Dillon 550 9mm die set up/options/advice

Sounds like it will work. The only thing I'd check is the radius on the mouth the your Lee sizing die. The Dillon Dies (and now most others) have a decent radius to allow a case to start.

FWIW: I use Win SPs in both a 550 and a 650 for years and 10s of 1000s of rounds and have never had an issue. I would seriously look at getting the primer feed ASAP cause putting those little suckers in by hand is going to be a time consuming PITA.

I'll be frank...you might as well be easy on yourself and use that 500 for what it's designed for.

I'll say that the 550 will automatically come with a primer system, it's part of the basic package, might as well use it. Your 9mm conv kit will come with the plate, pins, and powder/case mouth expander piece for use with their own powder drop. The powder drop is included with the machine as well, so there's no need to use your manual powder drop unless you really want to.

I use Dillon dies, so I cannot say if your Lee dies will work worse/better/same.

*EDIT*

I'm an idiot...you got the BL...disregard everything I said...

*Double edit*

Personally, I'd cancel that order. You dropped $290 + $50 for that Bl and 9mm kit? You can get the 550C with the 9mm kit included for $490.That's only $150 more for a heck of a lot more equipment and functionality.

I have thrown charges manually on my 550B. It takes total concentration and is generally a PITA.

I realize that you are on a budget, but you can retrofit a Lee Autodrum with their powder die for not much more than $50.

Laphroaig said:

I have thrown charges manually on my 550B. It takes total concentration and is generally a PITA.

I realize that you are on a budget, but you can retrofit a Lee Autodrum with their powder die for not much more than $50.

Click to expand...

He bought the BL...which is this fella here:

https://www.dillonprecision.com/bl-550-basic-loader_8_1_25792.html

Not quite the same as a 550B...or now C.I initially thought it was the 550B as well.

With my progressives, I still use a hand primer and prime off the press.

With my BL550, I resize and expand the case mouth at one time which affords me an opportunity to clean the cases without the spent primer installed. I do this shortly after shooting then store the cases away for a future reloading session. Small batches of cases can get processed in 5 or 10 minutes before being tossed in the tumbler.

Separating resizing from reloading also gives you an opportunity to crimp in a separate operation.

For reloading, I have a Redding 10-X modified to work with the Hornady case activated powder die system.

I use a split lock ring on my dies so that the adjustment does not change when I am spinning the dies in and out of the tool head. Loose dies are easier to store than a fully populated die plate.

Since I knew I was not going to use the Dillon primer system or the Dillon powder measure, I bought the BL550 to save money and not have a bunch of parts around my reloading room collecting dust and getting lost.

This is just one way to use BL550

Do you already have the Redding dies? They are rather expensive.
If not, I use the Hornady seating die with micrometer stem and a Lee Carbide Factory Crimp die.
The Lee sizer will be fine, I use a Lee/EGW "U" die when called for, otherwise the Dillon.

I have used S&B primers and am now using Winchester in my progressive presses with no issues. You should be just fine.

Concerning winchester primers, I've been using their small, non magnum primers and they've been fine. I've also had no issues with Federal small pistol or CCI large pistol either.

I load 9mm with WW primers by choice, CCI if necessary.
I keep Federals for .38 Special in revolvers with reduced springs but they will give false "pressure signs" in 9mm.
Federal small RIFLE primers work in 9mm.

I have had poor results from Remington 1 1/2 primers and Wolf brand was a complete flop. I bought those during the Panic when nothing else was available and it was easy to see why they were what was left on the shelf.

Jim Watson said:

I load 9mm with WW primers by choice, CCI if necessary.
I keep Federals for .38 Special in revolvers with reduced springs but they will give false "pressure signs" in 9mm.

Click to expand...

This is exactly what I do, Win primers for 9mm, Federal for 38 special, for my revolver with reduced springs.

cfullgraf said:

With my progressives, I still use a hand primer and prime off the press.

With my BL550, I resize and expand the case mouth at one time which affords me an opportunity to clean the cases without the spent primer installed. I do this shortly after shooting then store the cases away for a future reloading session. Small batches of cases can get processed in 5 or 10 minutes before being tossed in the tumbler.

Separating resizing from reloading also gives you an opportunity to crimp in a separate operation.

For reloading, I have a Redding 10-X modified to work with the Hornady case activated powder die system.

I use a split lock ring on my dies so that the adjustment does not change when I am spinning the dies in and out of the tool head. Loose dies are easier to store than a fully populated die plate.

Since I knew I was not going to use the Dillon primer system or the Dillon powder measure, I bought the BL550 to save money and not have a bunch of parts around my reloading room collecting dust and getting lost.

This is just one way to use BL550

Click to expand...

I do the same with my 550B for .223, .300AAC and 7.62 reloads. For those I'll back off the Powder, Seating & Crimp dies and use the 550 to size, so I've only got to touch the brass once. I'll then take the sized and lubed brass and run it through my vibratory cleaner just to get the lube off. This way I can later check the case length and trim if needed. For those cartridges I use a Trimm-it 2 chucked in a drill press. When loading, I just back off the sizing die and utilize the auto prime and the other 3 stations.

That's part of the versatility of the 550 that I really like. You don't have to use it as a true progressive and it still will speed things up some.

Not here, progressive must progress, a loaded round every pull on the handle.

I use the 9mm Lee sizer/decap on my LNL all the time and it works fine.
However Lee and Hornady presses are both Red not Blue so that might make a difference,
be careful putting a die from a Red company in a Blue press might cause something terrible to happen, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tornado's etc

I think you will be fine with the Lee sizer.

I resize and expand the case mouth at one time which affords me an opportunity to clean the cases without the spent primer installed. I do this shortly after shooting then store the cases away for a future reloading session

Click to expand...

Yep, my plan as well.

I am in cfullgraf and Walkalongs camp and like to hand prime off press.
I like to wet tumble deprimed brass so it works well for me to clean it, then prime it while watching TV. (wear safety glasses when priming!)
One less thing to worry about when I go to load as well. Maybe slightly better OALs when not resizing in the same pass as loading.
Not saying my way is right or better, it just works for me.
I have done everything in one pass but prefer not to.
Not only that for 1 pass I have to give up something I want with only 5 stations since I like using a RCBS lockout die (or the Hornady one), a tube bullet feeder and a Lee FCD.
Need to get one of those 7 station RCBSs when I win the lottery, hopefully 7 stations would be enough.

PO2Hammer said:

Pay an extra $150 for equipment that will sit on the shelf unused?
Nope.
The 'kit' only saves about $20 over buying the pieces separately, so why pay for a powder measure I'm not going to use?

Click to expand...

That's your call, I just figured that those features made loading something like 9mm far easier. The auto-prime is $90 + $30 (if you want the primer warning), the powder system is another $90 + I think an additional $30 for the failsafe tooling. That's $180-$240 depending. The 550C includes all of those parts already.

Personally, loading 9mm at the moment, I find the auto priming and powder drop to be superb and a massive time saver.