Rustygun

I also reload on a 550 and have tool heads for 5-6 calibers. I also have an old 650 with a case feeder. The case feeder is a game changer. At a leisurely pace I can crank out 600 rounds of 9mm per hour and I am watching while pulling the handle and setting a bullet. I have not run a 750 but have heard they are like a 650 with the 550 primer feed system. Both are marvels of modern technology. If you are going to do the volumes I defiantly recommend Dillon and go with the case feeder.

I gotta agree with you, just don’t see the need to get super shiny brass. I dry tumble in a Frankfort arsenal tumbler with walnut media bought at harbor freight and it works just fine for me. My goal is to fill it with burn carbon and immediately eject it into the dirt. can somebody explain to me how extra clean brass presents any sort of mechanical or accuracy advantage?

As an experiment I have intentionally shot a few pistol rounds with split cases. They all fired and acted normal but this was under controlled conditions and only one round at a time. I would be concerned about neck tension and bullet seating depth. All of them were minor splits on the mouth none more than 1/8” long. I promptly collected the brass and disposed of it.

I used the rock chucker for a long time reloading rifle ammo. I moved up to the Dillon 550 years ago. I have not used the Hornady LNL but my brother had one for years. He visited while I was making 9mm on my Dillon 550. He told me the LNL was kinda finicky and he had to adjust or fiddle with things to get consistent results.. Don’t know if it was just him or the way he set it up or was using it, but he eventually sold the LNL and bought a 550.

I lived in the Houston area for over 10 years and the garage was nearly life threateningly hot during the summer. Always kept my powder and primers in climate controlled area. Loaded early in the morning before it got to hot. The presses dies and parts were always well oiled and Maintained and I never had any rust problems. You might consider an old refrigerator set at a “almost cool” setting. I had a friend that used an old refrigerator that did not work to store components. He said it stayed way cooler inside and eliminated big temp swings. .

Creativity is part of the fun of reloading. I also repurpose things. I use a wire basket my wife had in the kitchen to display/hold fruit as the media separator. I use a cheap plastic tub to hold the wire basket and collect the media when I shake it out of the cases. my bullet tray is the plastic top of a coffee can. I needed something with low sides to keep the Bullets in place but I did not want to have to reach down into a tub to get a bullet. Put a mirror the wife no longer uses above the case feeder so I can see how much brass is in there.

Seems like I read a post or saw a YouTube video where some guy did a very scientific test and he determined that for every pound of force on the handle of a Dillon 550 exerted 26 (something like that) of pounds of force at the shell plate. I would like to know the answer to this also.

I guess I am cheap. I struggle with spending over $100 just to shake the tumbling media out of cases. I use a fine mesh wire basket that my wife used to have in the kitchen to display bananas and oranges.. Set it in a plastic tub dump in the media from the tumbler and lift the basket and shake it for 30-40 seconds. Results in 300-400 clean pieces of brass with all the walnut media in the plastic tub ready to dump back into the tumbler. No mess, quick, easy and cheap. maybe the term frugal sounds better.

Very high failure rate when reloaded. Might have Problems with neck tension and crimps. Doubt they would damage extractor as they are much softer than a hardened metal component. why reload aluminum when there seems to be an ample supply of surplus brass at many ranges?

Assuming you have a toolhead for the 40 caliber dies and a secondary one for the 9mm dies. Also assuming that each setup has a dedicated powder hopper with caliber appropriate powder funnel in the powder charging die. That way you can switch to 40 by only changing the shell plate and buttons. the switch to 45 is a bit more involved because of the large pistol primers.

I lube 9mm cases also. Many say there is no need to lube pistol cases but the press runs smother. I also load 9mm on a 650. I have not worried about the case lube after reloading, always assumed it would protect the cases from tarnishing. I have over lubed and taken the finished rounds and rolled them around in a clean towel for 60 seconds or so. That seems to clean most of the lube off. Just don’t use your wife’s good towels.

In my opinion the Dillon 550 is a credible option. It can be used as a single stage or just to decap and size, just dump powder and seat Bullets, or you can install all the dies and go full bore progressive. Easy and relatively inexpensive to swap calibers later on if you decide to expand your horizons. Dillon has a unbelievable warranty and the presses retain their value if you or your heirs decide to sell it. some people like using a single stage some like the press to be green or red, I bought Dillon and don’t regret any part of that purchase. I have an old 550 that regularly gets changed to 5 different pistol and rifle calibers and a 650 used just for high volume 9mm.

I Assume you shoot at a range that does not allow you to pick up brass. If that is the case go to a different range or ask the range who they sell used brass to and buy from them, or ask if you can buy some from the range. I did this years ago and have collected 5 gallon buckets full of brass in every caliber you can imagine. So much that I have run out of room to store it.

I do not have an answer for you as I load mid range for informal practice, we call it old man IDPA. Minimal kneeing and running because our outdoor range has very course gravel and we have all had a lot of birthdays. Due to COVID we have not been able to find a sanctioned competition in this area. What caught my eye is the minimal temp swing you mentioned. Where I live (south central US) temps swing from 0 F to 100 F. Our little group has shot in 20 F and 90-95 F. Can’t imagine a mild climate like you have. But I doubt a 30 degree temp swing would have much effect on your reloads. I will watch to see what the more experienced reloaders here have to say.

I load precision Bullets in several calibers including 9mm and 38 spl. Always had good results Bullets are very consistent in weight and size. Coating appears to be pretty tough as pulled Bullets are hardly marked from the crimp. They do recommend a taper crimp ( not roll crimp) on the 48 spl Bullets. I have experienced no problems with barrel leading in any of the calibers I load.

I think it is overkill. A properly built bench should be stable on it own four feet. I have two home mage benches and I hate wiggly work benches. One is made with the legs and top cut from 2x6’s and cross braces from 2x4’s. I added a couple screws into the studs in the wall and had to shim the legs as my shop floor is not level, it is rock solid. I know a guy that bolted his Dillon 550 to a 2x10 that is about 18” long and he clamps that to his kitchen table or a old 2x4 work bench with a 1/2” plywood top in his garage and makes some good quality ammo.

I have had a Dillon D-terminator for 4 years and have not been overly satisfied. When I first got it I ran it on batteries and could not get consistent readings. Removed the powder charge and set it back on the scale to get .2 or .3 grain variation. Thought it was interference from the Florescent lights, or air movement, Not level enough, or whatever. Eliminated those one by one still had the problem. Switched to 110 made all the other adjustments and let it warm up for 10-15 minutes before using and it seemed to work better. now just last week it started not returning to zero after weighing. Then it Scared me because I checked weigh on the first 3-4 rounds and all was okay. About 20 rounds into the session and I checked again and the scale said the charge was .5 grain heavy. Checked same pan of powder again and got .3 light. Dug out the 40 year old RCBS balance Beam and powder charge was right on. I guess I am too cheap to throw away a fancy Dillon scale but I am currently using a 10 year old battery operated $15 Frankfort arsenal pocket scale to check accuracy of the $150 scale.

Don’t try to remove the primer. Not only is it kinda dangerous but there is no need to. There are several ways to do this but here is what I would try.. After pulling all the bullets (hopefully without damaging very many) Take the de priming pin out of your sizing die on the press, Size the case while leaving the primer in place, and bell the mouth, dump powder and seat and crimp the free bullets. You would get Custom made, useable ammo for the just cost of powder. right now 500 primers are probably more valuable than the same weight of pure gold.

How long have you had this little marvel of engineering and is it caliber specific. Maybe a better question is di you have a link to the product?

Like others have stated I do not remove the case lube after loading. I use the Dillon case lube and put about 2-3 pumps in a 1 gallon zip lock then throw in 3-4 hands full of brass and Zip the top shut. Then I shake it around until I feel like all the brass has contact with the lube. I dump it into a fray next to the press as I hand feed brass. one comment got me thinking that I have noticed some smoke when shooting. Never thought that some of that smoke could be associated with the case lube.

I also add mineral spirits to the tumbling media. Seems like it cuts the dust dramatically but I don’t have a way to measure dust in my shop. Note that I also run a 20” box fan with a 20x20x1 furnace filter attached to the front of the fan right next to where I separate media and brass. I also use he box fan/filter while running the table saw and the router in the shop. Moves enough air to capture a very high % of anything airborne.

I do do exactly the same thing with a 50 round plastic cartridge case. I use a small needle nose pliers and pick the evil .380’s out as they are very easy to see but hard to remove with fat fingers. The rest get dumped into the 9mm bucket. I can also see into each case and pick out the stepped brass. And you can get a pretty close count of the amount of empties added to the bucket as every tray has right at 50 cases. I average 4-5 of the 380’s in every hundred from the 9 mm tray which is just enough to break the rythum when we get to the 550.

Light stikes should be very rare and from my limited experience are caused by primers not seated all the way. I had that problem on some .38 special rounds that were my first reloads years ago. I have a G19.4 with close to 10,000 rounds and never had any issues. I changed the RSA at around 5,000 not because of problems but because others said this was a maintenance item that should be completed. Other than that one thing it is completely stock, I never had a light strike before or after those changes. It is very odd that this should happen on multiple firearms.at the same time

I use the trays and it seems to work pretty good except for the .380. On another forum someone suggested taking a 50 round .45 ammo box and scooping it into the 9mm and shaking it a few times to get all the openings filled with 9mm brass. It is then very easy to spot those darn .380 cases and remove them. Works very well, no more sneaky little .380’s mixed in with the 9mm at the press.