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Dillon 550 Cost
shooterusa
Member Posts: 77 ✭✭
I was looking at the Dillon sets on their web site and noticed that they have the different systems priced by calibur. If I want to reload various caliburs I would buy a 550 unit and what else would I need other than the different dies?
SD
SD
Comments
A tool head for each set of dies is very hand so the dies aren't being taken in and out possibly losing their settigns.The Dillon lock rings are not a friction or set-screw item,they turn freely once loosened.I replace e'm with Lee or other Lock rings if I don't have a s tool head for that set of dies.
Dillon touts their roller ball handle and strong mounts as 'necessary',but I don't buy it.If the bench is tall and sturdy you don't need the strong mounts,and having bought the roller handle I would not do it again.ymmv
Throckmorton SASS #23149
The 550b looks pricey at $325, but all your old dies will work, you'll even have a place to put that old seating die.
You can start off with one toolhead with the setup for the caliber you want to load the most of.
Some (much richer than I)folk buy a powder measure for each rifle and toolhead stands for each toolhead; it all depends on whether you think your bench needs all that blue plastic littering your benchtop.
I've had a 550b for almost 20 years, loaded thousands upon thousands of rounds in various calibers, and have only had to replace a spring for the safety on the powder measure linkage.
The first night I got it, I set it on the bench and opened this huge heavy box and found out that assembly was required and almost freaked out, but the instruction sheet had some really big pictures, and I got it up and running in about 1/2 an hour, making .357Mags, and then timed myself for 15 minutes to see how fast I could go at this stage, and it worked out to almost 500 an hour!!!!!
I had sat before my 3 RCBS Green Machines the last 15 years, cranking out one round at a time in each press, then setting them in a tray, thinking I had the cat by the , uh well, anyway, when I could triple the output of my own ingenious method; I was hooked.
That Dillon has made me a lot of money in those years, and many of the hunters I helped out would agree that it turns out the most consistent ammo every time, no matter what the caliber.
"Qui non est hodie cras minus aptus erit" --OVID