Bought a used 550b

[Seiko]

Hi all,

Just bought a used 550b yesterday with all kinds of tool heads and dies and so on.

It has sat unused for over 8 years before I got it.

Should I take it apart and lube everything? Or lube what I can while it is together?

Anything I need to watch out for?

Thanks,

Kyle

Opps put this in the wrong forum, meant to put it in the Dillon reloading forum..... Can a mod move it for me? Thanks

Edited December 27, 2007 by Seiko

[scribble]

Hi all,

Just bought a used 550b yesterday with all kinds of tool heads and dies and so on.

It has sat unused for over 8 years before I got it.

Should I take it apart and lube everything? Or lube what I can while it is together?

Anything I need to watch out for?

Thanks,

Kyle

You could do 2 things, down load the owners manual from Dillon and take it apart and lube all points if it is moving fairly smooth. The other option is to pack up the press and send to Dillon for an overhaul for free minus shipping.

Congrats you won't go wrong with the 550.

[D. Manley]

I recently came into a SDB which seemed in good shape generally but with a few missing parts. A call to Dillon revealed they will clean & restore for a flat-rate (likely, shipping) of I believe, $29.95. Mine is either there now or enroute back.

[Front Man]

While it's at Dillon you can build your bench!

FM

[Sheldon]

What you do really depends on how good your mechanical skills are. There isn't a whole lot of moving parts on the 550B so I would just lube the parts that need lube and clean up the moving parts that you you don't want lube on....like the powder measure parts and priming components. Sending to Dillon is always an option if you don't feel comfortable messing with it yourself.

[maineshootah]

While it's at Dillon you can build your bench!

FM

+1 sturdy is KEY.

[D. Manley]

While it's at Dillon you can build your bench!

FM

Oh, the bench is up & running. Although willing to shoot factory 9MM, the price of .45 ACP ammunition "encouraged" me back to hand-loading after a multi-decade hiatus. I have a couple of old single stage presses, etc. but have been doing most of my loading on the little Lee Classic turret. I more or less stumbled into the SDB, molds, furnace, and a lot of other reloading odds & ends for next to nothing. I've had my eyes on a 550B (and may still snag one) but I'm gonna' set the SDB up to only punch out my favorite load each in 9MM & .45 using the Lee for load development. What the little turret lacks in production output it makes up in much faster & easier setup & caliber changeovers.

[Seiko]

Thanks for the responses. I just wanted to make sure that there wasn't some special thing I had to do if it was taken apart.

I already have a 650, but I get sick of changing calibers. When this 550 came along for $200 with 8 sets of dies-tool holders I couldn't pass it up.

So now I can keep the 650 38 super-9mm and do my switching around between calibers on the 550 for small runs of ammo.

I just built a new bench the other day, finally talked the wife into letting me load inside. Too damn cold in the garage.

[Merlin Orr]

Kyle...If you can get a 650 to run the 550 will be childs play.