I have been having problems lately as I (the Dillon) have been tipping and failing to pick-up primers. Tonight in a moment of thought and frustration, I remembered a problem I had maybe 10 years ago. The roller bracket shell platform was loose. There are 2 small screws that have to be tightened from the bottom and they are hard to see and more difficult to reach. It took a while to tighten them, but it is working fine and my blood pressure has gone way down.

I had called Dillon last week and think I will call back tomorrow and tell them the problem.

That platform does loosen up from time to time. I discovered that problem with mine right out of the box. Like any systems tool it needs to be maintained, cleaned and lube/oil doesn't hurt either form time to time.

NEVER lube or oil the primer slide. It runs best bone dry. If you want it smoother, dry graphite or moly but anything wet will pick up crud coming off the depriming & that pretty much brings things to a screeching halt sooner than later.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

Hey at least the CS didn't tell you that the 550 doesn't like Winchester Primers like he told me. I had to get help here to fix the problem. Don

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USN Retired/VN VET
M&P X5

Fredj you're quite correct. I'm sorry that my comment was poorly worded. Oil or grease on the primer slide is not approprate. That part of my statement was tagged on in reference general maintenance. Every press needs checking to assure all of its parts are properly adjusted and some of those parts need oil or grease. Does that sound better? ;-)

I could just see a newb putting some slide glide on it & having a huge mess.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

Dirt, grit and powder residue if not periodically cleaned out of the priming system's shuttle assembly will gum up the works whether you use a dry lube or not.

If you change primer sizes now and then it gets taken care of during that process, but if you stay with the same size primer for thousands of rounds, you'll want to take it apart clean it out. A toothbrush and a clean cotton cloth followed by some graphite lube will work fine.

I do keep the ram and the hinge pins on the press oiled, but I agree you want to keep any and all oil away from the priming system - for primer reliability if nothing else. Few things will inactivate a primer faster than some wayward oil.

I keep a small brush close by both my 550 and my MEC 9000, to sweep up various residue that accumulates in several places. Luckily I have never had my primer feed loosen up.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Yup, squeaky clean is the order of the day! I find that alcohol wipes work excellent! Keep a stack nearby the press, wipe things down when I refill the primer tube. Just be sure to wait for it to dry!! :-)

I have used dry/powdered graphite and it works fine, a pencil will work as well, just "write" on it with the lead and then crank out the rounds!

Be sure to get to the range to empty the ammo cans... ;-)

Where exactly are these two screws?

Are you talking about the primer housing screws (part # 14014) that hold on the primer housing (part # 20263)?

Primer seating takes a lot of force on my Dillon 550b, especially with Winchester primers.

Maybe there's two screws somewhere I don't know about?

I believe he is referring to part # 14280 Roller Bracket Shell Platform. It has 2 screw which can become loose causing the platform/shelf to tilt. It is the platform that the Cartridge Spring (paper clip) screws into.

Thanks, I found two little tiny hex screws under there. Both are tight.