Dillon setup help

This will probably sound rather silly to a lot of you, but here goes...

A relative of mine purchased a Dillon 550b. I helped him get it set up, and for the most part I sort of think we did it right - we're not using the primer tube, but other than that, it seems to do things correctly. We bought a RCBS hand primer tool, so he can (slowly) make 38 Special ammunition.

Because of all the incidents i read about regarding the primer tube, I don't feel comfortable working with that, attempting to set it up, etc., until someone who knows the Dillon can actually check it out and confirm that it is set up properly.

I live in the Miami area, but the press is up North, near Sebastian, Florida. Does anyone here know of a gunshop, or person, around the Sebastian or maybe Orlando area, who my relative can pay to have this person set up the primer parts, and confirm that everything else is correct?


It's my relative's first reloading press. All he knows about reloading is what we've done together, based on the YouTube videos and the Dillon manual. I tried to convince him to start off with a single station press first, but the pictures in the Dillon catalog were too appealing to him, and he thought a day or so after buying it, he could be cranking out hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

I'm stuck. I don't know enough, and to be honest, I'm scared of what I see as a "pipe bomb".

(My own experience is 30 years with an RCBS Big Max press, and I am in the middle of setting up my RCBS Pro2000 right now.)

Feel free to respond here, or if you prefer, just send me some information as a PM. Thanks in advance.

Of course I'm unnecessarily worried, but I've seen and read enough about Dillon and primers that I don't see it as "unnecessarily". Anything is easy, once you know how to do it. No, he does not have the skills to make his own parts from sheet metal. Also, in trying to research this, I've found too many reports from people who did understand reloading, but despite this they set off a mini-bomb, sometimes causing injury. In this case, it's a person who really doesn't have much of a clue as to what is going on, but does want to learn.

In the past two years, he (actually we) have maybe loaded a dozen rounds, and half that many test rounds without powder. Primers were inserted with the RCBS hand primer.

(I offered to give him an old manual press, so he could learn how to reload. He had no interest in that. There's an old saying about a horse and water.......)

I think that he'll be comfortable with using the Dillon, once he knows it is set up properly. I know nothing about the other models of the Dillon presses.

I will show him your reply - first time I read that. I thought all the Dillons used the same type of primer system. I will go back and review which Dillons were being used in the articles and posts I read, one of them here in this forum a couple of years ago.

About the last thing you wrote - to a new user, how would he (or I) know when it doesn't feel right? Once someone has used the machine for a while, and gotten used to it, that's a reasonable thing to be aware of, but when first starting out, nothing will feel "right" for a while.

I don't want to turn this into a thread on whether the Dillon is safe or not. There was a very long discussion here a year ago, about a person who seemed to know FAR more about reloading than I do, who ended up making several trips to the hospital because of the primer detonation he suffered. That thread is a better place to debate that issue, if anyone wants to - but not here.

My relative bought the Dillon, and after seeing it, and reading and watching lots of things, bought the RCBS Pro2000 (which I'm just now setting up).

I tried very hard to convince my relative to start out with a single station press, and learn reloading. The problem is, he has minimal interest in learning reloading; he just wants to pull the handle and turn out finished bullets, the way the advertising suggests. It's simple and easy, right?

Someone has already sent me a PM, that he is willing to help this person out. That's an option, if my relative is willing to accept the offer.


About making a mountain out of a mole hill, I know it's only a potential mountain, and unlikely to ever happen, but the Titanic was also unsinkable. S*** happens. :-(



Actually, this thread can probably be closed, as it has already accomplished its purpose, and I very much thank the person who made the offer for being willing to do so.

I can't resist..... I certainly don't disagree with you, and my own advice to my relative was to learn how to load on a manual press, and only then move on to a turret press. As someone pointed out long ago, there's too much going on at once, if you don't understand.

I've got one new thing to add - why he bought the Dillon - Dillon sends out this nice catalog/magazine several times a year, and if I didn't already know what (little) I know now, and only happened to read their catazine, I would think the same thing my relative did, just buy the machine, feed in the bullets, primers, powder, etc. at one end, and finished bullets will come out at the other end, 400 or so of 'em in an hour. Easy peasy! Anyone can do it!

Whether or not one sees a Dillon Press as a "pipe bomb" is another matter.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipe_bomb
Used as intended, it is safe.

I don't feel comfortable with it myself, although I feel better now that I've watched this video:
As I see it, I get to choose between 50 or 100 primers in a metal tube, or in plastic strips separated from each other. That's why I bought what i did.

A post here last year, by an experienced reloader......
......who was seriously injured reinforced what I was already thinking. Back then, I had no idea how the Dillon primer system worked. After watching the above video, the Dillon 550 no longer seems as intimidating to me.

stavman11 said:

.......Be safe.. read the Manual 4x.. read loading manuals 5x... rinse and repeat.. .......

Click to expand...

I'm not in any way trying to argue with you - I agree, 200%, if not more.

To understand what I'm trying to say, look at this web page from Dillon:


There is nothing on that page to indicate or imply what you are saying. I understand, but if my relative knew then, what he's finding out now, he never would have bought the machine. It is nothing like what he expected.

"Reloading with Dillon’s RL 550B is Easy as A-B-C! "

Thanks! Sounds like a wonderful present for him....

I doubt he'll read it, but who knows.