Dillon Square Deal B

[Captain204mike]

i am wanting to get started reloading by myself, i was looking at the Dillon Square Deal B for the 40 S&W, it says that it comes from the factory preset and ready to go, sounded good to me

just wondering if anyone had any comments on this reloader

and possible might reload 45acp also later, i guess i just have to get the conversion kit right

[Greg G]

I have a SDB but if you have the funds go for a 650. There is a world of difference between the two, case feeder, standard dies etc. Have a look on this site for a comparrison of the Dillon presses. And don't forget Benos sells dillon gear from this site too. =)

[lneel]

Captain204mike,

The SDB is a fantastic first progressive reloader. I have owned two and loved them. That being said there are two major points to consider. First, the SDB only does pistol calibers. Second, if you shoot alot (hard to quantify but 1500 rounds a month is what I used) you would be better off with a 550/650. The 650 having an advantage of a case feeder option and auto-indexing. I have moved up to the 650 and LOVE IT!

Lee

[JD45]

I am very pleased with my Square Deal B.

Judging from the past posts here, if I only wanted to load one pistol caliber, I would get a SDB or a 1050. The SDB should be perfect if you don't need more than 1500rds. per month.

[kimel]

I have an SDB set up for .40 and I have the conversion for .45. It is a great press and I love it. When I got it I had no interest in rifle shooting and didn't have a clue as to what 3-Gun was.

Now the SDB doesn't do everything I want it to do and I wish I had bought a 550 or 650. My plan is to add a 550 soon (have to see what Santa brings me) for rifle stuff and use the SDB for pistol stuff.

I guess this is just saying that just because you are pistol only at this point don't forget that as time goes along our interests shift.

[howardw]

The Square deal is a great press if you don't want to spend a lot, but want to load one pistol caliber. I don't have a 650, but have seen a lot of them have primer problems. For me, it's either a SD or a 1050...

Howard

[Carlos]

You specifically mentioned .40. Depending on the gun you shoot, the SDB in .40 could be a problem. As mentioned earlier, the SDB uses proprietary or "special" dies that only fit the SDB. THe only maker of such dies is Dillon.

Now, I will argue with anyone that Dillon makes the best progressive presses on the market, bar none.

However, their regular .40 resizing dies are lacking. How? They do not fully re-size .40 cases and Dillon knows it. If a piece of Glock-fired brass finds its way through Dillon dies, it is not going to fit in anything besides maybe a Glock chamber due to the bulge in the case (better make sure you case gauge everything & avoid all Glock brass). Look in the Blue Press at the "once fired cartridge cases" listed on page 41 of the January 2005 catalog: notice something odd about the .40 cases? They are the only cases listed there that are ROLL SIZED. Once you fire those roll-sized cases through a Glock- then what? They cannot be sent back to Dillon to be roll-sized and the DIllon dies will not remove the bulge.

If you are using a Glock or your brass-control is very tight, then go for it. I use a Dillon XL650 with either Redding (page 48 - Blue Press) or Lee brand dies - both of which resize most of the .40 case. These dies are not an option on the SDB. Regards,

D.

[SiG Lady]

A lot depends on the quantity of ammunition you wish to produce. The SDB is great, and many shooters end up with two or more presses for two or more reasons. The Square Deal is certainly easy to use and economical, but IS limited to pistol ammo only. For me that's been ideal. I've saved a ton of money "rolling my own" on the SDB.

[Harmon]

i load on square deal, its an awesome little press, simple to use, adjust, ect.

some notes on the 40 though, if you plan on shooting el cheapo once fired brass, you can make the square deal work, it just requires more steps in case preparation before loading.

get an el cheapo single stage press and a EGW undersize die, size all the brass you have on that, then you can load on you square deal B without any fear of "glock brass"

If you dont fire them out of a glock again, they should roll right through the square deal dies, and chamber in everything.

[kimel]

Gotta disagree with you Carlos. Before I got my EGW I would take once fired that was mostly Glock fired and therefore bulged and run it through the SDB and it chambered fine in my Ruger KP94, my Para P16-40, etc. It also generally passed a Dillon chamber guage just fine.

Maybe I got lucky? Dunno. However I bought an EGW anyway just to be safe and when I get brass that is new to me it goes through the EGW (on an old single stage press) just to make sure.

[shred]

Converting calibers on a SDB on a regular basis is a pain. The good thing is they can be resold fairly easily, so if you upgrade and don't want to keep it, you don't lose a lot on the SDB.

[warpspeed]

I was fortunate and I had a buddy give me a 550 to start out. Otherwise, I'd have gotten a Square Deal for sure. The nice thing about them is that Dillon press loose only about 20 % of their value, if that. Resale is always easy because Dillon's waranty is lifetime of machine, not just who bought it. So if you get a SDB now and want to upgrade, you will find that they are easily resold.

If you can afford it, get a 650 or 550 for their versatility, regardless of how much ammo you load. If you look HERE and you will find a in depth discusson on the differences, including price, that will help make your decsion easy.

[kimel]

Shred is absolutely right. Switching calibers is a pain in the arse. Too many parts to keep track of. I can do it in about 10-15 minutes but it isn't something I look forward to. In fact, I have been known to buy factory .45 rather than make the switch.

[JFD]

I've got a SDB that I picked up for a good price and love it for loading .45s.

However, the cost to changeover to a different caliber seems awfully high, but this is coming from someone used to changing over a Lee or Lyman turret press.

As already mentioned, if you want to use an undersized sizing die and/or a Lee FCD, then you have to handle this on another press.

My recommendation is to go with a 550/650 or be prepared for extra steps with the SDB.

[Garrett]

I don't have a 650, but have seen a lot of them have primer problems. For me, it's either a SD or a 1050...

That's funny. I've had all sorts of problems with my SDB primer feed, and never a single problem with the 650. The SDB used to like to dump the primers out of the feed tube, all over inside the machine. I would sometimes spend half an hour pulling the priming system apart and cleaning it out to every 5 minutes spent actually loading.

Of course, this was on a 14 year old (bought used) machine. I finally sent it to Dillon for an overhaul. They just replaced the whole thing at no charge.

I don't have primer feed problems very often now (still have one occasionally). But I have never had a problem with my 650. IMO, it's a much better priming system.

I now use the SDB for large primer cases (.45 & 10mm) and the 650 for small primer cases (9mm, .38 Super, & .40)

[benos]

Thread drift on the bulged 40 problem...

No commercial die manufacturer (Dillon or otherwise) makes dies that resize all the way to the bottom of the case. Nor should they, because the lower, thicker, base of the case should not need to be resized if the round was fired in chamber that was designed to SAMMI specs. Which Glock chose to ignore when they built their 40 cal pistol. In order to make it easy for them to manufacture a pistol that would reliably feed the 40 S&W, they ignored the SAMMI specs for a fully supported chamber for 40 S&W, and instead throated the 40's chamber. Now the country (and world) is flooded with once-fired (in a Glock), bulged 40 brass that conventional dies won't properly resize. The problem is not with Dillon or any other die manufacturer, it is with Glock (and other pistol manufacturer) for making barrels that are not to SAMMI specs. Could you imagine a rifle manufacturer saying - ...Well let's see, let's throat the chamber of our auto-loading .308 rifle so it will feed easier. Then we don't have to do our work to properly design the gun. Wow - look at how much more money we'll make, and, we'll make all the reloading/die manufacturers lives a nightmare as they attempt to correct a problem we started! That may seem a tad dramatic but it really isn't. The 40 S&W should only be fired in a fully supported chamber, period.

In addition, the lower web section (last .010-.015") of any case was never intended to be resized, as doing so not only significantly shortens the life of the brass, but it makes the loaded round more dangerous if it is fired in a non-fully-supported chamber.

be

[Garrett]

In addition, the lower web section (last .010-.015") of any case was never intended to be resized, as doing so not only significantly shortens the life of the brass, but it makes the loaded round more dangerous if it is fired in a non-fully-supported chamber.

be

Hey Brian,

does this include roll-sized cases, or just those done with the "conventional" resizing process?

[SiG Lady]

kimel--

I thought you had MORE than one SDB...

Well, one could always find a couple of nice used SDBs (if anyone's willing to let loose of 'em!) and set each one up for the calibers of choice.

[ErikW]

My SDB worked fine for thousands of rounds of .40S&W. Of course, I did start with mostly roll-sized once-fired brass.

Changing calibers using the same priming system is not a problem. It becomes a problem when you need to change the priming system (Large and Small).

The worst thing about the SDB was that the primer return springs would constantly break and in turn flood the press and the bench and the floor with primers. As mentioned previously, disassembly and cleanup for this occurrence was a time-consuming hassle.

[Kingman]

I have a SDB in each caliber I load alot of. I can load about 200 more per hour on my SDB's than I can on my 550B. I have never messed with a 650 or 1050 so can't comment on them.

The auto indexing of the SDB is very nice compared to turning it on the 550.

[PhilTerry]

JPro45 has one for sale in the classified section - go for it!

I have one set up in each of the pistol calibers I shoot, they just need a clean and grease every two or three months and the primer problems go away. Send them back to Dillon every two or three years for a service and they will last forever.

[SiG Lady]

"The auto indexing of the SDB is very nice compared to turning it on the 550."

Boy, that's for sure.

[dshooter3]

I loaded on a SDB for 5 years and I had very few problems with it. I never broke a return spring but I have had a few that lost tenction. The priming system is the same as on the 550. I would just get a few extra primer return spring from dillion and run with it. The press comes pre set up but you may have to make a few adjustments. the manual will cover what you need to adjust. I sold my press and moved up to a 650, but before i sold it I just sent it back to Dillion and was returned with a new press.

[Run n Gun]

Shred is absolutely right.  Switching calibers is a pain in the arse.  Too many parts to keep track of.  I can do it in about 10-15 minutes but it isn't something I look forward to.  In fact, I have been known to buy factory .45 rather than make the switch.

Kevin,

It takes that long to change over a 650 too, especially if you change primer sizes.

I really hated to give up my SDB, but I now load 6 calibers, one of them rifle, so it made sense to buy a 650.

Ed

[kevin c]

I've loaded 100K rounds on my SDB, mostly .40, some 9mm and .44mag thrown in. My experience w/ the forty matches kimel's. Of the thousands of Glock brass rounds I have loaded, only a handful didn't pass my Dillon and Midway case gauges, and of those, almost all were due to nicks and burrs on the extractor rim rather than a bulge in the case web. All the no-go rounds still chambered and shot fine in my match bbl.

That being said, as BE notes, the issue of weakened, over work hardened brass remains with the bulge, whether it chambers or not, and whether roll sized, U-die or EGW sized or not. For that reason alone I still segregate my Glock brass, and limit its use to one high pressure match loading before retiring the brass to practice status.

I love my SDB. I understand that you lose the feel of the primer seating in the 650 and other presses. I like that, like a single stage press, I can feel the ram seating the primer. My production rate is not as fast as the 650, but I find that going faster makes more ammo, but sacrifices some consistency in the load. 500 to 600 rounds of match ammo per hour is effortless. Practice ammo, which I am willing to have less consistency on, can be produced at a somewhat higher rate.

FWIW