Dillon is fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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MCgunner

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I set up my square deal to crank out some 9mm rounds last night and on the fourth case, I wasn't lookin' in 'em (range brass), one of the brass had a rock stuck in it and I came down on it and busted the decapping pin...:cuss:

So, I called Dillon this morning, explained how it happened, was my fault. They're shipping me (a few) decapping pins for NOTHING, nada, even pickin' up the shippin'! That matches the customer service I've heard about Kel Tec! I could hardly believe it, but I'm very satisfied, needless to say. This danged thing might have cost me a bundle and be hard to switch calibers, but I am NOT sorry I bought a Dillon press!
 
:evil: If you had LEE stuff, there is no way a decapping pin breaks! :evil:

:neener: Just for the fun of it!:neener:

I know, the Dillon is the best deal if you have to crank out a LOT of rounds in one caliber. Absolutely necessary if you are shooting in competition!
 
Well, you can't call coming down on a rock in the case the fault of the die or loader. It was MY fault, yet Dillon is sending me the parts FREE. I just think that's pretty awesome.

I have Lee dies in everything I reload. I load on an old Lyman turret press. The Lee dies have been fantastic and I really like 'em, but Lee's is a 2 year warranty. At least if you do HAVE to buy something from 'em, it's cheap.

BTW, Lee decapping pins can be broken, did it in my 9mm somehow, don't remember details, was a long time ago. Might have stupidly tried to decap a berdan primer or something, always scrounging brass at the range. :banghead:

I will soon have a Lee Pro 1000 for my lesser volume calibers, but the Dillon is a pretty awesome machine with a REALLY awesome customer service department. If I could afford to, I'd have three Dillon progressives in my three most loaded calibers, but that's sort of out of my budget. I got the Dillon in 9mm because I carry a 9 and at the time I was shooting a 9 in IDPA monthly and burning a lot of ammo in practice at the range. Price of 9mm factory ammo has dropped significantly since then and I buy a lot of WWB, but I still like workin' that Dillon. Besides, if I use my cast bullets (range scrap lead), I can load for a little over 2 bucks a box, 1/3 the price of factory ammo. :D

I think I will keep an eye on ebay for Dillon progressives in the future. Buy a clapped out one cheap and send it to Dillon for rebuilding. From what I understand, it's free. I don't know how they can do that, but I ain't complainin'.
 
Thanks for the info~

I enjoy hearing a GOOD service response...
Makes me want to buy the thing because I know if something happens, it WILL be taken care of.
Thanks again!
 
How's that Blue Kool-aid taste?

The Square Deal is a great press. I had one but sold it after I picked up 8 brand new sets of carbide dies in calibers that I wanted to load at an estate sale for $5. My girlfriend bought me a Hornady L-N-L AP (she's a keeper) and I used the proceeds from the sale of the Sq Deal to buy a case feeder.

It was a great press that I'd still have today if it took regular dies. I originally bought it used, in many pieces, and sent it back to Dillon for an overhaul. For $35, they sent it back in like-new condition. Dillon's service is phemonemal. I've had similar experiences with Hornady too. They sent me parts that I broke (totally my fault) for free. I think they do it because Dillon does it.

Just for the record, I broke a Lee decapping pin last week. I had a .32 ACP case wedged into a 10mm that I ran through the sizing die. SNAP! Not a big problem, I had extras on hand because I've busted them in the past.

Good luck with your new press MCgunner!
 
On the first case, I broke the decapping pin on a Lee Universal decapping die. They sent me a new one after I paid for the pin plus S&H.

While I still use Lee FCD's and Collet Dies, their service isn't near Dillon's. Their guy said "that's impossible" as I was standing there looking at the pieces. YMMV
 
Lee pins break, try loading 357 sig. 2 pins one night.

Found out flash holes were none exsistant just a pin hole. Not even sure how the heck the thing fired.
 
The blue kool-aid tastes great! :neener:

I have never had to use Dillon's customer service in the ten years that I have owned my 550's. I broke a part a couple weeks ago on one of the powder measures so I need to place a call to them soon. One of my buddies broke his a few years ago and they sent him a complete new measure.

Maybe Lee has changed their policy but five years I broke a link on my Lee Challenger press and they made me pay for the part.
It was around $1 for the part and $3 for shipping. :rolleyes:
For the price I paid for the Challenger I can't really complain too much but with Lee you get what you pay for.
 
Ahh the old Dillon VS Lee vs Hornady arguement.

When it comes to reloading presses like optics you really do get what you pay for. There is this engineering thing in the design, and then there is the execution and the customer service.

Rifle optics are similar, there is no free lunch, but there are always people who will argue that a Bushnell trophy is as good as a VXIII.

Folks who think Lee's decap design is as good as Dillons have never seen a Dillon decap die. Lee has a collet that holds the decap pin, Depending on how tight you screw it down the pin may slip and not bend or it may bend or break, I know I have them.

Dillon dies have a spring loaded shaft that hold the decap pin in a collet on the end, the spring loaded shaft moves up and down each time you decap a case. It also protects the pin from bending or breaking. I have 4 sets of Dillon Dies, I have reloaded about 80,000+ rounds on them in the last 7 years. I have yet to break a decapping pin, but I do have spares.
 
About 10 years ago, I was loading a bunch of 45 acp cases with 230 grain fmj bullets using Lee carbide dies. After taking a break, I was checking some for overall length when I noticed that I could push the bullet further into the case with thumb pressure. I turned out that this only happened in TZZ brass. I called Lee, and was told I needed a special undersize sizing die. I ordered one for $25.00 plus shipping. The die did cure the problem and worked with any type of brass.

Years later, I bought a set of Dillon 45 acp dies, and they sized all of the brass so that the bullet were firmly held. I borrowed a 45 acp steel RCBS die, and it did the same as the Dillon die set. I measured the Lee die, and found it to be almost a full thousandth larger inside diameter than my Dillon set or the RCBS die. Poor quality control on the part of Lee.
 
Odd...

When I called Dillon a couple of weeks ago because of a broken .223 decapping pin, I was told the company quit replacing them for free because of so many berdan primers. Now, it probably was my fault, I think something was stuck in the shell. But...... No BS warranty? Yea right. :rolleyes:

RCBS - no questions - send out a new pin for free.
 
I bought a Dillon Square Deal when they first came on the market. I loaded .45 acp, lots and lots of it. A couple friends borrowed it regularly and also loaded high volume.
I had a few parts failures, minor stuff, and the blue crew always took care of me. Later, I bought a 550 and a few caliber conversions.
One day I was on the phone needing another part for the SD and the Dillon rep noticed my purchase date and call history, and asked about round count. I made a wild guess, probably only half of what it might have cranked. He asked me if I would send them the whole machine for evaluation and rebuild or replacement, they would cover shipping both ways and promised a return of 7-10 days. I got it back looking like new on the 4th day and it's still crankin em out.
Another pro-blue note- without exception, every time I have called I get a real live person on the phone that knows how to identify my problem or needs and can complete my transaction without hassles, holding, voicemail, or menu options.
 
"Rock Chucker" hehehe.... Gotta love this site!


I broke the decapping pin in my LEE 7.7jap die. Swapped in the decapper from my '06 die and went about my business. Didn't think much about it until maybe a year later when I ran across the broken decapper in my reloading drawer. I taped it to a card and sent it to Lee. They sent a replacement at no cost. I don't know why it broke, but they replaced it and I haven't broken one since. I like my Dillon stuff, but can't complain about anything I have from Lee. (Lyman or RCBS either, for that matter.)
 
If you had LEE stuff, there is no way a decapping pin breaks!
Click to expand...
Uh...yeah..right...

I've got a Lee Universal. Snapped off the pin on the first case. They sent me a new one after I paid S&H

I had a Dillon 450 that was maybe 20+ years old. I bought it "used" (it had never been taken out of the box by the original owner). Powder measure had problems. They sent me a whole new measure plus the new powder funnels (8 total) free...

no S&H, no nothing

FWIW...I still use Lee dies. I think the collet dies are one of the best things going and I use FCD's for my 45ACP...but their warranty doesn't match Dillon. I pay less so I expect less. YMMV
 
When I posted this, I didn't realize there were reloading press wars similar to 9mm vs 45 and Glock vs 1911. ROFL! I have a BUNCH of Lee stuff and the parts are cheap enough I don't really worry about ordering stuff when I need to. The Dillon was a bit of an investment for me and at the time I bought it from a local gun store, I didn't realize the great service they have.

I recently bought a Lee Pro 1000 off ebay and it works well, though I think I prefer actually using the Dillon. Main gripe I have with the Lee is I need a dadburned flashlight to see the friggin' powder charge after each throw. I like to check that each time, make sure the powder got in there. I actually LIKE the primer system cause I've been using the Autoprime 2 system for quite a while now and am used to its quirks.

The one thing I wanted the Lee for is ease of caliber conversion. I think it's going to work out fine. I've only loaded a couple of boxes on it so far, but it works. I'm now going to purchase a turret and number 2 shell plate to load .45 ACP. I have a large primer chute for the primer and the dies already. When I do this, I'll have my Dillon for 9mm and the Lee for .38 and .45. Actually, I've got Lee dies for 9mm, too. I COULD get a .45 conversion for the Dillon and set up the Lee for 9s if I start shooting .45 more, etc. Anyway, I wanna leave the Dillon set up for my most loaded round which has been 9mm for some time, but when the price of factory ammo got low, I stopped loading it so much. However, the price went up a tad and I can load cast loads REALLY cheap so for now, the Dillon stays in 9mm I reckon.

But, if I had a lot of money, I'd probably be a Dillon snob. ROFLMAO! But the optics analogy is pretty appropriate IMHO as presses go. However, I really, really like the Auto Prime 2, powder through dies and auto disk measure Lee developed and have used it for 20 years. All my handgun dies are Lee, though I think the only Lee rifle dies I have are for 7.62x39.
 
dillon service experience today

well, i called dillon this morning and told them my powder measure fell off my bench last night and broke the drop tube. i didn't even get a chance to explain how my greyhound knocked it off before they were arranging to have a whole new unit shipped to me. they didn't even ask me to pay shipping.

dillon service is fantastic. in fact, it's so good, i'm even going to start cutting them a little slack over wussing out on the 5.7x28 ;)
 
This is truly an advantage to the Lee decap die. I use a Lee die in the first station of both my blue presses. The only problem that the feel is not different when the case gets decapped or the the rod gets pushed up in the die. You will definitely noticed a difference on the next stroke though (on a 650).

-Lonnie
 
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