Looking to demo a 550, 650, and 1050 in the Hampton Roads VA area

[Bronco9588]

How are lee dies in a 1050? Or do I have to buy the dillon dies? 

[Alan550]

The 1050 takes any standard dies.....RCBS, Lee, Hornady, etc.

 

Alan~^~

[Want2BS8ed]

FWIW and to follow-on Alan's post; Lyman, RCBS, Hornady and Redding all have locking die rings that will make using the same head easier (you had mentioned you might be doing this).

Dillon and Lee lack the feature. I have no personal experience with CH4D or Forster dies although I think the Forster have locking rings as well.

Dillon does make very good dies though with some features unique to progressive loaders including wide entry mouths and rapid takedown on seating and crimping dies.

You are likely to get even more opinions on die preferences than press preferences and every die maker has something going for them. Most of my heads are a mix of different manufacturers, but for the time being I would recommend you stick with Dillon dies until there is a specific reason you would want to use someone else's.

M


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[Bronco9588]

10 minutes ago, Want2BS8ed said:

FWIW and to follow-on Alan's post; Lyman, RCBS, Hornady and Redding all have locking die rings that will make using the same head easier (you had mentioned you might be doing this).

Dillon and Lee lack the feature. I have no personal experience with CH4D or Forster dies although I think the Forster have locking rings as well.

Dillon does make very good dies though with some features unique to progressive loaders including wide entry mouths and rapid takedown on seating and crimping dies.

You are likely to get even more opinions on die preferences than press preferences and every die maker has something going for them. Most of my heads are a mix of different manufacturers, but for the time being I would recommend you stick with Dillon dies until there is a specific reason you would want to use someone else's.

M


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I have lee dies...

[Want2BS8ed]

I have lee dies...

Nothing wrong with them. They are good dies.

Might want to pick up some locking die rings for them (I've always liked Hornady's split design) because as you have found out, the o-ring does a great job of locking the die to a press, but it won't allow repeatable removal and replacement. Lock tight will work, but there is a better way of doing it.

M


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[warpspeed]

I have said this before and I will say it again - buy the most expensive Dillon press you can afford / justify.

 

 

[Butterpuc]

I took the plunge years ago and purchased a Dillon Super 1050. I truly did not "meet" the criteria for "needing" it. I don't load as much as many on this forum.  I absolutely have no regrets and would buy another in a heartbeat.  

 

This is just my perception, but it seems in this forum I have never heard a person regretting purchasing a 1050 and wishing they purchased a 650.  The 650 is a great machine, my best friend has one and I used it a lot, reloading thousands of rounds. That is the reason I bought the 1050, the 1050 is that much better. 

[Bronco9588]

So I have been searching quite a bit for a used 1050... I am in no real rush at the moment. I do have a couple interesting observations:

 

1) You don't see a lot of Dillon sales on the classifieds section here. I have always assumed brianenos.com = Dillon. I don't know how much the website deals with non-Dillon stuff, but my assumption is that a majority of the people on this forum own a Dillon. My takeaway is that people truly value their presses.

 

2) Obtaining a used 1050 is nearly impossible. I wonder what the breakdown is by percent of presses ordered. I imagine there are far fewer 1050's out there. I have run across one person downsizing to a 650. Other than that it sounds like people value the capabilities of the 1050 over that of the 650/550.

[jhgtyre]

20 hours ago, Bronco9588 said:

So I have been searching quite a bit for a used 1050... I am in no real rush at the moment. I do have a couple interesting observations:

 

1) You don't see a lot of Dillon sales on the classifieds section here. I have always assumed brianenos.com = Dillon. I don't know how much the website deals with non-Dillon stuff, but my assumption is that a majority of the people on this forum own a Dillon. My takeaway is that people truly value their presses.

 

2) Obtaining a used 1050 is nearly impossible. I wonder what the breakdown is by percent of presses ordered. I imagine there are far fewer 1050's out there. I have run across one person downsizing to a 650. Other than that it sounds like people value the capabilities of the 1050 over that of the 650/550.

If you do find a used 1050 be prepared to pay a significant percentage of the original cost.  These machines hold their value well.