I decided to upgrade my old RL-450 with the auto prime upgrade package, so I ordered it and installed it today. It went on easily enough, except it was a bit of a pain to install the roller bracket shell platform in the limited space on the press. But one thing that got me was the fact that with this upgrade package that is marketed for the RL-450, which hasn't made for 30 years, but they didn't bother putting a primer slide return spring in the $95 upgrade package. And my 30+ year old press could use a new spring, as the one on it is rusting. Hell, that spring can't cost them more than 50 cents and what could it hurt to put one in an upgrade kit?

I did drop them a note letting them know what I thought of the lack of a spring too. The press is great, but little nitpicky stuff such as this kind of ticks me off.

I have an old Dillon RL 450 with the same upgrade . It's pretty much the same now as a 550 except for the exchangeable tool head on the 550's. Been a great machine and still going strong.

Yea, with the primer upgrade, mine is pretty much like yours now, except I also added an InLine Fabrication ERGO roller lever and the Dillon bullet tray. I put the auto powder system on around 4-5 months ago. And I recently mounted it on an InLine Fabrication 4" Ultramount and set up my T-7 and my RCBS bench mount priming system on plates for the Ultramount too. InLine Fabrication has some pretty neat and handy stuff. Another neat item they sell is the Bin Barrier, which is an aluminum plate that installs in the cut out side of an Akrobin and lets you use them to their full capacity. I've had problems in the past with loaded rounds bouncing out the bin when it starts getting full and these stop it from happening.

Gunna,

What is that sitting right in front of the Acrobin with the coax thing coming out of it?

Led light.

I have a 450 upgraded to 550b specks now too. The best money to spend now (if you have not already) is get the "Bullet Tray". It places the bullets right at the correct height and will speed you up by about 50 rounds an hour. Before I bought Dillon's, I had made one from a 4" PVC pipe end cap. The Dillon tray holds 2 to 3 times as many bullets.

The worst money spent, is the electric case feeder! It is for pistol rounds only! It made loading marginally easier but no faster and maybe somewhat slower!

I recommend getting every shell holder you can possibly use. The prices are only going to go up! Same with powder funnels! I don't base the number of cartridges I can load by the Conversion Kits I have, (around 9) but buy the actual number of Cartridges I can and do load. Everything from 25 ACP to 50-70 Gov't. with the exception of 45 Auto Rim and 8mm Label. A friend wants to do 7 STW, I've got the stuff!

Ivan

By the way: you may want to use some powdered graphite under the primer sliding bar. Once I got it adjusted and lubed correctly it is good until you change it. The current lubing has around 75,000 rounds and still going strong.

I have a 450 also. It was upgraded to autoprime many years ago, sans buzzer. I recently bought the Dillon auto powder setup but haven't gotten around to setting it up yet. I've had it 35+ years. It's cranked out a few rounds over the years.

You can use a rubber band for the return spring until you get one. Buy a pack of different sizes natural rubber and make the pressure like you think it should be. Also a good hardware store should have a spring assortment.

That's a great suggestion. If mine breaks before I get a replacement I will do this. Thanks for posting this up!

I'm not the only reloader with an upgraded DL 450! Who needs progress?

I reload a couple of days a week at an indoor range using a DL 650 with a case feeder. Thursday I loaded 100 rounds of 45 ACP in 4-1/2 minutes. The next 100 rounds took 25 minutes because I had to disassemble and clean the auto primer mechanism and shell plate. It took a little over 2 hours to load a 1,000 rounds of 45 acp. When I went back to my old DL 450 to load 38 Spl at home, it was a welcome change.

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S&WHF 366

I have an AT 500..no primer feed or powder measure. When loading some Large pistol(41 Mag) I put a 450 manual primer feed on. Doesn't make it a lot faster...just don't have to handle the primers. I usually load the 41 mag midrange loads on a 650