silvercorvette

Please don't laugh at my bench, it was the best I could do with the limited space I had. The only thing that needs to be rock solid steady is the bench that holds the press. I braced the bench against the garage ceiling to prevent it from moving when I seated the primers on the up stroke. I intended on building a large solid bench when I moved from NY but now that I have plenty of space in my garages I decided to keep the setup and use a spare bedroom for my reloading room because it will be warm in the winter and air conditioned in the summer. The top of the tool stand is cabinet grade plywood coated with urethane.

About 8 or 12 years ago I was helping a friend that moved to the USA from Hong Kong buy a house. I helped them get home owners insurance, the insurance agent recommended that they get a fire extinguisher. I had been living in my house for a long time and didn't have one so I took his suggestion and bought a few a scattered them all over the house. A few months later I had a kitchen fire and I am convinced it I didn't have the extinguisher I would have lost my house. So I guess you can call it Karma, helping someone probably saved my house from burning Now as far as where you store it, I bought one for my mother and she decided to keep in in the closet hidden away with a bunch of stuff piled on it. I tried to convince her to store it someplace where it won't take 20 minutes to get to but she has a mind of her own and won't listen

Even though I posted a thread about having issues about the FN 5.7 and the 650 I still love the machine. Most people will recommend a single stage for a first timer but I ignored the advice and got the 650 as my first press. I don't think it will be difficult for a first timer to learn on if they take their time. I believe that sometimes people are too focused on how many rounds that can crank out in an hour. I took pride in the fact that I was probably the slowest person to ever reload on a 650. Go slowly double triple and quadruple check your ammo. Concentrate on quality and the speed will eventually follow. I never looked at the clock while reloading but after i finished a couple dozen rounds I checked the clock and it was a real low rounds per hour count. You can always get a single stage if you want one, a lot of people wind up buying a single stage after they buy a progressive. But I know the way my personality is and if I spend a lot of time on my machine without having much ammo to show for my time I will loose interest. When you are learning there is so much going on it is so fascinating to watch but after a while you are going to want to see and increase. With the 650 or any progressive it is easy to pick your speed, but with a single stage you can pick up the pace a little bit but it can't touch the speed of a 650. Another advantage with the 650 for a new reloader is the 5th station which will allow you to add a powder check Also don't forget that dillon is a great company that supports their product, and there are many people here to help you. I think it may be a good idea to go to utube and watch people operate the 550 and the 650 it will give you an idea of how the 2 machines operate and the advantages of one over the other. PS I ordered another machine from a competitor and I really would like to keep the Dillon and have 2 machines but it may be necessary to sell the Dillon, if the machine does get put up for sale it isn't a matter of being unhappy with the 650 it will be a matter of affording 2 machines. There is the option of getting the 550 but I personally would rather have a press with auto indexing. I have no first hand knowledge of the 550 but I saw a video of a person using one and it seemed to me that you need 3 hands to operate it. By the way a 650 with a case feeder is a pleasure to operate, it makes reloading so much fun that you almost want to shoot a lot more so that you can load more ammo

I can honestly say I feel better about Dillon than I did before about this situation. There are safety issues involved and I don't blame them for not wanting to take the legal risks.

Thanks for your response, it has helped me understand things a little better. I still feel that I would like to have the chance to have the option, but I don't Blame Dillon. From what I gathered from your reply a good portion of the problem is the fault of sue happy lawyers. I guess that if I were in charge of making decisions over at Dillon I probably would not support the round due to fear of being put out of business by a sue happy lawyer decides it was irresponsible for the reason you mentioned in your reply. I haven't changed my mind about reloading the 5.7 and I will eventually do it. I know there are people that make shell plates for the 550 and there are people that are reloading the round on the 550 successfully but I would not want to see Dillon put out business because of someone having a mishap involving a Dillon machine reloading the 5.7 and the company was held responsible.

Thank you for the reply, I just don't understand why Dillon does not give the reloaded the option for reloading the 5.7X28 and just warn that there may be problems and then allow the reloader to proceed at their own risk. EDIT =========================================== How about selling the part with a buyer beware warning such as Dillon does not recommend reloading this round and will not provide technical support for it, if the customer insists on buying it then buy and use at your own risk.. I did some moving around the past few years between N.Y , T.X, and finally settled in S.C during which time my press collected dust for over 3 years and wasn't aware if Dillon had decided to support the FN 5.7. When I decided to start up again I had hoped things would have changed My 650 press has worked flawlessly and if I ever did have a problem with a part Dillon always took care of me and offered great advice and technical support on the phone, but it really ticks me off that Dillon will not support this round

I was a member of this forum along time ago and I think I used the same name "SILVERCORVETTE" then I quit reloading for the past 4 years. I am pretty sure I remember buying some stuff from Brian at a discount a long time ago when I was still living in NY. but Dillon put a stop to it.

Where did you buy it and how much $$$ I just got my LNL delivered yesterday from Midway. The case and bullet feeder are on back order for a few weeks. I am not going to do the press set up till I have everything so maybe if I buy from elsewhere I can get set up sooner.

on page 55 of the on line catalogue they list 390577 as the part # for the single stage but show N/A in the column for progressive. I had to go out for a while and was hoping for a message on my phone when I got back but it looks like I have to call again tomorrow http://www.walsworthdigipub.com/hornady/hornady2011.html

I use Purple Nitrile Exam Gloves for lot of things but reloading isn't one of them, My bullets are jacketed so i don't worry about lead and whatever chemicals I use don't come in contact with my hands that much to be something I worry about

I ordered the Hornady AP press Monday from Midway after talking with someone over at Hornady that assured me I could load for the 5.7 on their press. I was told the case plate could be special ordered through Hornady. The press arrived yesterday and I wanted to place an order for the 5.7 plate but before calling Hornady I figured I could add it to my order from Midway. Midway told me that they make a 5.7 case holder for the single stage but not a case plate for the progressive (which I already knew) but they couldn't special order the plate without a part number. I got back on the phone with Hornady and told them that before I placed my order with Midway someone at Hornady assured me that they could make a 5.7 plate as a special order. The woman I spoke with didn't know anything about special orders so she switched me to another department. I left a message and now I an waiting for a call back. I don't regret buying the Hornady but one of the main reasons I got it was to load the 5.7 on a progressive, if I discover I was misinformed I will be very ticked off. The fact the sell a case holder for their single stage is encouraging because if they sell it for their single stage there should be no reason that they wouldn't make a plate for the progressive. I hope to hear from them soon and when I do I will pass on the info to anyone who is interested. I am aware that other caliber plates such as a .25 may work but I want to get a plate designed for the 5.7

I should have mentioned that prior to buying the Sears tool stand I bought the Midway stand, it was a total waste of money. I never loaded a single round with it because the darn thing was so flimsy it would probably fall apart if you put any weight on to it. I still buy from Midway, as a matter of fact I bought a Hornady press from them Monday, but I was ticked off that I had to pay shipping to have it sent to me and then return it when Midway never should have sold a product that is unable to preform the task it was intended to do The Sears stand is rated at 300 or maybe 350 pounds and it is rock solid.

Thank you

The reason why I ask is my Dillon 650 uses the up stroke to seat the primer so it is important for the bench to either be heavy or attached to the floor or wall to prevent it from lifting. The pictures shown below are of the setup I had when I lived in NY. I had the stand wedged against the ceiling to keep it from moving on the up stroke I got my Hornady today and am watching the DVD and it looks like everything happens on the down stroke so it may not be as important to keep the press from lifting up on the up stroke. I am considering using a spare bedroom as a reloading room instead of the garage and knowing, I am at the end of the DVD and it looks like the only thing the up stroke does is rotate the shell plate on the up stroke, am I correct? PS don't laugh at my set up it was the best I could do with the little space I had

I have no idea if it will help but have you tried running small primers through the one set up for large primers and vice versa.

I was aware that someone other than Dillon is making shell plates for the 550 but I own the 650. Since Hornady does sell a 5.7 shell plate I am seriously considering getting the Hornady progressive. Most people that I have heard of having multiple presses stick with one brand but I'll keep the 650 along with the Hornady. If I wind up with both I will be interesting to do a side by side comparison of the 2 brands.

I did a bunch of checking around and confirmed what I already knew about Dillon, they don't support the 5.7. I also double checked that they have no future plans to support the round which kind of ticks me off. While I was checking out a Hornady single stage to reload the 5.7 I discovered that I discovered that Hornady makes a custom 5.7 plate for their progressive press. So I am probably going to buy the Hornady press as a second press

I bought this from sears, the stand is wedged against the garage ceiling because it needs to be held down on the up stroke so you can seat the primers properly. This picture was taken when I lived in NY. I moved from NY to SC an am going to secure it to a 4X4 piece of plywood I can stand on. I can't bolt it to the floor because it will be in a spare bedroom. By bolting it to a piece of plywood you stand on lifting the press will be like trying to lift yourself up by your boot straps PS if I remember correctly it is rated to hold 300 pounds or more

Thank you for the link

To quote Charlton Heston they will have to pry mine from my cold dead hands. To be fair the Oekler is the only one I have used so I can't really compare it to other makes but all I know is I love mine.

Price is going to be $575 from what I've read. Too rich for my blood, though I'd love to have one. I bought mine about 7~10? years ago. I my opinion they are the best out there. I called up to ask about why they stopped and went back to selling them again. They said they couldn't find a printer up to their high standards and would rather not sell an inferior product. I assume they will continue selling as long as their supplier can provide printers.

I had thought about getting a single stage press a while back and since the 550 does not index automatically like the 650 maybe the 550 can also be used also as a single stage. Maybe I should buy a 550 and let it do double duty as a single stage, does anyone use the 550 as a single stage? Does anyone know where I can get shell plate for the 550?

I have been thinking about buying a single stage press a few years back when I was still reloading and before I bought the FN 5.7, and since dies are available from different manufacturers my best bet may be a single stage unless someone else has a solution for the dillon

Dillon and the FN 5.7 I haven't reloaded in a few years due to my moving around. I have been in SC for 3 years and am finally getting settled down enough to be ready to start again. The problem is I have added a FN 5.7 to my collection and there doesn't seem to be a problem finding dies there does not seem to be a caliber conversion kit for the Dillon 650. With no way to hold the cases the Dillon is useless. So is it possible to reload 5.7X28 on the Dillon 650 or do I need to buy another press?