Dillon loading presses pros and cons

[oneounceload]

I had a Dillon 650 at one time. Cost is definitely a major downside; after that, it has the same issue I have had with every progressive press - whether for metallic or shotshell - and that is the primer feeding area. If there is one weak link where every maker has a Gremlin, it is it. If you can get that dialed in so it always feeds, never flips, etc., then Dillon will work as well as any of the others. They have a great warranty - as does RCBS - and that is comforting to some folks.

Buy whatever brand - not for the name - but because it does EXACTLY what you want it to do - every single time without fail. Red, Blue, Green, they all make good stuff.

 

[stavey]

I load my match ammo on a 650. I had a few others years ago . Way too much tinkering to make them run rite hornady, rcbs...The dillon is great if you actually want to make quality ammo in volume the answer is dillion. I've loaded about 25-30k on this 650 and it'll be going in this year for a FREE REFURBISHING,,,That is why you buy Dillon.

 

[PALADIN85020]

I've got a Dillon 650. I've had it for almost 20 years. There have been zero issues. It's everything Dillon claims it is. I suppose they have a good warranty, but I wouldn't know. Absolutely nothing has given me any trouble.
Besides the well thought out design, speed of use, and accurate reliable ammo it produces, caliber changes are pretty easy.
The auto index places it well ahead of the 550, for my purposes.

I spent a lot of time at the Dillon booth at an NRA convention, trying out all their presses. The Square Deal is clunky and gritty by comparison, with lousy leverage. No way you could do bottleneck cases on that thing. 550 was OK, but, like I said, the auto index and extra die location on the toolhead really sold me. I did look at the 1050, but caliber conversions are a big headache.

Just my opinions here, but, I hope this helps,
Jim

As a point of information, the Square Deal is designed to handle straight-wall pistol cases only, and uses special non-standard dies for that purpose. 550s, 650s and 1050s, on the other hand, will handle quite a variety of calibers, and use standard dies.

John

 

[fredj338]

I had a Dillon 650 at one time. Cost is definitely a major downside; after that, it has the same issue I have had with every progressive press - whether for metallic or shotshell - and that is the primer feeding area. If there is one weak link where every maker has a Gremlin, it is it. If you can get that dialed in so it always feeds, never flips, etc., then Dillon will work as well as any of the others. They have a great warranty - as does RCBS - and that is comforting to some folks.

Buy whatever brand - not for the name - but because it does EXACTLY what you want it to do - every single time without fail. Red, Blue, Green, they all make good stuff.

What priming issue did you have with the 650?

 

[fredj338]

I load my match ammo on a 650. I had a few others years ago . Way too much tinkering to make them run rite hornady, rcbs...The dillon is great if you actually want to make quality ammo in volume the answer is dillion. I've loaded about 25-30k on this 650 and it'll be going in this year for a FREE REFURBISHING,,,That is why you buy Dillon.

whats wrong with it? Mine is past the 50K mark, runs fine. My 550 is over 100K, runs fine but I do have to keep the primer slide really clean.

 

[stavey]

Just starting to get wore out. I think I tend to ham fist the handle. The knuckle that the handle attaches to cracked lat year . When Dillon sent the part they included an alignment kit-free of course. However the gentleman I spoke to said the 650 needs rebuilt after around 25k.give or take. Depending on how hard you are on it.

 

[BRush]

I have the 550 and 2 LNLs. I've used the Dillon since the 1980's and have upgraded it through the years including the addition of a number of eBay aftermarket improvements. The 550 a good press and its choice comes down to personal likes and use habits. Personally I prefer the LNL for its auto indexing and because for me it improves on the Dillon in 3 functions:

1. The spring shell retainer allows easier access to station shells vs
Dillon's pin retention system;

2. The LNL Primer feed system is more reliable for me then Dillon's; and

3. The LNL Powder measure/dispenser is more reliable for me and spits less powder.

 

[Virginia John]

I have (2) 550s and the best part is the no "BS" warranty. It works every time Guaranteed.

 

[fredj338]

Just starting to get wore out. I think I tend to ham fist the handle. The knuckle that the handle attaches to cracked lat year . When Dillon sent the part they included an alignment kit-free of course. However the gentleman I spoke to said the 650 needs rebuilt after around 25k.give or take. Depending on how hard you are on it.

Never heard this. I know guys going on 100K+ w/o rebuilding anything. I did have to replace the return spring below the shell plate @ about 25K, hardly a rebuild though.

 

[PowderMeasure]

I have the 650, with case feeder, powder check die, etc. and do 400/hr of 9mm easily. I estimated the payoff at 2.5 years (for all the items, tumbler, scale, etc). I haven't recalculated, since I now do .45 ACP, but I suspect the payoff will be the same.

I've only had 3 bad rounds out of 5000. One was the bullet tipped, when I was seating and I wasn't paying attention (describing the press operation to someone, pointing at things). The other two were flipped primers, which I suspect are due to the Vibraprime tool I used to fill tubes. It is really finicky.

Switchover takes about 15 mins from 9mm to 45 ACP (small to large primer).

Really love the press.



So, yes, expensive, but will payoff in a reasonable time

 

[federali]

What's the rush?

 

[oneounceload]

What priming issue did you have with the 650?

Failure to drop, the primer "slide" (or whatever it is called) would stick, sometimes stutter in its movement......there were other issues as well, but that is something else.

 

[iouri]

Failure to drop, the primer "slide" (or whatever it is called) would stick, sometimes stutter in its movement......there were other issues as well, but that is something else.

Primer slide ? there's no slide in 650 - there's a disc which always feeds and can't possibly stutter a movement - at least not in my experience.

 

[BB57]

I'll put in another vote for the 5550B. It's my favorite Dillon.

1) It has a much wider range of caliber options than the 650
2) caliber conversion kits are less expensive than the 650
3) The 550 is manually indexed, and that gives you much greater control over what is happening on the shell plate. If something doesn't go right it's much easier to detect and fix. The set up is much quicker than on the 650, and the non auto indexed operation lets you run the press as a single stage press, a turret press, or as a progressive press.
4) the 650 does have a speed advantage but as others have noted 300 rounds per hour is easy to achieve on a 550, and 400 rounds per hour is do-able if you've got good dexterity and 4 primer tubes, even without a case feeder.

I've loaded at least 10,000 rounds (and closer to 20,000 on average) per year for the last 15 years with my Dillon 550 and I've still not worn anything out on it. I have had to tweak the primer feed a time or two to remove burrs that occurred after about 50,000 rounds, and snug up a screw now and then. I also replaced the cotter pin on the primer chute. I replaced it with a convenient paper clip that I straightened, and it's worked great for about 30,000 rounds or so, so I'm not in a big hurry to replace it.

Now, to be fair that round count is spread over 8 different powder measures and about 15 tool heads, and a dozen or so shell plates, and the rounds are split about evenly between the large and small primer feeds, so it primarily refers to the press itself.

If you keep a 550B reasonably clean, lubricate it now and then, and don't force anything that feels funny, it'll last longer than you will.

 

[fredj338]

Failure to drop, the primer "slide" (or whatever it is called) would stick, sometimes stutter in its movement......there were other issues as well, but that is something else.

The rotary primer pickup disk can only stick if something gets wedged in it or it isnt installed correctly. Are we talking 550 or 650?
400rds on a 550 is simple, 1 pull every 9sec, pretty leisurely. With a case feeder on a 650, 700rds is easy with loaded primer tubes. Pre load the tubes, you can do 800rds / hr. There are two reasons to own a good progressive; speed of production & reduced work load. If you have limited time to reload, you need to spend some more $$$ and get a good progressive.

 

[growr]

I have a 550B and it biggest problem for me is.......it makes too much ammo in too little time!!

Randy

 

[6string]

A lot of guys here gripe about the cost of the Dillon. Fair enough, to each their own.
But, should the day come when you plan to sell, you'll have more people lined up to buy a good condition Dillon 650, 1050, or 550 than any other press mentioned here. Furthermore you'll get a better return on your initial investment. It wouldn't surprise me to find I could sell my 650 for more than it cost in 1999.

(Interesting that nobody mentioned the old Star Reloading Machines... Truly the Rolls Royce of progressive loaders.)

A couple people pointed out my comment on the Square Deal and bottleneck ammo. I'm well aware that the SD is only for pistol. Just tried to illustrate the relatively weak and gritty leverage. Clearly it's a budget machine meant to compete with Lee.

But, I digress. We only get one ride in this life. When it comes to the things I love, my personal preference is to buy the best.
Is that "throwing money at a situation"?
Ha! Going on 20 yrs with no problem, working with a machine that always does what it's supposed to, and...likely to have a resale value in excess to initial cost?
Give me a break! I call it common sense!

But it's a free country,
Jim

 

[DRAINSMITH]

If your true goal is to load only 300 an hour any of the Dillon presses can handle that.

Now I clean and maintain my doc's 1050, 2each 650, and a 550 and they all can easily do 300 in an hour.

Now as far as pros and cons. The Dillon folks are going to give every pro they can think of, but very few cons. They have to justify their cost some how.

If you really want to find the cons go to WWW.dillonprecision.com and at the bottom of the page there is "form". Click on that. But before you do keep practicing the phrase "Holy **** on a cracker".

Now, I just loaded 100 each of 9mm, .45, .223, and 308.
9mm took me 4:30
.45 took me 4:40
.223 took me 3:55
308 took me 4.55
Now I reload on 4 each Hornady Ammo Plants. Now, do they have any cons? HELL YEA! But they all can be fixed.

I have not seen any 100% Dillon be able to keep up with my 100% Hornady.

 

[joe44va]

Have the 550. Should have bought the 650 for the extra station. Either is a great tool.

 

[BE Mike]

I have a 550 and 650. The advantages of the 650 are the extra hole for powder checker, self-indexing and the case feeder. It's faster than the 550, no doubt. The only drawback is if you load with powder that nearly fills the case, I find the 650 to be a little bit "jerky" and a little powder could come out the top of cases. I've tried just about every do dad and trick to smooth the operation, but the cases still tend to jerk into position.

 

[old&slow]

If your true goal is to load only 300 an hour any of the Dillon presses can handle that.

Now I clean and maintain my doc's 1050, 2each 650, and a 550 and they all can easily do 300 in an hour.

Now as far as pros and cons. The Dillon folks are going to give every pro they can think of, but very few cons. They have to justify their cost some how.

If you really want to find the cons go to WWW.dillonprecision.com and at the bottom of the page there is "form". Click on that. But before you do keep practicing the phrase "Holy **** on a cracker".

Now, I just loaded 100 each of 9mm, .45, .223, and 308.
9mm took me 4:30
.45 took me 4:40
.223 took me 3:55
308 took me 4.55
Now I reload on 4 each Hornady Ammo Plants. Now, do they have any cons? HELL YEA! But they all can be fixed.

I have not seen any 100% Dillon be able to keep up with my 100% Hornady.

What ???
All I noticed here,, is that the Dillon guys are happy with their Dillon presses and don't bad mouth the other brands of presses. The non-Dillon folks seem to think their press is the greatest thing since sliced bread and the Dillon is a ***.. Quite interesting.

The reason the Dillon guys are all Pro and no Con is they are Very happy with the Blue Cool Aid... If you look at the USPSA Front Sight magazine on equipment used by the shooters,, you will see that 90+ % of them use Dillon reloader .. These are folks that go thru thousands of rounds of ammo a year... And if it didn't work they wouldn't be using it...

SO, If you have a Red , Green, Purple, or what ever press and are happy with it ,,, I think that's great... Reload and enjoy life...

But , I think I will have another glass of the Blue Cool Aid , thank you,,

 

[Bkreutz]

I have a 550 and 650. The advantages of the 650 are the extra hole for powder checker, self-indexing and the case feeder. It's faster than the 550, no doubt. The only drawback is if you load with powder that nearly fills the case, I find the 650 to be a little bit "jerky" and a little powder could come out the top of cases. I've tried just about every do dad and trick to smooth the operation, but the cases still tend to jerk into position.

A Bullet feeder solves most of that problem.

 

[BE Mike]

I'm one of those old geezers who remember when Star and Phelps were pretty much king of the hill. They are still nice presses, but back in the day they were extremely pricey and aren't nearly as adaptable to different calibers. When I got really active into competitive pistol shooting, Dillon finally came along. I started with a 450 and upgraded it to a 550B. I got my 650 used for a very good deal. It was missing a few parts, but a call to Dillon got me more than I asked for to get it up and running. Dillons aren't perfect (mine sure aren't), but they are the standard that all the others are rated against. There really isn't a huge difference in base prices of comparative model progressives. Dillon has always been about their progressive presses and reloading. The others have some catching up to do.

 

[Maple Trapper]

I noticed in a picture of a 650 earlier in this thread than they also have a blue stool, now I've got to replace my chair and get a blue stool.
I've noticed primer feeds sometimes causing an issue. I've never had any issues but I still use the mega flipper tray and not the auto filler to load the primer tubes, that might be why. I also, at the end of every loading session brush the turret and primer slide area clean with a clean "acid brush" commonly used to apply soldering flux in plumbing. They work perfectly and each of those cheap brushes lasts maybe 15-20 reloading sessions, before I retire it and start with a fresh one. I buy them at just over .11 each by the gross. I'm on my 1st gross since 1988-89. Keep the press clean, properly lubed and adjusted and you will never have a problem.

 

[old&slow]

Just for your information ,, My USPSA May/ June 2017 issue of Front Sight has an equipment survey for the 2017 Optics National.

Carry Optics Division : 61% used handloads , 39 % used factory ammo. 84% used Dillon ,,5% RCBS,, 3% Lee ,, 3% Hornady

Open Division : 90% handloads , 10% factory. 95% used Dillon, 5 % Hornady.

PCC Division : 66 % handloads, 34 % factory. 90% used Dillon,,, 10 % used other.

It was the only Front Sight I found laying around that had a equipment survey in it..
Plus I figure some people know what they know and don't want to be confused with the facts, anyway..

I figure what ever press makes you happy,, be it Red,, Blue, or Green is fine by me.. Have fun & enjoy life ..

 

[DRAINSMITH]

Dear Mr. old&slow
First point Never did I or have I ever bad mouth the Dillon presses or case feeder. I think they are not only good but are great. But I did want to point out that there are cons. That is what the OP was asking for.

Point two. "Dillon guys don't bad mouth other presses." Please go back and reread post #15, 25, 27, 28, 30, and 34.

Point three. 90+% of USPSA shooters use Dillon. Now if Dillon and the Hornady AP came out at the same time, it would be like Coke and Pepsi.

Point four. You noticed that I inferred that Hornady was a great press. But I also pointed out that it has cons.

 

[6string]

Hey,
BE Mike brought up the Star and Phelps machines. They're awesome classics, and a testimony to the real machinists who designed and built them.
They were also really, really expensive and hard to get. In today's dollars, they'd probably cost 50-100% more than Dillon's top machine, the 1050.
Relatively speaking, Dillon was considered a real bargain, price-wise. Just something to keep in mind.

OK, time to stop clacking away here and crank out some loads!
Enjoy!
Jim

 

[Abbynormal]

I got my Dillon 500 (upgraded to 550) in 1988 in 9MM. I've added; .38/357, .44 Spl, 44 Mag, .45 Auto and ,45 Colt

If ANYTHING breaks, Dillon replaces it. it's fast. I've never had a cailber that loaded under 300 RPM with 9MM at 500+!

 

[Daver7]

I've been reloading since the late 70's still have and use the rock chucker.
Over the years i've picked up and use a Lee pro 1000 Dillon 550 and Hornady AP.
As has been said keep them clean.
When I start to think about how many rounds an hour I can reload it's time to stop and recheck everything make sure everything is clean.
And I weigh every powder charge, never had a bad reload and hope to keep it that way.
Reloading is a relaxing hobby that I enjoy.

 

[Skeet 028]

My reloadiung started way back in the late 50s..mostly shotshell for the first 5 years. For metallic I used single stage RCBS(A style presses). I could not afford a Star of Phelps. Dillon's 1050 is a much modified Star that uses standard dies. but no matter. The 550 is a great machine...no doubt about that. It will load beacoup different calibers. but..there is little need to load 100s or 1000s of most rifle rounds(for the average shooter that is). The number of competitive shooters needing 1000s of rounds of high power rifle ammo is truly small. The handgun scene is where the progressives shine. It really doesn't matter what machine you load with as long as you are happy with it. I was a P-W distributor for many years. The best machine out there for shotshells for oh so many years. I have literally loaded a million rounds on P-Ws..bought my first around 1967 or so. I tried the Dillon 900. Good machine but when I got my first Spolar it turned out to be the best shotshell machine I have ever used other than factory loads. I have used almost every metallic progressive made. I have many now. There are many folks who load more than I do...as my round count is way lower than when I was younger. My criteria for progressive machines are very easy to understand. Reliability is number one...2nd is ease of use 3rd is easy repairs if needed...I do not want to have to tinker to keep a machine working well. 4th is ergonomics or ease of use and production numbers for the least amount of work. Sorry Lee users The lee fails miserably on 3 counts there. Hornady fails on 2 counts...in my experience. Too much tinkering and not as easy to fix problems.. Not quite as reliable as my Dillon machines. I've had Star and Phelps and while good, machines are expensive and parts are not all that easy to get. RCBS runs a distant 3rd or 4th on progressives. They don't actually have a real progressive these days. Do Dillon machines ever have any problems..well of course. On ANY progressive the main variable that causes the most problems is...you guessed it...the operator. If there was a way to mess things up..I could find it. Personally I find that the 650(and 1050) are the best metallic progressives on the market. Every Dillon I have is worth more than when I bought it. Sadly I can't say that about the Hornady or the Lee machines(anybody need a mostly complete Loadmaster? lol or a CH MkIV?) I'm not trashing the Hornady as it works ok for most folks but for me the priming system of the 650 is way better. otherwise the quality is comparable to the Dillon...speed of production..not so much but close. So for all intents the 2 best out in the real world for us (hand) loaders is the Hornady and Dillon. Long live Red and Blue....but I will lean to blue