Dillon Square Deal B’s ?

[smoothshooter]

I reload primarily .38/.357 / .45 ACP / .44 Special, and have gotten to where I don’t enjoy reloading much any more.
I have an old Rockchucker, and a Dillon 550 that has primer feed issues.

To simplify things, I am considering buying a couple Square Deal B’s and setting one up for .38 and the other for .45ACP and never changing them to any other calibers. .44 Special would be loaded on the Rockchucker.
Since I prefer to seat and crimp bullets in separate operations
I can work that out.
My question is, ( costs aside ), are the SDB’s okay presses?

[Birdhunter6]

One of my buddies uses 3 SDBs and loves them.

He is committed to 3 pistol calibers only. Since SDB dies are not like any others he can't incorporate a Lee taper crimp die as some choose to do with semiauto calibers. If that doesn't bother you and you are comfortable with the auto index feature you shouldn't have a problem.

Having run a 550 for decades I've found that while cleaning and a little silicone dry lube on the primer slide usually help primer feeding issues, the simple answer is to replace the primer slide and spring.

Wait, no, that 550 obviously has MAJOR problems, want to sell it? (LOL)

[PALADIN85020]

If that 550 has primer feed issues, call Dillon toll-free at 1-800-223-4570 and explain your problem. They will send you free replacement parts right away.

John

[Rifleman200-10X]

I still have an old 450 Dillon that I use quite often. Primer feed and powder measure are both manually operated. Guess what? It works 100%. I also have a 550 that has had recurring primer feed issues. I've cleaned and replaced parts many times. I finally gave up, and put a manual primer feed bar from a 450 on it, problem solved. It doesn't really slow the process up at all, and probably actually saves time since you don't have to stop and clear the jams.

[Old_Cop]

My SD is in 9mm and is ideal for one caliber. It has required attention a few times and Dillon has the best service.

[max503]

Those primer feed issues CAN be fixed. Call support and they will walk you through it. I have one SDB for 38 and 45. I don't change it over much. It's not that hard to do, but I'm lazy. I'm thinking if you did it relatively often it wouldn't be a big deal.
I trust the ammo from my Dillion for self defense use.
Dillion customer support is second to none.

[smoothshooter]

Originally Posted by Birdhunter6

One of my buddies uses 3 SDBs and loves them.

He is committed to 3 pistol calibers only. Since SDB dies are not like any others he can't incorporate a Lee taper crimp die as some choose to do with semiauto calibers. If that doesn't bother you and you are comfortable with the auto index feature you shouldn't have a problem.

Having run a 550 for decades I've found that while cleaning and a little silicone dry lube on the primer slide usually help primer feeding issues, the simple answer is to replace the primer slide and spring.

Wait, no, that 550 obviously has MAJOR problems, want to sell it? (LOL)

No, thanx. LOL.
I was told recently that Dillon has available a couple of primer feed parts that are of an improved design that might cure the problem.

[jag22]

Love mine setup for 9mm. Never had any issue eat all, never had to adjust anything. When it needs a little cleaning it will let you know but is an easy task.

[cmj8591]

I find that when my 550 starts getting sluggish, it's usually time for a good cleaning. Sometimes those nasty primer anvils get stuck in the works and are difficult to see. Dillon has great customer service and they've sent me parts over the years to replace broken and worn things. I did install the automatic primer feed and it works well. My press is an early one and is actually a 500 and not a 550. I can't even begin to estimate how many rounds I have loaded with it. I've owned it almost 40 years. One of the best shooting investments I have made.

[.38SuperMan]

I had 2 SDB’s, one for large and one for small primers. I got to where I wasn’t shooting as much and sold one to my brother. Neither gave any problems after loading many thousands of rounds.

I agree, I have my dads old Rick Chucker and after using a progressive press a single stage isn’t much fun. I just loaded 2000 38’s and 357’s and didn’t enjoy it.

I now have mixed feelings about Dillon. Mike Dillon died and his sons took it over. It’s a different organization now. I ordered a set of 38/357 dies in Feb this year and waited 6 months and never received them. Dillon said another 6-8 months. So I got on the phone and started calling dealers until I found a set and a dealer that would ship. The disturbing part of my calls was several dealers no longer carried Dillon because of issues with the company. A couple expressed that the sons were just in it for the money with no regard for dealers or customers. True or not I don’t know other than they had no dies in stock and were a year or more behind in orders. It also appears presses are backordered too.

Knowing what I know now I’d seriously look at another system. I’m happy with what I have and it works great but other companies aren’t backordered and Dillon is.

[austintexas]

I have 3 square deals. I like them. I've had a 550 and a 650. I sold them both because I don't mass produce rifle calibers. BUT! If I was starting out right now I would opted for the 550. It is only $40 more than the Square deal and over all would load a wide range of calibers. The only rifle caliber I mass produce is 223. I have a square deal that loads it. I know they don't make a square deal in rifle calibers but Years ago I picked up the 223 square deal at the Live oak gunshow for $80, Live Oak is a burg outside of Randolph AFB and Lackland AFB. I suspect it came from one of those bases and was a special order for the military. recently I've seen square deals for sale at local gunshows, Most were asking $350 but would take less. These were complete with all accessories.
SWCA 892

[Birdhunter6]

Originally Posted by smoothshooter

No, thanx. LOL.
I was told recently that Dillon has available a couple of primer feed parts that are of an improved design that might cure the problem.

I had forgotten, many years ago I came into 2000 rounds of once fired .40 Speer brass. I had nothing but problems with primer removal/feeding. Dillon customer service tech identified brass as Speer after I described the problem, and before I mentioned the brand. He told me to grind the tip of my primer punch pin flat. He said the Dillon pin was rounded on the end for smoother progressive function and the shape of the Speer primer cup could cause the spent primer to 'clench' on the pin and reseat in the fired case on the up stroke. I did as suggested and problems went away.

In my experience Dillon customer service can help me fix anything I can wear out or screw up. I should have mentioned them in my original post. Sorry, and again good luck.

BH6

[glenwolde]

Originally Posted by Rifleman200-10X

I still have an old 450 Dillon that I use quite often. Primer feed and powder measure are both manually operated. Guess what? It works 100%. I also have a 550 that has had recurring primer feed issues. I've cleaned and replaced parts many times. I finally gave up, and put a manual primer feed bar from a 450 on it, problem solved. It doesn't really slow the process up at all, and probably actually saves time since you don't have to stop and clear the jams.

Dillon sells the 550 frame, stripped. If you have a 450 you just swap parts to it and you have a 450 with a removable tool head.

I did that with one of my 450's. The I sold the 450 frame which offset half the cost. Apparently some guys think the fixed dies of the 450 are better and de-convert 550's. Go figure.

I automated the powder drop using Lee Auto Disk measures which aren't fancy but a whole lot less expensive than Dillon's measures. I think you can get three or four for the price of one Dillon measure. I kind of prefer fixed-rotor measures.

Then I decided to sell my second 450 but kept the manual primer feed system as a spare. Parts are no longer available for the manual primer feeds from Dillon. The buyer planned on converting to the automatic primer feed anyway.

I never cared for the Square Deals due to there limitations and the higher cost of conversions. But as far as I know they work great.

[Mike, SC Hunter]

Back in the mid 80's I bought 2 Sq-Deals(one for LP's and one for small SP's) and 6 die changes. Then they didn't offer auto index except on on RL-1000 and SQ-Deal back then and I wanted auto index. I've loaded gazillons of 9mm/38 spl/357/40/44 spl/44 mag/45acp and 45 LC on mine. A few simple parts were replaced along the way. They are still used frequently.

[Nightowl]

I had primer feed issues with small pistol primers after about 30 years of use in my 550B. The problem was with the height of the primer seat cup. I finally sent Dillon an email and they sent a new slide with small pistol seater and I have been running smoothly ever since.

There could also be an issue with the plastic part ofn the primer tube, too, but mine was apparently not the issue.

[socal s&w]

I too had 4 SDB's mounted to a strong piece of flat steel that was then jawed into a large swivel-base vice. I could set the swivel to allow loading on any of the SDB's anytime. Set up for .38/9mm/40/.45 calibers. They are simple machines that need little maintenance, I usually took each apart annually and lubricated all moving parts. No problems after thousands of loading sessions.
I have heard however, that Dillon has a long waiting time of late. Such a bummer as the SDB's are really good.
mike

[max503]

Having a Dillion has influenced what guns I've bought over the years. My Dillion can load 38's and 45 acp, so guess what caliber handguns I have the most of?

But just as important as my Dillion is, I could never do without my RCBS single stage press.

[Benchrest1]

I have a SD that I only load my 38 spec. target loads with. Its a great press that I've loaded a ton of ammo with and haven't had a problem. The only gripe I have is it takes a lot more arm strength to use than my other presses do. This could be a problem if you load a lot of ammo and don't have a lot of arm strength.

[6string]

Originally Posted by smoothshooter

I reload primarily .38/.357 / .45 ACP / .44 Special, and have gotten to where I don’t enjoy reloading much any more.
I have an old Rockchucker, and a Dillon 550 that has primer feed issues.

To simplify things, I am considering buying a couple Square Deal B’s and setting one up for .38 and the other for .45ACP and never changing them to any other calibers. .44 Special would be loaded on the Rockchucker.
Since I prefer to seat and crimp bullets in separate operations
I can work that out.
My question is, ( costs aside ), are the SDB’s okay presses?

I've had the opportunity to use all the Dillon presses side by side for comparison.
The SDB presses felt gritty and unrefined compared to all the other Dillon presses. They also take the most effort to operate since the linkage doesn't have the mechanical advantage of the others. Honestly, it is more appropriate to compare it with a Lee.

But, it does have auto indexing, which the 550 does not have.
So, I went with the 650 (now discontinued and replaced with the 750). That was over 20 years ago. It is a fantastic press.

[teletech]

I'd rather have one 650 (now a 750) and caliber changes set up than 3 dedicated SDBs, unless you were only going to load under about 100 rounds at a time.

I kept a SBD in 38spl even after I bought my 650 thinking it would be quicker to leave a machine set up for a caliber than do a caliber change and I actually like the operation feel of the SDB. After a while I noticed that if I was doing more than about 100 rounds at a time, the time for the caliber change on the 650 was offset by the casefeeder and the increased reliability of the primer feed system so I eventually sold the SDB.

[Skeet 028]

Had a couple SDBs in the past. They loaded fine ammo but the footprint on them was too small for me to load on easily

[LAH]

Loaded on SDB for several years mostly 44 magnum. One day the handle broke & they sent me a new one. Finally sold the loader but yes they work.

[jjfitch]

I can't add much to the operation and reliability of the SDB and the convenience of having 9mm and 38 Spl set up all the time. I never realized it until challenged that I can easily load 400 rounds and hour.

What's not to love!

[chief38]

I owned a SD-B for 20 years before upgrading to a Dillon 650XL. While the SD-B is a competent little Press it limits you to using their proprietary Dies only, pistol calibers only, and is somewhat uncomfortable to the user when loading during long sessions.

The 650 has since been replaced by the 750 and can use any standard Dies, is so much faster, allows an auto case feeder to be use, can use almost any brand of Dies and is so effortless and comfortable even while loading 3,000 - 4,000 cases at a time.

If you are spending money on a Reloading outfit I would strongly urge you to go for the best right away and not have to deal with upgrading shortly down the road when you might want to reload calibers not applicable to the SD-B. Comfort and ease of loading as well as speed and efficiencY are important to me and the SD-B just can't live up to that IMHO. Yes it will get the job done, but in the long run it's not the best way to go.

PS: Changing Die's in the 750 is a piece of cake! Especially when the Die Blocks and extra powder canisters are used.