There is no dumb question except the question not asked!
You manually advance the shells between stations, moving one 'click' clockwise per cycle.
I've only loaded about a thousand rounds with the 550B (so take this with a grain of salt) but the rhythm is:
Prepatory Steps:
.) Acquire components
.) Clean and prep brass
.) Don Safety glasses
.) Carefully pick up primers in primer pickup tubes, load primer tube
.) Load powder reservoir, tap to settle powder
.) Check calibration of dies - throw a bunch of charges and refill powder container. Then, throw 10 charges and weigh; check seating depth, measure overall length of a loaded round
Load Cycle:
1) Pick up brass with right hand
2) Inspect brass visually by twirling - look for hairline cracks on the rim and check the primer to be sure it is dead. insert into shell holder
3) Pick up a bullet, place in seating stage
4) Pull the handle
5) Advance the stations
Lather, rinse and repeat until your arm is tired or you are out of primers, bullets or powder.
Tips:
-On the handle pull: go for consistency pull to pull. Uniform pulls = uniform powder charges. The upstroke is important - follow through on the upstroke - I believe this seats the primer.
-If you feel ANYTHING funny - stop immediately and back up. Most problems seem to stem from bad shell alignment in the shell holder or a bad component. In these situations, check all shells in the station before continuing, especially the stage in the powder charging step. Same goes for taking a break - be sure to check all stations before continuing.
Watch your powder and primer supplies. After refilling powder, wouldn't hurt to throw 10 more charges and check, eh?
Your press the ultimate slot machine - every pull of the handle gives out ammo!