Super 1050 ~ Poorly Made

[Jman]

I was looking to purchase a reloading press and have no experience at reloading.

I guess from the comments here the dillon 1050 would not be a good choice for a beginner ?

WHich one do you guys recommend I start out with?

Remember .....raw beginner at reloading here and I'm not into tweaking stuff I buy.

I want it to work the way its advertised to work.

JK

JK

The 550 is your best bet no question. The 1050 was designed with the commercial user in mind. At least originally

Jim M

[tgibson]

Two pages of replies including an offer from Dillon to make things right, and not a single post from the person who initiated the tread. It sort of looks like we are all beating a dead horse.

Adios,

TG

[caspian guy]

Yep afraid so

[JThompson]

I was looking to purchase a reloading press and have no experience at reloading.

I guess from the comments here the dillon 1050 would not be a good choice for a beginner ?

WHich one do you guys recommend I start out with?

Remember .....raw beginner at reloading here and I'm not into tweaking stuff I buy.

I want it to work the way its advertised to work.

JK

1st loader, without a doubt the 550. Brian and I are in total agreement on this. Big time flexibility, you can load every claibre in the world except.50bmg and conversions as well as tool heads are reasonably priced I have no less than 8 toolheads complete for my 550 and it loads the majority of my ammo other than 38sc. but for 45,40,40long,9mm,44mag,223,308 and 38super, it is all loaded on a 550. I shoot mostly open so the high useage of the 1050 in supercomp makes it the workhorse for that calibre but I shoot plenty of the other calibres so it is easier and more economic to use the 550.

2

[Merlin Orr]

I was looking to purchase a reloading press and have no experience at reloading.

I guess from the comments here the dillon 1050 would not be a good choice for a beginner ?

WHich one do you guys recommend I start out with?

Remember .....raw beginner at reloading here and I'm not into tweaking stuff I buy.

I want it to work the way its advertised to work.

JK

JK

The 550 is your best bet no question. The 1050 was designed with the commercial user in mind. At least originally

Jim M

I agree. AND... The 1050 is a lot easier to keep tuned than the 650....

[larry cazes]

I was looking to purchase a reloading press and have no experience at reloading.

I guess from the comments here the dillon 1050 would not be a good choice for a beginner ?

WHich one do you guys recommend I start out with?

Remember .....raw beginner at reloading here and I'm not into tweaking stuff I buy.

I want it to work the way its advertised to work.

JK

I have had a 550B for 5 years and I really like it's simplicity but you WILL have to tweak it and fix issues with it to get it to work as advertised. Plan on a 3 - 6 month learning curve. There are soft spots in that design just like all the rest of them that need tweaks and tuning to work reliably. Browse the Dillon forum here for 550B to get a feel for the issues.

[Tim Egan]

Two pages of replies including an offer from Dillon to make things right, and not a single post from the person who initiated the tread. It sort of looks like we are all beating a dead horse.

Adios,

TG

Not to mention an offer from Brian Enos as well, to make things right.

Most problems with 1050's can be traced to poor mounting. Just about gotta nail 'em down to concrete.

If the bench moves at all, they will get finicky.

[tgibson]

Two pages of replies including an offer from Dillon to make things right, and not a single post from the person who initiated the tread. It sort of looks like we are all beating a dead horse.

Adios,

TG

Not to mention an offer from Brian Enos as well, to make things right.

Most problems with 1050's can be traced to poor mounting. Just about gotta nail 'em down to concrete.

If the bench moves at all, they will get finicky.

THAT'S A FACT JACK!!! I had my 650 mounted to a piece of 1/4" plate and vice gripped to my kitchen table for a long time. My wife wanted to know why I had tape, and shims all over the place and was constantly having to "tweak" things....because I don't have my own reloading room that I can put a real bench in!!!

That problem is fixed now, and I can get 500 rounds in about 45 minutes after I have the primer tubes loaded...I LOVE THAT THING!!!

Adios,

TG

[Tim Egan]

THAT'S A FACT JACK!!! I had my 650 mounted to a piece of 1/4" plate and vice gripped to my kitchen table for a long time. My wife wanted to know why I had tape, and shims all over the place and was constantly having to "tweak" things....because I don't have my own reloading room that I can put a real bench in!!!

That problem is fixed now, and I can get 500 rounds in about 45 minutes after I have the primer tubes loaded...I LOVE THAT THING!!!

Adios,

TG

I think I detect a new product for MGM Targets:

3/4" A36 table top, some 4" HSS legs and L3x3x1/4 bracing between them! Oughta be bomb proof!

Edited April 16, 2008 by Tim Egan

[tgibson]

THAT'S A FACT JACK!!! I had my 650 mounted to a piece of 1/4" plate and vice gripped to my kitchen table for a long time. My wife wanted to know why I had tape, and shims all over the place and was constantly having to "tweak" things....because I don't have my own reloading room that I can put a real bench in!!!

That problem is fixed now, and I can get 500 rounds in about 45 minutes after I have the primer tubes loaded...I LOVE THAT THING!!!

Adios,

TG

I think I detect a new product for MGM Targets:

3/4" A36 table top, some 4" HSS legs and L3x3x1/4 bracing between them! Oughta be bomb proof!

We already have three or four prototypes out there..one of which is in my new reloading room . I'll try to take some pictures of it and post them. As with most of our gear, it is what you might call "heavy duty, but manageable"...if there is such a thing!

TG

Edited April 16, 2008 by tgibson

[dirtypool40]

My own experiences irror both sides of what is described in this thread.

I have owned 3 x 1050's, two bought new as "supers" one a used older model.

My current one in .40 appears to be a worse lemon than anything described here. I can't get through a single handful of bullets, let alone a whole primer tube without a stoppage. I have a box of crushed / missed primers rounds, they fill a 500 bullet box, and that's from about 2500 rounds of loading. Loading my 400 rounds to go to Area 6 took me three hours this morning. I have almost as many crushed cases from station one as things often don't line up right, and a pile of live, but crushed primers under my bench.

The primer system locks all the way out, and all the way in, at random intervals. It eats those little blue tips about every 2k, and I have been on the phone with Dillon 100x tweaking it in live help sessions.

This machine was bought new, and has been this bad almost since delivery.

It has been back to Dillon twice. It was delivered with the wrong primer system originally, and Dillon paid for it to go back the second time. Clearly it's a case of stacking tolerances, missed specs or just a plain old lemon.

I chuckled when someone posted how the 1050 was a "commercial" machine, as no one could possibly rely on this for a business. I can't load more than one practice sesisons ammo on this thing before I give up, and I used to crank out 1200-1400 an hour like it was a cardio work out on my older ones.

Well, you guys have motivated me to call Dillon again....

Peace out.

[tgibson]

THAT'S A FACT JACK!!! I had my 650 mounted to a piece of 1/4" plate and vice gripped to my kitchen table for a long time. My wife wanted to know why I had tape, and shims all over the place and was constantly having to "tweak" things....because I don't have my own reloading room that I can put a real bench in!!!

That problem is fixed now, and I can get 500 rounds in about 45 minutes after I have the primer tubes loaded...I LOVE THAT THING!!!

Adios,

TG

I think I detect a new product for MGM Targets:

3/4" A36 table top, some 4" HSS legs and L3x3x1/4 bracing between them! Oughta be bomb proof!

That definately looks....sturdy?!? Are the base plates on the legs 3/4 or 1"? It looks like the holes are 13/16" for a 3/4"x14" J anchor bolt. Did you allow for the 1-1/2" of flowable 7k PSI grout and leveling nuts?

TG

[GentlemanJim]

My own experiences irror both sides of what is described in this thread.

I have owned 3 x 1050's, two bought new as "supers" one a used older model.

My current one in .40 appears to be a worse lemon than anything described here. I can't get through a single handful of bullets, let alone a whole primer tube without a stoppage. I have a box of crushed / missed primers rounds, they fill a 500 bullet box, and that's from about 2500 rounds of loading. Loading my 400 rounds to go to Area 6 took me three hours this morning. I have almost as many crushed cases from station one as things often don't line up right, and a pile of live, but crushed primers under my bench.

The primer system locks all the way out, and all the way in, at random intervals. It eats those little blue tips about every 2k, and I have been on the phone with Dillon 100x tweaking it in live help sessions.

This machine was bought new, and has been this bad almost since delivery.

It has been back to Dillon twice. It was delivered with the wrong primer system originally, and Dillon paid for it to go back the second time. Clearly it's a case of stacking tolerances, missed specs or just a plain old lemon.

I chuckled when someone posted how the 1050 was a "commercial" machine, as no one could possibly rely on this for a business. I can't load more than one practice sesisons ammo on this thing before I give up, and I used to crank out 1200-1400 an hour like it was a cardio work out on my older ones.

Well, you guys have motivated me to call Dillon again....

Peace out.

DP

how much to take that lemon off your hands?

A second 1050 would make life nicer for me

Jim

[Nik Habicht]

I was looking to purchase a reloading press and have no experience at reloading.

I guess from the comments here the dillon 1050 would not be a good choice for a beginner ?

WHich one do you guys recommend I start out with?

Remember .....raw beginner at reloading here and I'm not into tweaking stuff I buy.

I want it to work the way its advertised to work.

JK

JK,

I got into reloading with a SDB, moved on to a 650 with case feeder and now load most of my ammo on an original RL1050. I've had to learn and tweak and adjust everyone of those presses. Since I got the 1050 set correctly, installed in a ground floor room on top of a concrete pad --- no basements in this area --- and learned how to move the handle it's been flawless. That said, there are three separate things you'll need to do with any reloader that I've ever worked with:

Install it correctly -- the more solid the mount the better. All the presses are sensitive to this, but the 650 and 1050 are more sensitive than the SDB was

Learn to make the various adjustments correctly and give the press the cleaning/maintenance it needs. The 1050 makes it easy with grease fittings; not spilling powder all over the place also helps -- because it will invariably find it's way to where it doesn't belong. Beating the crank connections apart and spending an entire evening removing galling marks created by powder sucks.

Learn how to move the handle smoothly and at a constant rate of speed throughout its arc. Smoothness is important for cranking out consistent ammo, keeping powder spills to a minimum, and allowing the various bits of the press time to do their thing --- whether that's letting stick powders drop, or cases fall, or the shell plate to advance. That last part took a few thousand rounds to get down --- and again, it's way more important on the 1050 than it was on the SDB.

All that --- I considered it to be time well spent, because now I can spend less than an hour a month in my reloading room to knock out the ammo I need for the next few weeks. That gives me more time to spend with family, friends, and books.....

[RePete]

My own experiences irror both sides of what is described in this thread.

I have owned 3 x 1050's, two bought new as "supers" one a used older model.

My current one in .40 appears to be a worse lemon than anything described here. I can't get through a single handful of bullets, let alone a whole primer tube without a stoppage. I have a box of crushed / missed primers rounds, they fill a 500 bullet box, and that's from about 2500 rounds of loading. Loading my 400 rounds to go to Area 6 took me three hours this morning. I have almost as many crushed cases from station one as things often don't line up right, and a pile of live, but crushed primers under my bench.

The primer system locks all the way out, and all the way in, at random intervals. It eats those little blue tips about every 2k, and I have been on the phone with Dillon 100x tweaking it in live help sessions.

This machine was bought new, and has been this bad almost since delivery.

It has been back to Dillon twice. It was delivered with the wrong primer system originally, and Dillon paid for it to go back the second time. Clearly it's a case of stacking tolerances, missed specs or just a plain old lemon.

I chuckled when someone posted how the 1050 was a "commercial" machine, as no one could possibly rely on this for a business. I can't load more than one practice sesisons ammo on this thing before I give up, and I used to crank out 1200-1400 an hour like it was a cardio work out on my older ones.

Well, you guys have motivated me to call Dillon again....

Peace out.

DP

how much to take that lemon off your hands?

A second 1050 would make life nicer for me

Jim

#2 on that.

A road trip the Florida would be nice to pick it up, seeing as I've never been there.

[9x21]

Just say the word,

I'll send you a $1000 money order, plus shipping.

I could use a third one.................in spite on their limitations.

Sincerely,

9x21

[sskp1]

this thread is my new soap opera

Kevin

[Tim Egan]

THAT'S A FACT JACK!!! I had my 650 mounted to a piece of 1/4" plate and vice gripped to my kitchen table for a long time. My wife wanted to know why I had tape, and shims all over the place and was constantly having to "tweak" things....because I don't have my own reloading room that I can put a real bench in!!!

That problem is fixed now, and I can get 500 rounds in about 45 minutes after I have the primer tubes loaded...I LOVE THAT THING!!!

Adios,

TG

I think I detect a new product for MGM Targets:

3/4" A36 table top, some 4" HSS legs and L3x3x1/4 bracing between them! Oughta be bomb proof!

That definately looks....sturdy?!? Are the base plates on the legs 3/4 or 1"? It looks like the holes are 13/16" for a 3/4"x14" J anchor bolt. Did you allow for the 1-1/2" of flowable 7k PSI grout and leveling nuts?

TG

Too much bending in 3/4 plate, I used 1" w/ kpsi grout. Gotta make it stout!

[shootin-blanks]

"Learn how to move the handle smoothly and at a constant rate of speed throughout its arc. Smoothness is important for cranking out consistent ammo, keeping powder spills to a minimum, and allowing the various bits of the press time to do their thing --"

Smooth is FAST? where have I heard that before? I've got an older 1050, looks to have had at least 1/2 million rounds thru it... runs like BUTTER>>> After I sold the RF100 and went back to the vibra-prime, I NEVER have an upside-down primer...

[larry cazes]

this thread is my new soap opera

Kevin

Pleasure to be of service....Don't get out much, Huh?!

Edited April 19, 2008 by larry cazes

[wombat]

4) The wrench that came with the machine is a complete joke and was bent within a day or two of tightening and loosening die nuts. When you spend close to 2000 dollars you would think you get something other then a cheap piece of die cut Chinese crap steel.

6) The case feeder mis-feeds about 1 case in 20. Either the case is destroyed or it fails to find its home in the shell plate.

CW

I just got a 1050 last week and mine did not come with a wrench at all. Their was the little screw driver with the relief cut in the middle of the blade but no wrench. Was it suppose to come with a wrench? What does the wrench do other than removing the dies?

I have just played around with it doing some case prep so far and the primer catcher cup thing fails to catch a good percentage of the primers. Why do they not use a tube like most every one else does.

Also if you are going to complain, Dillon lock rings on their dies suck.

For an 8 stage press it really is equivalent to a 5 stage in what you can do (plus the primer pocket swaging), I was hoping to use the powder check with a Kiss bullet feeder but it looks like that will not work.

:popcorn1:

And one more question. The bullet tray on mine is a plastic bin that is not located or look like the one in Dillons pictures; is this a new change?

Edited April 25, 2008 by wombat

[dillon]

No, a die wrench is not included with the Super 1050. The tool you are referring to is the bushing screwdriver, necessary for removing the

bushing from around the primer seating punch. This is used when changing the primer system from one size to another.

The aluminum bullet tray is optional. The super 1050 comes standard with the plastic bullet bin.

[EZ Bagger]

The aluminum bullet tray is optional. The super 1050 comes standard with the plastic bullet bin.

Guess he didn't buy it from benos....

[larry cazes]

I have just played around with it doing some case prep so far and the primer catcher cup thing fails to catch a good percentage of the primers. Why do they not use a tube like most every one else does.

Also if you are going to complain, Dillon lock rings on there dies suck.

For an 8 stage press it really is equivalent to a 5 stage in what you can do (plus the primer pocket swaging), I was hoping to use the powder check with a Kiss bullet feeder but it looks like that will not work.

:popcorn1:

And one more question. The bullet tray on mine is a plastic bin that is not located or look like the one in Dillons pictures; is this a new change?

The way I fixed my "Primer Catcher" issue was to fold over a business card and tape it across the top of the cup. Yes, the aluminum bullet tray is definitely a better setup. Saves me lots of movement over the plastic bin.

Edited April 24, 2008 by larry cazes

[tightloop]

Since I do not own a 1050 I cannot comment on whether it is a POS or not...but have owned and used a 450B, three SDB, three 550B and an old RL 1000...99.8% of the problems are operator error. People have to understand these things are machines operated by humans, usually it is the human who makes the error, not the machine..there is a learning curve with the larger machines, but not 3 to 6 months as stated back along the way in this thread..

They also work lots better is people were not obsessed with how fast they can go, and concentrate on making quality ammo at .75 of the anticipated machine rate..

Other machines are appreciably harder and more complex to set up and run than any Dillon...such as the Camdex...with a little patience and attention to maintenence and detail when operating the machines, they will give very long and problem free service...that has been my experience.