Dillon 550BL

[tranders]

Anyone use the BL 550?

Thoughts and opinions welcome.

Thanks!

[bgw45]

It is the beginning of a great system. IMHO, buy the RL, store those systems you don't want to use now. Later you may choose to use all of the goodies and will not have to pay the upgrade pricing. If you ever decide to sell your press you will get more from the sale if the press is complete.

[jmort]

I have two. I prime off the press and charge off the press.
I like simple, no bullet feeder or case feeder or primer feeder
The BL 550 is a great deal
I would call Dillon and see if they would sell me a "BL 550C"

[John Boy]

Thoughts and opinions welcome.
Other than the MEC series of loaders for shotshells - the Dillion 550 BL is widely used in the reloading community.
I reload all my shotshells on the MEC 650 - Jr and SizeMaster ... cases!
I reload all my handgun calibers on the Dillon 550 BL ... thousands! Both smokeless and black powder
And Dillon says ... 217743

[Boogedy_Man]

I have a hard time understanding this press. It's a progressive, but every motion is manual?

What gain would there be over an auto-advancing turret?

[AllanD]

I have a hard time understanding this press. It's a progressive, but every motion is manual?

What gain would there be over an auto-advancing turret?

Simplicity and reliability, it is NOT a big deal to advance the shell plate with your thumb each time.

I have an RL550 that I've had since about 1990 and you get used to it real fast.
You also have something to chuckle about when you hear people complaining about
indexing problems with their RL650

[Boogedy_Man]

I don't want to be a naysayer having never used it, but also because I'm always looking at new stuff myself.

Aside from being upgradeable to an actual progressive, I have a hard time seeing what this press actually does.

[edp2k]

Auto advance frequently causes more problem than it purportedly "solves".
if there is a hitch in your giddyup (e.g. brass gets crumpled at the seating station)
then the auto advance can snowball things into bigger problems while you are trying to solve a simple problem.

with a 550, after the initial few minutes your left thumb automatically flicks the shell plate to the next station.
It becomes 2nd nature.

its one of these things that, if you have never done it and are reading about it,
it sounds like a big disadvantage (manually indexing), but after doing it a few minutes
it becomes 2nd nature.

[sdb321]

I started reloading with a Dillon Square Deal B. Decided to upgrade to a 550 B. It is GREAT!!!! Really smooth and a lot cheaper than a XL 650.217758

[Livin_cincy]

On YouTube a channel called The Reloader Dude purchased a Dillon ' BL ' 550 and really likes it. He put a LEE Autodrum powder measure & dies into tool heads for the calibers he wanted to load.

[Boogedy_Man]

Auto advance frequently causes more problem than it purportedly "solves".
if there is a hitch in your giddyup (e.g. brass gets crumpled at the seating station)
then the auto advance can snowball things into bigger problems while you are trying to solve a simple problem.

with a 550, after the initial few minutes your left thumb automatically flicks the shell plate to the next station.
It becomes 2nd nature.

its one of these things that, if you have never done it and are reading about it,
it sounds like a big disadvantage (manually indexing), but after doing it a few minutes
it becomes 2nd nature.


That's missing my point, I believe.

I'm saying what advantage would this press have over a turret that does auto advance.

One poster said he primes and charges off the press. So...decap resize, then off the press for priming and charging and back to the press for manual bullet seating?

That's single stage reloading.

[Drew P]

That's missing my point, I believe.

I'm saying what advantage would this press have over a turret that does auto advance.

One poster said he primes and charges off the press. So...decap resize, then off the press for priming and charging and back to the press for manual bullet seating?

That's single stage reloading.
Because one handle pull on a turret completes one operation but one handle pull on a bl550 completes 4 operations. Also replaceable tool heads stay set up for caliber specific.

[jmort]

I flair/expand first die
Seat second die
Crimp third die
Somtimes I will run a Lee Auto drum and use all four holes, charging in second spot
It is a progressive press that you manually advance the shell plate
It is rightly held in high regard by most every owner

[Boogedy_Man]

Because one handle pull on a turret completes one operation but one handle pull on a bl550 completes 4 operations. Also replaceable tool heads stay set up for caliber specific.

Lol....what four operations are occurring in the scenario I posted? The only thing that is happening is the operator working his butt off.

Yes, I know that tool heads stay set up...just like turrets. Where's the advantage?

[Drew P]

Uhm, well if you think swinging the lever 4 times vs 1 time for the same amount of process completed is similar then there’s no advantage. But to me, that’s a noteworthy advantage over the turret press.
To put another way, on the turret press you’re working on one shell at a time, ont the 550 you’re working on 4 simultaneously.

[Boogedy_Man]

Again..for those troubled with math...you can't accomplish 4x1 with what I asked.

Some people won't ever have the brains to see...

[Livin_cincy]

Again..for those troubled with math...you can't accomplish 4x1 with what I asked.

Some people won't ever have the brains to see...

There was a convesion kit on ebay to make a Dillon 55O a single stage press...

[Drew P]

Again..for those troubled with math...you can't accomplish 4x1 with what I asked.

Some people won't ever have the brains to see...most people charge in the 550. Otherwise there’s still operations that could benefit like expand, seat, crimp, that’s three stages in one pull. Or if he decided to charge in it, okay. Maybe math isn’t my strongest skill, or maybe I don’t have any skills, but I have common sense enough to see that the 550 is a more flexible tool that’s capable of faster output than a turret.
Lot of fellows out there with many nice presses and the owners are very glad to have their 550’s. Maybe it doesn’t suit your type of reloading and that’s why you can’t understand it. Sorry bub, truly your loss. :)

[Drew P]

If I have one main gripe about them it’s that I wish they loaded from the left instead of the right. I would prefer to keep my right arm on the lever full time like my other presses.

[jmorris]

Personally I wouldn’t buy the BL, I would get the C and use it as I would the BL.

Why? Because the 550 C will be worth more and it would cost more to later buy the added components to upgrade the BL to the C.

That’s just me though. Sure as I tell myself I don’t care about a priming system and powder measure, something would change and I’d have to buy them.

So then I would order the $90 550 priming system and $85 powder measure and think, now that I have already spent more than the 550C cost in the first place, I was there. Until the box comes and I realize I don’t have a fail safe kit ($28) for the measure and the priming system didn’t come with a low primer alarm ($27). Where if I bought the C in the first place I would have spent less money and had all the parts.

[jmorris]

I would call Dillon and see if they would sell me a "BL 550C"

No such thing, would be like calling a dealership and asking them if they have a car with a 4 cylinder V8. Or going to a restaurant and ordering the chicken fajitas with beef instead of chicken. They are two different things.

The “C” was created when they changed the frame, they also changed the 650’s frame at the same time but didn’t change the name. The 550’s name change from B to C, I imagine, was done to prevent further confusion between the BL 550 and 550 B. If you buy a BL 550 today, it will have the same frame as the 550 C, just be stripped of the items in the post above.

[Arkansas Paul]

Deleted

[jmort]

If what jmorris, is saying is true, I, jmort, agree

[David2011]

That's missing my point, I believe.

I'm saying what advantage would this press have over a turret that does auto advance.

One poster said he primes and charges off the press. So...decap resize, then off the press for priming and charging and back to the press for manual bullet seating?

That's single stage reloading.

I’ll try to answer your question. A turret press is a single stage press. The 550 in any version is a progressive that sizes and decaps and primes at the first stage, charges the case at the second, seats the boolit at the third and crimps at the fourth all with one cycle of the handle. That an individual chooses not to use the full capability of the press does not change its capability.

I kind of want to fire back with a “brains” comment but I prefer the normally civil nature of the group here.

[Boogedy_Man]

You wouldn't hurt my feelings, David. I'm thicker-skinned than that.

Taking all the capability away from a progressive seems counter-productive, to me. That's all my comment amounted to, really.

If it were me pondering this, I'd be looking for an RL550.

[jmorris]

Uhm, well if you think swinging the lever 4 times vs 1 time for the same amount of process completed is similar then there’s no advantage. But to me, that’s a noteworthy advantage over the turret press.
To put another way, on the turret press you’re working on one shell at a time, ont the 550 you’re working on 4 simultaneously.

His point is that you cannot do that very easily with the BL550. It can’t be, insert case, add powder, add bullet, pull and repeat.

Because there is no priming system, the sizes and deprimes case must be removed from the press to seat a primer then reinstalled for another process.

You can seat in #3 and crimp in #4, doing so would allow you to cut the number of strokes in half 2:1 SS vs. 550 for those operations but you just can’t get 4:1 on a BL like you can the C.

One could put a case into #1 and stroke the handle up and back down and stop. Then remove that case, pick up your hand primer and seat a primer in that case, then set it back down, reinstall that case in #1, rotate the shell plate, measure your charge and dump it in #2, place another case in #1 and seat a bullet in #3, repeat. That would get you back to doing all operation with one pull but the wasted starts and stops in between likely would be slower than doing each operation on a SS in batches, except you still would get the 2:1 benefit if you seat and crimp separately.

[Boogedy_Man]

You are exactly correct....and put it much better than me.

[Arkansas Paul]

Because there is no priming system, the sizes and deprimes case must be removed from the press to seat a primer then reinstalled for another process.

One could put a case into #1 and stroke the handle up and back down and stop. Then remove that case, pick up your hand primer and seat a primer in that case, then set it back down, reinstall that case in #1, rotate the shell plate, measure your charge and dump it in #2, place another case in #1 and seat a bullet in #3, repeat. That would get you back to doing all operation with one pull but the wasted starts and stops in between likely would be slower than doing each operation on a SS in batches, except you still would get the 2:1 benefit if you seat and crimp separately.

I don't know if it used to be that way and has changed, but Dillon's site says that it does have a priming system. It just doesn't have a primer feeder, meaning you have to manually place a primer in the arm before you make the downstroke.

See #1 under the "How it works" heading.

https://www.dillonprecision.com/bl-550-basic-loader_8_1_25792.html

I do understand just wanting to go straight to the RL. But I also see some benefit in the BL over an auto indexing turret.

[lightload]

I bought the BL model because I never intended to prime on the press. Also, from the start, my plan was to use a case activated Lee powder measure. At my age for me speed is not a consideration. But to a young man, who is certain he wishes to stay with the reloading hobby, I suggest buying the full meal deal at the beginning and proceed from there. I say, though, hold off on case and bullet feeders at first. I also recommend keeping the old single stage press because eventually there will be a need for it. I go so far to say if a new person has not reloaded before, that he buy an inexpensive single stage press and use it to learn the basics on. The new guy might consider buying Dillon dies to go with the single stage press.

[jmorris]

It does have a place by hand single feed priming system, page 13.

http://dillonhelp.com/Dillon%20Manual%20PDFs/BL550Manual.pdf

I can promise you that a decent hand priming system will be faster than putting each individual primer into a cup, base down manually.

A running Lee Loadmaster would run circles around the operation.