# Dillion Presses



## Remington 7400 (Dec 14, 2005)

Are Dillion Precision presses really worth the money? I'm looking at a RL550, dillion claims youi can load something like 400 rounds an hours with this machine, I think I could keep my .45s fed with this beast!


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## People (Jan 17, 2005)

I can not say any thing about the 550 as I have a XL650. They are very well built. They load very consistent rounds. It is very easy to do 400 to 600 with a 650. They say you can do more but you have to really want to. I find it easier to just go at a good pace and I get any where from 400 to 600 sometimes more. It all depends on how every thing goes when loading.

Chuck Norris invented airplanes because he was tired of being the only person that could fly.


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## Whelen35 (Mar 9, 2004)

As far as progressives go, I have one dillon 550B and two lee Loadmasters. The dillon works every time no "tinkering" primers are the weak spot with lees, but die plates are cheap, primer arms are about $1.06 each, and powder measures can be found for $15.00 or less at times. I load most all pistol rounds on my lees. If I only loaded 4 or less sizes of ammo, I would set up dillon tool heads complete with powder measures ($70-75) each and use nothing but my dillon. But for about $20-25 bucks I can have a tool head with dies in and set with a powder measure already set to go and change from say 9mm to 45acp in about two minnets. If I had dillon heads all set up the time would be the same, but at 3 to 1 it is hard to justify the extra costs. If you are going to reload just a few differant chamberings, go dillon. It also pumps out rifle rounds like crazy. If you want cheaper but with the knowledge that you have to keep a few extra parts on hand, the loadmaster is hard to beat. When all is well with the lee, I can load more than the dillon. If I have a parts breackage it may cost me 2-4 brass and bullets whitch is kind of a pain in the *** but the last lee I purchased was on e-bay and came with carbide dies and completely ready to load 45 colt and even with shipping it was just under $100.00. My dillon many years ago took almost $400.00 to get it up and ready to load. $339.00 for press and powder measure. About $10 or so for powder die, I needed more primer tubes than what I had, plus dies. For me $300 buys a lot of powder. Also, I have loaded on but do not own the Hornady progressive reloader. It is good, easy to set up and if you have a dealer near you would also be something to look at.


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## Bubba w/a 45/70 (Jul 31, 2006)

Dillon might be worth the money, if you have the need to go blue.

I currently do my pistol and short action rifle reloading on an old RCBS 4x4, which suits me just fine. The reloading actions that I make are pretty much the same as any of the 4 (yes, I typed "4") Dillon 550's that a friend owns. And I KNOW that I don't have a 1/3 tied up in my 4x4 as he does in one of those 550s'. Granted mine was purchased used, but I still can pretty much do what he does (for speed and accuracy in reloading).

The biggest drawback to not having a Dillon: speed of changing out calibers. But I don't look at this as a drawback, as I can afford the time to spin out the individual dies, vs. paying for conversion kits, another powder measurer, ect.

The only thing that I wished my 4x4 had, as opposed to the 550: the little "arm" that turns the shellplate. Instead of having to use the shells, one can just push on the "arm" which is attatched to the shellplate, to rotate the shellplate.

My best advice: Get to know someone who has one of the presses that you are thinking about. Go over and have them show you how they work and see for yourself what will suit you. I must add that you should not stop at just "one" kind; keep going for a couple of brands to see what each one does differently. And remember: theirs will be the best, just because that is the one they chose.


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## Bubba w/a 45/70 (Jul 31, 2006)

I guess that I should have added that RCBS now makes a progressive press that has the removable dies plate feature. Hornady has the "lock-n-load" feature, which is almost as fast as removable die plates. Lee has the removable die plate feature on their turret presses.

Like I said, you need to look around quite a bit. Go play with the ones that look interesting. And then make your decision.


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## Remington 7400 (Dec 14, 2005)

Right now I'm doing all my loading on a LEE O-Ring press, and an old Lyman Orange Crusher, it gets really time intensive when you want to load say 500 rounds of .45 ACP. Its fine for rifle rounds, and sizing lead bullets, depriming before tumbling ect, but for mass production it gets slow at times. I met a guy at the gun shop that has a 550 Dillion, I think I'll go over there and test drive it! :thumb: My cousin has a Hornady Lock-N-Load don't know why, but I really don't like it much. Have hear horror stories on LEE's progressive press, anybody want to talk me into one? :lol:


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## Whelen35 (Mar 9, 2004)

The Lee loadmaster is much better than the lee `1000. For pistol reloading, the loadmaster is very good. Keep the primers full, keep the primer trough very clean, and keep a few primer slides on hand. They are about $.90 each, and can go bad on you. Other than that, I really like the lee for pistol reloading. I do not care for their setup for powder dispensing on rifle rouonds. You can get around this by useing the dillon, hornady, rcbs, ect... powder systems on the lee. For pistol reloading you can't get much cheaper for changing from one die set to another. E-bay = cheap good deals.


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## Bubba w/a 45/70 (Jul 31, 2006)

I would best say that you could spend your time looking at the used market. Just make sure that most everything works ( in the case of RCBS don't worry about anything broken, they will replace/fix it). I picked up my RCBS 4x4 used and have put out many thousands of rounds through it. Only recently have I become the proud owner of a new RCBS turret press, and for most of what I do it shows great promise. The old "progessive" only has the turret on speed, not much else.


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## Horsager (Aug 31, 2006)

You notice everyone telling you how their press is "almost" as good as a Dillon press? They are the King, Cadillac, Coup de Gras of reloading presses!! In the future I will have at least 2 (I have 1 now). One for small primers, 1 for large. I load mostly rifle cases on mine and do things a little different. I still deprime/resize on a single stage RCBS. That step keeps the powder measurer perfect for 100's of rounds at a time. Last time my dad sat down at his to load 223's he loaded 5 gallons of brass without having to mess with the powder measurer other than to fill it. 200-300 rds/hr is easily attainable assuming the press is set up for the load you'll be using. Dillon presses are the end all be all of progressive reloading presses.

:strapped:


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## Bubba w/a 45/70 (Jul 31, 2006)

I don't consider mine to be "almost" as good as a Dillon. I consider mine to be different; and considering the age, better than a Dillon. Alot of water has flowed under the bridge since mine was made. And Dillon wasn't at the technical level it is now when mine was built. ...all in the eye of the beholder.

I just wish that I would have some experience with a RCBS 2000 progressive , as everyone that I have heard use one, really likes them.


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## TuJays (Oct 30, 2006)

I make no apoliges when I boldly proclaim that Dillion Blue is my favorite color, other than camoflage of course.


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