ck1

Hahaha.... the Dillon guy didn't even really say lol, said "it could be a while, hopefully not too long..." I ordered "No caliber - Small Priming System" on your tip, hopefully that helps a bit!

Kind of depends on what you consider reasonable, but these look pretty sweet if you haven't seen 'em: https://czcustom.com/new-firearms/dan-wesson-factory-guns/dw-ss-custom-cal-40-s-w.html

Well, according to CZ-USA's specs the S2OR is supposed to weigh 46.5oz out of the box, but IDK if that's correct, because I know mine weighs about 46.5oz with an SRO, Grams guts/TTI +6 empty mag, and LOK palmswells ...

Well, I hope I don't smash as many primers as with the 750, I went ahead and ordered an 1100 against some of my own logic lol. I already have the MBF, so the rig should be pretty sweet once it shows up... I plan on running manual, and have no real plans to automate because honestly the 750+MBF was cranking out plenty of rounds for me, and I'm kind of sure the 1100+MBF will be even better. If I change my mind and decide to move to automation down the road, I've already made up my mind that that'll mean getting a Mark7, they're purpose-built for automation and just seem better built and engineered to me for that. I just decided I think the 1100 will work better in in my case for the long run since I think priming by feel on the upstroke kind of sucks and would rather be able to control primer seating depth mechanically for consistency reasons. Plus, I want to stick to one-pass loading using range pickup brass, so the swage station is something that will come in handy over time. I know a lot of guys don't mind doing it, but I'd like to avoid having to pre-process brass if I can for now.

Hahaha that's funny! Except someone would want to include a Mark7... with 10 stations, meaning: separate decap and size, swage, separate expand and powder, powder check, an MBF, seat, then crimp... that'd be faster than either lol.

No doubt! I'd still go for the best press you can get your hands on! But I have to disagree that an 1100 will necessarily crank out that much more ammo than a similarly equipped 650/750, especially if both are equipped with MBF's, a finished round happens as fast as you can pull the handle with either one of them.

This is a bit off-topic, and I know previously in the thread I recommended getting the better press if you can afford it and all, because priming-on-the-upstroke and/or running into crimped primers can really be a drag with an XL750...... and it's tough to put a price on general annoyance. But that said, really what's the main annoyance of the upstroke-priming thing and running into crimped primers on a 750 is that both of those things cause you to waste primers (which are pretty scarce these days, hopefully not forever), whether by seating them improperly or by crushing some of them on the crimped brass. As far as output, in rounds per hour (when both are operated manually, with MBF or without) the 750 and 1100 are nearly tied, the 1100 will end up being a little faster of course due to fewer stoppages, but not always, depending on luck. Thing is, using this strange thing called "math", it seems one would have to crush/mess-up/destroy 25,000 primers (at $0.04 a piece) to justify spending the extra $1000 on a jump from a 750+casefeeder to an RL1100: So, for example, if you had like the worst hour or so ever on record while operating a 750, and somehow were unlucky enough or ham-fisted enough to destroy 50 primers per 1000rds made (when actually ~10 KIA primers per 1000 is probably a more realistic average), then at $0.04 per primer, you'd have cost yourself a whopping two bucks ($2.00)... So even if you flat-out sucked at reloading on the 750, and were a world-renowned GM at ruining primers, you'd still have made 500,000rds before your primer-destruction would have made picking a 750 instead of going with the 1100 a bad decision money-wise. If the ammo you were making costs $0.10 to make per round, then that'd be $50,000.00 of ammo (plus $1,000.00 in trashed primers). IDK, just something to think about. I hadn't really thought about it myself, but now suddenly those primers that get faked up now and then aren't going to make me feel so bad lol!

As someone who recently got an XL750 + MBF setup, and likes it but, does have some regret in not getting one of the presses higher up the ladder: I'd say if you can afford to get the better press (or even if you have to save a bit longer), get the better press! Guys have been loading for years and years on the 650/750 platform, pumping out thousands and thousands of rounds, so there's no argument that they're solid presses, hell, I bought one! ...but as someone who's free of any "owner's pride" and doesn't mind saying it, let's face it: priming on the upstroke kind of sucks, and running into crimped brass that messes you up (even if it's just for a few minutes) sucks too. I read pretty much every 650 vs 1050 thread (750's and 1100's haven't really been out long enough to have a lot info/threads, but they're virtually the same as 650/1100's) that exists and feel like not enough 650 owners were up front and honest about the 650's (and now 750's) shortcomings. I would consider adding a MBF to any press a foregone conclusion, a "when", not an "if". Getting a better press and using it while saving for the MBF is perfectly sound, but you're not really getting the full benefit of owning the better press without the bulletfeeder IMO. Thing I've run into though for me is: "Is the priming on the downstroke + on press swaging of the brass really worth getting the better press?" to which I'd say without even thinking "YES!", but that leads to a further question, and where things get trickier, "Is the RL1100 really $1000 better than an XL750 (basically double the cost)?" I'd have to say "probably NO". I think the same logic that justifies guys moving up from a 650/750 to a 1050/1100, spend more to get more, works even better once you look at the Mark7 Evolution vs the RL1100... especially when you factor in possibly automating down the road. The Rl1100's look like great presses for sure and I wish I had one instead of my 750, but I don't think I can buy an RL1100 when an Evo is only about $800 more using the same logic. JMHO.

I think it’s one’s personal preference, but there seems to be a “sweet spot” somewhere between FOV looking through the glass (closer in) vs easy to get behind (further out). For me, my “sweet spot” for dot mounting on PCC/rifle usually lands about right over the magwell or maybe a couple/few pic notches forward (further out) of there...

Yeah, unless you just don't have the space or something, holding onto that 550 for calibers you don't shoot as often isn't a bad idea. Seems once you go beyond the 650/750 range of presses, caliber conversions get really expensive: like as much or more than it costs to just have another decent press expensive... As for comparisons though, I didn't really start this thread to end up comparing the $2000+ presses, I just didn't really see much difference between a 1050 and 1100... That said, once things start to get a little expensive (and I guess I for one start considering presses that cost $1000+ starting to get a little expensive) it's plain to see there's a gap in the market for guys who want to spend between $1000-2000, but once you've resigned yourself to spending $2000, $2800 starts to not seem like such a reach... especially if that extra $800 seemingly buys you "twice the machine". Idk, but if the new lower price-point Mark7 press that's supposed to come out is in that $1000-2000 gap in the market that exists, they're probably going to sell a whole bunch of them, and/or if it lines up with Dillon's 1050/1100 at around $2000 and still offers more (extra stations, less cast/plastic, plug-and-play automation, etc), I think "Team Blue" isn't going to be real happy. I for one hadn't really looked hard at Mark7 because I'd looked at them briefly in the past and had just put them in my mind as "too expensive"... But once I had my credit card in-hand, about to order an RL1100, and started looking at their Evolution for $2800, comparing the two... honestly it's probably the Dillon that's way overpriced really, it's the one that has some explaining to do, the Evo's price starts to seem pretty fair, maybe low actually. JMHO.

That's awesome! Thanks. I think after looking hard at the RL1100 vs Mark7 Evo, I really would have a hard time not just coming up with the extra cash for the Mark7... I actually just said this replying to another shooter I was talking with regarding the two presses: "seems to me that by the time you're at that price-point (of the RL1100, $2000), one has to ask themselves if they can afford NOT to come up with the extra cash for the Evo? I mean just the way the Mark7 is built oozes quality... all real metal, no cast junk, not a bunch of plastic... for me it was actually the powder measures that convinced me: the Dillon's being cast and clunky looks like "how can we save money and just use the cheap thing that already kinda works", whereas the Mark7's looks like someone put a little love into it like "this isn't just a powder measure, it's art" lol." I also wasn't aware until a few minutes ago that Mark7 is going to be releasing a lower price-point semi-cast version of their press shortly in the future... that's probably another good reason for me to hold onto the 750 for now, because who knows? It could end up being the "goldilocks" press for me, and I may just end up holding onto the 750 for calibers I don't shoot as often as conversions are so reasonable for it. I'll say this though, if there's one thing this little ordeal has shown me (besides buy once cry once lol), Dillon better stop resting on their laurels, because between my crappy experience with their customer service and what the other guys are offering (Mark7) it's almost like they're trying to convince guys to move on from them, I hadn't even considered a Mark7 when I started this thread...

So, thanks for the input guys, but after ordering, and then canceling a Mark 7 Evo today... I think I'm just going to live with the 750 for a while. After factoring in all the money I was going to eat on sending back the 750 (got quotes of $100+ to $150+), the extra cost bump of ~$1000 getting the Evo over an 1100 (which after starting to get into the weeds between the Evo/1100 isn't too tough to rationalize IMO), plus the added headache of tearing down one press and setting up another... just decided I can put up with a minor annoyance now and then with what I've got, and make a better and more informed decision down the road if/when I choose. I can afford it, it's not the money, but sometimes "better the devil you know, then the devil you don't know" as they say. The issues here and there that I've discovered using the 750 for a short time don't really discount the fact that it can still pump out about a case or so of high quality ammo per hour, faster than I can shoot it up. Plus, the way things are now and the way things are looking politically in the country for the next 6 months or so, I might be better off just having a few unspent grand kicking around to snag components with when I'm lucky enough to find some...

Well, Ben Stoeger Pro Shop got back to me, and after a little back and forth due to me throwing a wrench in the works by losing the original Dillon boxes/packaging, they're going to do a refund! I'm pretty sure the shipping cost to send it back is going to hurt a bit, but I guess that's my punishment for finding out the hard way that I didn't like the 750... Now I've got to decide whether or not I want to backorder an RL1100 or just pony up the extra $$$ for an Evo..? Both/neither of those presses were in my original plan/budget originally so now I've got to do some homework and figure out which one to go with..?

Nah, that's not my issue but thanks, I'm using a Lee standard sizing/decap... the die is doing exactly what it's supposed to, it's just a "normal" headache now and then. - Here's the thing, or really my new issue: I spoke to Dillon CS this morning, and after years of reading/hearing about how great their customer service is supposed to be, I have to say I'm pretty unimpressed with how I was treated... the guy on the other end of the phone seemed completely uninterested in giving me his time and helping me out vey much... I wasn't left with the warm and fuzzies I've heard about lol. First off, I encountered an unforeseen issue, as after I ordered my XL750 from Dillon's website, Dillon was a little wishy-washy and jerked me around a bit on how long it was going to take for my press to show up after having called them a few times to inquire: first it was "It should be 2 weeks" then it was "maybe 3-4 weeks" then it was "don't know...". So I ended up buying the press through Ben Stoeger Pro Shop (as I saw on Instagram that they had them in-stock at the time) and cancelling my order getting it directly from Dillon. So according to the guy I spoke with at Dillon, they don't really do what amounts to an actual "exchange", they do a refund if you've had it less than 30 days and then you just purchase the different machine... Since I got the press from BSPS, as they're an "authorized Dillon dealer" they would honor the 30-day refund but I'd have to do it through them, then just order/buy the different machine. That's no big deal really, I understand the policy, just thought it'd be easier to do an "exchange" with Dillon because it's their product and all. What was a little annoying is that the guy at Dillon wouldn't/couldn't be specific about when an RL1100 would ship "IDK, could be 10-12 weeks, everything's on backorder" is the best he could do (which I totally get considering the times). Anyways, now I have to contact BSPS and talk to them about doing a refund... Which brings me to what could be my second problem: I had to get rid of the Dillon boxes/packaging (and it totally slipped my mind until I thought about it), as I was having contractors working on my house in the garage and it was in their way, this was in the first 3 days I had the press up and running and while I was in the "honeymoon period", so I didn't think twice about it. That could come back to bite me, I'll have to see... Now that said, and depending on what BSPS can do or not do for me, I might just be stuck with the 750 (my own fault). But, if BSPS is ok with me still doing a return, even with non-original packaging... I think, due in a large part to how the CS guy at Dillon made me feel, I may just get say "screw Dillon" and get a Mark 7 Evo......... Moral of the story: buy once, cry once, always lol.

I've been shooting Blue's 135gr .356 TC's with 3.4gr Sport Pistol @ 1.115-1.12, and on my buddies chrono last week I was consistently getting 130-133pf out of a Shadow 2. I was previously using 3.5gr, but that was showing 133-135pf so I sleazed it down a bit to be a gamer lol... (don't really feel much if any difference dropping down 0.1gr to be honest). Like BJB said, the plated's are supposed to be a tad slower than coated so I bet you'd be fine with 3.4 or if not, 3.5 to end up around 130pf.

It's capitalizing on a shortage to make a buck (while at the same time many of the same people are buying up all the ammo/components they can get their hands on, creating/perpetuating the shortages). I understand it's an auction site and the price ends up where buyers drive it... but for me it doesn't excuse or forgive the unscrupulousness.

I honestly wish people would stop, and just refuse to buy anything from these price-gouging scumbags! Yeah, I'm a capitalist too, but the members of the gun community who hoard ammo/components just so they can turn around and gouge shooters who just need the stuff to actually shoot are the lowest of the low IMO.

I like the Federal match primers the best, they're the easiest to set off (necessary with some guns when using lightened striker/hammer springs) and run through the press great. That said, these days the best primers are whatever ones are in-stock or you can actually find lol!

I'm going to call them Monday and see if I can get the exchange worked out... I'm really kind of pissed at myself that I just didn't go with the RL1100 in the first place, I definitely learned the "buy once, cry once" philosophy enough times to know better. Thing is, I searched and searched, read everything I could find, talked to Dillon and tried to do everything I think I could do to try and get the right machine in the first place... but seems there's no substitute for first-hand experience. I guess I found out the hard way that while everything I read/learned was true, and the 750 is really plenty of machine for me when just looking at the volume I shoot, there are just certain variables that are hard to quantify: when you look at it "on paper" the dollar-to-performance of the 750 (especially with case feeder + Mr Bulletfeeder) is actually awesome, and I couldn't really figure out what spending the extra $$$ for the 1050/1100 would really get me in my case. Again, "on paper" it really only looks like the 1050/1100's only offer swaging and priming on the downstroke for that extra $1000. But, in-practice, and with a bit of first-hand experience, I now am looking at that equation differently and more as a "dollars-to-less hiccups/issues/annoyance" and now that extra money up front doesn't seem too bad considering this is a purchase I plan on holding onto and using for years. Yeah, there are ways around the issues I've found: I could spend more time sorting my brass, or even go a step further and pre-process my brass before I load, I know a lot of guys do both, but I haven't been at this new "hobby" too long and I already know which aspects of the reloading process I enjoy versus which ones I don't: I like tinkering/setting up the machine to run and like running the machine and producing the ammo, but when it comes to the pre-process, collecting and cleaning the brass, that's not as fun and is about all the effort I want to put in. So for me, as someone who wants reloading to be about as hassle-free as it can be, just scrounge brass, tumble it, then make ammo, I wish someone had told me that spending that extra money up front on the machine would go along way towards avoiding a lot of the drudgery... because when you look at it that way, $1000 bucks over however long I use the machine, 2 years, 5 years, 10(?) is nothing.

Thanks, it's surprising how little info there is out there with the differences between the two presses. I just hope I can do the exchange fairly painlessly, and maybe get lucky and get the 1100 in 5 or so weeks like you did... maybe by then I'll actually have found some more primers lol!

Awesome. Thanks for the info. Think I'm going to see about getting the RL1100. It's funny, seems there's not a lot of info out there as far as details of why exactly the 1100>1050, but I do keep finding things popping up saying "it's better"...

So I've had a new XL750 w/ case feeder and MBF for about 2 weeks now... the only issue I'm having with it is that it's awesome but I'm pretty sure I should've just gotten a 1050/1100. I'm new to reloading (after years of lurking) and I've probably been reloading for like 10 minutes compared to most of the guys around here, but I can already crank out around 800-1000rds per hour fairly comfortably... thing is, the priming-on-the-upstroke-thing is already getting on my nerves, as while I can get pretty good "feel" and mostly about 97% of my primers come out great, due to the differences in the brass I'm using there are a couple here and there that get faked up. Then there's the crimped/Mil brass... I've only come across 3-4 over about 3000rds loaded, but they've stopped my groove and shut me down enough to drop my load rate from 800-1000 to like 100-200 per hour while messing with them and resetting my decap, etc... Anyways, depending on what Dillon says, I think moving to the 1050/1100 now will be worth it to me because I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up there anyway. Since I'm still within the 30-day return/exchange period with Dillon, unless I'm going to get totally beat up in shipping charges, I think I might call them and see about exchanging my XL750 + case feeder... but, I already know the RL1100 will be a 10-12 week wait, whereas the Super 1050's will ship much sooner (probably within a couple weeks). I'm hoping I can order either/or in "No Caliber - Small Primer" to save a few couple bucks and hopefully get it a hair sooner since I don't need dies, but not sure if I can get the S1050 that way. Since they're listed at the same price, but the RL1100 is the "new model", should I wait for it..? Or should I just scratch the itch and get the S1050 more-or-less immediately..? I'll only be using the press for 9mm, is there really anything the RL1100 can do that the S1050 can't for me?

Do you have a fan nearby? I found I can't get an accurate/stable reading unless I turn the ceiling fan* off in my reloading room when I'm measuring... the circulating air is enough to confuse my scale. *(probably just a coincidence, but in my case "fan on" = usually +/- 0.2 grains lol)

I couldn't really decide if I wanted to go with 147's or 124's when loaded to the same 130-135pf... I preferred the slightly softer "push" recoil-impulse of the 147's, but the 124's seemed faster back on target and were a little more accurate out of my CZ... Turns out 135's are the "Goldilocks" for me, somewhere in-between/best of both.

"In CO, why use a DA/SA gun?": As an owner of a slicked-up S2OR... TRIGGER! The SA pull on my gun is 2lbs or a bit under, crispiest of the crispy without even a hint of creep or junk at all. A heavy-a** gun with a sweet trigger is just nice and fun to shoot. The single DA-pull per stage is of zero consequence as mine is 5.5lbs and about as nice as the nicest wheelguns out there. When I stink it up I know it's not the gun lol. I've played with a few X5's, and it's trigger (while considered "pretty good") is not even in the same league. That said, a buddy I shoot with kicks my butt regularly with an X5... so like usual, it's the indian, not the arrow...