550b Must-Have Accessories

[ES13Raven]

Thank you, I glad it worked out so well for you, I try really hard to get them sent out the same day I get the order because I know when I order stuff, I want it ASAP!! So I try to extend the same courtesy to my customers. I appreciate you posting that you bought one and you had postive feedback. I have gotten several email from customers with ideas/feedback and take them to heart. I am contantly amazed about how great shooters are to deal with vs the general public. When I get my next set of slides cut out, I have a few tweaks I am going to do to make them better.

I bought your Gen2 primer slide plate, and have been very pleased with it so far. Do you recommend polishing the primer slide as well? If so, what Dremel attachments would be good for that?

[Walnut]

Thank you, I glad it worked out so well for you, I try really hard to get them sent out the same day I get the order because I know when I order stuff, I want it ASAP!! So I try to extend the same courtesy to my customers. I appreciate you posting that you bought one and you had postive feedback. I have gotten several email from customers with ideas/feedback and take them to heart. I am constantly amazed about how great shooters are to deal with vs the general public. When I get my next set of slides cut out, I have a few tweaks I am going to do to make them better.

I bought your Gen2 primer slide plate, and have been very pleased with it so far. Do you recommend polishing the primer slide as well? If so, what Dremel attachments would be good for that?

I have polished my sides in the past and I haven't seen any advantage to do so, besides having a pretty shinny slide and potentially causing more binding issues. The major issues I have seen is getting a bunch of oil/primer dust/polishing corn media in the track which causes the binding or you drop the primer slide and put a burr on the slide itself. I just take a single cut file to the primer slide, holding it flat against the surface of the primer slide and just looking for shiny spots while applying light pressure, your just knocking off the burrs, not filing the entire primer slide. I did my testing with the slides unpolished, just deburred, with factory primer slides unpolished and I loaded over 2500 rounds without messing with the priming system, just a bit of powder graphite once every 1000 or so. If it looked dirty, just took some canned air, blow out the crap and keep loading. I would be very wary about going after the primer slide with a Dremel, you don't want to round the edges or change the dimensions, that is why I use a single cut file, you can hold it parallel with surface and you'll keep the edges square, the surfaces smooth and flat and not gouge the surface.

Ultimately, if it works, don't mess with it. If anyone else has questions, feel free to ask.

Edited June 12, 2015 by Walnut

[mpssrh]

I want to add my thanks to JW (aka Walnut) for his "Dillon 550 Primer Track Bearing Plate with Ball Bearing, 2nd Generation." I installed it on my 550b, and it works beautifully. It completely eliminated the "shudder" of the primer bar that was being caused by tilting and canting (torquing) of the slide as it moved back and forth. The priming operation is now smooth and reliable.

I am so favorably impressed that I ordered a second one for my son who also has a Dillon 550b. If you are having problems with your original primer slide and bearing track, give this a try; I'm confident you'll be glad you did.

Edited June 13, 2015 by mpssrh

[Walnut]

I want to add my thanks to JW (aka Walnut) for his "Dillon 550 Primer Track Bearing Plate with Ball Bearing, 2nd Generation." I installed it on my 550b, and it works beautifully. It completely eliminated the "shudder" of the primer bar that was being caused by tilting and canting (torquing) of the slide as it moved back and forth. The priming operation is now smooth and reliable.

I am so favorably impressed that I ordered a second one for my son who also has a Dillon 550b. If you are having problems with your original primer slide and bearing track, give this a try; I'm confident you'll be glad you did.

Thank you for your kind words! I am glad I was able to help another shooter.

[Vincerama]

I use this $10 Ikea lamp http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20169658/

It has an adjustable bendy neck and just a really bright LED. It shines nicely into the cases. I'm sure there are better press mounted solutions, but for $10 this is pretty good. Heck, buy a few and use them on your workbench as spot lights!

I added the casefeeder to my 550b. At first I wanted to set it up at the range and shoot it to pieces, then I figured out (even though it's in the manual!) that you have to adjust the cam to just place the case only as far as needed and not let it rock/bounce off the shell plate. Now it works 95% of the time. The last few sessions with it were awesome. I actually adjusted the cam by placing masking tape on the inside elbow until it would just barely touch the case on the upstroke (with ram returning downwards) since the case should be centered upon exiting the sizing die.

I have both the inline fab and the dillon roller handles. Inline fab has a bend in it, so you have to push it further more for the priming stroke, but it doesn't go as far down one the downstroke, so it's really great for operating the press while standing. The Dillon aluminum roller has a nice feel to it, the inline fab one is plastic. THat's neither here nor their, the important thing is the bend in the handle.

My 550b with casefeeder is mounted directly to my "bench" (a repurposed table thing I had originally built to hold recycling bins). I use the upturned lid of a rectangular (decomissioned) tupperware box as my bullet tray. It works well to contain all the bullets and it just sits next to the press. If you have a strong mount, you'd most likely need the Dillon tray as it is attached to the strong mount. ... OR put a tray on a piece of wood to raise it to working level.

I have a hard time reloading while seated, as I like to peer into the bullet seating station to check for powder and the handle hits my knees anyway. I might give it another try at another time, but for now, I'm just standing on a cushy-mat in front of my reloading stand.

The stand has a lower shelf and I put a large cardboard box in there, extending forward under the press to catch errant primers.

Before I installed the case feeder, my primer catcher thingy caught 99.9% of the spent primers. With the case feeder and it's primer chute (they looks the same actually, I don't see what's changed except the actual specimen that came with the feeder) I drop probably 10% of the primers on the ground and/or the primer-mess-catching-cardboard-box.

[Vincerama]

You know what I'd like to see is a clamp on fake "powder measure". When adjusting the bell/flare of the powder station, it's annoying to make sure you have an empty powder measure attached to the die so that the funnel stops where it should and bells the case. If you don't tighten on a powder measure, the funnel just moves upwards and meets no resistance to make the bell and you can't adjust it.

Or is there a simpler solution I missed somewhere. And yes, generally it's a one time adjustment, but if there is a better way, I'd like to know it.

[ChunkyMonkey]

You know what I'd like to see is a clamp on fake "powder measure". When adjusting the bell/flare of the powder station, it's annoying to make sure you have an empty powder measure attached to the die so that the funnel stops where it should and bells the case. If you don't tighten on a powder measure, the funnel just moves upwards and meets no resistance to make the bell and you can't adjust it.

Or is there a simpler solution I missed somewhere. And yes, generally it's a one time adjustment, but if there is a better way, I'd like to know it.

Yes ~ I would like this as well. Wonder if there is some easy way to set it, without an empty powder measure, to bell the case?

[pmt]

A modification I made to my casefeeder on my 550: I drilled a 1/8" hole in the rear right corner of the casefeed plunger. The thin portion (plate) If you pull the plunger back toward you, you see that it will extend out the back of the casefeed body. I drilled the hole in the approximate center of the portion that sticks out the back. I made a little bent wire pin that fits the hole. If I need to cycle the machine without dropping or feeding cases (or emptying the feed tube) I just insert the pin. It keeps the spring from pushing the feeder plunger forward.

Edited June 15, 2015 by pmt

[mpom]

Just installed JWs Gen 2 Primer Track Plate and Bearing and I wish I had found out about this gem years ago. Very well made. Really should be included as an option by Dillon.

Shipping was incredibly fast, but even if it took a week or more to arrive, who cares, as its worth the wait

Thanks for letting me know about it.

[Vincerama]

A modification I made to my casefeeder on my 550: I drilled a 1/8" hole in the rear right corner of the casefeed plunger. The thin portion (plate) If you pull the plunger back toward you, you see that it will extend out the back of the casefeed body. I drilled the hole in the approximate center of the portion that sticks out the back. I made a little bent wire pin that fits the hole. If I need to cycle the machine without dropping or feeding cases (or emptying the feed tube) I just insert the pin. It keeps the spring from pushing the feeder plunger forward.

That's awesome! I was had been thinking "Dammit! Stop dropping cases for just second, I'm trying to adjust something!" but didn't actually think about a solution other than to be angry at it... thanks for that awesome tip!

[Vincerama]

Oh another plus for having the casefeeder ...

If you want to deprime cases before tumbling, get an extra toolhead and a universal decapper (or a sizer/decapper if you don't mind running dirty brass through it) for the first stage and nothing else. With the casefeeder, you just need to pull the handle, turn the index and repeat and you'll quickly decap a bunch of brass in no time! The tedium of decapping is picking up the case (imho) but with the casefeeder, just dump them into the hopper.

I actually wash my brass when I get it home. Just toss it all into a cement mixing tub (tough plastic black tub from home depot), toss in a touch of dishsoap, spray in enough water so that there are a ton of bubbles but the brass is not submerged (to let the bubbles touch brass), and push it around with a toilet brush. Then rinse a time or two and then leave it in the sun to dry.

[Flatland Shooter]

For those on the fence, Inline Fabrication has a father's day sale on all their products. I received and e-mail that indicates code "fathersday" is good for 15% off everything on the site.

http://inlinefabrication.com/collections/dillon/products/dillon-550

I plan on ordering a new roller handle for my 550.

Bill

[Walnut]

Before I installed the case feeder, my primer catcher thingy caught 99.9% of the spent primers. With the case feeder and it's primer chute (they looks the same actually, I don't see what's changed except the actual specimen that came with the feeder) I drop probably 10% of the primers on the ground and/or the primer-mess-catching-cardboard-box.

Here is my fix for primers missing the cup on a 550B with a case feeder. The spent primer chute wings are too small, far away from the top of the shellplate so I made some cardboard ones that fixed it. I had to cut and trim, cut and trim and cut and trim to get them just right. Just a dob of hot glue and your done.

I put a roll pin in the chute and also i glued a little chunk of wheel weight on the other side of the chute(side you can't see). The idea, when you raise the shellplate, I want the chute to pop positivity close and the extra weight helps!

This has made my primers nearly stop hitting my floor, I have also made extensions on the spent primer cup that makes it complete see pics. I am in the process of getting some made out of sheet metal, the paper ones last a little while . Just a pea size drop of hot glue on each side is all that is needed to hold them in place. Between the roll pin, magnet, extensions on the spent primer chute and the extra wings on the primer chute, I have 99.9% primers going into the cup now.

[Vincerama]

Thanks for the stray primer tips, I'll give them a try. I was considering the wings as well.

I've heard that replacing the cotter pin with a roll pin or even a safety pin (like for clothes) will work. Is that because the cotter pin prevents the catcher from opening/closing?

I've got plenty of malformed reject bullets sitting around that I can glue to the catcher to open it up (or close it) at the top of the stroke, thanks for the idea!

I'll also check the inline fab sale!

[Terlingueno]

Got my 550 from Brian at the end of December, everything runs really well except some chatter/roughness with the priming system. Nothing has failed, but it could be smoother. I just received Primer Track Bearing plate from Walnut. Took just a few minutes to install and I loaded a few hundred rounds and the press does indeed go smoother than stock. No chatter, no issues. I am happy with the purchase. Thanks Walnut

Little background on the Dillon Primer Track Bearing Plate, I am the manufacture of the Dillon Primer Track Bearing Plate, the difference between the first and second generation is significant. I was using a PlasmaCAM CNC to cut the first set of plates. It worked alright, but it couldn't hold the tolerances that I needed, caused a significant amount of handwork, so I went to a waterjet company. I redesigned the plate because it could hold tighter tolerances and make it a lot better for a small increase in cost and now the plates are being buffed out to a satin finish. After extensive testing, the surface finish doesn't really matter much as people think, long as it is smooth and free of burrs/trash. One of my beta plates still had the mill scale on the steel after I deburred the edges and removed surface rust with a wire wheel and it worked just fine. I load several 1000's round with just a bit of powder graphite added. Wasn't pretty, but 100% functional. If you have any questions about part feel free to PM me or ask.

If anyone cares, i have relisted the Dillon Track Bearing Plate on eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/231590369881 the previous post on the eBay page is incorrect.

I also have a Bob Chute and a Inline Fabrication Skylight on my press. Also good products.

Ranger Bob

[robertg5322]

I use 2 products on all of my 550B's I didn't see listed. One is the primer slide plate that eliminates all of the priming issues I had on my older worn units and the other is those great foam covers for the roller handles that Unique tek sells. I should have never tried one of the foam covers because now I am hooked. Don't plan on buying just one if you have more than one loader equipped with a roller handle. Both of these are a must have item for my 550's.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dillon-550B-550-Primer-Slide-Bearing-Track-Plate-w-Ball-Bearing-2nd-Generation-/231547695953

http://www.uniquetek.com/site/696296/product/T1527

I solved this issue by drilling and tapping the housing and threading a nylon screw to help guide the primer bar.

[Onepocket]

Bought one of these a couple weeks ago. Great product. I polished the contact side to a mirror finish and its smooth as silk.

[chuckols]

Anyone else out there tried this option for Primer Bar?

I had problems on a Sig 357 production run and a drop of REM oil on the base of the primer bar fixed the "sticking bar "issue. I realize that REM was a quik solution and that graphite powder is better but not at hand at that moment.

Haven' t heard any negatives on Walnut's 2nd Gen product.

Comments ?

Thanks,

Chuck

[mpssrh]

@chuckols: I've had the Gen 2 Primer Track Bearing Plate for several months, and it continues to function flawlessly. I followed the suggestion to use a bit of powdered graphite on the plate, and it has made the function even smoother. This item is terrific; it has made reloading on my 550B much easier and more pleasant. I will gladly give it a grade of A-Plus.

Best wishes.

Edited July 28, 2015 by mpssrh

[Walnut]

@chuckols: I've had the Gen 2 Primer Track Bearing Plate for several months, and it continues to function flawlessly. I followed the suggestion to use a bit of powdered graphite on the plate, and it has made the function even smoother. This item is terrific; it has made reloading on my 550B much easier and more pleasant. I will gladly give it a grade of A-Plus.

Best wishes.

I am always looking for feedback of my Primer Track Bearing Plate good or bad. However I prefer good. . . .

Let me know if I can do anything else and thank you for taking time to post on this forum!

JW

[9x45]

Having loaded over 7000 rounds on my Dillon 550b now, here is my list of must-have accessories to make your life easier:

1. Strong Mount - you need a steady press for consistent loads
2. Bullet Tray - speeds up loading by keeping bullets close
3. Bob Chute - keeps 99% of spent primers where they belong
4. Micrometer power bar kit - keeps your powder drops consistent, easily return to different load settings
5. Roller Handle - I prefer the Ergo from Inline Fabrication, makes a lot of loading easy on the shoulder
6. Case Lube - I use One Shot, makes loading smoother
7. LED light - I use one from UniqueTek, makes checking powder drops easy

What are your 550 must-haves?

I've had my 550 since day one, the old one without the positive powder drop spring loaded bar thing. So it's probably run over 150,000 rounds or more. Anyway, don't have any of the above 1-7 items, except I recently got a roller handle off Ebay for like $12. It's mounted directly to 2x6's, my bullet tray and case tray is small parts bin, standard primer catch tray, standard powder bars, seems like they are good for +/- .1 grains, don't use case lube, cases are tumbled in corn with nu finish and are slippery enough, standard 2 tube flourescent light behind. Cardboard box stapled to uprights for catching the loads. Thats all the space I have, a small corner of the laundry room.

[daboone]

I'm a new 550b user, just a couple of months of use. Like you I mounted the press directly to a very sturdy bench. I can't see any reason to for any of these addons/aftermarket "improvements". I've already loaded about 3000 223R and 2000 9mmL without a hickup other than getting the initial setup done correctly and a few things tightened and a few new users errors. A tip I learned here was placing a baby's sox over the ball handle which made cycling the lever arm much smoother and easier. Thus I don't even see the need for the roller handle you added.

[s0nny_g17]

Heres what ive got on my 550b

[hdultra]

Oh man, lots of good stuff on this thread.

I'm new to the blue press and will try several hundred rounds in stock mode to decide if/what to try.

Thanks for all the info guys

[chuckols]

@chuckols: I've had the Gen 2 Primer Track Bearing Plate for several months, and it continues to function flawlessly. I followed the suggestion to use a bit of powdered graphite on the plate, and it has made the function even smoother. This item is terrific; it has made reloading on my 550B much easier and more pleasant. I will gladly give it a grade of A-Plus.

Best wishes.

I bought Walnut's product and it works like a charm. Increased productivity and reduced primer waste. Been using same since early August.

Chuck