Upgrade Dillon RL 450 to RL 550C

[Letus]

I bought a used Dillon RL450 press and wonder if I should upgrade it to RL550C? It's about $110 on Dillon website. Any benefit beside changeable toolhead?

Read More

 

[41mag]

yes, considerable
adds the auto feed primer & powder funnel function
what REALLY makes the 650 shine IMHO, as another step, is the case feeder, which IIRC has now been configured to work on the 550b.

I started on the 450 about 40 years ago, & never had a single stage to this very day.

 

[Letus]

yes, considerable
adds the auto feed primer & powder funnel function
what REALLY makes the 650 shine IMHO, as another step, is the case feeder, which IIRC has now been configured to work on the 550b.

I started on the 450 about 40 years ago, & never had a single stage to this very day.

To upgrade from 450 to 550c, there are 3 different upgrades: Frame, auto primer and auto powder drop. Is this correct?
Edit: The $110 upgrade is only for frame.

 

[DizzyJ]

I'm sure you could unload your current setup and use those funds for the upgraded press from Dillon.

 

[Letus]

the RL450 I bought seems to have mix match parts from original and upgrades on auto primer and powder drop. It doesn't have primer tube/magazine. There are only few video on youtube about RL450 and I couldn't find the upgrade videos.

 

[41mag]

Talk to Dillon tech line

 

[ma96782]

Try it out first. See if it fits your style of reloading.

I have an old Dillon (really old). Anyway, I prefer to load my straight walled pistol ammo on a LEE M1000. I have one in .38 Special, one in .45 ACP and one in 9mm. That way I keep all of the dies, powder drop, bullet crimp, etc... settings as I like them. If I need ammo in a different caliber.......I just switch out the press on my bench.

Yup.....KISS also applies to NOT buying too many different calibers. So, do I really need a massive production level of ammo in a new caliber? How much will that cost me? Is it worth it? Or maybe I should just use the old single station press for a small run of ammo?

Which brings me to.....
Because of brass trimming, removal of military primer crimps and headspace issues for bottle necked brass (rifle brass)......I keep a single station RCBS Rock Chucker on hand for that duty (also for the small runs of ammo in a different caliber). If I could get a satisfactory production level for reloading .30-06, .308 Win and/or my .223 Rem that would be cool. But, it hasn't happened even with my Dillon. Mostly it's because of the way I like to reload for my rifle cartridges.

Aloha, Mark