Dillon 550B - Finally Delivered and Setup

DustinB · Post by **DustinB** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 11:23 pm

Got my press in the mail on tuesday. Bought it used for $350 shipped. 4 years old with less than 10k rounds through it. Bought a bench last saturday for it. Took the press apart and cleaned/lubed it. Finally got done mounting and setting it up an hour or 2 ago. Thanks for finding the press for me Jason.

The bench was $198 from sams club. Who knew a grocery store would have a better more sturdy bench for less than a hardware store? Go figure...

As requested I will post my thoughts on setting up the press and it's functionality tomorrow once I get to loading.

Here it is, along side my old setup. Lee Turret Press mounted to a craftsman toolbox.

KBCraig · Post by **KBCraig** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 4:56 am

That sure is purty and clean... for now. *heh*

Kevin

Diode · Post by **Diode** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 8:02 am

Very nice! Congrats

tomneal · Post by **tomneal** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 9:04 am

I can't resist.

Here is a link to a couple of photos of my reloading bench.

http://tinyurl.com/y729mv

I have been reloading since 1997. Bench neatness varies over time.

Diode · Post by **Diode** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 9:50 am

tomneal wrote:I can't resist.

Here is a link to a couple of photos of my reloading bench.

http://tinyurl.com/y729mv

I have been reloading since 1997. Bench neatness varies over time.

Very Uh hmmm Nice.

dws1117 · Post by **dws1117** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 10:30 am

Dang, Tom. That bench even has mine beat for, umm, neatness. Don't know if it's him or his wife, but you could almost eat off of Diode's bench.

DustinB

Nice press ans that's a super bench. Looks to be worth every penny. How thick is that bench top? Looks to be about 1 1/2".

Diode · Post by **Diode** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 11:30 am

dws1117 wrote:Dang, Tom. That bench even has mine beat for, umm, neatness. Don't know if it's him or his wife, but you could almost eat off of Diode's bench.

DustinB

Nice press ans that's a super bench. Looks to be worth every penny. How thick is that bench top? Looks to be about 1 1/2".

Notr today I have a M-44 torn up all over it! haha. Man my loves me, she's cooking and I get to play

40FIVER · Post by **40FIVER** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 12:47 pm

I'm not LEO or an investigator of any kind, but I assume from looking at Tom's pics the following:
1. Tom is single, or
2. Tom is married and has a well trained wife, or
3. Tom is married and sleeps on the couch a lot.

Nice setup Dustin. I am jealous.

4OFIVER

tomneal · Post by **tomneal** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 7:22 am

Top has plywood glued to the bottom and 1 1/2 inch angle bolted under the plywood.

I am married and the reloading room has a door that closes.

DustinB · Post by **DustinB** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 7:45 pm

As requested, here's my thoughts on the Dillon 550B:

I loaded 300 rounds of 9mm last night to try it out.

Setup was fairly easy. Took me about an hour or so to get it bolted down and get everything attached. Once attached, setting the dies was no more difficult than anything else.

Positive notes:
No powder will be dropped unless a case is present in that station.
Primer will not be seated unless you push the handle forward.
Retaining pins are very easy to remove a problematic case, though I had no problems.

Negative notes:
Picking up primers in the pickup tube is very tedious. Not that bad though.
Cotter pin on primer catch needs to be replaced with a small round pin. I cut off a section of a medium safety pin and bent the ends. Improves effectiveness 100%.

Overall I am really impressed. This is quite a step up from my turret press. I loaded 300 rounds in 50 minutes vs 100 in my turret press in 55 minutes. I was going very slow and making sure everything was taking place properly. The priming system is very reliable, no trouble whatsoever.

Now for the customer service. I was having trouble figuring out how to break the press down in all pieces to thouroughly clean it. I gave them a call and I was suprised, instantly talking with a person, no "waiting for next available operator". I told the guy I had just bought the press used and that was no matter. He walked me through the whole process and explained what to clean it with and what to lube it with.

I would highly recommend the Dillon 550B to anyone, beginner or expert. I started with a Lee turret press and I wish I had gotten one of these instead. Not saying that the Lee is a bad press, in fact it works quite well. I was very happy with mine, but I'm even happier with my Dillon.

KRM45 · Post by **KRM45** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 7:59 pm

Thanks for the review.

I'm currently using a Lyman Turret Press, but I was in the Sportsman's Warehouse today eyeing the Dillon.

KinnyLee · Post by **KinnyLee** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 5:56 pm

DustinB wrote:As requested, here's my thoughts on the Dillon 550B:

I loaded 300 rounds of 9mm last night to try it out.

Setup was fairly easy. Took me about an hour or so to get it bolted down and get everything attached. Once attached, setting the dies was no more difficult than anything else.

Positive notes:
No powder will be dropped unless a case is present in that station.
Primer will not be seated unless you push the handle forward.
Retaining pins are very easy to remove a problematic case, though I had no problems.

Negative notes:
Picking up primers in the pickup tube is very tedious. Not that bad though.
Cotter pin on primer catch needs to be replaced with a small round pin. I cut off a section of a medium safety pin and bent the ends. Improves effectiveness 100%.

Overall I am really impressed. This is quite a step up from my turret press. I loaded 300 rounds in 50 minutes vs 100 in my turret press in 55 minutes. I was going very slow and making sure everything was taking place properly. The priming system is very reliable, no trouble whatsoever.

Now for the customer service. I was having trouble figuring out how to break the press down in all pieces to thouroughly clean it. I gave them a call and I was suprised, instantly talking with a person, no "waiting for next available operator". I told the guy I had just bought the press used and that was no matter. He walked me through the whole process and explained what to clean it with and what to lube it with.

I would highly recommend the Dillon 550B to anyone, beginner or expert. I started with a Lee turret press and I wish I had gotten one of these instead. Not saying that the Lee is a bad press, in fact it works quite well. I was very happy with mine, but I'm even happier with my Dillon.

Very nice. Makes me want to look around for a used 550 so I can load my 9mms with it. lol. I know I can do the caliber conversion on my 650, but I have it set up the way I wanted for the 45s, and I don't want mess with it. Yeah, I'm lazy.

I love the Lee Turret Press as well, but it is slow compared to the progressives.

DustinB · Post by **DustinB** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 1:55 am

dws1117 wrote:How thick is that bench top? Looks to be about 1 1/2".

Sorry dws, was looking back at this thread again and realized I missed your question. It is 1 1/2". The more I use it the more I like it.