Dillon 550b dies

[vmthtr]

Do you need to use Dillon dies for this press to work? Have not seen press, but is on its way here as I type.

[SlimTim]

Not at all. Use Lee, Redding, Hornaday, RCBS, Lyman, etc., to your hearts content.

[bobthenailer]

I use dillion , rcbs, & redding dies with no problems . in a 450 & 550 dillon

[376Steyr]

Other maker's dies will work, as the Dillon 550 uses standard 7/8x14 die holes. You might find that using other maker's dies, especially older ones, will slow down your production as the die openings aren't beveled for easy case insertion, the seating stems get full of gunk and aren't designed to be easily cleaned, etc. If you are going to crank out lots of handgun ammo, the Dillon dies are worth the money.

[Daddyfixit]

What he said! I use my older dies with no problem but man those new Dillon dies are NICE!


Other maker's dies will work, as the Dillon 550 uses standard 7/8x14 die holes. You might find that using other maker's dies, especially older ones, will slow down your production as the die openings aren't beveled for easy case insertion, the seating stems get full of gunk and aren't designed to be easily cleaned, etc. If you are going to crank out lots of handgun ammo, the Dillon dies are worth the money.

[EDK]

What he said! I use my older dies with no problem but man those new Dillon dies are NICE!

The bevel on the DILLON dies AND the quick disassembly to clean the seater and crimper dies make them an even better bargain. You buy a progressive press to turn out LOTS OF AMMO...good ammo!....with a minimum of hassle.

Only thing I don't like about the 550B is changing out the primer system. So I celebrated Mr. Obama getting nominated by buying ANOTHER 550B and leaving one set up for 357 and the other for 44 or 45. I'm shooting a lot more 357s since I did that.

:Fire::cbpour::redneck::Fire:

[Bad Water Bill]

The HERTERS dies work great in my 550.

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

They are well worth the price tag, I prefer them, if I need to buy dies in a different caliber.

I would definitely suggest buying their die rings, regardless.

Rich

[scrapcan]

The only issue you may have is with die lock rings. I have had to change some lock rings on a few sets of older dies.

I will admit that I have even used truline jr dies with the adapter and a powder thru for a different cartridge

[MtGun44]

Also, you need to use a Dillon powder die and this will be an expander die for larger
caliber and straight walled cases. For bottleneck cases, it is just a powder drop die.

If you are loading large quantities of pistol ammo, the Dillon dies have some notable
advantages. The sizer has a generous mouth radius so you will crunch few cases when you
are running fast. The seater die has an easy to disassemble from the top system with
a clip so you can clean it of the buildup of boolit lube without losing your setup. They
are expensive dies, but very good quality and optimized to make large quantities of ammo
fast and to setup/clean easily. Note what was said about lock rings, many lockrings are too big
to fit in the tight space on a 550 toolhead.

Great tools, you will love it.
Bill

[357shooter]

The 550 is one great press, the Dillon dies are too. I do use some Lee dies too, but my high volume bullets get the Dillon's.

Just a note: a Dillon 3 die set (pistol is what I'm familiar with) has a sizing die, seating die and crimp die. The powder through/expander die is seperate, and has caliber specific funnels.

Whatever dies you get, you need enough of the right dies to get the job done.