belus

Supplement is probably a better word. You'll regret getting rid of a 550 unless you only reload one caliber.

I've tried a variety and have concluded there's at least two dimensions to this question: texture and geometry. I think geometry matters more. Even the most aggressive thin profile grips I could find would let the gun slip backwards in my hand. I just didn't have enough space between my strong hand finger tips and weak hand palm to take advantage of the texture there. My 1911s now wear the DS Perman grips with skateboard tape. You can change the tape to a more or less aggressive grit, and you'll always have enough surface area to get good contact. eta: the Permans are also very light so it gives you room to use a steel mainspring housing or solid guide rod.

Are you sure the primers aren't just pulling back? This is a known issue with Dillon sizing dies. Kissing the decap pin with a Dremel or grinding wheel might solve most of your stoppage issues. There's a fair amount of discussion on this topic here. IMO the only reason to get the S1050 is if you load for a BAR/Garand or some other 30-06 length semi-auto. I sold a 550 once only to buy it again. Haven't been able to bring myself to sell a Dillon since. That said, the bench is getting a little crowded and the 650 would probably be the first to go because the 1050/550 combo is just too complimentary.

What fun are guns you don't get to shoot? I use the CZC 75 Shadow in USPSA because I like the balance, it might be the short dust cover option at your shop. I'd get an IDPA legal one and walk on over. I thought this was a different topic though. My gun safes are full and there's not much left on my wish list so I started buying reloading equipment instead. Picked up a used 1050 with autodrive at the end of last year for what you're considering putting into another pistol.

I loaded for a couple years on a 550 and then a 650 with MBF. I still have both of those presses for lower volume stuff. Now I load 9mm on an automated 1050 because time is precious. If you're buying processed brass you could do it all on a 750. It'd take a committed day each month to load. But if your brass isn't pre processed you'll probably want a 1100 at those volumes. People sell brass on this forum and at larger matches, though it's often just cleaned and not processed. Sometimes you can get discounted powder and primers at those matches too. With free brass my 147gr loads are about $0.10 per, and buying brass would add about 0.035 to that. If I wanted cheaper ammo I'd need to go to a lower bullet weight. You're looking at $500-600/mo in components based on your goals. An AmmoBot 1100 is only 6-7 months of shooting and probably worth it. I usually buy in quantities of 10k+ to get volume discounts and amortize the hazmat fees. You'll want multiple months of supplies stocked up so you can be patient in your deal hunting. It helps to keep a spreadsheet of suppliers: Acme is often cheaper than Blue Bullets for example, and Summers advertises even cheaper prices but I've yet to buy from them. Also at 4k/mo you probably want a second identical gun for practice and reserve the other one for the larger matches. It's only a couple months of shooting budget to pick up a spare.

Some local shooters in Limited or CO are replacing their slide stops with straight pins for this reason. Not a big deal if you have 19+ rounds in a mag, though I won't do it as a Production shooter. I carry a spare slide stop in my bag but have never actually worried about it breaking. My guns only see minor loads.

It's normal. These have the glossy blue finish, right? I recall pushing a paper towel through the mag bodies after getting a set.

Production: 6 mags, five on the belt Single Stack: 7 mags, six on the belt In the closet: 15+ for Production or SS guns.

More: IPSC targets near to far transitions or vice versa distance between shooting positions Fewer: close mutli target arrays that can be hosed without sights - make it a plate rack instead if you have the space shooting positions within a step or two of the previous Reading back over this list it sounds like I want to be rewarded for shooting slower but moving quickly.

In short, because I don't trust a single decapping pin to get enough of the primers and need that location for a second decapping die. Maybe I should swap the Lee and Dillon dies and see if I get the same failure rate. The main purpose of my processing is to separate the decapping from other operations because of lead contamination. I also have plans to wet tumble brass and being fully decapped will help them drain and dry faster. I don't see any down side to swaging during the loading run. The 380's and Supers are all sorted out and I know all the brass is primer free. A final reason not swage on the processing run is that the 9mm is held by a W shellplate and it's not as secure as the correct #5 shell plate. I might risk deforming the rim if the web of the case isn't held securely by the backing rod.

I think the 550 is the best value press Dillon makes. I've bought it, sold it, and bought it again. Now I load 9mm on a 1050 because I can automate it. It runs best if the brass is processed first which means handling the brass twice. There's a great rhythm that develops on the 550 too. It's the most enjoyable and satisfying to use. The 1050 makes ammo faster but if feels like a chore that I'm just racing to get through. I wouldn't get a 650 if I already had a 550. I think the 1050 and 550 compliment each other really well they would always have room on my bench as a pair.

The one (only?) advantage I've noticed with Dillon dies is that they don't rust as easily as Lee. Wasn't an issue in Arizona but now that I live in Texas I appreciate them more. I use a mix of Lee and Dillon for pistols. Mostly use Foster for rifles. edit: I basically use the same arrangement as @iflyskyhigh recommended for 9mm.

I process and load 9mm in two runs. I would use the extra station over the primer seating station to hold a Lee U-die if I hadn't already customized one as my swage backer, otherwise I don't see an advantage to having an extra station before the powder drop. Processing 9mm on a 40sw 1050: 2) Dillon decap, which pulls back about 1-2% of primers 3) Lee decap with FFB RCBS decap pin holder (no swage rod installed) as insurance 4) no primer system 5) empty 6) Dillon 40sw sizing die 7) Lee 40sw U-die 8- empty I use the process run to catch 380s and Supers, but mostly I wanted to separate depriming from loading to keep things cleaner after my lead levels climbed to 6 ug/dL a couple years back. Loading 9mm on a 9mm 1050: 2) Dillon sizing die with decap pin 3) Lee U-die with custom swage backing rod, swage rod installed 4) prime 5) MBF powder drop 6) MBF 7) DIllon seating die 8- Lee FCD

I've also gone back to the original frame from a S2, though in my case it's the 75 Shadow (aka Tac II). The gun feels more nimble to me with the short dust cover.

On my 650 I used Dillon Sizing die MBF powder drop MBF Dillon Seating die Lee FCD My CZ chambers are more generous than my case gauge. I'd have 1-2% fail the case gauge but none failed to feed in CZs. However, an STI 1911 would fail to feed the fat rounds and had to be kept strictly to the rounds which passed the gauge. I now process brass on a 1050 using a customized Lee U die as a swage backer. Reaching a little farther down the base of the brass with the Lee die solved the gauging issue.

I meant the on the OP tool head. I'm not sure what I'd do with an extra station before the powder drop, and I wouldn't put the powder over the priming station. I guess I don't see the value of an extra station on the Dillon in that location. I use a U die as my backing die for the swage rod. Its pretty easy since the Lee dies use 1/8in NPT thread to hold the decapping rod.

What die do you put over the priming station?

Basically I just do all my processing on a old Forcht machine set up for 40. 9mm just happens to run along just fine. I wanted to isolate the decapping process so the rest of loading was cleaner and found a good deal on an already set-up 1050. I run two universal decapping dies, the first one I assembled out of Dillon parts and the second is a Lee with the FFB RCBS decapping stem. The swage assembly is removed from the press. In the prime station I have plans to install a microcontroller to confirm the decapping worked, but that's still just a pile of parts and I haven't found any primers pulling back on both decap pins. The Dillon decapper misses less than 1% of cases anyways. 9mm only gets decapped before cleaning. Sizing and swagging happens on the loading run which is much smoother knowing my brass is all deprimed. Further around the tool head I have 40 sizing dies for tumbled 40 brass. The 9mm just passes through these stations unaffected. I load 40 on a manual 650 and I like not having to put the effort into sizing myself. It wouldn't be hard to add/remove a 9 sizing die to the end of the process toolhead if I were doing the same for 9mm.

Are you having issues with the Dillon one? I decap 9mm on a W shellplate with a medium shuttle and load it on a #5 with a small shuttle. I haven't found any limitations on the Dillon plates at ~1200/hr. Maybe if I were trying to load that rate on a tall 223 case the alignment would be more critical. IIRC, there are 9mm headstamps that don't even fit on my #3 shellplate. I'm not sure you'd have much luck on a tighter toleranced #3 with 9mm. Looks like your only real choice is FFBs. eta: forgot to include shuttle sizes.

The 550 will load 338 WM and other cases up to ~2.8". If you don't have a 550 to compliment your 1050 I would seriously consider it. Those two presses work very well together.

For a couple years I used a 650 in a 550 sqft apartment. The noise wasn't bad. That was a weird place as it also had a two car garage where I could keep the brass tumbling away from my living space (and three motorcycles). I've since gotten married and moved to a larger house. A rigid bench is important as you operate it. I used a little 24"x24" MDF workbench (like Harbor Freight's SKU 46725) which barely worked. Put a couple thousand bullets on the bottom and it helps a little. The 1100 can be automated which puts it on a rigid base and compensates for bench limitations. I would not use a folding leaf table. However I think the most important thing is containing spent primers. I'm glad to hear you're wet tumbling. Get any of the e-bay spent primer cup replacements to keep the press cleaner. The 650 I have will frequently throw primers around, but my 1050 deprimes more consistently and gently. The 750 and 1100 both have three die positions after the powder drop, so there aren't as many extra positions as you anticipate. Using the a bullet feeder is the same on either: you lose your powder check die OR you seat/crimp in the same station. With a bullet feeder on the 750 all your production is on the right hand side of the press which will keep it more compact. The 1100 does everything on the left side. If I were in your situation I would get the 1100 and load in 2-3000 round batches. The 1100 is easier on your arm than the 750 and longer sessions are easier. Then you can pack it away in a closet for a couple months. Maybe mount the 1100 to a heavy plank or felt lined steel plate and then clamp that to a counter for rigidity.

Casefeeder is a must so I assume you got that. I also like the strong mount with bullet tray and roller handle. I don't think the primer feed stop is relevant to the 750 priming system. The 650 would continue feeding primers even if they weren't used. Regarding e-bay mods, the ones I liked best are the spent primer catch tube and roller index cam. I tried the low-mass index ball and didn't like it.

They're generally blems if I remember correctly. I have a .40 SS project on a Foster frame that's been languishing. There's a 0.020" divot/flake missing from the front strap that made them sell it as a discount. Since I really like the DS Perman grips on my SS it'll get covered up anyways.

Briley Versatility in whatever caliber I find it, preferably in .40 though. Or if anyone posts one of Don Golembieski's guns for sale.

RCBS and Hornady both have a case activated powder measure that don't use a failsafe rod. I don't use either, but I've heard of people preferring them and putting them on their Dillons. They would work easily in station 3. I believe there's a early version of Dillon's measure that was case activated and spring return. It appeared sometime between the failsafe measure and the fully manual 450 powder drop. You can fit the spring return powder bar to the current powder measure and just leave the fail safe rod off. I don't know how critical the failsafe rod is - it probably depends on the powder. eta: Not my picture, but it shows the case activated spring return Dillon powder measure on a 450.