RudyVey

.."eliminate the pins in my FART".. glad you did, must be hurting like hell....;>)

Forget the casefeeder for the 550. I have one, the DAA, and took it off after a few weeks. Was great for 357 mag, but slowed me down with 9 mm. You always have to look that the case is properly aligned in shellplate and not tipping, and it was a pita every time to make sure that was the case (pun intended), and often I needed my fingers to clear things. Took it off and be back to my normal speed. I can do easily 500 rounds an hour, and have done this. But, I do enjoy reloading and it relaxes me, so if I do 400 I am happy.

I also use two shots One Shot to be honest. Any special recommendation on the type of plastic bag?? I use original ziploc baggies only....

Just do not like them, that's all. No special reasoning. S&B can be sometimes harder to resize, at least that's what I feel on my 550.

Glad you mentioned it.....its all I use. It's called One Shot....

Still worth for me, just opened a box of primers I got in 12/2018, I had loaded up with powders when Vectan's were on sale. Only bullets are now more than before. So, I think my loads for 9 mm are something like 16 cents a pop (bullet 12, primer 3 and powder 1 cent - Prima V gives me approx 2000 rounds per bottle, $20 a bottle at 500 gram weight). And .45 is about 23 cents (17 cents a bullet, primer 3 cents and powder 3). Should be good for a few years with my stash.

That's what I do: three tubs to sort them pretty much like you do. FED,WIN and RP goes in one; Blazer, Speer, Fiocchi, PMC in the second one, and in the third one goes the brass i do not care to loose (Aguila, CBC, S+B, PPU, NNY and all the other odd stuff). And the rest goes to the recycling bin...like all the stepped stuff.

I had a couple of SQD's but never recall any primer issues. As far as I recall, the primer system is similar to the one of the 550's I have now. If you install a new blue tip on the small primer tube, and when you insert it, you must align it so it slides into the primer housing system. Here is what the manual says: "The tab on the plastic Magazine Tip, red or blue, must be gently aligned with the slot down in the Primer Feed Body Housing and then should slide down about a 1/4” more."

I sort my brass as soon as I come from the range and have it cleaned, so no need to check it when I reload. My personal system is: WIN/FED/RP is the better brass and I try to get them all back Blazer, PMC, Speer, Norma, Fiocchi, Geco and such is the second grade for me, not a problem if I loose some. The last sorting is the one I call "shoose and loose" (shoot and leave at range): Military, Aguilla, CBC, S&B, PPU (or the cyrillic version NNY), and all kind of odd brass that is not stepped inside (these go straight to the bin for the metal recycling yard) - and there is a lot of crap out lately. Just make sure to put a magnet through your cleaned brass (I do it before I clean) and sort steel (sometimes coating with nickel or brass!!) and Aluminum, goes straight to the garbage bin.

"These weights were precisely machined by the late father of a friends friend, and I am glad I have three of them. He also precisely drilled the holes into the powder measure caps so the rod that holds the weight is not binding."

Absolutely correct my friend!! I use two 550's, one for large and one for small primers. Have several caliber conversions (complete tool heads, set-up with dies, powder measure, light module etc) ready to go. Two are for 9 mm, one each for 357 mag and 38 spl. . 400 rounds per hour is easily doable, I have done 500 per hour in 9 mm which is totally possible if you have primer tubes filled on hand. I just use the standard Dillon primer rod, on top is a large case in which I have pressed in a 45 ACP 230 gr bullet = enough weight to hold the rod and push a primer down. Rarely do I have a up-side-down primer, just check when you load your tubes (I use a PAL filler for this, and never had a wrongly placed primer). Lube your brass!! A couple sprays squirts of One-Shot into a zip-loc bag and then pour in your clean brush, close the bag and massage the lube onto the cases. I had last year a DAA small casefeeder installed, but I took it off again as it did not help at all. Took too much attention and often I had a case tilted, worse with 9 mm, longer, like 357 mag was not bad. But in total a pita for me. Have your bullet tray filled, put your lubed cases in the blue bin and you are ready to go. Install lights, I use and highly recommend these: https://reloadinginnovations.com/products/starlight-press-lighting-system-for-dillon-550 Have a light module mounted to all caliber conversions, just pull the plug out of the light, change to your next caliber and put the plug back in - ready to go. The benefit of the ready to go caliber conversion is that when you have dialed in your powder throw, you never have to change it or re-adjust. I also use a stainless steel weight (about 20 oz) in the powder measure; this gives me a extremely small deviation in my powder throw. For example for my 45 acp, I "shoot" for 5.7 grains, the other day I loaded some 200 rounds and checked my weight 5 times during these 200 rounds; the throw was 5.68 grains consistently. Loading today 357 mag, I want 5.2-5.3 grains, and got 5.24 in all the tests I did. This is very consistent. These weights were precisely machined by the late father of a friends friend, and I am glad I have three of them. He also precisely drilled the holes into the powder measure caps so the rod that holds the weight is not binding. I would not go for any reason to automate my process. I do really enjoy my manual reloading, it gives me peace, like others get in meditation. Just relax and reload...

The chart I found listed 145 grains as max weight for 9 mm, I did not see anything above (you list 155-200), and the start load is 3.1 grains and the max is 3.8 grains for the 145 bullet. But, there might be other charts out there.

+1!!

Oh the good old days....used to buy S&B form $25/k at Cabela's. Had points so they went down to $17/k. Loaded up then, but this was some 5/6 years ago. Wish I find them for $50 now...

Don't kid yourself if you think you get non-US made primers cheaper. Everyone sells primers now at highest price, filling their pockets, independent where the primers are coming from. And, you will see high prices for a long, long time - we have to get used to it.

As long as it falls out of the front of your barrel, the crimp is fine......

Anyone ordered from 209primersammoshop?? Their prices are extremely low, but the way of payment is typical for a scam out fit? Although they offer some kind of paypal payment, but they have a weird way to process pp payment, so this seems fishy to me. Asking for a friend (really), I am good on primers for a longer time.

The pink hue comes from the copper in the brass when the zinc is removed by chemical attack of an acidic product (lemishine, I guess is citric acid). Cartridge brass is a mix of 70% Copper and 30% Zinc.

Only at Dillon I would guess. They may even send you one for free.

I think SDB dies are unique for the press, other company's dies will not fit it.

Since you are located in Europe, you may be able to find Nobel Sports powders there easier than US powders. I use a lot of Vectan Prima V and also Ba 9 1/2. The first one for 9 mm 124 gr and the latter for 357 mag. Use CFE Pistol for 45. Unfortunately, the Nobel Sports powders are now hard, if at all, to find here in the USA.

14 years dude...and this is about 124 gr bullets....

Tried to order some from KrArmory, but they do not sell to NJ.

Let's see: I have primers from the past for 3 cents a piece, and some from the times after the increase, they were about 8 cents a piece. Got a lot of powder from the before time, and depending on the caliber and load, powder is somewhere from 1.5 - 2.5 cents per round. Bullets - I use Precis1on Delta JHP and FM, about 10 cents for a 9 mm and 12 for 45 - these prices were before, but now they are a bit higher, 12 cents for 9 and about 15 cents for .45. So, lets sum this up before my cost was approx 14 cents for a round of 9 mm or 38/357 mag and 17 for .45' now it is about 22 cents for 9 and 357 and 26 for .45. Actually not that bad. My powder and primers (before and after) should last me a few years, then I buy a bow...

I have the case feeder for the 550 from DAA. Initially I liked it, but it did not give me any advantage of making more rounds. It kinda slowed me down as I had to make sure the case is not anyhow slanted, crooked etc and goes in the first stage without a problem. With 9 mm it is very bad, my speed was actually slower than hand feeding. Longer cases like 357 mag were fine. After getting a few cases not straight and not looking at them and then causing problems, I took it off again. My speed is back to normal and I have no issues. If someone wants this casefeeder, contact me...