dillon, RCBS, and Hornady. All will do the trick well, the Hornady was at an amazing sale with free bullets too so I bought it.

Recommendations: invest in a good quality scale, always check your work, get quality micrometer calipers, if your brass looks even slightly questionable throw the piece out, keep your area clean.
If you are not mechanically inclined, find an experienced reloader and have them help you set up and show you the ropes. Buy them dinner or a case of beer or a bottle or two of good wine as a thank you.

 

[Cheezit]

Recommendations: invest in a good quality scale, always check your work, get quality micrometer calipers, if your brass looks even slightly questionable throw the piece out, keep your area clean.
If you are not mechanically inclined, find an experienced reloader and have them help you set up and show you the ropes. Buy them dinner or a case of beer or a bottle or two of good wine as a thank you.

Absolutely!

 

[no excuses]

I have the hornady LnL and love it. I would def. recommend it, have had a few (broken drive hub) issues but Hornady customer service was great to deal with. I have loaded around 10k of 9mm and .40 s&w on this. I really like how open the LnL is and that you feed the bullets from the left side so I do not have to feed them with the right hand and keep letting go of the handle (not an issue if you have a bullet feeder setup) With a bullet feeder die and plastic tubes I can load 400-500 rounds a hr on average.

 

[deadshot2]

have had a few (broken drive hub) issues but Hornady customer service was great to deal with.

Regardless, you were still "down" for the time it took for them to replace the part.

I had enough of those issues when I had my Lee Progressive.

 

[gehrheart]

Regardless, you were still "down" for the time it took for them to replace the part.

I had enough of those issues when I had my Lee Progressive.

Confused. Now I like both systems and don't bash either...

Are you saying Dillon Never breaks!? or are you saying that if and when it does that some how it magically fixs itself?!?

All the years I have used Dillons I have seen them break... and some times down for a week while awaiting parts. Or even Longer when they had to go back to Dillon.

not bashing, just dont think Dillons are THAT good!

 

[no excuses]

Regardless, you were still "down" for the time it took for them to replace the part.

I had enough of those issues when I had my Lee Progressive.

The drive hub is a sacrifical part, when things hang up somethings gotta break and the drive hub is the part. Yes I was down for 4 days and Hornady sent me the part for free no questions asked. I keep enough stock on hand to last for more then 4 days lol. Every one of them break and the best part is that most of the brands have great CS. In over 10k rounds loaded that is the only issue that I have had. Red or Blue they are both good machines, if I had to buy another I would buy another LnL. Just my .02. I also orderd another drive hub to have a spare in case it happens again.

 

[RyanB]

I finally pulled the plug and bought a Dillon 450 converted to a 550. I initially wanted to go with a Redding T-7, but I got a deal on the used press. That being said, anyone in the Beaverton area with a 550 that I can get some guidance from?

 

[deadshot2]

Confused. Now I like both systems and don't bash either...

Are you saying Dillon Never breaks!? or are you saying that if and when it does that some how it magically fixs itself?!?

All the years I have used Dillons I have seen them break... and some times down for a week while awaiting parts. Or even Longer when they had to go back to Dillon.

not bashing, just dont think Dillons are THAT good!

Yes, dillons do break. Any press can break when abused. That said, my 650 has long since passed the 100K mark with no exploding primers, no broken cast parts. I did break a spring but had one on hand in the "spare parts kit" I bought for about the price of a set of dies. Even with the broken spring, the press was still operable.

As forthe need to send presses back to dillon, I'd go out on a limb here and say it's a good chance the press was operated by a "slam-bang" reloader who failed to read the part about cleaning and lubing certain parts.

As for Hornady, I think they make a good product, just not as good as a Dillon. If you think that's a "bash", well, I'm sorry you feel that way.

 

[gehrheart]

Oh no! didn't think there was any bashing at all. Just wasn't sure what you meant. Even the best out there will and can break. Dillon can afford to have the no question warranty because they are that reliable they rarely need to worry about it... But they can go down as well.

As for the need to send presses back to dillon, I'd go out on a limb here and say it's a good chance the press was operated by a "slam-bang" reloader who failed to read the part about cleaning and lubing certain parts.

oh, no. Press has always been operated by very experienced re-loaders. My dad loads for hunting, bench-rest and pistol loading and does know what and how to do it! The particular 650 in question has loaded hundreds of thousands of pistol ammo. (has been used by three competitive pistol shooters for a very long time, this was one of the first production 650's ever made.)

I think quite highly of the blue, cant even explain why I went with red when I set up my own stuff years ago other then to be different.
with heavy use anything will wear out
anything can break.

For the average reloader I am guessing one will never have an issue with a Dillon.

 

[shakazulu12]

Who is the local shop I should be contacting for Dillon? I know I can order from Brian Enos, but would rather throw some money around locally if I can.

 

[rgold1963]

Who is the local shop I should be contacting for Dillon? I know I can order from Brian Enos, but would rather throw some money around locally if I can.

These guys say they stock Dillon equipment and parts but I have never dealt with them and am doubtful they have anything in stock(like everyone else). M K Tactical :: Products

I placed an order directly with Dillon on 1/21 and AFAIK it was all backordered. I got tracking yesterday and it will be here Friday so they are doing pretty good with getting things out even with the crazy backlog. I also had a case feed arm bushing missing and the nice lady told me I could hold for possibly an hour to talk to someone or simply send a fax with the part # and they would get it out as soon as possible. I sent the fax Monday night and they mailed out the part Tuesday morning. It will be here tomorrow. Pretty amazing considering how busy they are right now.

Ron

 

[tfbit]

Along the lines of needing more than one press, I love the combination of a Dillion 550b and and Redding Model 25 (6 station turret) on my bench. Dillon for the major work and the Redding for misc. stuff like swaging, decapping, or sizing of found .223 brass with a small base sizing die. Still have room on the turret for a couple of calibers I don't load enough of to set up the Dillon for them.

 

[mjbskwim]

How dow RCBS compare to Dillon?

Now some will say they have been using RCBS for 20 years! without a problem.

:yes:Oh did I tell ya I got my 650 in today!!? Only 3,maybe 4 weeks wait.:rockon:

Oh yeah RCBS.
But I found their quality to be in their Rock Chucker and nothing else
The other brand of dies cost as much and are way better quality. Only things I still use from RCBS is the funnels,the powder feed,and the rock chucker it self.

Now back to my new press. It's so pretty blue:love:

 

[gehrheart]

mjbskwim...

Once you get that blue one up and running and get some loads though it how about a break down comparison against the Red one one you just had? While its still some what fresh in you head.
Honest break down of the good and bad between the two.