I will get this out of the way up front. I am in no way bashing this press. These are my honest opinions after using it over the past few days. I read the instructions before using and referenced them when setting it up. Used it to deprime and swage about 600 LC cases of varying years. I purchased the primer pocket swaging kit and bulge buster kit along w/ the press.
Overall it feels like what you pay for it. That’s saying it feels inexpensive. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I understand using the right materials for the application and not overbuilding. It’s the abundance of plastic parts(I’m using the term generically) that I’m not a fan of. I foresee them breaking over time. I hope I’m wrong but time will tell.
The stock handle is a complete joke. I don’t know who thought it was a good design. I have smaller hands and the web between my index and middle finger was hitting the press arms. Maybe this doesn’t happen w/ larger hands. But I’m thinking it would put the web even closer to the arms. I honestly can’t believe they point out the grip as being really comfortable in their literature.
I didn’t mind the handle as much until I started swaging and had to put some a pressure on it. That’s when I decided to add a roller handle. Had an Inline ergo handle for the Classic Cast series that I don’t find comfortable. Used a unibit to increase the mounting hole diameter on the APP arms and mounted the roller handle.
Increasing the hole diameter does leave less metal at the edges. But I don’t plan on using this press for any heavy operations. Bought it solely for case processing. And for this purpose it works okay.
First thing I set it up for was depriming. The riser was easy to install on the case inserter, more on that to come. The tube support was easy to setup. But I found it’s location above the riser was quite important. I had cases that were not dropping into the jaws. Tried adjusting the actuator screw to keep the jaws open more. But this didn’t work because the jaws close when the assembly is at the end of the stoke. Fixed the tube support alignment, it was dropping cases to late, and all was good.
I did have some random weirdness. At times it would not kick a case out of the shell holder. Found that some primers weren’t being pushed completely out which prevented the cases from being pushed out of the shell holder. The next case would hit the case in the shell holder and put pressure on it. Backing off pressure, pushing the case back slightly would allow the primer to drop. Not faulting the press or dies in any way. It was completely random.
I had the riser shoot off across the room on two occasions. No clue what caused that to happen. That happened early on and hasn’t happened since. I’d prefer a more robust assembly but this is a case of hitting a price point.
Everything worked great for depriming. And everything worked well for the most part when it came to swaging the primer pockets. It was quick and easy to setup. Only took a few minutes and Lee’s directions were clear for once. But then I processed a batch of LC12 cases. Stoppage on almost every case.
As you can see the swage rod is not lining up w/ the case mouth. And not just by a little bit. Everything was working perfectly the prior night and I made no adjustments to the press or dies. I simply started to process a specific batch of brass. If I rotated the shell holder so the exit was pointing towards the back of the press the mouth would line up better. But as soon as a case was inserted the shell holder would rotate back and there would be another stoppage. There’s quite a bit of play between the case and shell holder.
The case inserter does not have consistent drops when it comes to position as well. The pic is of the same case from the first photo. There were other cases that were off more.
When it works., it works great. But constant misalignment makes it slow. I had every intention of selling my Dillon 600. Not so much now. It could very well be related to those specific cases. But I don’t have any issues w/ the Dillon regardless of cases. I have other batches of segregated cases that I’m going to run though it before I make a final determination.
It was a big let down when I had constant issues. I expect one every now and then. But every cases is excessive. The only other thing I really have to say is the tube feed is worthless. No collator and a single tube w/ no way to fill it off press doesn’t make anything quicker. Single feeding a case each time was faster in all regards. Anytime you have tubes w/out a collator they aren’t saving you any time regardless of press.
Don’t want to end on a bad note. So here’s a video of it swaging cases w/ no issues.
https://www.flickr.com/gp/dragon813gt/309769