Never thought I'd be asking this ,but...

[Just another 22 shooter]

A couple, maybe three other fellow shooters want to get into reloading with a progressive and have asked for my help and want me to go in with them on cost of equipment. I've been reloading for 40+ years and use single stage presses for everything. I told the guys that if they want my money in on it, Dillon would be the only way to go. All I hear is good stuff about Dillon;Is there a down side to Dillon? We will probably be getting the 650. Loading 9mm, 45acp and 223 to start with.

 

[Redford]

Yes there is, the faster you can reload the faster you shoot them up. I got a 550 and can reload 3 times faster than on my single stage and shoot 3 times as mutch ammo

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[StakeOut]

How would the press be accessed by all investors.Where would it be set up?

If you only load 100 rounds a week and the others are loading 3000 a week....

Each member have their own powder,primers,brass and bullets?

What happens if one or 2 guys want out later?

This is not something to venture into without thinking it completely through.

I'd offer my help to the new reloaders until they had enough knowledge and experience to go it alone and not be an investor.

 

[Mistered]

This is not something to venture into without thinking it completely through.

I agree - 'communal' reloading does not sound like a good idea. Way too many potential issues. A press being accessed by three people means three times as many problems. Constant changes for different calibers, possibly access issues - I wouldn't consider it for a second. Maybe Father/Son or a couple family members but not just other 'fellow shooters'

 

[otisrush]

Anything to be concerned about re one of the investors making adjustments to equipment - and the others don't know about it? I don't know how this might manifest itself - but it would certainly stink if one walked up to the machine thinking it was set up or adjusted in some way - and it turns out another changed it without telling anyone.

"Oh yeah......I set the COL to be a bit shorter. I forgot to write it down."

 

[Mistered]

and it turns out another changed it without telling anyone.

Or broken and not telling anyone. Steer clear of this JustA!

 

[Rule3]

Would you go in with a group of "friends" and buy any tool(s)??

I sure wouldn't. Unfortunately they will not remain friends.

Never go into business with friends, it just does not work out.

 

[SLT223]

I havent found a downside yet. I started reloading with the 650 with case feed for .357 and .44 Mag. Since then I've added .45 Colt and .45 ACP. I can't complain about it. It makes piles of ammo pretty quickly without drama. I doubt I'll need another press. I also doubt you will want to share it.

 

[Arik]

How would the press be accessed by all investors.Where would it be set up?

If you only load 100 rounds a week and the others are loading 3000 a week....

Each member have their own powder,primers,brass and bullets?

What happens if one or 2 guys want out later?

This is not something to venture into without thinking it completely through.

I'd offer my help to the new reloaders until they had enough knowledge and experience to go it alone and not be an investor.

I did that with a friend. It's simple.

Press set up at his house

Doesn't matter how much who loads.

Split the powder bullets and whatnot so it's all the same

Eventually it was not interesting and no one cared what happened.

These is not much to think about if you're not petty. If you start counting each piece of brass.....well you're not really friends

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[tug700]

Disaster on the horizon. Each person has their own standard of care for equipment. Some believe in preventive maintenance all the way to the "don't fix it if ain't broke" group. Ain't broke, means the handle fell of the powder measure because someone did not tighten a loose screw, and the resulting wobble wore the equipment to major repair status (new rotor).

Friendly advice from 69 years of learning.

 

[Arik]

Would you go in with a group of "friends" and buy any tool(s)??

I sure wouldn't. Unfortunately they will not remain friends.

Never go into business with friends, it just does not work out.

I have. On many occasions. don't see a problem. I have never lost friends due to such unassuming, unimportant things

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[scattershot]

I personally wouldn't do it. Most of the problems have been suggested above, but the underlying assumption is that you like your single stage press, and have a boatload of experience reloading, while they might not.
As you have stated, if you do this, Dillon is the way to go.

 

[H Richard]

The only way that works if it is an organized club with a clubhouse where the loader would be located, and a workable schedule as to when who would have how much tome with it. Locked lockers where each individual would keep their own primers powder etc. The only thing shared would be the loader. It will still be a disaster if any of the individuals is less meticulous than the others. Keep in mind that each time you use it you would have to re-adjust all the settings from any previous user, unless you can trust it has not been re-adjusted or powder/load changed etc.

This is not something you should do if you value the friendship of the others.

 

[Maddog 521]

Sharing is good but I don't share my reloading press, my guns or my Harley Davidson. Just sayin'

 

[Engineer1911]

Does any one of you KNOW how to adjust a Dillon 650 to run properly with 9 mm, 45 ACP, 223 Rem? A Dillon 550 is much more forgiving. Problems include crimped primers, tight primer pockets, small primer 45 brass when loading large primer brass, machine cleanliness (650 must be kept clean), and Berdan primed brass. I own a Dillon 450 and 550. I also load for a gun range using a optioned out 650. I will never buy a Dillon 650, even after loading a 100k rounds of ammunition on it. Too many critical adjustments, too many things to cause a problem, and that mythical "high production rate" requires perfection in brass, primers, bullets, and cleanliness.

A Dillon press set up for use by 3 or 4 different people is a recipe for disaster in my opinion. There is only one way this idea will be successful, and at least 10 ways there will be hard feelings after a short period of time.

 

[DRAINSMITH]

You are not going to find on any form a Dillon owner say anything bad about a Dillon except "Buy once cry once".
If you really want to find the true scoop on the Dillon, go to their web site there they have their own form. And that is where they let the dirt out. " thinking that the rest of us fools do not read it."

Now when I had 2 Hornady Ammo plants I had my three son-in-laws come over and load on mine. The best decision I ever made is buying them each their own Ammo plants for X-Mass two years ago.

You can take that for what it's worth.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

When I bought my 459 in 1984, I told my best friend to skip his next gun and buy one! He declined. In the 90's he asked to come over and load a batch of 45 ACP on mine. ASAP he found a used 450 on line, it came with 3 or 4 of the most common shell plates. And that is my advise to you, each buy your own press! I own almost all the shell plates and such. I will loan him an oddball. He borrowed a powder measurer for a year or so, but I own 4. I upgraded to the 550 then 550b over the years, You don't really need changeable tool heads. I have the case feeder, trust me, you don't need it on a 550, you do on a 1050!

My F-I-L has 2 Dillon 1050 presses, he loads 45 AcP on one and 38 Special on the other, Never changes, so no need to readjust! With 3 people running 2 presses we load well over 2000 rounds an hour. 3rd person loads primer tubes and keeps everything full. We take 20 to 30 minute shifts. But He is in charge! His presses his rules! As it should be!

Ivan

 

[SLT223]

Does any one of you KNOW how to adjust a Dillon 650 to run properly with 9 mm, 45 ACP, 223 Rem? A Dillon 550 is much more forgiving. Problems include crimped primers, tight primer pockets, small primer 45 brass when loading large primer brass, machine cleanliness (650 must be kept clean), and Berdan primed brass. I own a Dillon 450 and 550. I also load for a gun range using a optioned out 650. I will never buy a Dillon 650, even after loading a 100k rounds of ammunition on it. Too many critical adjustments, too many things to cause a problem, and that mythical "high production rate" requires perfection in brass, primers, bullets, and cleanliness.

I have no idea what you are talking about here. My 650 is rather simple to set up. Maybe that's subjective. Right now my press is far from clean and runs like a top. All of my 45 acp brass is range pick up. My experience with the 650 is polar opposite of yours.

 

[dave201]

Sharing anything never works in the long haul
Stay friends and each buy their own Dillon
Share your ideas, not your equipment

 

[rwsmith]

If I were....

You have what you want. I wouldn't get into it unless they take your advice. I think it would be good for everybody to work together during the familiarity period. I wonder if keeping a log of settings would help when people start working on their own.

 

[gregintenn]

Let us know how it turns out. I expect it'll be a quite interesting story.

 

[Twoboxer]

After 40 ys on a SS press, what is your interest in going to a progressive?

If you are interested, can you do it yourself? Would you? Joint ownership can work with the right people and the right agreement. But there are many details, including what happens when someone wants to pull out.

One way is for everyone to have their own powder, primers, bullets, dies, and only use their own personal tool head(s) and PMs. Another way is for the group to make gobs of the exact same cartridge and split the work and the output. Every changeover lessens the advantage a progressive has over SS presses.

I only mention the above because I think it's obvious that these methods also have drawbacks.

Finally, can the press et al be located in a place where others can have access to it for relatively long stretches of time? 3 guys reloading 3 calibers 4 times a year equals 36 reloading sessions.

Good luck with your decision.

ETA: An example occurred to me from a couple of years of car pooling. Two people in the pool cut costs in half. Adding a third person saved less than 17% more, and added 50% more complexity

 

[LAA]

I have no idea what you are talking about here. My 650 is rather simple to set up. Maybe that's subjective. Right now my press is far from clean and runs like a top. All of my 45 acp brass is range pick up. My experience with the 650 is polar opposite of yours.

For sure! Same here! I can't think of any reason I'd want a 550 over the 650. Mine is decked out, as they say, with the exception of a bullet feeder. 9mm, 45 ACP, and .223 are the main loads on this machine.

Okay...........I do have a tendency for a good cleanup, when switching calibers, especially when changing the primer size. I do use multiple tool heads & powder bars.

 

[fredj338]

No downside buying better tools but the cost. When you consider the press Will last longer than most guns, i fine investment for something that just flat works with a min fuss.

 

[fredj338]

Does any one of you KNOW how to adjust a Dillon 650 to run properly with 9 mm, 45 ACP, 223 Rem? A Dillon 550 is much more forgiving. Problems include crimped primers, tight primer pockets, small primer 45 brass when loading large primer brass, machine cleanliness (650 must be kept clean), and Berdan primed brass. I own a Dillon 450 and 550. I also load for a gun range using a optioned out 650. I will never buy a Dillon 650, even after loading a 100k rounds of ammunition on it. Too many critical adjustments, too many things to cause a problem, and that mythical "high production rate" requires perfection in brass, primers, bullets, and cleanliness.

A Dillon press set up for use by 3 or 4 different people is a recipe for disaster in my opinion. There is only one way this idea will be successful, and at least 10 ways there will be hard feelings after a short period of time.

Not really, at least with my 650. I load 45acp on it, runs fine with minimal cleaning, some lube at critical points. I also use range brass, no issues other than the occasional sp case. That is easily dealt with at stn 2 by plucking the case out, dropping in a presized/decapped case & continue.
I've timed an hour run several times & fixing little things like sp case or flipped case in the feeder, i still get almot 700rds on that hour. I admit i dont like swapping sp to large often, that is where adjustments seem to be made.
FWIW, my machinist buddy has a lnl & 650. After 10s of 1000s on both, he prefers the 650 by a pretty wide margin & cost, equally equipped, the 650 is less than $100 more. For that you get better priming & better case feeder.

 

[Wise_A]

I agree - 'communal' reloading does not sound like a good idea. Way too many potential issues. A press being accessed by three people means three times as many problems. Constant changes for different calibers, possibly access issues - I wouldn't consider it for a second. Maybe Father/Son or a couple family members but not just other 'fellow shooters'

I share a press with my father. It works well. I load the ammunition, and he helps me shoot it up!

All kidding aside, I like reloading anyway, and we share component costs.

I wouldn't share a press with friends.

 

[stykshooter]

I did that very same thing 15 years or so ago when three of us got into I.P.S.C. shooting and were burning up a lot of .45 rounds. I had a long bench in my basement with two single stage presses set up plus two shot shell loaders. Three of us went together and bought a 550 and a bunch of accessories from Dillon. We all shot the same load with 231 powder and 200 grain SWC so once the press was set up, we never changed anything. They both had a box in my basement where they stored their bullets, primers and powder and would come over once or twice a month and load 500 rounds. They would be loading their cases and while they were doing that I would be down the bench loading shot shells or rifle or magnum handgun rounds on one of the single stages. It was actually enjoyable to have someone down there while loading.

This worked out great for about five years. Then one of the guys had a divorce and other issues and completely got out of shooting matches. He hadn't been over in a year or so and had two 500 round boxes of bullets and about 5,000 primers in my basement. He told me to just load them and shoot them as he doubted he ever would. A year or so later the other guy got transferred and said for me to just keep the press. He had gotten his money's worth out of it over the years.

I miss the days of us getting together to fill some cases and plan our strategy for the next match.

 

[Rule3]

I have. On many occasions. don't see a problem. I have never lost friends due to such unassuming, unimportant things

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I can't sleep right now, I am coming over to your place, leave the door open, I feel like reloading I like loud music when I load also..

 

[Arik]

I can't sleep right now, I am coming over to your place, leave the door open, I feel like reloading I like loud music when I load also..

Well music ...no...but any of my friends can come over any time, day or night. If I'm home or if I'm not. This is why they are friends

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[gregintenn]

I can't sleep right now, I am coming over to your place, leave the door open, I feel like reloading I like loud music when I load also..

A couple of drinking buddies are coming with me. Could you watch the kids while we reload?


oh, by the way.....it was broke when I got here.