New Dillon 550B thoughts

[jr_roosa]

I got my 550B set up and running, and for those thinking about getting one, I thought I'd post some thoughts.

Overall, it's an excellent, well thought out machine, and it works really well.

I got it for Bullseye pistol reloading mainly, since I go through over 500 rounds of 45ACP per month, and I was spending more time reloading than training and competing last year. I also shoot highpower rifle, and it sounded like this press would work better for rifle reloading than the 650. For just pistol, the 650 would probably be better and safer for various reasons.

Pros:
-Good visibility of what's going on with thoughtful placement of a shop light to be able to see into each case after charging and before placing the bullet.
-Works OK with non Dillon dies (works better with Dillon dies)
-Powder measure is surprisingly accurate with pistol powder and rifle powder
-Works OK with rifle reloading, but doesn't save that much time
-Bullet seating is good and surprisingly consistent. On my single stage, I get about 5-10% that are just crooked enough to not drop freely into a case gauge, but the Dillon had 15 rounds like this in a batch of 500 rounds (3%). These still feed fine, but get set aside for practice only.
-Much faster than single stage, obviously. I can get about 200 rounds loaded in an hour with RCBS dies, maybe 300/hr now that I have the Dillon dies.
-The powder measure has a neat system to prevent double charge unless you completely lower the ram. Still, see below for double charge risk.
-Separates bullet seating and crimping, which I do anyway on single stage for .45ACP.

Helpful extra equipment:
-Strong mount: my bench is moderately high and is somewhere between my belt and belly button. The strong mount brings it to a perfect working height.
-Dillon pistol dies: the shell plate doesn't quite get the cases in the perfect spot every time to not hang up on the RCBS sizing die, which requires a little poke to get lined up. This is a significant distraction, which is bad, and slows things down.
-The little Dillon 1" wrench...crescent wrenches don't fit well in the crowded toolhead.
-Dillon lock nuts, RCBS lock rings are too big to easily set the screws on when the dies are on the toolhead, and you can get away with them on #3 and #1, but then you need to use the smaller lock nut for station #4 because there is no room for the bigger lock ring.
-Extra toolheads and powder dies...once you get it set up, there's no way to pull the dies out of the tool head without losing your settings when using the dillon lock rings. You won't want to re-adjust the powder die either if you don't have to since it sets case mouth belling, and even with rifle it needs to be tinkered with to get it the right height to work the powder measure properly.
-T nuts to fasten to your bench so you can unmount it when not in use...this thing takes up some major bench real estate.
-Extra blue tubs (AkroBins) to work out of to hold your brass. I don't see a big benefit to the press mounted bullet tray and brass bin, but I might get them eventually anyway to try them out.
-Roller handle is nice. The press arm only swings about 100deg, so the ball handle isn't unreasonable.

Cons:
-Really super duper easy to blow up your pistol with. You have to religiously look in each case before putting that bullet in since it manually indexes and will let you double charge. It's spooky.
-Doesn't consistently get the case in the same spot each time, so you really need the Dillon dies for it to run smoothly. Anything that causes you to pause makes double charging more likely.
-Crowded toolhead is a little bit of a pain to set things up.
-Dumping leftover powder back into the bottle requires a significant amount of disassembly. You don't lose any settings, but it's a real hassle.
-Needs a powder check die for rifle since you really can't see into a rifle case to check the powder level. I just pulled the locator button for station 3 and pulled each one out to look inside, and seated at station 4.
-Not really optimal for rifle. I size, trim, clean the primer pocket as per usual on the single stage. The Dillon allows for priming, charging, and seating, on the machine. Priming with a hand primer gets more consistent seating. Maybe with an X-die where trimming wasn't needed it would be a better system. I wouldn't make long range ammo on it without some significant tweaking, but practice and short line ammo seems fine.

Overall, I'm very happy, but it's still spooky easy to double charge.

-J.

 

[greyling22]

I grew up with the lee turret, then the pro1k and now have the loadmaster. I've used the 550b for a while as well and I agree with you on the auto index. 550 is a nice press that desperately needs auto index. Maybe I'm just too used to having it, but I struggle to remember to index the press. If I ever go blue I'll be coughing up the extra 150 bucks and getting the 650.

 

[dmazur]

...You have to religiously look in each case before putting that bullet in since it manually indexes and will let you double charge.

Once you get familiar with the 550, you will realize that you don't pull the handle until you have indexed, inserted a case at Station 1 and positioned a bullet over a charged case at Station 3.

If you slow down enough to get this in sequence, you will never do it wrong. (You will be trying to insert a case at Station 1 which isn't empty yet, and trying to seat a bullet at Station 3, which already has one seated...)

Always clear the shellplate when making adjustments. Once you get the machine set, put the locator buttons back in and run the thing. If something goes wrong, clear the shellplate and start over.

Non-press interruptions are another danger, and a safety plan is to always leave the handle down if you are called away from the press during a reloading session. Then, when you resume, it is fairly obvious you are mid-stroke.

I have read of reloaders doing double charges and squibs with a single stage press. How did they manage to do that without manual indexing to blame? Probably inattention.

And I just read a post from an XL650 owner who managed to get a squib with an auto-indexing press. Probably some kind of interruption in process which required an adjustment.

My opinion on process errors is that folks are trying to break some kind of speed record. Maybe you are comfortable running the 550 at 300 rounds per hour instead of the 500 or so that Dillon claims. It is a fairly fast machine, even if all you get out of it is 300...

By the way, there is nothing wrong with a strong light positioned so you can perform the "is the case charged" catechism.

 

[Havok7416]

I have a 550 and have no problems with it. Dzamur pretty much hit it on the head.
If I may add a few things:
I bought a roller bearing kit for the carousel and it glides where I want it now.
I check every case - including .30-06 and .308 cases - and have never had a problem checking the powder levels.
There are only two allen screws to loosen to get the powder measure off, which I personally don't think to be such a big deal. Your standards may be different.

To sum it up, it takes a certain amount of practice to acquire all the muscle memory. I solved this problem by running my press with nothing on the shellplate and simulating the placement of bullets and cases on the press. It seems almost automatic to me now.

Just a few observations.

 

[armsmaster270]

I use my 550B to load all the way from 9mm Para to 7mmWSM no problems.

 

[Missionary]

Good morning
Been opperating Dillon 550's since 1989 . have never blown up any handgun or rifle.
If you read the instructions and follow the Dillon game plan from the start you will be a happy reloader.
I load from caliber .32 pistol to 50-70 on my Dillon and once you have the dies set and learn the simple steps, there is no reason you cannot safely load those 500 rounds in one hour. As Dillon repeats numerous times... "Do not sufffer in silence".
If you have any "wonders" just call them... every Tech rep I have spoken to has the simple answer and even will tell you what page of your handbook that condition was addressed.
Mike in Peru

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

it's pretty hard to double charge a bottleneck rifle case on the 550. only going to happen if you load below 50% case capacity, which would some sort of special reduced load or something.

 

[joed]

It's not easy to double charge with the 550 unless you aren't paying attention. I always load with no distractions and refuse to have the phone with me when using the press.

One of the things I tried to do to cut my chances of double charges is use powders that fill the case better.

Unique gave me fits and I no longer buy it. This is a powder that will sometime bridge in the measure giving low and high charges. The third time I got a squib I sold the 550 and moved up to a 650 with powder check.

I now tell everyone contemplating buying a progressive press to also get a powder check. It's not about 'IF' you get a bad charge but 'WHEN'.

 

[Robert]

I load all my competition 5.56 and .308 on my 550 and love it. Will it load long range ammo like a single stage? Nope, but it was not designed for that. It cranks out hundreds of quality rounds in a short time. And that is what I need. We only go out to 425 anyway...

Now I totally agree that for precision stuff I use my single stage.

 

[Sam1911]

A couple of thoughts:

1) Lee dies work just wonderfully on a 550 and are a bit cheaper than Dillon dies. The only Dillon dies I own are for a cartridge I don't actually load now!

2) Powder safety with pistols: I very much prefer using a powder that fills the case close to 50% at the preferred load. That way, if you do really screw up and try to double-charge, you'll either see immediately that the powder is near the case mouth when you go to seat a bullet, or that the powder is actually spilling out of the top. I do not care for powders like Titegroup that are so dense that you can overcharge a case many times without visually noticing something VERY wrong.

3) Auto indexing is a nice feature, but has its drawbacks. Fixing something that got slightly amiss can be a pain because it is driving you around while you're trying to do whatever. Yes, you have to be mindful of whether there was a case getting charged. Pull the button from the shell holder and remove that case before doing anything.

4) Other lock rings work FINE, but sometimes you need to flip them upside down (like the Lees) or even run them on the bottom of the tool holder.

5) Dumping the powder is a bit of a pain, I guess, but you do not need to remove the powder dropper from the die. Just pull the toolhead pins and the whole thing comes out in your hand so you can invert it over your powder can.

 

[X-Rap]

Aside from needing to be cleaned once in a while the only complaint I have with either of my 550's is once a fly got into an uncovered powder measure and died it caused irregular flows and I got a few squibs before I figured it out. My fault not the machines.
My first one is around 25 yrs old, I wish I would have counted the rounds through it.

 

[jr_roosa]

Thanks for the comments!

5) Dumping the powder is a bit of a pain, I guess, but you do not need to remove the powder dropper from the die. Just pull the toolhead pins and the whole thing comes out in your hand so you can invert it over your powder can.

Brilliant. I knew there was a better way.

Auto indexing is a nice feature, but has its drawbacks.

I agree, that's why I got the one that is manually indexed. Risks and benefits.

it's pretty hard to double charge a bottleneck rifle case on the 550.

I agree, for rifle I worry more about a partial charge with powder bridged somewhere. I shoot .30-06 Garand loads, and the powder level is below the shoulder and invisible unless you look straight down inside.

If you slow down enough to get this in sequence, you will never do it wrong. (You will be trying to insert a case at Station 1 which isn't empty yet, and trying to seat a bullet at Station 3, which already has one seated...)

Yep. Once I figured this out it went better. I leave it with an unseated bullet in station 3 if I have to stop.

My opinion on process errors is that folks are trying to break some kind of speed record. Maybe you are comfortable running the 550 at 300 rounds per hour instead of the 500 or so that Dillon claims. It is a fairly fast machine, even if all you get out of it is 300...

I was pretty happy with the 200/hr even. Actually I was loading up 100 in 20 minutes and then I stop, gauge them all, go get a soda, load another tube of primers, stretch my legs, and then do another 100. The brain flossing in between strings keeps me focused.

-J.

 

[Hondo 60]

Over the last 3 years, I've made over 30,000 rounds on my 550.
In the beginning, I thought the manual index was scary, but I've gotten so used to it that I PREFER it to an auto-index.

It'd be nice if it was offered with both/either.

 

[HighExpert]

I have over 500k through my 550B without a single overcharge or squib. You just have to pay attention to what you are doing. Ball powders definitely work better. Get powder dispensers and toolheads for each caliber. Real consistency comes from not having to ever readjust your dies. I load 500 an hour with .45 or .38sp easily. Other calibers will be slower due to physical differences. I load 12 different pistol calibers and 4 rifle and use the 550 for all of them. I shoot bullseye, so I chrono and ransom rest my loads. Spreads of less than 20fps and very low SDs are the norm. I held an FFL for reloading and sold loads for 6 years and had nothing but good reports from customers. The machine will work for you if you want it to.

 

[armabill]

I like the Dillon 550B, I have 2 of them. One for pistol and the other for rifle.

I don't try for speed records, only for quality loading. I check every 5th round for powder before bullet seating. Also notice powder height too.

I never had a squib load or over charging. You have to pay attention.

Disregarding the price, I, myself, don't care for the auto index. The auto index will move without caring or knowing whether you have or had a problem or not. I like to move it when I want to.

 

[Hangingrock]

I have (2) SDB units, Redding Single Stage, and a 550B. The least used is the 550B. Originally I acquired the 550B to have the option of loading rifle cartridges on a progressive. The Dillon OEM powder measure was not satisfactory with IMR series powder. I purchased the Powder Measure Adapter from Dillon which allowed the mounting of as an example Redding PM. This added an addition manual operation to 550B reloading sequence.

After awhile I just found it easier to load on a single stage that also allowed the use of the Redding Competition Seating die.

With the SDB units dedicated one to 45ACP and the other to 9mm Luger. The 550B is used occasionally for 44Spl and 38Spl.

That's my story.

 

[jr_roosa]

There are only two allen screws to loosen to get the powder measure off, which I personally don't think to be such a big deal. Your standards may be different.

OK, I'll revise the powder measure dumping issue. I got ball head hex wrenches and figured out how to get the linkage disconnected from the press first. Yep, now it's a snap.

-J.

 

[Sam1911]

Once again, though, you don't even need tools. Just pull the two pins, slide the toolhead out and invert the whole thing!

 

[dmazur]

...figured out how to get the linkage disconnected from the press

This also doesn't need any tools. Just raise the shellplate slightly and slide the white bushing at the shellplate down. Then the rod slides sideways out of the notch. Rotate the rod carefully and slide it out of the powder measure linkage before you pull the toolhead pins and remove the toolhead.

Then it can be used with another powder measure, if you have one, or the same one after you dump it.

 

[Ex]

I'm still fairly green to reloading. Have only made about 10K rounds in 3.5 years. Mixed calibers (9mm, 10mm, .40, ,45 mostly).

My biggest comment here is I check EVERY case with a quick eyeball for powder consistency

Part two of my comment has already been said... pull the toolhead to dump the powder.

AND welcome to Blue! Can't beat their service and quality!

 

[jr_roosa]

This also doesn't need any tools. Just raise the shellplate slightly and slide the white bushing at the shellplate down. Then the rod slides sideways out of the notch. Rotate the rod carefully and slide it out of the powder measure linkage before you pull the toolhead pins and remove the toolhead.

Once again, though, you don't even need tools. Just pull the two pins, slide the toolhead out and invert the whole thing!

Yep. The linkage removal was the problem. Since it's new, the little white bushing wouldn't come back out of it's notch on the ram without a ton of force, so I thought it wasn't supposed to come out. That was my main issue, especially since I was trying to slide the toolhead out with the linkage in place and the ram halfway up and then I was rotating everything to get the linkage out of the bellcrank on the measure without dumping the powder all over the bench.

I'm sure that I looked like and idiot.

Now that I've had the little white bushing in and out a few times, it goes much easier.

-J.

 

[X-Rap]

The old rods had a 90 degree bend at the measure connection with a spring clip that kept it in place. The new just has a simple offset. The old style could be easily removed with the rod still in place on the shell holder.
I think the new way is better.

 

[coloradokevin]

I'm a proud owner of a new Dillon 550b that I haven't even used just yet... a birthday gift from my lovely lady for my b-day today!

It's nice to see what a great following these presses have. I've used a Lee Classic Turret press for probably 6 years now (guesstimating). While it has worked out for me in terms of producing a quality product, I have to admit that the built quality and design thoughtfulness of the Dillon press clearly puts Lee to shame. Moreover, I expect that I'm going to be MUCH quicker with loading on this press.

Although I'm too much of a Dillon rookie to really be giving advice here, I do have some thoughts regarding rifle loads, based on some research I've done, and videos I've watched online. I personally load more .308 Win match ammo than anything else, and being able to produce this ammo more quickly is important to me. I've always loaded this ammo single stage, but I believe it can be done faster without too much loss of quality (assuming the powder drops are consistent). As such, here's what I'm thinking:

1) Eventually acquire the Dillon press-top power trimmer, and mount it on a separate toolhead.

2) Run all of my brass through the size and trim die that comes with this trimmer, which will also decap it. As this is done in a single operation I believe it would be easy to exceed 500 cases per hour at this stage.

3) Take those sized/trimmed cases and finish prepping them manually (as I usually do with rifle brass). This would involve primer pocket cleaning, chamfering and deburring the case mouth, and any other prep steps that I might want to take.

4) Return the fully prepped brass to the Dillon where a separate toolhead is installed (containing the powder die and seating die), and finish loading the ammo.

Obviously this would involve two pulls of the handle for every finished round, but the trimming would be accomplished during one of those steps. To me, this sounds like the fastest way I can think of to produce ammo of the quality I seek, at the speed I desire. Of course, it involves at least one more piece of expensive equipment (the power trimmer), so I don't know that this would be a viable setup for people who don't load excessive amounts of "match" rifle ammo.

... and, again, I'm a Dillon virgin, so I may change my opinion on this in a while.

 

[bobinoregon]

It's easier for me to just loosen the screws and lift off linkage, if I just pull the pins the linkage binds up. Either way it's no big deal. I like to have a quick change for every caliber that I do any volume of , ones that I don't do much of still get their own tool heads. Raises the cost but also the convenience.

 

[jr_roosa]

2) Run all of my brass through the size and trim die that comes with this trimmer, which will also decap it. As this is done in a single operation I believe it would be easy to exceed 500 cases per hour at this stage.

I have the RCBS trimmer with the 3-way head. I can do about 8 pieces per minute in that. My usual run of rifle brass is around 80-100 rounds, and then I'll do a big batch of around 300 for a few months of short range ammo, so there isn't much incentive for me to get deeply invested in doing everything at once on the 550b. If I did a run-and-gun sort of high round count event, then I'd be a little more motivated.

My Forster does such a spectacular job at consistently resizing rifle brass, it's hard for me to move away from that to a new platform. Being able to prime/charge/seat all at once is a big enough improvement for now.

Also, I just ran 50 rounds of my slowfire 45ACP load through the press, and the Dillon dies do a much better job of seating my bullets straight in the cases than my RCBS dies did, even on the single stage. I have no idea why that would be since they look like they are doing exactly the same thing in exactly the same way. Some dimension is more favorable I suppose.

-J