Dillon powder dispenser accuracy?

From the Houston Warehouse experience, powder amounts are one of the smallest contributors to accuracy.

lrrifleman said:

Greetings!

The last Dillon press that I purchased was back in the late 1990s. Currently, I'm contemplating getting a press dedicated for large primer ammo. My 550B is committed for small primer ammo, and is throwing relatively consistent pistol charges.

I'm just trying to identify how much flexibility I would have beyond loading 45 ACP. My dilemma is, if I go with a 550C, how consistent can I expect the dispenser to be throwing around a 42.0 grain charge of extruded or ball powder for an F class rifle? Usually, I load my rifle ammo on a single stage press.

While I was initially looking for a Square Deal B, I'm finding that I can get a brand new 550C for less.

As always, thanks in advance for your help!

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Dillon makes an adapter so that you can mount, for example a Redding BR-30 in place of the Dillon. I use this when loading bottle neck cartridges so that the necks don't get all whacked.

mtgianni said:

From the Houston Warehouse experience, powder amounts are one of the smallest contributors to accuracy.

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For handgun calibers, but not necessarily for rifle. The quality, design and appropriate weight of a bullet, in my experience, does trump all, though.

I am pretty sure that the Dillon powder measurers have not changed between original 550, B, or C except for the safety lever/fail safe rod. I run a pair of old 550's from the late 80's. One is set up for small primers and I use the small powder charge bar. The other is set up for large primers and I use the larger powder charge bar. These are plenty accurate for me needs.

lrrifleman said:

Greetings!

The last Dillon press that I purchased was back in the late 1990s. Currently, I'm contemplating getting a press dedicated for large primer ammo. My 550B is committed for small primer ammo, and is throwing relatively consistent pistol charges.

I'm just trying to identify how much flexibility I would have beyond loading 45 ACP. My dilemma is, if I go with a 550C, how consistent can I expect the dispenser to be throwing around a 42.0 grain charge of extruded or ball powder for an F class rifle? Usually, I load my rifle ammo on a single stage press.

While I was initially looking for a Square Deal B, I'm finding that I can get a brand new 550C for less.

As always, thanks in advance for your help!

Click to expand...

IMHO, the Dillon 750 is the way to go! It's slightly more than the 550 or SD-B but the advantages are tremendous. The 750 is a more modern designed, more stout press with much greater capability, possible options and accessories. I have a Dillon 650 (not that different than the 750) and the powder measure on it could not be better - same as the 750. It is not only accurate and consistent, it is SUPER accurate and SUPER consistent! While reloading and starting off a session, I weigh powder charges every 5-10 rounds and then every 50 rounds after that - it's always the same weight.

Mostly what I reload are handgun calibers where a few tenths of a grain can make a difference - never any issues. When loading rifle calibers with 30, 40, 50+ grain powder charges, a few tenths makes no difference at all. It's all about percentages.

The 550 is a competent press and has been around for decades, but IMHO does not come close to the 750. I owned a SD-B for 20+ years but quite honestly, I would not recommend it. I had to have Dillon rebuild it twice over that time because many of the parts just wore out - they gladly did it but it was a pain in the butt. The SD-B uses proprietary dies, won't reload any rifle calibers, is relatively slow, takes more effort to crank out the rounds and IMHO Dillon should really discontinue it since they have much better presses for sale now at not much more money. After owning a SD-B for 20+ years and now owning a 650, I see no real purpose for the SD-B - just too limiting.

BTW, I also own an RCBS Uniflow powder measure (for use with my Rock Chucker) and while "accurate enough" it is not even close to the Dillon press. On a 50 grain powder setting it can be off 1/2 - 1 grain. While for my purposes of reloading large rifle cartridges on the RCBS Rock Chucker it doesn't matter too much because I am not loading even close to maximum loads and on 50 grains the difference is 1%-2%. The Dillon press is much more accurate.

I've only been reloading for two years or so, but I can tell you that an XL-750 with all-Dillon parts will consistently drop Titegroup to within .1 grains (for .38 Special/.32 H&R/.357 Mag).

For instance, the great majority of my reloading is .38 Special. If I set the funnel to drop 3.5g of TG for 158G RN, my loads are always between 3.4-3.6g. Not great IMO. But...it's been working.

I haven't used anything other than TG yet.

Well...... I'll try not to sound too much like a Dillon "Fan Boy". You can save money with other brands - but In my opinion you are giving up quality, reliability, NO BS Warranty, and ease and accuracy of use - not to mention speed. Over the long haul there won't be any "savings". There is a reason Dillon is on the top of the heap! I'd also have to guess that their 750 is their # 1 seller.

While I started with an RCBS single stage back in the mid-70s with the help of my dad's employee discount, I have turned to Dillon presses for higher volume handgun cartridges. I started with an SDB, then moved up to a 550B. I now have an SDB for small primer ammo, an SDB for large primer ammo, a 550B for higher volume 223 and 30 cal ball load ammo, and I still use my dad's RCBS for my precision F class ammo. While a 750 would be nice, financially it's out of my reach.

I have used my Dillons for handgun shooting mostly 223 on a 750. I load H 322 or Reloader 11. Loading rifle I set the 550 up as a basic loader and use powder scoops with a funnel. I polished the one powder measure I use for Unique and actually have no problems of note. Once a year I take the measures apart...clean and polish then wax the parts I can..even Unique drops within a tenth or so...but I never push the envelope anyway. I didn't know what an F clas was either...As far as rifle shooting my ranges are all within 500 yards...350 these days350 yds IS truly a long way to shoot game

I recently did some testing for accuracy with the Dillon powder measure, using a laboratory scale accurate to .01 grain. Below are my results.
Weight of an individual granule of powder, based on an average of 10 sample granules:
Staball Match .020 grain per granule of powder

Varget .024 grain per granule of powder

H4350 .028 grain per granule of powder

Using a 223 Remington case for volume, the extreme spread in the weight of a typical powder charge as dispensed by a standard Dillon Precision powder measure:

Staball Match – Average weight for 10 loads 24.36 grains

Extreme Spread - .14 grains, equal to 7 granules of powder

High – 24.44 grains

Low 24.30 grains

Varget –Average weight for 10 loads 23.18 grains

Extreme Spread - .14 grains, equal to 5.8 granules of powder

High – 23.22 grains

Low 23.08 grains

lrrifleman said:

Greetings!

The last Dillon press that I purchased was back in the late 1990s. Currently, I'm contemplating getting a press dedicated for large primer ammo. My 550B is committed for small primer ammo, and is throwing relatively consistent pistol charges.

I'm just trying to identify how much flexibility I would have beyond loading 45 ACP. My dilemma is, if I go with a 550C, how consistent can I expect the dispenser to be throwing around a 42.0 grain charge of extruded or ball powder for an F class rifle? Usually, I load my rifle ammo on a single stage press.

While I was initially looking for a Square Deal B, I'm finding that I can get a brand new 550C for less.

As always, thanks in advance for your help!

Click to expand...

To understand your potential flexibility is simple - look at the caliber conversion kits are available for the 550.

Second why do you expect a Dillon to act differently because you drop a larger charge. Personally I have loaded lots of 460 S&W with more powder than your considering.

I take it you are shooting 308 or 30-06 in F Class and I have loaded both on 550 as well as 650 without issue.

ruggyh said:

To understand your potential flexibility is simple - look at the caliber conversion kits are available for the 550.

Second why do you expect a Dillon to act differently because you drop a larger charge. Personally I have loaded lots of 460 S&W with more powder than your considering.

I take it you are shooting 308 or 30-06 in F Class and I have loaded both on 550 as well as 650 without issue.

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Sir,

I am steering away from my 550B because I don't have the patience I once had to deal with primer flipping issues when I switch calibers. Addressing these issues requires more movement than this damaged body can deal with. I actually have all of the conversion kits that I could possibly use, except for 25-35 WCF.

For F Open, I'm shooting 6.5 Creedmoor. In F class, I need sub MOA accuracy that I have yet to produce on a progressive press, therefore, I depend on the RCBS.

For AR Tactical, I don't need sub-MOA accuracy, so as long as I'm using ball or flake powder, I should be good with my 550B.

I'm looking at experimenting with ball powder on my 550B for 308 for F T/R. We'll see how that goes. Not that I expect to ever be able to shoot across the course again, but I would like to reload 30-06 and 308 to replicate M2 Ball, M72 Match, and M118LR for my service rifles. Over the past 30+years, I've learned that IMR4895 and IMR4064 are poison to accurate match ammo through the 550B.

With respect to a 650, I don't have one and I'm not looking to get anymore presses. 3 Dillons, an RCBS, an emergency fallback Lee, and a number of Lyman 310 tools will last both my, and my kids', lifetimes.

lrrifleman said:

Sir,

I am steering away from my 550B because I don't have the patience I once had to deal with primer flipping issues when I switch calibers.

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Interesting. I've loaded tens of thousands of rounds on my Dillon 550 and a flipped primer is a rarity. I can't remember the last time I had one flip. Same with my 650. I wonder if it is a possibility that the primers were fed into the tubes upside down or if it could be an issue with the primer system needing cleaning?

I load pistol & rifle on my 550. My 550 is an older version but I can change to either large or small primers. When loading for rifle bench rest, I set my powder measure a little light. Then trickle up to the desired exact weight. I do this for .556, 30-30 and 45-70. The results I've realized have been excellent.

smoothshooter said:

What is an F class rifle?
I’ll bet almost nobody reading this here has a clue.

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I shot F class for several seasons.
It originated in Canada as the Farquharson class and was meant to keep old shooters in the sport by allowing scope sights and bipods.
There are two Divisions, F Open is pretty much anything goes, any caliber up to .35, a generous weight limit, and heavy front and rear rests. I have heard it called "belly benchrest."
F-T/R (Tactical Rifle) allows only .223/5.56 and .308/7.62 with an 18 lb weight limit and front bipod attached to the gun, with rear sandbag.
The preferred range is 1000 yards, but depends on range space available. One place I shot had to close a road to shoot at 1000 and typically did that on Sunday, shooting 600 yards on Saturday. Another range maxed out at 600, so we shot 300 and 600. I have shot alongside Palma shooters, therefore 800, 900, and 1000.


I recently saw an ad for a premium Dillon powder measure, all machined parts, that they demonstrated to throw 4895 within a tenth of a grain. Probably not as close with longer grain powder.
I see a lot about fiddling and diddling loads but do not recall seeing a report on small changes in powder charge. What will a tenth of a grain, or two, or three, out of say 50 grains, do to your POI?

I have shot 1/4’ groups with a worked AR-15 20” using the 550B hand loads. I was shocked. The accuracy all depends on what powder you use. H335 meters amazing while Varget powder is horrible. 308 volume is another story.

BE Mike said:

Interesting. I've loaded tens of thousands of rounds on my Dillon 550 and a flipped primer is a rarity. I can't remember the last time I had one flip. Same with my 650. I wonder if it is a possibility that the primers were fed into the tubes upside down or if it could be an issue with the primer system needing cleaning?

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Had it happen one time and realized I had the large tube using small primers....

I've loaded 5.56, 7.62, 30-06, and 338 Lapua Magnum on a Dillon 550. The Dillon Powder Measure is not bad, nor is it fantastic.

5.56 and 7.62 I loaded is good enough to win matches at Camp Perry to get you leg points towards a Distinguished Rifleman's Badge and a President's Hundred tab.

The United States Palma Team shoots 308 Winchester rifles at ranges of 800, 900, 1000, and 1100 yards -- with slings and iron sights, no sand bags or bipods. They loaded on 550s for a number of years (their story was profiled in a Dillon Blue Press magazine article).

Stick powders (Varget, 4895, 4064) do OK (but not great) in the Dillon measure but I returned to a Redding BR and BR-3. I hand-prime precision rifle cases to get a feel of primer pocket condition.

I'm still using my Square Deal B I bought around 1990, mostly .38 & .45. Replaced several bushings but no major malfunctions, Dillon still supports this model and they sent me new bushings at no charge a few years ago. Excellent quality and support!

I also have a few 'regular' single stage presses for various calibers, it is just much slower to load these.

Yes, I would like a 550, but currently don't have room for another one unless I expand my shop.

I use many extruded powders in my Dillons. 2 XL650’s and an updated RL450. When I do, I use wire ties to put an aquarium pump on the outside of the hopper. I also use the large powder bar. The air pump adds just enough vibration to allow consistent throws. The same principle applies to some hand thrown measures with the “knocker”on them. Works for me. Varget and others work just fine for me in 223/556 and 308/762 loads.