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Buying a Dillon advice


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I have been reloading for the past couple years and shoot 10-15k/yr. I’m finally tired of spending more time fixing my press than loading. I am considering a Dillon, probably a 650. I was wondering where/who was the best to buy from? And everyone’s opinions about which press to get. 

 

I load 9mm (currently working on), 40SW (stock piled for next season), and the occasional 223 and 45acp. 

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With the caliber changes I really like the 650. Upgraded it with the mark 7 auto drive and slicked it up a bit. Runs very smooth, hardly ever have a problem. 650 will serve you well, especially with multiple calibers. Lots of incremental upgrades you can do to it too.


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Really a function of:

 

i.  how much time do you want to devote to reloading

ii.  how many $$$ do you want to throw at the reloader ?

iii. how many calibers you want to reload ?

 

If you spend $1,100 for a 650, and then another $700 for the dies

necessary to reload three other calibers, you have almost $2,000

in.

 

If you can remove the .223 (not much savings to reloading .223, unless you're

going for precision long range ammo), you can order a SDB for $435, and

two other calibers for another $250 (total $700), instead of $1,800.

 

Reloading 15,000 rounds/year is 300/week - you can do that with a SDB

in an hour and a half a week, or 6 hours/month.     :) 

 

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I bought a 550C about 6 months ago, including all the accessories for 3 different calibers.  I had a steep learning curve, but now feel pretty competent.  The one thing I found when buying stuff, is that I couldn't find any discounts on any Dillon stuff.  I was told that Dillon is pretty strict about retailers discounting their stuff.  The best I found recently was when one of my  small retailers moved their store into a larger space and had a 10% sale on everything.  I bought quick change kits, caliber conversions kits and dies for a couple of new calibers I want to try and appreciated the discount.  I'm not saying you can't find a dollar or two difference on items,but I wouldn't invest a lot of time price shopping.  Look for a good retailer who you can talk to.

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I started on a single stage. Then a 550B which I still have.

Now use  a 650 with casefeeder, bullet feeder and a Dillon primer filler. 100 rounds in less than 4 minutes without trying too hard

 

You can definitely learn on a 650 and save the time of realizing that you want a 650 (or 1050) but the learning curve will be steeper.  If you are patient or have a reloading mentor, go for the 650.  If not, get the 550C and you will have no regrets.

 

If you read Brian Enos' Dillon pages, he really does not recommend the SDB:  "The only time I ever recommend a SqDeal (over the 550) is if you have loaded on a friend’s SqDeal and liked it."

 

I tried a friends, and did not.  A cheaper progressive press without a casefeeder, small size and limited dies is penny wise/pound foolish

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Check out Bobcat Armament, he gets used 650s in every now and then.  Also there are definitely some deals to be had on used presses, check out Facebook, Armslist etc to see if there are any close.  The great thing about buying the 650 used is you can send it back to Dillon to be "re-freshed" if you have any questions or concerns with it.

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I skipped from a Hornady LNL progressive to the Super 1050. While I do not have experience with any other Dillon, I can say the 1050 is a dream come true. The speed, and more importantly, quality, at which it loads made me re-think my loading schedule for the year. I shot about 12,000 9mm last year, and it was a chore I did not look forward to. I bought my 1050 this past fall and I casually loaded 15k rounds in about 2 months. Done loading 9mm until 2020 :)

 

I also load .45 and .223 and while the change over is a good bit of work, if you are at all familiar with setting up presses, its really not that bad. I only have 1 toolhead for now, 200 bucks is a lot for convenience, and it does not even save you from changing powder bars, swage system, or primers. Just saves you the die setup, which is the easiest part of setting up a press if you have lock rings or just marks on your dies. I also load for a whole year of shooting, per caliber. Set up for .45 now, and once I load 10k of those, I'll set up for .223 which will take a bit of load development for my rifles, and keep it that way until I need more 9mm next year. 

 

The only reason I'd say not to go 1050, would be if you don't shoot much, and in just 1 caliber. Even if I only shot my 12k 9mm and nothing else, the money I spent on my guns is more than the 1050, the money I spent on my ammo components is more than the 1050, the match fees last year were about 1/3 the cost of a 1050, and add the time I slaved over the Hornady, and the top of the line press sounds like a no brainer at this point. That not even taking into consideration the fact that you're likely going to do this for a few years, and that's a lot of time loading at 600/hr compared to 1000+. 

 

buy a 1050 :)

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I own a 650 and have used a friend's 1050. I now realize that I should have started there in the first place. Which is now all the more reason to have both a 650 and a 1050. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 1/12/2019 at 3:45 PM, Hi-Power Jack said:

not much savings to reloading .223, unless you're

going for precision long range ammo

Uh, what? You can easily load .223/5.56 for $.10/rd less than you can buy even in bulk. Cheapest I've seen is about $.26/round shipped if you can combine some sort of promos and rebates, but I'm more commonly seeing it at $.27-$.29 on sale. Unless you're buying that steel-cased stuff?

 

If you reload, depending on your powder and projectiles, you can easily load it for about $.16-$.18/round, especially if you're just going for stockpile/plinking ammo. That's what most people buying the $.26-$.30/round cases are doing anyway. If you wanna load with like Hornady hunting/SP bullets then you're looking at maybe $.25/round, but still way better than the factory stuff that's around $.50-$.60/round. Hell, I've seen some of that Hornady Black .223 stuff going for as much as like $1/round! Maybe I'm missing something here, but reloading is a bit cheaper than buying the stuff, at least in my neck of the woods.

 

ANYWAY, getting back on topic to OP's question..

A 650 is probably best if you plan on doing that many calibers, unless you have the money to blow on a 1050 and all the conversions. Don't get me wrong, I love my 1050 and am glad it's the first press I ever bought, but I only have conversions for 9mm and .40 and I'm already into the press like $2400. If you can get a military discount, Bobcat has great prices and helps with the overall costs, but I'm still looking at around $190 per other conversion I want to do. Plus, switching to large primer calibers alone is gonna be like another $120. The quick-change toolheads for the 1050 are like $275 each too! I haven't even purchased one yet, so it still takes me about 30-45 minutes to completely switch calibers. Still though, I'm able to crank out around 800-900 rounds in an hour without breaking a sweat, which is near pushing the limit of a 650. My buddy that owns a 650 came over and tried my 1050, and instantly wished he had bought one for all the .223 he loads, especially since it includes the primer pocket swage in station 3. Hell, the swage has even helped me out tremendously in knocking out all the crimped 9mm I've shot and reloaded in the past. To really pass that 1k rounds/hour though, you're gonna need a bullet feeder, which is what I plan on buying next now that I finally got an RF 100 to keep up with me. Plus, you can always look to automate a 1050 in the future. 

 

One bit of advice, if you decide to go the 1050 route, is that Dillon just announced a newer, "improved" model called the RL1100 (I think?) at SHOT Show this week that's supposed to have a couple better upgrades and features. Expected release around April. They haven't given out too many specifics yet, but the price was also announced to be at about $2000. Basically, you can either go for the new press, or keep an eye out for a lot of used 1050s going up for sale in the next few months.

 

With a 650, the nice thing is that people are always selling conversions, quick-change toolheads, and extras like dies and upgrades for cheap. You could probably find someone selling a 650 with several conversions pretty cheap on any of the Facebook or MeWe Dillon groups. Really, price is the only benefit though. If you're only shooting 10-15k per year, a 650 will be plenty machine for you. However, you may end up loading and shooting more with a faster press too. I've easily gone through about 9k rounds in just the last 4 months with my 1050, and probably about 14k cycles including the brass I've processed on there. Only reason I haven't loaded more is because I keep running out of bullets and my college kid budget can only afford about a case per month lol.

 

Dillon has a neato little "Which press is right for me?" guide on their website that could really help you out on deciding as well. I was on the line between a 650 and 1050, and decided I would need the 1050 for continuing to shoot competition and eventually for automation. Of course, you could always start with a 650, and buy a 1050 if you really need the extra capacity in the future, which is what I know a lot of people do. I've considered it myself, and will probably end up doing that in the future when I've got a more disposable income. Again, money and the amount you need to load are going to be your major determining factors here.

Edited by tacomandood
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On 1/14/2019 at 8:28 AM, Underwood said:

buy once cry once...  I started on a 650 and moved to a 1050... 

I wish i would have bought a 1050 first.. especially if you are already and experienced reloader  get the 1050 if you can afford it. 

I agree. I started with a 650 and used it for several years, maybe 20k rounds on it...They are a great machine, I bought an RL1050 pretty cheap from a friend and wish I would have started there. No more sorting NATO 9 brass and if you are loading .223 you'll save a ton of time swaging... 

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9 hours ago, hankdiesel said:

I agree. I started with a 650 and used it for several years, maybe 20k rounds on it...They are a great machine, I bought an RL1050 pretty cheap from a friend and wish I would have started there. No more sorting NATO 9 brass and if you are loading .223 you'll save a ton of time swaging... 

Im also using a RL1050 and loving it 

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On 1/26/2019 at 9:53 PM, tacomandood said:

Uh, what? You can easily load .223/5.56 for $.10/rd less than you can buy even in bulk.

 

First I have to say $.10 per round is $10.00 per thousand... My time and energy is worth more than that and I load on an automated press...  Rifle is a pain in the butt to load.

 

Now onto the OP's question.  If you are not dealing with crimped primers or really high volumes there is no reason for the 1050.  I have had a bunch of 650's and a couple of 1050's As long as you have a bullet feeder you can produce the same quality ammo at almost the same pace with the 650 as you can with the 1050.  Prior to getting an automated press I would get a new 650 about once a year.  I could sell the old press for very close to what I had paid for it about a year prior and get a brand new one for about 10-15% more which I would get back the following year... For me it made sense. I was loading about 2500 rounds per month +/-  and the 650 is very easy to set up, use and change calibers.  I now use my automated 1050 to load months worth of ammo at a time.  When I moved, I shot for a year off my reserves without loading a single round...  The 1050 is great but it isn't the end all be all.  If you are loading anything with a crimped primer pocket 1050 is the way to go. 

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First I have to say $.10 per round is $10.00 per thousand...


.10 x 1000 = $100

If you’re worried about saving money on plinking ammo, $100 becomes a far more material cost. Even if you only shoot 200 rounds per outing, you’re saving $20 each time. It really adds up long-term when you get into thousands of rounds loaded.

Agree with you on the 650 vs. 1050 though. The 1050 is great for volume, and is why I chose to go with it when I’ve got limited time available. I’m lucky to get out once a week to go shoot, and finding a few hours a week for reloading and brass processing is also what pushed me more toward the 1050. Otherwise, a 650 will get you nearly the same results (so long as you don’t have crimped brass) at only maybe 10-20% slower rate.
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On 1/11/2019 at 7:33 PM, PharmDShooter said:

I have been reloading for the past couple years and shoot 10-15k/yr. I’m finally tired of spending more time fixing my press than loading. I am considering a Dillon, probably a 650. I was wondering where/who was the best to buy from? And everyone’s opinions about which press to get. 

 

I load 9mm (currently working on), 40SW (stock piled for next season), and the occasional 223 and 45acp

Not sure where you are in WV but there is a dealer in WV who has been a sponsor at the Area 8 match the past few years.  R.S.P Gun Shop, Falling Waters, WV. Nice guy.  Good luck

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3 minutes ago, Glk21C said:

Not sure where you are in WV but there is a dealer in WV who has been a sponsor at the Area 8 match the past few years.  R.S.P Gun Shop, Falling Waters, WV. Nice guy.  Good luck

Unfortunately thats about as far from me in WV as you can possibly get.  But i believe I have decided to save up and buy a 1050 when I finish with school this spring.  Hopefully I have enough ammo loaded to make it until then.

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