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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.

.3 to .5!? What powders are you using? Granted, I'm a noob using my Dillon 550 - I've only had it for a couple of months and have only reloaded 700 rounds or so, and I've only used two powders (Longshot and Bullseye) but in spot-checking here and there, I've never had more than a .1 gr variance, which was pretty normal in the other reloading I did with my Lee Challenger kit setup. I never load at either top or bottom end of the load data, so a variance of a tenth of a grain or so isn't going to be an issue from a safety perspective.

I'm a noob too, but there sure is a lot of great info here on the forum. I'm here mostly as a reloader - to learn some more about the Dillon reloading machines and accessories, little tips and tricks - that kind of thing.

Here's a couple of pics of my makeshift bullet tray (temporary - I'm getting a real one for Christmas) that I painted with Rust-Oleum Oasis Blue.

I grew up with a Dad who was into shooting and reloading in a big way, so I'll start with some of the stuff I did as a kid. My first reloading I did with shotshells on a MEC Sizemaster reloading press - Dad had two of them - one for 12 gauge for him, and one for 20 gauge for me. Later on a did just a tad bit of reloading on an old Pacific press he had, and eventually he got a Dillon - I thought it was a 450, but it may have been a 550. I didn't really shoot or reload at all until I inherited some of his guns, and I decided that rather than paying for ammo, I'd reload like he did. I got the Lee Challenger Anniversary Kit, and I used that for a few years, but the frustration there was the rate of production - at best I could do about 100 rounds/hour if I had my ducks in a row. I "upgraded" to a Hornady LNL AP, but I never got to where I could do more than 5-10 rounds without having to tinker with something on the press that wasn't quite functioning like it should, and so I went through a 2 year reloading and shooting hiatus - I didn't want to shoot, because I wasn't comfortable with the idea of trying to reload with the LNL AP. I finally just sold the LNL AP and got a Dillon 550. I'd had the Hornady press mounted on an Inline Fabrication Ultramount, so I got a new top plate for the Dillon 550. Right now, I'm pretty much where I want to be - I don't think I'll get to a point where I'm shooting enough to want the increased ability that a 650/750 or 1050 would give me.

I ended up buying directly from Dillon when I got my 550 earlier this year. I may have been able to save a few bucks on shipping or something, but by ordering directly from Dillon, they insure that you and the press are added into their system for their no B.S. Warranty - I realize that the warranty extends to you regardless of whether or not you are the first owner or the 10th, but it saves a bit of time if you ever need to take advantage of it. Another reason is that typically, Dillon is going to have everything you want to order in stock. One more reason was that they automatically subscribed me to the Blue Press for free. Maybe this is something that's offered if you buy a brand new Dillon press, but I know it was an automatic things when I bought mine. For something like this, I just wanted the peace of mind of going directly to the source.

I'm probably way late to the game on this thread, but from my perspective, the 1050 or Mark VII might be overkill. I tried to go to a progressive setup with a Hornady LNL AP, and was frustrated with that press from the start - it just didn't seem to want to run well for me. I fiddled with it a bit to try to get it to work well, but I couldn't do more than 5-10 rounds before I had to tinker with something on the press. I finally sold it and went with a Dillon RL-550C. I realize that the 650 was probably more in line with what the Hornday LNL AP was supposed to offer, but I figured for my rate of ammo consumption (not nearly what the OP has stated with the estimated 5,000 rounds per year) and the fact that I reload in: 38/357, 9mm, 40 S&W, 41 Mag, 44 Mag, 45 LC and I plan to start reloading: 223, 25-06, 30-30, 30-06, 35 Whelen For me, the 550 seemed to be a better fit, especially when considering that a tool head, plus a powder die, plus a conversion kit, is roughly $100 at current prices - it's a fair bit less than the 650/750. But let's talk about a couple of other things - one would be rate of reloading, the other would be indexing the shell plate. As for rate of reloading, the 550 ostensibly can do 550 rounds/hour. Personally I think that's a bit optimistic - maybe 400+ if you aren't pushing things. I typically reload in small batches of 100-200, and I know that I can do 200 rounds in less than 30 minutes, which is more than 4x faster than when I was reloading single stage and at best I could only do 100 rounds/hour. Simple math dictates that the RL-550C is easily capable of 400 rounds/hour, but that means 12.5 hours sitting at the press per month, or 30 minutes an evening. (and that's minimum - that doesn't account for any of the other tasks or time pre or post that goes into reloading) Can you do it on a 550? Sure, but the 650 with a casefeeder and bullet feeder are going to be MUCH faster. At a minimum, if I was shooting that much, I'd get a 650/750 over the 550, and I'd invest in both the case feeder and bullet feeder, and probably a faster primer tube loader too. Regarding manually indexing the shell plate, you get to a point where you don't even think about it. At this stage, I'm manually feeding a new case as well as adding a bullet, so it's a simple four step process: add case, add bullet, pull handle, seat primer, index the press. However, given the OP's situation, it's kind of a moot point - if he's got the budget for any of the machines, I don't think that the 550 is the best option for him.

I'm in central Maryland, but I don't do matches yet. I just enjoy guns and going to the range. Right now I'm working on becoming a member at a range so that I can get a membership at the Associated Gun Clubs of Baltimore range, which isn't terribly far from where I live - 30 minutes or so. It's been an interesting couple of years - my shooting hobby kind of died on the vine because I'd completely dismantled my Lee Challenger press setup so that I could set up the Hornady LNL AP, but I didn't want to go shoot because I didn't want to have to fiddle with that press. Now? Bring it on! At this point I'm telling everyone looking at getting into reloading, especially progressive reloading, "trust me - just get the Dillon." I have a couple of decent pistols though - I've got a Sig P226 Mk 25, a H&K USP 45, and a Wather P99 in 40 S&W that I could use matches - might have to look into getting into that.

Hey everyone. I figured I'd finally create an account and say hello. I'm originally from rural Nebraska, but I've been living the People's Socialist Republik of Marylandistan since 1990 - I came out here to be an Army trumpet player, met my wife and got married, and that has kind of kept me here ever since. I grew up shooting with a father who was a real firearms enthusiast, competition shooter and part-time gunsmith. He even had his FFL and ran a business out of the house fixing people's guns and even reloading for people. In any case, in addition to being introduced to guns at an early age, I also learned to cast bullets and reload. I figured I'd sign up for this forum because I finally got myself a Dillon reloading machine - an RL-550C. I started with a basic Lee setup, and although I made good ammo with it, at best I could do about 100 rounds an hour - I just wanted something a bit quicker. Initially I got a Hornady LNL AP, but went on a 2-year reloading hiatus due to my frustrations with that setup. I couldn't load more than 5-10 rounds before I'd have to tinker with something on the press to keep it running right. I don't know if that's just common with the LNL AP, or if it was partly my fault, but Dad had a Dillon that he got in the mid 1980s, and I never remembered him having an issue with it, and I reloaded on it too - I just remember that it worked - period. In any case, I sold the Hornady, bought the 550C, and I'm a pretty happy camper - it's fun to sit at the press and crank out good reloads so quickly. Yes, it costs more for tool up with a Dillon, but to my way of thinking, it's worth every penny. So here's saying hello - I hope I can contribute here and there.

From what I see with the things on my reloading bench, even Dillon isn't consistent across their product line on the color of blue they use. I have the press mounted tool kit that includes the die wrench and allen wrenches, and the blue rubberization on the angle of allen wrenches isn't the same color of blue as the press, nor are the plastic boxes that the dies and conversion kits come in. I mounted my bullet tray solution this morning, but I didn't take a pic of it yet - I'll do that and post it up here later. It's not so far off that it's distracting, but it could stand to be a touch darker.

I've been using Xtreme plated bullets, but I've used some Rainier too - they all seem to get the job done well enough and are fairly cost effective with a breakdown of something like 9 cents a bullet. FMJ bullets are always going to be the best quality, so it's really a matter of deciding what you want to spend. There comes a point with some ammo - 9mm comes to mind - where if you want to buy in bulk, you almost don't see any cost savings by reloading. When I first started reloading, I was specifically using hard cast lead bullets because they were the cheapest option, but I got tired of dealing with the smoke the bullet lube produced, never mind the leading in the barrel, although I did make some pretty danged accurate reloads. At this point I reload because I enjoy it, especially since I upgraded my reloading gear to a Dillon RL-550C. It's just nice to be able to choose what's in the load, and for my money, I'm perfectly happy with plated bullets.