Who has real world experience- Mark 7 Revolution - Comparison to Dillon

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EricBu

EricBu

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I'm getting ready within the next 6 months to buy two new presses. These will either be Dillon 1100s or 1050s with an autodrive, bullet feeder, etc, basically fully loaded. Or Mark 7 Revolutions (The blinged commercial variant from Mark 7/Lyman). I've done the standard googling, read all of the history et al. However, most of what's out there is fan boy comments, and there is not much recent regarding direct experience.

Specifically, looking for anybody who has gone from an automated Dillon (1050, 1100) to a Revolution, runs both side by side, or a Revolution owner who had previous Dillon experience, but chose the Revolution anyway. If you're a Mark 7 guy, sell me on why I should go with the Revolution, if you're a Dillon guy, sell me on why I should stay blue.

The specific points I'm looking for:

1. I already know I can make safe, solid, high quality, <15 SD pistol and revolver ammunition on the Dillon. How about the Revolution?

2. The major contribution factor for considering the Revolution is the auto priming system....dump a thousand primers in the hopper and go...but is it reliable? I can live with 1 out of a thousand rounds having a flipped primer...but not 1 out of a hundred.

3. Wear and tear, parts availability, and uptime. I have enough Dillon parts on hand to damn near build a complete press...things that I've learned the hard way need to be readily available. I will be starting over from an institutional knowledge perspective with the Revolutions. What is my over all reliability going to be with them? Can I keep commonly needed parts on hand? Or are they difficult to find parts for in general? How is the support? I know they struggled early on, but by all accounts, since Mark 7 was purchased by Lyman, things have improved, what is your real world experience with this support? Here, I'm looking for post Lyman purchase support experience. Not overly concerned about warranty, but more interested in long term support even if it's pay to play. Am I going to be able to call a technician up and tell them about a problem, and get real help, and availability to a needed part?

4. Caliber changeover. From the videos I've watched, and user manuals I've read it seems slower and more complex than on a Dillon, is my perception wrong? It may be a matter of training and gaining experience, or it may just be a huge pain. This isn't a deal breaker, but I need to understand how my process may be changed...will I need to plan on doing say.....20K rounds at a time to make a caliber change worthwhile? Or is it just a matter of maybe taking an extra hour to do a complete changeover, which would not really impact me.

5. Overall impression of fit, finish, quality of construction, etc. Dillon has a well established history of function over form. It may be ugly, but it works well, and works with very little fiddling once configured and established. I worry about the Revolution being the opposite....looks fantastic in a brochure...did they choose appearance over function?

6. Maintenance. Maintenance on the Dillon is super easy...hit it with the air compressor every day, grease it every month, and every couple of months do a more thorough PM, looking for wear and tear and such. Maybe once a year, pull all the linkages apart and regrease, reassemble, realign, and fire it up. Is the Revolution going to be similar? Is it a platform that will require constant tinkering and adjustment? Is there more involved maintenance?


Anyway, if you've lasted through this entire long winded read, any comments will be appreciated.
 
EricBu said:
Thanks, but that is not even on the radar for me.

... I'm getting ready within the next 6 months to buy two new presses.
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Why not?

If I was spending several thousand dollars for two progressive presses, I would certainly look into the FX-10.

Having spent over $160,000 on reloading equipment and components during past 30 years, I recently had to liquidate 12 presses and over 90% of my reloading gear/components due to family medical issues surrounding my parents.

I kept Dillon 550C and Lee Pro 4000/ABLP (My current favorite press ... Yes, Lee Precision got this one right) but having let go of 650 with case feeder, I thought about replacing with 750 with case feeder but now looking hard at FX-10 and will certainly wait to have it checked out before committing to 750.
 
LiveLife said:
Why not?

If I was spending several thousand dollars for two progressive presses, I would certainly look into the FX-10.

Having spent over $160,000 on reloading equipment and components during past 30 years, I recently had to liquidate 12 presses and over 90% of my reloading gear/components due to family medical issues surrounding my parents.

I kept Dillon 550C and Lee Pro 4000/ABLP but having let go of 650 with case feeder, I thought about replacing with 750 with case feeder but now looking hard at FX-10 and will certainly wait to have it checked out before committing to 750.
Click to expand...

It's not even close to the class of product I need. There is a reason it's not on my list. Think commercial. The only other press in the running is a Camdex, which I can only budget one in the next 6 months, which is why it's not being considered. Everything has to be in twos.
 
There is a lot of Mk 7 discussion on Benos, you are likelier to stir up something there.

Me? I just pull the handle on nearly stock 550 and 1050 and am not working very long at a time to feed my IDPA and USPSA habits. These guys with multiple power steering progressive loaders in series must be shooting a whale of a lot to justify so much equipment.
 
Jim Watson said:
There is a lot of Mk 7 discussion on Benos, you are likelier to stir up something there.

Me? I just pull the handle on nearly stock 550 and 1050 and am not working very long at a time to feed my IDPA and USPSA habits. These guys with multiple power steering progressive loaders in series must be shooting a whale of a lot to justify so much equipment.
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The Enos forums....good tip. I'd forgotten about them, guess I was thinking they went away. I will pose my question there as well. Thanks!
 
EricBu said:
The Enos forums....good tip. I'd forgotten about them, guess I was thinking they went away. I will pose my question there as well. Thanks!
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just buy 15 Lee APP press, have them wield together and put a B&S motor on it! Souls work good
 
I don't have experience with either of those machines,
I run a Dillon 550B and a Lyman turret.
But I did see a video of the DoubleTap ammo manufacturing facility and they were using Automated Dillons.
I would guess if that machine is sufficient for them, then it would be a significant add for any other Large Volume loader...
 
I haven’t played with their presses but I do have one of their drives/tablet control on a 1050, I acquired. The control system developed a problem and had to be replaced, even the replacement needs to be rebooted from time to time, despite lots of shielding.

The PLC based one I built before they existed is more reliable but not as cool to show off, as I didn’t write a very fancy program.

 
jmorris said:
I haven’t played with their presses but I do have one of their drives/tablet control on a 1050, I acquired. The control system developed a problem and had to be replaced, even the replacement needs to be rebooted from time to time, despite lots of shielding.

The PLC based one I built before they existed is more reliable but not as cool to show off, as I didn’t write a very fancy program.

Click to expand...

If I had to learn and write code for a press… I’ll buy factory ammo 1st!
 
Mark_Mark said:
If I had to learn and write code for a press… I’ll buy factory ammo 1st!
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Same here. I'm still running a single stage that was made in the 60s. Granted these guys load as many rounds in an evening as I do in a year.
I figure a good year is about 5000 rounds give it take.
 
EricBu said:
It's not even close to the class of product I need. There is a reason it's not on my list. Think commercial. The only other press in the running is a Camdex, which I can only budget one in the next 6 months, which is why it's not being considered. Everything has to be in twos.
Click to expand...
I've got a couple of friends, brothers, up in Michigan who (apparently) went through the same process as you .... and they ended-up going with the Mark 7s. I think they're up to an even dozen now and still going strong and have never regretted going that route.

Hope that helps.

Their problem (the same as all of ours right now) has been getting their hands on enough components lately to feed them all ... feed a dozen Mk 7s. I've been there. Those things just keep chugging along like butter but man oh man do they go-through the 3 Ps in a hurry.

Not sure if you're planning on using surplus or new brass but, from what I understand, it makes a huge difference which you choose when entering-into an endeavor of that nature.
 
Mark_Mark said:
If I had to learn and write code for a press… I’ll buy factory ammo 1st!
Click to expand...

If you shoot the kinds of volume where an automated press makes sense, you would already know how much money you would be saving over just buying factory ammunition. Assuming it was available when you wanted it.

The OP is not asking about single stage presses the press he is inquiring about has a base price of $10,500. https://www.markvii-loading.com/the-mark-7r-revolutionr.html

When I made mine the cheapest ones were the Ammoload or Camdex machines that started around $25,000.

The one I built isn’t as fast as any of the above but I can load casegauge and box 1000 rounds in 52 minutes.
 
As a hand loader for 45 years with a lowly 550 an antique Lyman TMag amd a couple of lesser Lee’s I can’t speak to the question. But would like to ask; How do you plan on feeding such machines ??
 
Too bad there isn't a forum yet for Mark 7 users. I'd love to have one, but I'm just not willing to part with that kind of money for the hobby....and that probably fits most of us here. I think you must have to be a serious competitor, which you must be. ;)

Mark_Mark said:
just buy 15 Lee APP press, have them wield together and put a B&S motor on it! Souls work good
Click to expand...

EricBu said:
Ha! There you go. The case feeder tube connections would look like one of those FB memes: "Which one of the glasses will fill up first".
Click to expand...

That made me smile. I love my APP, but several connected like that (even if you could figure that out) with a motor drive would last maybe 2 minutes before parts started flying across the room! :) (after 30 seconds thinking about it....no...it'd last 30 seconds.)
 
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jmorris said:
I haven’t played with their presses but I do have one of their drives/tablet control on a 1050, I acquired. The control system developed a problem and had to be replaced, even the replacement needs to be rebooted from time to time, despite lots of shielding.

The PLC based one I built before they existed is more reliable but not as cool to show off, as I didn’t write a very fancy program.

Click to expand...


That's pretty slick. The Linux engineer in me says that it wouldn't be much effort to ansible the Mark 7s and use playbooks to manage a bunch of them. Would come in really handy when I get pulled into a conference call for my day job, I could pause all the presses.
 
Airborne Falcon said:
I've got a couple of friends, brothers, up in Michigan who (apparently) went through the same process as you .... and they ended-up going with the Mark 7s. I think they're up to an even dozen now and still going strong and have never regretted going that route.

Hope that helps.

Their problem (the same as all of ours right now) has been getting their hands on enough components lately to feed them all ... feed a dozen Mk 7s. I've been there. Those things just keep chugging along like butter but man oh man do they go-through the 3 Ps in a hurry.

Not sure if you're planning on using surplus or new brass but, from what I understand, it makes a huge difference which you choose when entering-into an endeavor of that nature.
Click to expand...

That is good to know. I have heard the same story many times, Mark 7s seem to be gaining in market share in My "endeavor" is already established, just growing, lol. No used brass, all new. So that piece simplifies things. Keeping them fed is another issue, but I could keep two fed now. Presumably when I do finally pull the trigger on these, that problem will have begun to resolve itself.
 
jmorris said:
If you shoot the kinds of volume where an automated press makes sense, you would already know how much money you would be saving over just buying factory ammunition. Assuming it was available when you wanted it.

The OP is not asking about single stage presses the press he is inquiring about has a base price of $10,500. https://www.markvii-loading.com/the-mark-7r-revolutionr.html

When I made mine the cheapest ones were the Ammoload or Camdex machines that started around $25,000.

The one I built isn’t as fast as any of the above but I can load casegauge and box 1000 rounds in 52 minutes.
Click to expand...

Yeah, and the Camdex machine was on my original list.......but I cannot live with a .7 to 1.0 grain powder throw variance, and today a Camdex set up the way I want is about 32,000...which means I can only budget one. So for me, the Mark 7s or the Dillons make much more sense.

Load, case gauging, and boxing a thousand rounds in 52 minutes is pretty damn good if you ask me.
 
EricBu said:
Yeah, and the Camdex machine was on my original list.......but I cannot live with a .7 to 1.0 grain powder throw variance, and today a Camdex set up the way I want is about 32,000...which means I can only budget one. So for me, the Mark 7s or the Dillons make much more sense.

Load, case gauging, and boxing a thousand rounds in 52 minutes is pretty damn good if you ask me.
Click to expand...
you manufacturing or just a tinkering?
 
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