Thinking of reloading...but can't find any primers!

[ironb]

I've been debating about purchasing a Super 1050 for a while to do some reloading - however, it appears there is a major shortage of small pistol primers. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know.

[XDNut]

Take it from somebody who had a Square Deal first then a 550 and then moved up to a 1050 last year - the last thing you want to do is start learning reloading with a 1050. Forget about the primer issue, figure out which reloader you really need first. Reselling it later and moving up is real simple and you will lose almost no money on the deal.

As for primers, I just placed orders yesterday with three different online company's and hope to see some in the next 2-3 months. I am pretty well set for the next 2 months on primers I have but I will need some this summer.

Rick

[ironb]

Take it from somebody who had a Square Deal first then a 550 and then moved up to a 1050 last year - the last thing you want to do is start learning reloading with a 1050. Forget about the primer issue, figure out which reloader you really need first. Reselling it later and moving up is real simple and you will lose almost no money on the deal.

As for primers, I just placed orders yesterday with three different online company's and hope to see some in the next 2-3 months. I am pretty well set for the next 2 months on primers I have but I will need some this summer.

Rick

Which companies did you place orders with?

I've spoken to a of local USPSA shooter/reloader and he was really suggesting a super 1050 for loading 9mm major. The other one I was looking at was the 650.

[XDNut]

I bought my first Dillon machine from Dillon in 1986. The Dillon 550 I purchased from Brian in 2007 and the 1050 from Brian in 2008. You can't find a better place to shop, get support, and get answers then from this group on the forum and from Brian Enos himself.

Like I said though I wouldn't even think about starting with a 1050. I bought the 1050 after my son starting shooting with me so now when I go to load 2k rounds for myself I need to actually load 4k so he can shoot also.

Brian has a great section on his site called "Which Dillon is for me" or something of that nature. Check that out first. Give Brian a call if you need too, talk to him about it. The only reason I stepped up to the 1050 is that I have limited time to reload, and when I do get the chance that one day out of 14 to reload, I need to crank enough out to shoot 3 months worth. The 1050 allows me to reload 900-1000 rounds an hour, with one hand tied behind my back. But truthfully the 550 did great the Square Deal did great also.

As for the primers.. I placed orders with Powder Valley, Grafs & Sons, and Cabelas.

Rick

Edited April 21, 2009 by XDNut

[ironb]

I bought my first Dillon machine from Dillon in 1986. The Dillon 550 I purchased from Brian in 2007 and the 1050 from Brian in 2008. You can't find a better place to shop, get support, and get answers then from this group on the forum and from Brian Enos himself.

Like I said though I wouldn't even think about starting with a 1050. I bought the 1050 after my son starting shooting with me so now when I go to load 2k rounds for myself I need to actually load 4k so he can shoot also.

Brian has a great section on his site called "Which Dillon is for me" or something of that nature. Check that out first. Give Brian a call if you need too, talk to him about it. The only reason I stepped up to the 1050 is that I have limited time to reload, and when I do get the chance that one day out of 14 to reload, I need to crank enough out to shoot 3 months worth. The 1050 allows me to reload 900-1000 rounds an hour, with one hand tied behind my back. But truthfully the 550 did great the Square Deal did great also.

As for the primers.. I placed orders with Powder Valley, Grafs & Sons, and Cabelas.

Rick

My problem is a time factor too. When I sit down to reload, I want to crank enough out for a few weeks. And with my girlfriend trying to shoot steel, I need to make a lot of ammo! I'll check into it some more before I go out and buy one. I did read the "Which Dillon is for me." It was definitely helpful.

thanks for the info on the companies. I went and bought a bunch from two of them.

[CHA-LEE]

I have a Dillion 650 and can easily crank out 600 - 700 rounds an hour. And that is with stopping every 100 rounds to load up and fill the primers. If I had the primers preloaded I could probably pound through 1000 an hour without too much trouble. I have seen a couple of guys setups that have the 1050 presses and sure its impressive, but I really don’t see that much advantage to it over the 650 with an automated case feeder. If I was in your shoes I would just get a 650 and use the saved money to buy more bullets, primers, and powder...... That is if you can find them

[bball97]

I've been debating about purchasing a Super 1050 for a while to do some reloading - however, it appears there is a major shortage of small pistol primers. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know.

Most gun shops around here are closed on Mondays. I lucked out the other day and stopped in one on Tuesday morning. The lady that I asked about primers said that a truck had just gotten there, and if I wanted to wait, she'd find out if there were any on the truck. Yes there were, and I bought two boxes before the 1 box per customer limit was imposed.. I wonder if you could find out when the trucks usually come and time your visit like that.

[bball97]

I've been debating about purchasing a Super 1050 for a while to do some reloading - however, it appears there is a major shortage of small pistol primers. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know.

About which reloader to get. I just started, and my father and I split the cost of a Dillon 550B from Brian Enos. I love it. I can't believe how accurate and consistent the powder charges are! There are a couple of multi part videos on u-tube that demonstrate the 550 set-up, and reloading process. Quite impressive demonstration. I am glad that Dad called Brian Enos and ordered from him. I made a second order of 9mm dies and other accessories and Brian called me back in person after I left a message. He set me straight on a couple of things that I was going to order incorrectly. Felt like I was talking to a celebrity. HA. Great service, and speedy delivery. I highly recommend going through Brian Enos for anything that he carries. BTW, the Speer reloading manual is back ordered till June, so you might want to get the Lyman manual in the meantime.

[ironb]

I watched some videos on youtube of people reloading with a 1050 and others with a 650...a 1050 looked much more automated - which i like. I just emailed Brian about one.

[sargenv]

While the 1050 is more automated, there are more things to also go wrong. Also bear in mind that the 1050 has a 1 year warranty while the 650 has a lifetime warranty. I've broken a lot of parts over the years for the 650, and had I had the 1050, it would have cost me a lot of money to replace things while I've not had to pay hardly anything at all for the 650. I'm one of those people who loads up 8-10 primer tubes.. I can crank out about 800 rounds an hour with my 650, I've done as many as 1000 rounds or so in an hour, but I was really pushing it. The 1050 has some nifty features though, like primer swaging.. if you are depriming a lot of military crimped brass, that might be one reason I'd get it (if I didn't already have a 650). Though if you are loading 9 major, unless you get the crimped Mil cases, this feature is likely not to be used. Also conversion kits for the 1050 are a lot more money and it takes a bit more time to change over. I can swap calibers on the 650 in about 15 mins.

[Canuck223]

With regards to the 1050, the nay sayers be damned. If you can afford it, and are not mentally challenged, buy one. Learning on this press is not beyond the abilities of anyone who can detail strip a modern firearm. Grab a friend to stand over your shoulder if you are nervous.

Yes, the 1050 does have a limited warranty. Don't worry about it. Nothing about this press is fragile. If it breaks in the first year, it's defective and Dillon will fix it. If it doesn't break in the first year, it likely never will.

Yes, it is a pain in the ass to switch to another caliber. So what? If you shoot a lot, buy more brass and load more per session. If you need to load for more calibers, either suck it up and buy the full toolhead, or dig deep and buy a second press. With a full toolhead set up, and the same primer size, a complete caliber switch can take under 5 minutes. If you need to switch primer sizes, you might as well stop and clean the press while you are at it, so it might take 30 minutes.

The built in primer swager is worth it's weight in gold pressed latinum. Nothing pisses me off more than having a primer jam due to a crimped case slipping through. The thought of having to pre-process all my cases to avoid it is to horrible to bear.

I run a 1050 and am adding a MrBulletFeeder to it. I use the RF100 primer tube filler. When money permits, I may go ahead and get the P/W power drive kit for it.

Edited April 23, 2009 by Canuck223

[ironb]

With regards to the 1050, the nay sayers be damned. If you can afford it, and are not mentally challenged, buy one. Learning on this press is not beyond the abilities of anyone who can detail strip a modern firearm. Grab a friend to stand over your shoulder if you are nervous.

Yes, the 1050 does have a limited warranty. Don't worry about it. Nothing about this press is fragile. If it breaks in the first year, it's defective and Dillon will fix it. If it doesn't break in the first year, it likely never will.

Yes, it is a pain in the ass to switch to another caliber. So what? If you shoot a lot, buy more brass and load more per session. If you need to load for more calibers, either suck it up and buy the full toolhead, or dig deep and buy a second press. With a full toolhead set up, and the same primer size, a complete caliber switch can take under 5 minutes. If you need to switch primer sizes, you might as well stop and clean the press while you are at it, so it might take 30 minutes.

The built in primer swager is worth it's weight in gold pressed latinum. Nothing pisses me off more than having a primer jam due to a crimped case slipping through. The thought of having to pre-process all my cases to avoid it is to horrible to bear.

I run a 1050 and am adding a MrBulletFeeder to it. I use the RF100 primer tube filler. When money permits, I may go ahead and get the P/W power drive kit for it.

Definitely going the 1050 route - all I needed to do was watch the youtube videos! I saw one with a motor attachment as well and everything was completely automated. Just flip the switch and watch!

[MemphisMechanic]

If you are mechanically inclined, a 1050 is not a problem.

There are a lot of people who really need to start with a single-stage or a turret, and work their way up as they learn. The best thing I ever did, personally, was ignore their advice and go straight into a 650.

However, I read until my head hurt both online and at the library, and loaded ammo for a few hours at two different friends houses for an evening (650 and 550 users) before I attempted it myself. And setting up the press the first time still took me forever.

The first few times I had an, er, interesting jam... I did a lot of thinking and head-scratching. Twice I totally cleared the press, knowing that wasn't necessary, just to be safe. After a couple thousand rounds, I was quite happy with my decision. I have never regretted it.

Something I would suggest: Your first 20-100 rounds, leave the casefeeder off and load one round at a time, like you're using the worlds most expensive turret press. It's easier to learn to clear jams and pay attention to the little things, when you only have one round in the press at a time.

Edited April 23, 2009 by MemphisMechanic

[Flint]

ironb - I too agonized over this for months. Then pulled the trigger on the 1050, having never loaded a single round or witnessed a single round loaded in my life.

I am working my way slowly through the first 1000 rounds and doing the Chrono work as well. Below are some of my novice observations.

I spent months reading here, the same which should I buy over and over again.

Read the Spear & Lyman manuals Twice.

Got the video with the 1050 - simply the best, popped it in my laptop out of town at night and watched that a few times, it's 45 minutes or an hour, seriously. When I started the first time I put it in the laptop and got the owners manual out and did it step by step.

Also I downloaded every manual for everything that I bought and read each one 5 times. It is really amazing how much you start picking up and understanding this way.

For me time is too important, I want the ability to do thousands in a few hours. Super sweet machine, pay attention read Brian's site extensively, obviously you are smart you ended up here.

Priming on the down stroke is so consistent and precise it is amazing, read too many threads about smearing primers and the like on some of the other models.

Yes it will take a while to change, as noted previously, just load more before you switch over. I have 4 heads (sounds funny but I do, well actually my forehead is more like a five or sixhead, but that is another issue) and once these are all set up I will leave them alone. I have just put in another order to Brian today for four more sets of dies, sorry no heads etc for them yet.

I would not ponder further automation for some time it is amazingly quick as it is. Powder check is well worth it for the novice. As they say if you have the cash why not? Oh the sound of the finished rounds rolling off there is so soothing.

Just my initial thoughs. Take your time, know what you are doing, watch the video and think, this is not the time for distractions. Oh and with the first set up dialed in very close from the factory it is very nice. I can see where I want another one, set up for large primer, if set up like this oh that would be very nice indeed.

Good luck and keep us posted.