Dillon 550c auto rotate kit?

[ed308]

I agree with the opinions of Stats Shooter. I went with the 650 for a couple of different reasons. I wanted the Powder Check System for safety reasons since it was my first press for reloading. I also felt the auto index feature would be on less thing I had to think about when reloading and would less fatigue on a shoulder. As much as I reload, I now realize the auto index isn't all that big of deal. Compared to Stats Shooter, I reload at a snails pace. But I value the Powder Check System so much that if I had it to do over, I'd go with the 650 over the 550. The ability to add a bullet feeder in the future, is also a plus. Get the case feeder if you go with the 650. Within two weeks of setting up and reloading on my 650, I ordered the case feeder. Reaching up to drop cases in a tube was killing my shoulder. And not having a case feeder really slows down the press as well.

 

[LBussy]

That may be the toughest reloading question I have been asked.

Wouldn’t be the SD or 1050 because they can’t load everything I load for but I guess if I had to sell equipment, I’d have to sell the firearms too. Likely quit shooting as much so I’d buy factory ammo for when I could shoot a round or two.

A jack of all trades is master of none, that describes the 550 pretty well.

I wondered if that would be your answer.

The more I research (and read Brian Enos' page as Stats Shooter recommended) the more I lean towards the 550. I just wish someone near me owned one that I could try out for an hour or so.

 

[Eddietruett]

I went with the 650 with no case feeder. I wanted the extra station for the powder check. While loaded cases in the tube is certainly slower than a case feeder, I can turn out a lot of bullets in an hour. I bought extra primer tubes and have 1000 primers ready to go for a session. Mine has loaded at least 20k without a hiccup. Can’t say that about my Lee and Hornady which are good presses but require way more “tuning”.

 

[disseminator]

For me, the clear advantage of the Dillon over the Hornady is the ease with which you can change calibers. With the Hornady you are stuck using the LNL inserts which means that you have to handle and store each individual die every time you want to convert the machine.

With the Dillon, you pull two pins and slide out the entire assembly with all your dies attached and then slide in the next one already set up from last time.

After careful consideration, I went with the 550 and have loaded thousands of rounds on it to great satisfaction, a typical experience among those who own the 550.

IMO, a powder check station is totally unnecessary. As is auto indexing. In fact, I have considered the lack of auto indexing a feature and is a big reason I went with the 550 over the 650.

That said, all of your choices are good ones and you won't go wrong with any of them.

But get the 550.

 

[Tsquared]

Lbussy

The more I research (and read Brian Enos' page as Stats Shooter recommended) the more I lean towards the 550. I just wish someone near me owned one that I could try out for an hour or so.

I grew up with a dad who loaded. Rockchucker single-stage for years and after I left dad got a LNL and soon after a Lee progressive. A year or two latter the Lee was gone and a Dillon 450 was in its place and it was latter upgraded to a 550.

I got a Rockchucker in the early 90's but I would still do a loading day at Dad's a couple of times a year. About 2009 I decided to get a progressive. The LNL dad had had an issue with the center bolt working loose and the fix was locktight so it became a dedicated 45ACP loader.

I had a shooting budy that had both the Dillon 550 and 2 Dillon 650's that had the case feeder. Both 650's were set up as dedicated loaders. I got to play with the 650 side-by-side with the 550. Then my buddy showed me the process for changing over calibers.

I have the 550 and I load 5 calibers. I have my Rockchucker set up for large primer and I leave the small primer on the 550. I have been switching out my LP for SP brass in the 2 calibers I can.

 

[Stats Shooter]

The Dillon 550 is really a magnificent machine for its tight tolerances, ease of setup, durability, and simplicity.

Like I said, it all depends upon your needs, but the 550 is more than enough press for most avid shooters. When I first got my Dillon presses I was also skeptical of quality control. I had planned on just making 223 & 40 s&w on the 650. Then making only plinking AR-10, 44 mag, 45-70, 45acp, and 45 long COLT on the 550.

I was going to make my LR match AR-10 ammo and Varmint AR -15 ammo on my single stage presses along with hunting and F-class ammo. Turns out I was able to seat bullets and throw powder as accurately on the Dillon 550 as I could for my target/varmint AR loads on my rock chuckers and uniflow. I just got a conversion kit last week for my 10mm for the 550.

Now, the only things I load on single stage presses are my .300 win mag loads, .270 win, 6mm Ackley, and 30-06.

Keys to getting a 550 to maintain tolerances nearly as tight as a single stage include
1: Good dies....should go without saying but...
2: Selecting a powder that meters decently. Varget is about as long of powder as I throw, though 4064 doesn't seem to be sensitive to weight variation
3: get the shell plate sprocket bearing kit from level 10 innovations. It's $30 but allows you to keep the shell plate tight yet moving freely
4: polish the drop tube funnel with lapping compound or polish paste.....and spray the inside with scotch guard to avoid static electricity causing little ball powder grains from sticking
5: set the bullet seating die up with a case in the sizing station at the same time to ensure you are adjusting it for how it will be when you are actually loading.

And finally, do your load development on the Dillon. This way you don't have to try and recreate everything in the Dillon tool head you just did on a single stage. I throw my load development loads if I'm going to throw my loads I'm making. Why? Because I want to find out how well thrown loads group and meter before cranking out a couple thousand rounds.


Doing these simple things has ensured quality didn't fall with volume.

 

[jmorris]

3: get the shell plate sprocket bearing kit from level 10 innovations. It's $30 but allows you to keep the shell plate tight yet moving freely

This one doesn’t matter on the 550 vs the others. On the others the case sits “in” the shell plate (as in, the base of the case is in contact with the shell plate), with the 550 the cases sit on the ram platform, so how level the shell plate has no bearing on how the cases enter the dies.

 

[Master Blaster]

I have one it's called my left thumb, I put a bullet on the case in station three after my left thumb rotates the shell plate.

 

[Nick_C_S]

I have one it's called my left thumb

Heh. Yeah, my left thumb and my 550 prepped about 600 pcs of 38 Special brass this afternoon. Took just a bit over an hour - not counting a short break in between. My 550 goes as fast as I'll ever need.

(By "prepped," I mean decap/resize, flair. I prep brass and load ammo in separate steps - with a ss pin tumble in between.)

 

[drain smith]

My left thumb is helping hold my cup of coffee.

 

[Roland Thunder]

the 550c would do just fine for my needs if it wasn’t a manual

As others have noted, don't get put off by the manual indexing, you won't even think about it after a while. You can still crank out a lot of ammo pretty quickly on a 550b/c

If I could only have one press...it would, hands down, be the Dillon 650 with a case feeder !

If I want to buy a 2nd press for a weekend home --- I would buy another Dillon 650 with a case feeder.

I'm just the opposite. I have a 550b and recently bought a 650 with a case feeder. If I could only keep one press, it would be the 550b, it's a more versatile press. You have more individual control on the 550 if you need to re-seat a bullet, re-crimp, fix other problems and of course, changing calibers is a lot bigger pita on the 650. While the 550 won't load as many rounds per hour as the 650, it's still capable of around 400 rounds per hr while the 650 will do 600-700 per hour. So, if you don't need the more than 400 per hour, I would get the 550c. When I was buying my 1st Dillon press, I too, was hung up on the manual indexing. I spoke to Brian Enos personally, who was a Dillon dealer at the time and asked for his input. He told me he thought the 550b (no c at the time) was the best all around Dillon machine and suggested that one. Five years later, I bought a 650 because I had some money burning a hole in my pocket. I like the 650 quite well, but, as I said previously, if I could have only one press, it would be the 550, plenty of ammo for my needs.