You won't have to do it again....on those cases.
Dillon RL550 swage it attach.
- Thread starter Puddlejumper
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You won't have to do it again....on those cases.
LOL right you are!
I probably have another 200-ish in my stash of unsorted brass. Since it is all range brass I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.
Texas2Gunz
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- Feb 2, 2019
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- 12
Bit the bullet and recently purchased the swage it 550, and also learned some important info on these tools.
I can't go into full detail because I have mutual respect for the source, and also because this is a heated lawsuit topic (I believe with active NDAs), but basically the complaint of parts breaking had nothing, ZERO, to do with the ram, or the shellplate, or anything pertaining to the ram. Apparently the part that was breaking was only on the 650, and was caused because Dillon took a short cut in the manufacturing process. The added upstroke force exposed this flaw and the part broke. Dillon did not want to admit to designing an inferior product so they refused warranty on the swage it instead. My understanding is the flaw was not evident on the 550, and the redesign to correct the flaw on the 650 was integrated into the 750.
As far as the tool, it brought my prep time for 2000 casings from maybe 3 days to 6 hours with small breaks in between. Once it's set up right it's shockingly fast. Having size/decap, swage, and trim on the press and completed in one stroke brings the loadtime near pistol levels. Can't complain with that.
My only complaint with it would be there isn't really a way of positive swage verification. Some of the cases have the satisfying "thump", but the cases that are not primer crimped do not, meaning there is a tendency to really go down on the swage if the "thump" isn't heard on non-crimped cases. But because there is the possibility of over swaging (can bell the rim of the primer pocket if the tool is pressed in too much), this also causes the tendency to not swage crimped cases. I eventually was able to rationalize with this by eyeballing the caseheads as they were lowered into the swage -- if they only lowered slightly, add pressure; if they lower 1/16", don't add pressure.
So if I had any input for improvement I would say some measure of positive verification would be nice. I didn't have too much trouble with seating primers, nothing outside of normal anyway. I could fix that with a chamfur, but then again why screw up a good thing? I've basically retrofitted a small bullet factory into my office.
I can't go into full detail because I have mutual respect for the source, and also because this is a heated lawsuit topic (I believe with active NDAs), but basically the complaint of parts breaking had nothing, ZERO, to do with the ram, or the shellplate, or anything pertaining to the ram. Apparently the part that was breaking was only on the 650, and was caused because Dillon took a short cut in the manufacturing process. The added upstroke force exposed this flaw and the part broke. Dillon did not want to admit to designing an inferior product so they refused warranty on the swage it instead. My understanding is the flaw was not evident on the 550, and the redesign to correct the flaw on the 650 was integrated into the 750.
As far as the tool, it brought my prep time for 2000 casings from maybe 3 days to 6 hours with small breaks in between. Once it's set up right it's shockingly fast. Having size/decap, swage, and trim on the press and completed in one stroke brings the loadtime near pistol levels. Can't complain with that.
My only complaint with it would be there isn't really a way of positive swage verification. Some of the cases have the satisfying "thump", but the cases that are not primer crimped do not, meaning there is a tendency to really go down on the swage if the "thump" isn't heard on non-crimped cases. But because there is the possibility of over swaging (can bell the rim of the primer pocket if the tool is pressed in too much), this also causes the tendency to not swage crimped cases. I eventually was able to rationalize with this by eyeballing the caseheads as they were lowered into the swage -- if they only lowered slightly, add pressure; if they lower 1/16", don't add pressure.
So if I had any input for improvement I would say some measure of positive verification would be nice. I didn't have too much trouble with seating primers, nothing outside of normal anyway. I could fix that with a chamfur, but then again why screw up a good thing? I've basically retrofitted a small bullet factory into my office.
sevt_chevelle
Member
So millions if not billions of rounds have been made on Dillon presses, hands down one of the best consumer grade reloading press available and someone sells an aftermarket part that does an operation the original machine was never designed to do and its somehow Dillon faulty cheap manufacturing.
Texas2Gunz
Member
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2019
- Messages
- 12
I think you may have read this the wrong way. I don't think Dillon is an inferior product, so hopefully there's nothing to take offense about. All designs require improvement, no matter how good. In this case it wasn't something that was ever anticipated, but if you've seen what I've seen you would be a little concerned that Dillon took the approach they did on this particular part.
Nonetheless, my understanding is the issue has been remedied. I added this value in the post because there were some concerns about the warranty and I'm sure they would've appreciated a clearer explanation.
Happy loading!
jmorris
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- Sep 30, 2005
- Messages
- 24,142
That is quite a task. Every time I do my best to make things idiot proof, they just come up with better idiots.
I think instead of child seats, bicycle helmets and trophies for everyone that didn’t win, they should put spikes and razor blades everywhere, they are making our job more difficult and the less adept more confident in the abilities they lack....
I ended up getting an RCBS swager die instead of the Lee APP, Swage It thingy, or the Dillon Super Swage. It was purely a budget decision: I already have an RCBS Rock Chucker so adding the RCBS swager die was only another $35. I set it up last night and it works fine, a little slow, but fine. Maybe not as slick as an APP, but way better than using a de-burring tool.
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