Adjustment of Dillon 550B Primer Setup

I bought my 550B used and, until now, have only had to switch out primer setups. The other day I had to do a full teardown of the priming parts and have run into a problem. The original spring under the primer cup was rusty so I decided to replace it. I got everything into adjustment except the depth of seating the primer. I prefer to seat the primers just a tad below the base. After several attempts I'm almost flush. There must be an easier way but it is not addressed in the manual. How do you more experienced users make this adjustment?

I have a 550 and an 550B. Both seat primers below case base but if the shell plate has excessive wobble (Loose bolt) then primer seating can be problematic. Push the press arm all the way to the rear and look for primer punch protrusion above the shell plate. On a side note the press comes with two primer seating bars from the factory, one large and one small.

John, if you call Dillon, they will walk you through the setup precedures. If you need new parts they will take care of you. There are some good folks there.

hello it might be you need to cut a piece of spring so brass can go down
Maybe the spring is capped

This is how I swap sizes and seat the punch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rCGV-JPYaE

The depth is how far you push the handle on the ram down stroke, as the punch is capable of going well above the bottom of the shell plate.

If you want to see this for yourself, without a case in station 1, push on the handle like you are seating a primer and note how high it goes.

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Originally Posted by jmorris

This is how I swap sizes and seat the punch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rCGV-JPYaE

The depth is how far you push the handle on the ram down stroke, as the punch is capable of going well above the bottom of the shell plate.

If you want to see this for yourself, without a case in station 1, push on the handle like you are seating a primer and note how high it goes.

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I'd be careful, people who come up with that simple a solution are usually viewed as trouble makers. Scares the bejebbies out of us regular folks.

Watch your back:kidding:

Dang jmorris, that is way slicker than swapping the slide. Thanks so much!!

I used the method as instructed by Dillon when I phoned. Worked perfectly. Only problem is that the tube that feeds the primer into the cup got damaged. Actually the yellow plastic end.

For those who have ordered parts from Dillon, about how long does mailing take. I'm not complaining but it has been over a week and still no parts. I haven't contacted them since they didn't ask for payment so I have no gripe. Just getting anxious to get back to reloading.

I've been accumulating .45 ACP small primer brass so I don't have to change out the priming set up. After reading jmorris' post, I may try it so I can utilize my large primer 45ACP brass. I especially like his solution to supporting the die plate. I'll probably have to cut a dowel rod in place of his glue stick.

I do it the same way as J Morris. Works well and is simple.

Another vote for jmorris’s method. Simple and quick.

I knew that. Really. I just like taking my 550 apart to change primer sizes....
Tony

I picked up that method to swap from Large to Small primers and vice-versa a while back. It is slick and saves a lot of work.

As for setting the primer seating depth, there's really not a lot of "adjustment" in the that Dillon system. The seating stem has a rebated section on the lower end and the set screw that holds the stem in the slide simply "captures" the stem and locks it in place. There may be a little bit of clearance between completely bottomed out and a little higher, but probably not enough that I would call it an adjustment.

As for the speed of Dillon's parts delivery, Dillon has always been great. They get the stuff out the door within one business day. What the U.S. Postal Service does with it once they have it? Well that's not Dillon's fault.

I WILL SAY THIS - The USPS doesn't own aircraft. Mail is often transported in the cargo hold of commercial airlines and other carriers. With this COVID-19 BS screwing up our country, the number of commercial flights have been greatly reduced. A lot of mail appears to be going by truck these day. I just got a package from the upper mid west that took over a week to arrive. I'm not complaining, I didn't need a rush delivery but that same source would have normally been 4 days en-route, tops.

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Originally Posted by JMax

I have a 550 and an 550B. Both seat primers below case base but if the shell plate has excessive wobble (Loose bolt) then primer seating can be problematic. ......

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/\ My thoughts exactly /\

The key is to get the shell plate as snug as possible without binding it.
When I swap shell plates I use the following method:

Remove the toolhead (gives you more room to work)
Raise the ram and loosen the set screw that locks the shell plate bolt.
Swap out the shell plate and related hardware. The big bolt that holds the shell plate has a flange that is the bearing surface between the shell plate and the bolt. I put a little bit of grease on the bottom edge of that flange.
Tighten the center bolt down while advancing the shell plate with your thumb. Tighten the center bolt it until the shell plate stops turning. Then back off the center bolt until you can just start to rotate the shell plate again. Holding the large Allen key in place, tighten the set screw in the side of the ram to lock the center bolt in position.

You should now have a shell plate that rotates freely but has very little vertical play. Once you get the hang of it; you will not even think about it.

There are kits that add thrust bearings to the shell plate system but frankly, I don't think they are needed.

I have 2 complete primer system's one for large primers and one for small primers, I just remove the 2 bolts that hold them to the 550 and change the whole unit out , they usally need cleaning anyway.

That JMorris is a clever and knowledgeable guy. The other methods are ok but they aren't always needed and the simple solution works quite well.

Still haven't received the part I need for the small primer setup so I tried the JMorris solution. Worked like a charm. Switching back to small primers won't be a big deal now.

Been doing it that way for years. Works great.

Looks like you got your answers... since you bought it used, you may not have one of these:
https://dilloncdn.com/manuals/dillon...al-english.pdf

The installation of shellplate above is basically same as what is in the manual. The conversion kits are listed in the back. Very helpful info there. The online wiki for conversions has errors so careful using that.

My solution to changing primers was/is to get a second press. It does work. But for those who don't want to or feel the need for a second press, GO slow and be methodical. If possible do all calibers that take one size of primers before switching to the other size. Or do the Jmorris solution. Oh yeah, and do lube the press.

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Originally Posted by trebor44

My solution to changing primers was/is to get a second press. It does work. But for those who don't want to or feel the need for a second press, GO slow and be methodical. If possible do all calibers that take one size of primers before switching to the other size. Or do the Jmorris solution. Oh yeah, and do lube the press.

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Ha.. mine too. Not that it’s a big deal to change the system, but I like multiple presses setup while I work through different loads.

Right now, I have one running 38 SW and the other running 44-40 and 45-70 BP loads. Been back and forth to range a few times trying to find best recipe on each.