| Posted: Thu Feb 12th, 2009 06:56 AM |
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woodsman777
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doing 1000 rounds of 45auto on a single stage is wearing me out
I'm wanting to figure out all the pro's and con's of all the different models ,
options ,special features, cost(and cost of changing calibers),ease of use,cust support ect.
Any and all input is appreciated thanks
Woodsman
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| Posted: Thu Feb 12th, 2009 11:03 AM |
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2nd Post |
sako06
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I had your problem back many years ago when I decided I needed a better reloading press,I read about the Dillon RL450 and purchased it using it for many years to load 30-06,45-70,32-20,243,38spec,357mag,300wm & 45acp.I decided to upgrade my press to the Dillon RL550B for faster reloading .This is the most popular reloading press sold. 98% of the Professional Shooters reload their competition ammunition with Dillon Presses.I've used it for 45acp,45colt,357mag,38spec,41mag,30-06,300wm,454casull,460 s&w & 45-70.I have a friend with one and he loads 500 +rounds per hour.I gave an RL550B to friends who invited us to their new home in Pa for a whitetail hunt on their 320 acres,never saw a legal buck in the 10 days we were there & they still haven't seen any legal bucks.Advantages to owning a Dillon Press is their no Pelosi(BS) lifetime warrantee they replace parts no questions asked and send them to you. I received an email about the phrase Bull S*** instead of saying it just say Pelosi means the same thing! Last edited on Thu Feb 12th, 2009 11:06 AM by sako06
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| Posted: Thu Feb 12th, 2009 04:41 PM |
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miestro_jerry
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I have two Dillon 550 Presses and a Dillon Square Deal B. The Square Deal is great for doing pistol ammo, while the 550s are for the rifle and longer pistols cartridges like the 357 MAX.
I still have a single stage press around for the small runs or for working a problem with one or two cases.
Jerry
Attachment: myloading bench 3b.jpg (Downloaded 111 times)
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| Posted: Thu Feb 12th, 2009 05:41 PM |
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sako06
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Nice set up Jerry .I have a 550 set up with the strong mount,a Pacific(bought by Hornaday) DL366 progressive 12g shotshell loader,an RCBS partner which I use for sizing the 300 win mag belted brass with a die from http://www.larrywillis.com .I've never used the powder measures from Dillon instead I kept using my ohaus duo 7200.The friends I gave the dillon and a ruger bh 41mag to checked the dillon powder measure & it was within .2 of a grain which is accurate enough. Last edited on Thu Feb 12th, 2009 05:42 PM by sako06
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| Posted: Thu Feb 12th, 2009 06:19 PM |
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miestro_jerry
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Sako,
I also have a couple of C Presses and a Mec 600 Jr, but haven't extended that bench yet. The face of the bench is 2 x 6 with a layer of 3/4 Plywood and under that, laid horizonally is a 2 by 8 to give strength for mounting the presses.
I may just build another bench for the additonal presses and also set up room for my Star Sizer on it.
The problem I am starting to have is that this loading bench, my powder storage cabinets and my firearm work area is filling up a one car space and fast.
Jerry
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| Posted: Thu Feb 12th, 2009 07:47 PM |
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sako06
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Our friends in Pa built their new home on a hillside at the lower level under the house are 2 garages and above them are 2 more.They moved all of their reloading equipment into one of the lower level garages and built a new reloading bench for everything but wood is cheap when you own 2320 acres of hardwood, have your own sawmill & finish mill . Last edited on Thu Feb 12th, 2009 07:50 PM by sako06
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| Posted: Thu Feb 12th, 2009 08:18 PM |
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miestro_jerry
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Sako,
I have my machine shop filling a two car garage that is separate from the house, the garage under the house is my reloading area. I have a separate building that is my foundry and casting place. Then I have a barn that is my utility storage place. A 10 by 10 building that is where I store my hand tools for the tractor and all of my fuels. Then have a large shed for my tractor and the implements for the tractor. In the middle of all of this is my 100 Yard range.
This spring I am building a generator building, redoing part of the barn so it has a treated lumber floor for storage of outside stuff. As well and triple the size of my deck.
The land my house is on is about 5 acres, which we grow the veggies for the household on, seem to feed the deer a lot. Adjacent to the land the house is on, I have 160 acres for planting, then I have 110 acres over in WV on a mountain side great hunting and I want to build a lodge on that land, it over looks Pennsylvania, great place to go hunting and about 20 miles south of me, I have another 210 acres for planting.
I am leasing out 320 acres to an industrial Ag company this year, the rest is for hunting, growing and a nice rifle/pistol range. If I would only have 600 metres of flat land in any one place I would be really happy, then I could practice for Camp Perry.
Oh, I forgot to mentions that I am putting a level on the deck that over looks a bunch of my land, so I can shoot G'Hogs and still have my morning tea in hand. :)
Where do I park my van, in the drive way of course, or anywhere I want to. If land values keep going down I may buy more land.
Jerry
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| Posted: Fri Feb 13th, 2009 02:16 AM |
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BigJakeJ1s
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Here is a pretty good comparison of Dillon, Hornady, and Lee progressive presses:
http://www.comrace.ca/cmfiles/dillonLeeHornadyComparison.pdf
Hornady has recently updated their cartridge ejector system, so it works well with anyone's die in the 5th station.
Andy
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| Posted: Fri Feb 13th, 2009 03:07 AM |
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runfiverun
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dillon 550 simple, easy to use and nearly unbreakable.
they do cost a bit for the extra's though,but you can mix and match some of the parts to expand what you have to do other cals.
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| Posted: Fri Feb 13th, 2009 03:47 AM |
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Charley
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I've got two Dillon 550s, both wre bought used for considerably less than retail. Most of my volume loading is done on them, with a Lee turret for smaller runs.
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| Posted: Fri Feb 13th, 2009 04:15 AM |
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miestro_jerry
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The Dillon 550 is like the Rockchucker, you have to go out of your way to damage them. The customer service department at Dillon is hard to beat.
The best thing I like about Dillons is the No BS Warranty.
Jerry
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| Posted: Fri Feb 13th, 2009 06:39 AM |
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12th Post |
woodsman777
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thank you all for the info ,
sounds like the dillon 550 might be the way to go
what about dies does it take 7/8-14 or ?
is there some kind of plate that you need for each caliber ,
and since i come from the " School of Hard Knocks" (masters degree)
how difficult is it to set up and get calibrated ?
i am wanting to load multiple calibers 380,38/357, 9mm,40s/w,44mag,45acp,223,308
and maybe a few others if i can find some spare time
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| Posted: Fri Feb 13th, 2009 03:08 PM |
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miestro_jerry
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The Dillons use Standard dies. There is a top plate on the 550, so it is easier changing calibers, but you don't have to buy all of those extra top plates in the beginning, just change the dies.
Jerry
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| Posted: Fri Feb 13th, 2009 10:14 PM |
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Charley
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All you need are the caliber conversion sets Dillon offers...shellplate and fittings that are specific for the case head, and a powder drop tube.
I've never bothered buying extra die holders, or turrets for my turret presses. It doesn't take that much time to set up, just a couple of minutes.
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| Posted: Sat Feb 14th, 2009 02:45 AM |
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runfiverun
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your 45acp plate will do your 308 the 9 will do the 380...
look at a shell holder chart you will get some more ideas....
sometimes you can use one plate,and different buttons for other stuff.
like 30-30,38-55,32-40,25-35.7-30 waters all take the same shell plate but different top ends.
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| Posted: Sat Feb 14th, 2009 03:49 AM |
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miestro_jerry
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I find it's easy to just buy another Dillon and leave it set up for one caliber.
I have a Squae Deal B in 9mm, I may buy one for 45 ACP.
You only live once, so enjoy!
Jerry
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| Posted: Sat Feb 14th, 2009 08:20 PM |
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dnafis
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After reading manuals and reviews of all of the progressives, I chose the RCBS pro-2000 progressive with manual indexing. 10,000 rounds later and I still love the press. The press is well thought out and well built.
Some highlights:
The press working area is open and easy to access so that it is easy to get shells into and out of all of the stations when I want to do some operations in single stage mode or if I make a mistake I have to correct.
In depriming, all spent primers are sent down a tube and captured in a jar dangling from it keeping the press, workbench and floor clean.
The APS primer system is excellent, no primer tubes like I had with my old turret press. Primers don't fall out or flip as they did in my old press.
It is easy to load non-cci primers into strips, a loader and strips are provided with the press. It takes only seconds to jiggle 25 primers into a strip and press the handle to seat them. No more one-by-one primer tube pickup.
You seat the primer with a forward push of the handle and since it is the only operation being performed at the time, there is good tactile feedback.
The powder measure is accurate and with the micrometer adjustment, very quick to reset for my favorite loads. I don't trust the micrometer completely though and weigh 10 to 12 powder throws when setting up. It usally only needs a tenth of a grain or so adjustment to be accurate.
In spite of how well the PM works, I'm still paranoid about powder thow. I weigh every 25th round doing so every time I attach a each new primer strip. After 10,000 rounds, I have never had to readjust the measure after setup but I'm not going to take a chance on a first time.
The die head allows for 4 dies plus the powder measure which stays on the press. Emptying the PM requires removing a thumb screw (a nice big one), slipping off a spring and lifting most of the PM up leaving the die part still attached to the press. You empty the powder and replace the PM, spring and thumb screw. It takes a few seconds and leaves all of the settings intact.
Changing from small to large primer or vice versa takes less than a minute. You unscrew one primer punch and screw in the other (both are provided).
Changing die heads takes seconds, you pull two pins and slide one head out and another in. There are even slots drilled into the press body to store the pins while you change heads so they can't roll off your workbench.
Some guys have had problems with the APS system but I haven't. My press is probably newer (2006) than those that had problems because it came with an updated parts explosion that shows different parts for the APS system. I assume that the problems were fixed because I haven't had any.
Compaints: 1. my press came with 2 large primer punches, not 1 small and 1 large as it should have. It took a week for RCBS to get a small punch to me. They sent it by standard US mail, California to New Jersey. Since, at the time I was only reloading small primer pistol ammo, that was a LONG week. 2. I think the shell plates are awfully expensive. 3. the pictures in the printed manual are not much better than those in the PDF online.
Oh yeah, I've only used the press with Lee pistol dies so far (32acp, 9mm, 380auto, 38sp/357mag, 40s&w and, now, 45acp) with the exception of a 9mm Lyman M-expander die. The rounds have been flawless.
I found this review illuminating:
http://www.handloads.com/articles/default.asp?id=26
Good luck on your quest.
- Don
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| Posted: Sun Feb 15th, 2009 07:56 PM |
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Offfhand
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Woodsman, if you're not in a rush to get a progressive loader check around and try to find a Ransom Loader. (Designed and once made by the late Chuck Ransom of Ransom Rest fame.) They are reasonably fast, beautifully made and compact, yet with plenty of working space and have auto case feed. They are a joy to own and use but, sadly, no longer made but you might find a used one offered here or in other shooting/reloading sites. For truly high speed reloading the best ever is the Schell Loader (Schell is maker's name.) He is, or was, located in Texas and may be out of production. Like the Ransom Loader, it's worth checking out. I have two of them and they are quite massive-almost as big as a powered loading machine-and beautifull made. The Schell loader has auto case AND BULLET feed and once all the hoppers are filled it's a one hand operation that pops out loaded ammo as fast as you can pull the handle. I've even thought of connecting mine to a hydraulic power operation, which would make it fully automatic. If anyone is interested I'll try to post pics of the Shell and Ransom loaders.
Load safely and good luck,
Offfhand
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| Posted: Tue Feb 17th, 2009 10:50 AM |
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woodsman777
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I'm in no hurry ,because my finances  are in no hurry to catch up with gun purchases of recent
but thanks for all the input ,
I'll be reading all i can until the budget catches up with my wish list
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