I kicked myself bloody last Jan trying to decide what kind of press to get...single stage? Progessive? if progressive, what kind? Having never reloaded I really had no clue where to start. I read and read and near gave myself a headache trying to decide.

I wanted to start with easier loads, 9mm, 38 special, 44 special, but I knew that obviously, I'd eventually move to other rounds.

Long story short, I bought a 550 in late Jan and I've been beyond pleased with it. I've loaded a good 1000 rds of 9mm and pushing 2000 of 38. I've also ran pushing 1000 combined 44 special and magnum. The press has been superb.

A few weeks back, I got the itch to load some match 223 for a bench rifle I have and that lead me down the path of looking at a single stage. In the end, I got a RCBS Rock Chucker Supreme for a great price and thus began my single stage journey.

While I think this combo is going to be a real winner, and the Rock Chucker is a fine press, I can't imagine the pain it would be to run 500-1000 mass runs on the thing, it would take forever to do.

I know I'm coming on here to ramble...but I figured I'd talk about this just in case someone is one the fence about single vs progressive.

Dillons are good machines with a good reputation and I'm glad you are liking your set-up but as to running large amounts of ammo on a single stage being a pain, it depends on your perspective. I do all of my reloading on a single stage and enjoy it. Running out 500-600 rounds of ammo isn't a chore for me, it's relaxing and fun. I might add that there is very little that can go wrong when using a single stage, considering the operator is competent.

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"In God We Trust"

I went through the same thing some 25 years ago. I bought the Dillon 550b and all sorts of accessories to make caliber changes easier. Only later to discover I needed a single stage press for small batches of ammo for testing and tuning, plus for making specialty shot shell type loads and such.

Then I decided I needed something in the middle, and ended up with a turret press as well. They all three get a good workout, and I wouldn't want to be without any of them now.

I own two Dillons and I am thinking on getting a used single stage press also. I'm thinking on the lines of a used RCBS. Sounds like you can set a single stage up to do those "little things" and not bother the reloading presses. Thanks for starting this thread, you helped me make up my mind!!

I picked up that Rock Chucker Supreme for just over $125, very solid price.

I really think I'm going to use it for de-priming as well, swapping back and forth between different calibers for that purpose is WAY easier.

I have a 1984 450 Dillon upgraded to a 550b, a Rock Chucker (so old the color is a light mint green) and a Redding T-7 turret. Along with 7 MEC shotshell presses. (not to count 7 Lyman/Ideal 310 tools with 25 die sets and a stack of Lee loaders)

When I first started (1979) I wanted big piles of 9mm, I loaded 5000 on a Lyman Spar-T Turret press a tray of 50 at a time.

The first batch on the Dillon was 10K of 9mm the second batch was 20K 223. Most batches are for all the empty brass I can find, so 45ACP are 5K at a time, 44-40, 44 Russian and 44 Special are about 2000 at a time 38 Special is around 3500.

I have 8000 357 Sig, 1000 380, 800 32-20, all waiting for the time to start them.

I usually load batches of 500 minimum on the Dillon, so 250 45-70 is a job for the Rock Chucker. The 1000 yard stuff I load in small batches on the T-7 (things like: 338 Lapua, 300 Win Mag, 44 Mag, 308 for Palma, 22 BR and My 1000 yard 223 [way over Sammi spec load]

Once and a while a friend or two drop by and we load 50 or 100 rounds for some new rifle they bought. Those are done on the RCBS, I have the conversion bushing to Hornady L-N-L. That way my die settings are not lost (same idea as Dillon's conversion plates!)

I cannibalize die sets to accomplish odd loading techniques. What ever works!

Ivan

1 single stage RCBS Rockchucker,1 turret Lee and 2 Dillon,no 3 Dillon on its way.
Good choice you made with the 550.When reading the first lines of your post,2 words came up to my mind:''of course!''.
That's how good the Dillon stuff is.Have fun with it.

...but as much 9mm as I shoot, sometimes I wish I could afford a Dillon. My joints are starting to give me trouble, too and the less lever pumps, the better. Maybe one day I can find a used one somewhere.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Now days, unless you get a deal on components, 9mm on sale makes reloading not worth the effort. My wife's CCW is a Glock 17 and I own a M&P 9c, so I just buy her a case of ball ammo every year or two, and then I scrounge from her stash!

40 S&W and 223 are often like this. Until the war ends, I don't see 223 ever being cheaper to reload. But 38 Special and any 45 can pay for a SDB or 550b in a couple of years for most people. (I'm still shooting 223 I loaded in 1984, when Winchester dumped 50Million 55 grain FMJ/BT projectiles on the market 8.99/1000 retail!!)

If and when you buy a Dillon, get all the shell plates and accessories you can think you'll ever need. I think they are triple what I payed. (a note to save money: "Cartridge Conversion Kits" are a good deal for the first few but then you are paying for parts you already have. Example: You can load 30-06 with the 308 kit, but not the other way around! But the only difference is the powder funnel{and your dies}! There are multiple shell plates that fit some rounds, newer 9mm shell plates fit 40S&W but if you plan on loading 7.62x39 a different shell plate is in order. But if you already did 308, your powder funnel is that one! So what all you need may already be in your pile of goodies. In the back of the instructions are charts that will help....USE THEM and save $$$!

Ivan

I have three presses--a single-stage, a turret, and a progressive. I use them all, for different things. It's all about the volume you intend to shoot and the amount of time you want to spend reloading.

PS--If you ever want to really speed up your rifle production while retaining accuracy, the RCBS Chargemaster is money well-spent. It'll dispense a 40-grain charge as fast as you can seat bullets with the single-stage, even on stock settings.

I've been on disability for many years and it ain't lucrative. Yes, some ammo is cheap, but in my case, it's either reload and shoot all I want or buy ammo and shoot a couple of times a year. Besides, I do like reloading and I've got more time than money.

I wanted to reload for my SKS because I can tailor the loads the way I want. I got a bunch of 7.62 boxer primed rounds so I could reload the brass. When I shot the thing at the range the cases shot out and went all over the place. I recovered about six cases. But I can get 40 rounds of the steel, berdan primed TullAmmo stuff for $12. I swannee the ejected cases are as deadly as the bullets. So I gave up on reloading for that one.

PS: My friend has a mini-14 but he has shoulder trouble and complains about shooting it. I made some .223 test loads with 4895 ten percent under minimum load. Of course because it is semi auto, it has to cycle. Yesterday we went shooting and we tried it out and it worked well and felt great. I'm thinking about dropping it a little more as long as it reliably cycles. I like to shoot everything from mouse poots to full bore and reloading gives me that. I've done a lot of experimenting with 9mm, some with 165 grain bullets that I modified. In fact, I experiment with almost everything.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Off the topic of Dillon, but reloading 7.62x39 is a problem if you can't get brass to reload. I have been picking up boxer primed 7.62x39 range brass for years, it is usually scattered far and about 25 per range trip, so if they a shooting a hundred, they are only finding 75! You might look for a brass catcher. I bought an upper in 300 Blackout and don't want to lose all my newly formed brass so I started using the net bag on the gun type.

One of these days I'll see a bargain on pulled FMJ or something and I'll load them up. "Now where did I put the pile from before?" that is a common question when I get home from the rifle range!

Ivan

Congrats on your purchase. I've also started with 550 and now have 14 caliber conversions for it Regarding reloading 7.62x39 - I've been pretty happy with Berry's plated and keeping it under 2000 fps with 4198 (as per their recommendation). Don't have solution for SKS but my AK has a side mount so I pit a picatinny rail on it and rail mounted caldwell brass catcher - 100% brass recovery since.

Congrats on the 550.
I used a turret press for close to 15 years, 357, 45 auto, 30-30 mostly, even loaded a little 9mm and 38 Super on it.

Bought a 9mm 1911 last winter and I just could not bring myself to the press to load 9mm. 5 pulls for every round for a very hungry pistol just wasn't going to cut it anymore.

Bought a Dillon BL 500, the stripped down version of the 550 C.

Even hand placing the primers and manually operating the Redding powder dump, the BL 550 is 3 times as fast as the turret, and the satisfaction of getting 1 round with every pull of the handle is well worth the money.

Life is good again.

It really is so much faster, it's incredible.

I burn through 9mm and 38 special the most (I have a worked 627 pro and I shoot steel with it and softer 38 wadcutters). I'll run those rounds in 500 lots. The only thing that slows me down is loading the primer tubes, because I only have two of them so I can get 300 ready to go, but then need to stop the press to get 200 more ready.

I'm extremely thankful for my machine, it really is a great piece of equipment.

I primed some match 223 brass on the Rock Chucker last weekend, running only 30 for my first batch, it didn't take long. I think I'm going to enjoy running those match loads on that machine, single stage is good for that purpose.

Getting any time carved out to reload is my problem... the speed with which I can reload on the Dillon or Star progressives vs the Lyman turret or the RCBS single stage bolted to the bench now is really not that significant for the 100 reds or so I load at a time. I give props to the Dillon for staying set up... all I have to do is fill the powder reservoir and primer tube and I’m ready to go, but if a caliber change is involved, I’m probably just as well off with the turret or SS. If I were going to do a marathon session in one caliber, the progressives would win hands down.

Froggie

I have 9 large tubes and 4 small. So I do large primered ammo in lots of 1000. That is 2 hours or so, so I need a break anyway! Get a cuppa, got to the head, and refill the primer tubes, and start the next 1000. My kids are gone now but they knew as well as my wife: Do not disturb dad while reloading! Been loading on the 450/550b since 1984 and never had a squib load!

Ivan