trickg

Now that's interesting - you seem to be in the minority when it comes the priming systems on the 550 and 650 - it seems that most people prefer the 650.

I'm pretty sure there are a number of folks on here who are using the 750 - I'm not one of them, I'm just a lowly 550 user - but I know that I have seen them discussed here and there. The general consensus seems to be that they are solid, but that Dillon moved to a 550 style of priming system rather than the system the 650 used, and it generally isn't has highly regarded.

I've always found it interesting how much it costs to ship things - either businesses get a break and get commercial rates that are much cheaper, or they build the cost of shipping into their products. I once lost money on a snare drum stand that I'd found "broken," and then fixed and sold. (the roller pin had come out of the well the post for the snare basket sits in - I replaced it with a larger roller pin) I advertised free shipping when I sold it on ebay, but because a snare drum stand is fairly heavy, it ended up costing me a touch more to ship it than I got for it on the sale. The buyer actually asked if he could help with the shipping, but I stuck to what I'd said - free shipping CONUS.

And yet if it's not cleaned regularly and left dry, it binds?

Thanks - I'll keep all of this in mind. I've already looked into the roller bearing solution as something to upgrade on the press. I figure that with something like the primer shuttle, wouldn't a dry lubricant be better than using something petroleum based? I've got a big can of Valvoline Ford bearing grease fortified with molybdenum that I picked up when I changed the front brake rotors/bearings/hub on a Ford Ranger - I wonder if that would work well in that area.

Is the priming system on the 550 really that bad? Granted, I'm very new to loading on my 550 - I think I've loaded about 700 rounds so far (500 9mm, and about 100 each 40 S&W and 45 ACP) but from what I can see, there's nothing gumming up the works on my priming system. I say this because there are folks who have said that they "need" to clean the priming system of their 550s every 500 rounds or so, but mine shows no signs of actually needing that. So far, other than one minor issue where an ejected primer got in the way of the primer shuttle, preventing it from traveling back far enough to pick up a new primer, I've had no issues with the functioning of the primer system itself.

That makes sense - if there's a failure of a firearm with factory loads, then it's on the manufacturer of either the ammunition or the firearm. Otherwise, the gun owner is liable and they can absolve themselves of any responsibility. It's kind of funny though - I grew up with a dad who was a firearms enthusiast, and he reloaded almost everything he shot. Almost anything I ever shot with a handgun, rifle or shotgun was a reload, and handguns almost always had a hand-cast bullet. I shot very very little factory ammo. About the only time he ever bought ammo was if he needed to replenish his supply of reloadable brass, or if he picked up a new gun in a caliber/cartridge he previously didn't have. I remember when he got a 44-40 replica SAA, so he bought a whole bunch of ammo from Black Hills Ammo, and he got a set of dies for it at roughly the same time.

So there's another question - can a 750 be retro-fitted with a 650 priming system?

This is an interesting thread for two reasons. One, I sold my Hornady LNL AP specifically so I could buy a Dillon, and I got lost a fair amount of money on it to move it, but I'm VERY happy with my 550. The second thing that I am learning, is that if I ever want a 650, I should probably find one and get it now - I'm sure the 750 is ok, but I don't like the idea of a company cheapening a product - I'd rather pay a bit more for a better design than to deal with something that has been purposely cheapened. On a side note, I keep hearing about people getting good deals on used Dillon presses. Where!? It seems to me that people who have them hang on to them - I'd happily pick up a 650 on the used market. At the present time I don't shoot enough to really justify the higher output of the 650, but I'm at an age now where it's not going to be too long before I do have more time on my hands, and part of the plan for that time is to do substantially more shooting, and having two presses dedicated to specific things would be nice.

Inline Fabrication has some pretty nice stuff - before all is said and done, I'll have a couple more of their products, but particularly their lighting setup - that seems to be a pretty nice addition to a 550 press. Edit: Never mind about the Inline fabrication lighting kit - I think I'm going to go with the KMS UFO lighting setup - I just looked up lighting systems, and the KMS setup throws a ton of light!

I live near Baltimore and even though I'm not a Ravens fan, the Browns sure whupped our butts a couple of weeks ago!

I'll have to check into this - I didn't realize that primers were made from brass and therefore recyclable, although for no more than I shoot, filling a 2 liter bottle is going to take some time. Still, that's better than simply throwing them away. So far, I'm not sure I've had any issues with the primer catch cup - I'll pay closer attention to it the next time I reload. A couple of upgrades I think I'd like to get are the powder measure quick disconnect, and the Inline Fabrication lighting system. I've already got the Inline Fabrication Ultramount, which to me seems to be sturdier than the Strong Mount, although I kind of wish that it had the holes that the Strong Mount has for various add-on accessories. The top plate I got for the Ultramount has a little ledge on the left with 4 holes to mount the bullet tray, and that seems to work really well, or at least it does for my makeshift bullet tray. A couple of other upgrades I have is the aluminum roller handle, (thinking about maybe getting the Inline Fabrication ergo roller handle) I made a pretty nifty tool head stand for 6 tool heads, and I cobbled together a makeshift bullet tray, but I think I'm going to get the genuine bullet tray for Christmas. Side note on my "bullet tray" - I had an upgrade in service with my Verizon internet, so they came and installed new hardware and a new box where the line comes into the house. They just tossed the old box, which had a snap-on molded plastic cover. I cut that cover down to about 1" high, smoothed off any sharp edges with fine sandpaper, and then painted it Rust-Oleum "Oasis Blue" before drilling the holes to mount it to the top plate. It's not as nice as the genuine cast aluminum and powdercoated bullet tray from Dillon, but it will certainly get the job done.

I guess I don't really think about it too much - maybe I should? I just figure that between the mechanical action of the powder throw, and time it takes to seat a primer on a new case, that powder flows into the powder bar the way it's supposed to. I do like to get into a rhythm though, and I'm not a high volume shooter so it's a pretty relaxed rhythm.

I thought that was a bit over the top - I mean, powder is stored in plastic containers, right? This was what was said on the website: "Because many of the modern smokeless powders are more corrosive than the older ones. Powders like TiteGroup, Winchester Super Handicap and IMR 700x will attack the reservoir if left in and eventuality discolor and erode the plastic tube. Several people have mentioned that the Hornady plastic melts so bad they have fallen out and spilled powder everywhere." I mean, ok I guess - I've seen powder measures yellowed and discolored by powder, but I don't really care what it looks like provided I can still see into it and check my powder levels.

Ok - that makes sense. As of yet I haven't tried to reload for rifle, so I don't have a lick of experience with that. I'll keep my eyes open for variance in the future. The Pyrex hoppers look pretty interesting. From the Immortobot website, apparently the stock powder hoppers can corrode so badly that they have actually fallen apart for some people. Do you know anyone that has happened to? The only thing I would worry about with Pyrex is that it's glass, so it could potentially shatter if bumped a bit too hard by something accidentally, but otherwise it seems like a pretty nice upgrade.