bigdawgbeav Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 (edited) Just picked up a used 550B from Craigslist. Seller didn't shoot pistol anymore, so I got it for a song ($300). Came with 2 toolheads, 9mm and .40 dies and kits. Extra primer pickup tubes and the toolhead stand. The press and dies had a fair amount of surface rust on them and there was a decent amount of dirt, dust and spilled powder in the little crevices. Broke it down and got out the rubbing alcohol, q-tips, paper towels and steel wool. After a couple hours of cleaning I was able to make it respectable. Loaded it up with my Lee .45acp dies, Since that's all I shoot. Plus I really like the Lee powder drum. Consistent and no spilled powder. Had to change over the primer system from small to large. Bonus: He never loaded large primers and the primer bar was in the original packaging and still shiny-new. After some tinkering, was able to get everything working. Loaded my first 100 rounds, took 30 minutes. I'm sure that number will improve, but this was just the first 100 with an unfamiliar press. Got a few upgrades in the hopper, but my birthday is coming up, so I'll wait a bit. Oh, and I need a new primer alarm as the one I got had a corroded battery in it and after cleaning I still couldn't get to work. And I need the primer tube pins as those were missing. Edited July 25, 2016 by bigdawgbeav Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DKnoch Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 Awesome, that looks real good. I just got a 650 (first dillon) on friday. If you're interested in selling ot trading 9 or 40 dies or small primer pick up tubes, let me know please Daniel K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigdawgbeav Posted July 25, 2016 Author Share Posted July 25, 2016 Awesome, that looks real good. I just got a 650 (first dillon) on friday. If you're interested in selling ot trading 9 or 40 dies or small primer pick up tubes, let me know please Daniel K You might not want these. They were pretty nasty with rust. Just bagged them up and stored them away. I'll take some pics later and post those for all to see the nastiness that I was dealing with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyOne Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 Throw the dies in the tumbler for a couple of hours. ..as for the primer tube pins, Lowe's or Home depot will have comparable for little to nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigdawgbeav Posted July 25, 2016 Author Share Posted July 25, 2016 Throw the dies in the tumbler for a couple of hours. ..as for the primer tube pins, Lowe's or Home depot will have comparable for little to nothing. I was thinking the same thing for the pins. Just need to take a tube with me. Contacted Dillon about it anyway, Can I put the dies in a wet tumbler with stainless media? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DKnoch Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 Ok, no problem. The dies i may be interested in, if cheap enough though. I may be able to get them back. Im curious to see some pictures though Daniel K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyOne Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 Throw the dies in the tumbler for a couple of hours. ..as for the primer tube pins, Lowe's or Home depot will have comparable for little to nothing.I was thinking the same thing for the pins. Just need to take a tube with me. Contacted Dillon about it anyway,Can I put the dies in a wet tumbler with stainless media? That, I don't know. I have dry tumbled rusty dies before and had them clean up...and I've taken a wire brush wheel on a bench grinder and cleaned them up...no issues. I would assume that wet tumbling would be no different...it doesn't destroy the brass, so I would think it would be ok... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmfischer Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 Call or email Dillon and let them know your primer alarm is not working. I picked up a used 550 last year and found the same problem. Emailed Dillon asking if that was covered and they replied for me to send them my address and a replacement would be shipped out. Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigdawgbeav Posted July 26, 2016 Author Share Posted July 26, 2016 Call or email Dillon and let them know your primer alarm is not working. I picked up a used 550 last year and found the same problem. Emailed Dillon asking if that was covered and they replied for me to send them my address and a replacement would be shipped out. Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk Thanks for the advice. I thought about that but since you can buy one directly from them I figured they wouldn't replace it for free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmfischer Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 That's what I figured but then I decided it was worth a try Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigdawgbeav Posted July 27, 2016 Author Share Posted July 27, 2016 contacted Dillon about the missing pins for the pickup tubes, they are sending me some... now that service. Yes, I could have gone out to a hardware store, but why pay for it if you can get it for free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullzeye Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 You did well by swallowing the blue pill. The customer service is worth the price of the press. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelindsey Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 Dillon's service is the best I've seen in a company in this day and age. I would want those little pins directly from them anyway. When your at Home Depot it's hard to match the same size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigdawgbeav Posted July 28, 2016 Author Share Posted July 28, 2016 And another response from Dillon. They are sending me replacement internals for the primer alarm. Wow! Been a Dillon owner for less than a week and I should have done this 4 years ago. Not that the Lee didn't pay for itself several times over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lefty o Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 (edited) after taking the blue pill, if your smile lasts for over 4 hours, keep pulling the handle! Edited July 28, 2016 by lefty o Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigdawgbeav Posted July 28, 2016 Author Share Posted July 28, 2016 after taking the blue pill, if your smile lasts for over 4 hours, keep pulling the handle! If I went for a 4 hours session of loading, I think I'd be out of components to load... and my back would be killing me! But it was nice to press out that 1st 100 in record time, compared to the LCT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigdawgbeav Posted August 1, 2016 Author Share Posted August 1, 2016 So 2 weeks in and I've been having way too much fun. Just had to place an order for more brass. Luckily I have 8lbs+ of Clays on hand and 8K of LPP. At some point I am going to need more bullets. Starting to stockpile ammo like crazy and looking at the full MTM cases and wondering when I'm going to be able to shoot them all... Such First-World problems! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustybayonet Posted August 4, 2016 Share Posted August 4, 2016 It tastes good!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCTaylor Posted August 4, 2016 Share Posted August 4, 2016 My wife's cat is less than impressed. But I can't wait to get home tonight! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBQRibs Posted August 5, 2016 Share Posted August 5, 2016 contacted Dillon about the missing pins for the pickup tubes, they are sending me some... now that service. Yes, I could have gone out to a hardware store, but why pay for it if you can get it for free. Sweet deal on that press. I've always found Dillon's warranty and customer service friggin' outstanding. My wife's cat is less than impressed. But I can't wait to get home tonight! Niiice, yer gonna like it. Might want to check out the "Skylight" from Inline Fabrication if you haven't seen it. Really handy. So are the spent primer tube kits. And I'll stop there since I've got a long list of questionably useful crap I've added on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigdawgbeav Posted August 5, 2016 Author Share Posted August 5, 2016 So i got the replacement "internals" from Dillon for the primer alarm. They sent me an entire alarm system, minus the activation bar. Everything else was already put together. Guessing they did this since it's a newer version of the one I had. Either way, works great now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigdawgbeav Posted August 9, 2016 Author Share Posted August 9, 2016 And I'm just going to put this out there... i hate you all! All I want to do now is hit the basement and start pressing out rounds. I can't because there a family obligations that come first. But in the back of my mind I want to be down there just cranking out the rounds. I'm running out of MTM cases for everything. I'm thinking I'm going to have to organize my ammo cans better and then just start dumping loose rounds in those. At this point I even try to avoid the basement. I know when I get down there, even to do laundry, the soulful call of the blue press will enter my ears and I won't be able to resist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustychev Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 Yep loose rounds in 50 and 30cal ammo cans is the way to go. But they do get heavy when full. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDA Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 Yep loose rounds in 50 and 30cal ammo cans is the way to go. But they do get heavy when full. Yes they do, I did a full 50 cal SAW can last year with 5.56 for a tac rifle class, that was heavy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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