mikko

Hi all, I've searched the net and have not found any information or pictures to answer my question. Does the Dillon 550 Cover fit over strong mount, bullet tray, case bin etc? I have all that stuff on my machine. Anyone have real pictures of machine uncovered then covered? All I have found on the web is pictures of the cover that look like a rectangle with no idea of the scale size. Thanks

yeah 9 to start. maybe 223, 40, 308 later

Yeah, I thought about it more since posting and just got back inside from the backyard where I burned it. Glad to see you guys agree with the decision. I put it all on a metal trash can lid and lit it. That was fun. I wasn't sure how big it would be, but I certainly am glad I did it away from the house, grill and trees. I think the flame grew to six or seven feet. I'm still curious, ~ how many grains does the hopper hold?

Approximately how many grains of powder does the powder hopper on a 550B hold? Is there any problems with storing powder in the hopper for extended periods? Is it climate / environment dependent? (i.e. the midwest, in the basement, near a sump well) The background for my questions is this. I'm new to reloading and recently purchase a nearly new 550B from a person who was quite uneducated about his machine. I think he owned it about two years and loaded only 1,000-1,500 9mm rounds on it. The seller had powder stored in the hopper and primers stored in the tube when I went to look at the machine. He seemed very casual about the danger of primers, displaying no respect for them when some became lodged within the primer magazine tube. He owned no reloading manuals and even originally had the machine set up by a friend who had purchased the machine for him. Amusingly, he broke his bullet puller by striking the wrong end when I asked to see how it worked. Amusement quickly turned to annoyance a few minutes later when I became the owner of the bullet puller and the rest of the gear. There was no container for the powder, however, I believe that it is 231 because the hodgdon printout from the internet that was pinned to the wall in front of his machine had his ammo load highlighted. I'm pretty confident that the powder is 231, because he had never done any loading of other calibers, but I'm not sure if I should use the small amount of powder or just take it outside and burn it. Even if I was certain it is 231 could there be any problems because it was stored in the hopper in a basement near a sump? I received about (800) winchester small pistol primers and (500) 115 grain bullets from the seller in the transaction, but only have a zip lock of the powder that was in the hopper. I ordered more primers from Midway that are on the truck on the way, and wanted to order powder from them also, but decided not to when I realized that Midway was going to charge a separate hazmat $25 fee. So now I am getting impatient to try out the machine and only have the questionable powder that came from the seller. I've watched the competition reloading video and done lots of reading in the manual and a couple reloading books, but have not found complete / satisfactory answers to the above questions. Thanks for your help