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My first progressive was a Dillon 450. I used it for years with no issues. Great machine for one caliber reloaders. It did need a Star Wheel to advance the cases, which it now has available. Then I got a 550. I have had the 550 for years now also. Sold the 450 to a buddy who is still using it. No telling how many thousand shells have been loaded on it, and as far as I know no problems ever.
I mainly load 38 Special, 40 S&W, and 45acp on the 550. I have dedicated powder measures for each one, so setup is a snap. The priming set up is not a big deal to change either. I normally load my ammunition by 2 methods. By the 500 round box or boxes of bullets, or till I run the primer feed out if I am changing from small to large primers.
I am running 40 S&W on mine at the moment. I will run out of 140 gr cast bullets today. I will then switch back to 38 Special till I load the last 1500 bullets I have on hand in that caliber.
First of the year I will need to start plussing up my 40 and 38 bullet supply again. Missouri Bullet Company will be happy to hear that.
That gives you an idea of how many rounds I load. I have my primer arm start to stick now and again. Normally it is starting to get pretty dirty, and is in need of a good cleaning.
I wore out the bushing and the little square slider for the powder measure. Called Dillon up to order the parts. They shipped me a set of repair parts for both of my older model powder measures at no charge. I asked about the primer arm sticking while I was on the phone. The nice young man told me three things to check and or adjust. That was not a 100% fix, but pretty close. I think I have wear on the priming tubes plastic end for my small primer feed.
Dillon has always had great customer support. It is nice to talk with someone when you have a problem that knows more than you do. That is pretty rare these days. Then we have parts support. I would have had no problem at all paying for the parts that I wore out. This should give you an idea why Dillon has so many satisfied customers.
The 550 not having automatic advance, or a 5th station.
I get along just fine manually advancing my cases.
I use the same Powder Check that Beanie Bean uses. I look in each case and visually check the powder level. This system seems to work just fine.
If I have some down time this winter I may take my 550 apart and clean it, check for wear, and add some grease zerts to the press linkage while it is apart.
Reloading Dies. I have been an RCBS and Redding fan forever. With that said my brother got all Dillon pistol dies for his 550. He had his press stolen out of a storage unit. We did not recover the press, but we did get his dies back. I started using his 38 and 45acp dies. WOW I liked them. I just ordered a set of 40/10mm dies to replace the RCBS dies and Lee taper crimp die I had been using to load 40 S&W.
What is so great about Dillon Dies you ask?
Lets start with the Sizer Die: It uses a decapping pin with a head so it will not pull out. It also has a spring loaded feature for positive spent primer ejection.
Seater Die: It has a clip on top to drop the guts out for cleaning without losing your die setting. It also has a 2 ended seater head for flat point and round nose. Push a pin out swap ends, and put the pin back in. That simple.
Taper Crimp: Same deal pull the clip to drop the guts out for cleaning.
In my opinion they are the way to go on a progressive press.
Did I mention GREAT Customer Support?
Bob
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