Dillon

[WALLNUTT]

I have loaded for many years with my original Rockchucker so that's my only experience. My questions are: Do Dillon 550s work well with lubed cast bullets? Do you have to use special dies with Dillons?

[Kevin Rohrer]

Yes

No

[lpspinner]

Never tried with lube cast, but works well with Moly Coated.

No. (But I kinda like Dillon dies)

[btroj]

They better work with lubed cast bullets, I would hate to tell mine it wasn't following the rules!

I use whatever dies I have, it isn't an issue.

[Walter Laich]

My Sq Deal B does require special Dillon dies. Since I use the SDB almost all the time it isn't a problem to have special dies

[wv109323]

The answer to your first question is maybe. The answer to your second question is maybe.
I will try to explain.
The Dillon 550B uses the 7/8 X15 standard dies. The first station is the re-size and deprime station. The case is resized and deprimed on the down stroke of the handle. At the end up stroke the new primer is seated.
The case is then rotated to station two. Here the case neck is expanded and the bell is applied to the rim of the case to seat the cast bullet. This is done by Dillon's proprietary Powder Funnel. With the down stroke of the handle at station two, the case pushes the powder funnel up which activates the powder measure and the powder is dropped down through the powder funnel into the case. The problem is that you are at Dillon's mercy as to what dimension the expanded neck ends up at. The dimension is .004 to .006" smaller than the nominal diameter for a jacketed bullet. The dimension for 9MM is like .350. SOMETIMES this is not the ideal diameter if your pistol needs a larger bullet to fit the bore. Say your 9MM needs a .358 cast bullet for the bore of a particular pistol. You end up stuffing a .358 boolit in a .350 hole. This can distort the bullet diameter and you end up with a round that has less than desirable accuracy.
While the same problem exists with factory dies used in a single stage press most die manufacturers offer solutions. Dillon does not.
See answer one for question 2.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

While the 550 is NOT the press I would buy, I must say that you can get someone to make you a custom powder funnel with the expander in the dimensions of a Lyman M-die. These work extremely well.

That said, the more stations a press has, the easier it is to get it to accomodate the idiosyncracies of cast boolits.

[Alvarez Kelly]

Lots of people offer oversized powder funnels if you need one. I think a few are vendors on this board.


Edit to add: I see Dave beat me to the post. :-)

[WALLNUTT]

Thanks Fellas I won't be buying new so there will be room to get funnels made if need be. It's supposed to be at a bargain basement price but even free would do no good if it won't load cast. We'll see if it comes through.

[wrench man]

Yep
Nope
Only issue I've had with cast is if loading for an auto loader you need to seat and crimp in separate operations (recommend it all the time for everything) when seating and crimping (taper) the lead will shave a ring around the case mouth and they won't chamber properly.

[lpspinner]

I have in the past, when I first made the transition from Lee to Dillon use the Lee powder thru die and the Lee powder measure. Also, Dillon does sell a powder measure adapter to allow use of "any manufacturer's powder measure with 7/8" x 14 threads (http://www.dillonprecision.com/#/content/p/9/pid/23634/catid/3/Powder_Measure_Adapter)".

[bigarm]

Lots of people offer oversized powder funnels if you need one. I think a few are vendors on this board.


Edit to add: I see Dave beat me to the post. :-)

Can you provide links to those people as I am doing mostly cast bullets now? Thanks.

[Alvarez Kelly]

Can you provide links to those people as I am doing mostly cast bullets now? Thanks.

No. My search fu is low.

I suggest you post a very specific WTB ad. You will get plenty of leads and offers.

[runfiverun]

As far as the dies go dillons dies are set up for jacketed (their size dies anyway)
since I had dies in hand to begin with I just bought LEE carbide size dies to size with and use a mosh-mash of other dies.
Sometimes it's a Dillon seat die and an rcbs crimp die, sometimes it's something else in the combination.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Can you provide links to those people as I am doing mostly cast bullets now? Thanks.
When I needed one, I just posted in this forum or one of the others and asked who did it that was on the board. People were kind enough to message me. I still have a couple I need to have made in other pistol calibers, but money is too tight to do so right now.

[wv109323]

I should have mentioned that board members do make specific size powder funnels to cure the problem. Last night my wife was in the bed while I was typing my response and she gave me the evil eye. I ended the post too quickly. If mama ain't happy nobody is happy.

[MtGun44]

Never had a second's difficulty with the 9mm expander/powder drop die. Never measured
it, but whatever it is, my .358 cast boolits for 9mm (356-120 TC) made from air cooled
wheel weights are delivered properly to the bore.

Dillon dies are more rounded at the entry and have a REALLY NICE quick dissassemly system
to clean our lube buildup in the seater or swap seater punch shape, so they are a bit more
convenient for doing huge quantities of ammo.

I can easily do 400 rounds per hour in a 550, and if you want to really set everything up
efficiently and focus without much dawdling, you can easily get to 500 or more rounds
per hour. When I am practicing, it is easy to go through 400-500 rounds in a practice
session or two, and making quantities of ammo in a hurry is a great thing.

Dillon quality is very high, too and they have a no baloney lifetime warranty. Literally,
if it breaks or wears out, they will replace it for free, forever. However, whether you need
a progressive press is largely dependent on how much you load in a month or a year. IMO, if
you load 400 rounds per month or less of a given cartridge, the Dillon 550 is a luxury, not a
necessity. Of course, you and your bank account will decide exactly which luxuries are
necessary! :bigsmyl2:

Bill

[EddieNFL]

Find seller gscustom2013 on ebay. He'll make what ever size expander you need.

[ffries61]

Be careful with those, I got 1 and the finish on it is horrible, I could do better with a hammer and a dull chisel, mine's so rough it's more of a brass reamer than expander [smilie=b:


Find seller gscustom2013 on ebay. He'll make what ever size expander you need.

[btroj]

Bill is right on the Dillon dies. I love their seater, easy to take apart for cleaning without changing the settings. The crimp die is similar. I replaced a set of Hornady 357 dies with a set of Dillon dies and replaced the seater on the toolheads for 38 special.

[angus6]

Be careful with those, I got 1 and the finish on it is horrible, I could do better with a hammer and a dull chisel, mine's so rough it's more of a brass reamer than expander [smilie=b:

I'm sure a quick email to him would have another in the mail ASAP , I know I ordered a funnel for a 6x223 I assumed it would be the same as my .223 except being opened up for 6mm, when I got it it was longer. A quick email had another to my specs in the mail the next day with no return of the first one needed

[EddieNFL]

Be careful with those, I got 1 and the finish on it is horrible, I could do better with a hammer and a dull chisel, mine's so rough it's more of a brass reamer than expander [smilie=b:

Maybe he still holds a grudge against the Redlegs. The ones I have work very well.

[Petrol & Powder]

The 550B works fine with cast. I like their dies for some operations due to the ability to clean them without removing the die from the tool head however I also use a assortment of dies on some tool heads.
The Dillon dies work fine but you can use any standard 7/8" die on the 550.

[ioon44]

About 95 % of the loading on my 550 is cast, I use Dillon, RCBS, Hornady, Redding, Lee dies depending which die works the best for me. I have found Dillon carbide dies to be on the tight side. I had a Dillon .44mag die that shaved brass off the side of the case and called Dillon and was told this was normal (Dillon is not always B.S. free), solution sold the .44mag and bought Hornady .44 mag.

The only other issue I have had with Dillon is the powder funnel expander, the measurements seem to be all over place, I have 9mm F funnels that have measured .351" to .355"( called Dillon about this and got B.S.).


Over all Dillon has good customer service and great products, but then no one or machine is prefect.

[1bluehorse]

I have loaded for many years with my original Rockchucker so that's my only experience. My questions are: Do Dillon 550s work well with lubed cast bullets? Do you have to use special dies with Dillons?


Just in case the other reply's didn't answer your original question for you....Dillon 550s will load any bullet in any case you can get a shell plate (Dillon) and dies (any brand) for.....the ONLY Dillon press that uses "special" dies is the Square Deal press, the dies for it are from Dillon and are for the SDB only....all other Dillon presses use "regular" dies....

[ffries61]

I may try that, but mine was bought in '13 so I doubt he'll warranty it


I'm sure a quick email to him would have another in the mail ASAP , I know I ordered a funnel for a 6x223 I assumed it would be the same as my .223 except being opened up for 6mm, when I got it it was longer. A quick email had another to my specs in the mail the next day with no return of the first one needed

[jmorris]

I began reloading on progressives with Dillon machines 30 years ago with cast bullets. Fast forward to today and I have at least one of every Dillon progressive machine and have loaded cast bullets on all of them. I have never bought and aftermarket die to expand; however, for rifle I do put a generous chamfer inside the case mouth, for cast/coated bullets.

[mack1]

:guntootsmiley::guntootsmiley::guntootsmiley: If he is from Missouri this is a very real possibility, would not want to better arm the other side.


Maybe he still holds a grudge against the Redlegs. The ones I have work very well.

[257]

I had that problem 1 time I figured out the size I needed and made one it worked fine. but most people don't have a lathe in there shop