Dillon 550...

[375supermag]

Hi...
I went to an auction in Gettysburg Pa yesterday.
Auction house specializes in firearms and related items. I attend pretty much every auction if that type that they hold.
Yesterday was a pretty good day.
I managed to win a bid on a Dillon 550 press complete with all the associated parts including one toolheads, primer tubes and a powder measure. The only thing missing was the tube for the powder measure.
Winning bid was $280.

Not worried about the powder measure tube. I won another 550 at auction earlier this year that came with multiple measures and toolheads. That press needs to go back to Dillon to be refurbished.

The one I bought yesterday looks essentially new. I just need to get some cartridge conversion kits and die sets for it. The plan is to use it for my bulk cast lead big bore revolver cartridge reloading. So, I will be setting it up for .41Mag, .44Mag, .44Spl, .45Colt and .45AutoRim. I will probably continue to load the jacketed bullet loads for those cartridges on my RockChucker.
My son and I have already switched all of our loading for .45Auto, 9mm, 10mm, and .357Mag over to my two Hornady LnLs with the exception of the jacketed bullet loads in 357Mag. I still do those and all my .38Sol loading on my RockChucker.

At any rate, I thought I managed to get a pretty good deal on the Dillon 550 and thought I would share my thoughts.

[LUBEDUDE]

Congrats on both of those 550s! Once you get everything mounted you will have a very formidable bench.

[Petrol & Powder]

I am jealous.

[onelight]

Nice find , I like the 550 very nice press.

[cat-mechanic]

I love finding Dillon stuff at auction. Looks like you got a good deal.

Here is a listing on eBay for 44 spl/mag dies and complete conversion. This is the 3rd time he has listed it for sale and it hasn't sold or been bid on yet.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/DILLON-550-44-MAG-3-DIE-SET-WITH-POWDER-DIE-TOOLHEAD-CONVERSION/183919147995?hash=item2ad26f7bdb:g:2eEAAOSw5nZdQIT J

[Dan Cash]

Congratulations on another great press purchase. I, too, have a pair of 550s which are used for loading every thing but shotgun shells if the loading batch is greater than 50 rounds or is a load development project. The two Co-Ax presses serve that need and the Rock Chucker collects dust under a storage bench.

[Dale53]

The Dillon 550 series is my favorite progressive loading press. I have two - one set up for small primers and one for large primers. I have 11 calibers I loaded for. when I was still shooting rifles.

I have loaded a couple of hundred thousand rounds on mine. Dillon's warranty and help is just a phone call away. I have NEVER seen a better warranty than what Dillon provides (made possible, no doubt, by the fact that their equipment is so well made).

FWIW
Dale53

[375supermag]

Congrats on both of those 550s! Once you get everything mounted you will have a very formidable bench.

Hi...
I think I am going to order some Inline Fabrication mounting plates to use with this 550. Haven't looked at the costs yet but I really like what I see in videos.
My son and I are cranking out some serious amounts of ammunition with two LnLs running ...the main bottleneck is my son having sufficient time because of work.
We are hoping that once this Dillon is up and running that he and I can crank out all of our bulk ammunition on the progressives and I can concentrate on specialty loads and load development rounds on my RockChucker and he can do all of the rifle rounds on the other RockChucker.
Another issue is bench space...the 6' bench is completely dominated by the LnLs. My small bench is dedicated to my RockChucker and there really isn't room for another press.
Our new 4' bench has the other RockChucker on it and there is only room for one of the Dillon's on it unless we use a docking system.
We don't want to get rid of either of the LnLs because they both work so well. One is set up for large primer and is used primarily for .45ACP. The other one is set up for small primer and is used for .357Mag and 9mm. We can easily crank out 400 rounds per hour on those machines if we preload enough primer tubes. We are not inclined to mess with what works, so we will find a way to get some kind of dock system to use both Dillon's.

[Winger Ed.]

Cool.

Its easy to find cheap stuff cheap.
It takes a little effort to find good stuff cheap.

[375supermag]

I am jealous.

Don't be jealous...
I spent many years loading everything with a single stage RockChucker...literal decades.
I have had one LnL for a few years but serious health issues kept me from loading it and shooting as much as I wanted. Now that my health situation has improved somewhat I can do more. Add to that the fact that I retired a little over a year ago affords me the time and some additional discretionary income to upgrade my reloading equipment. I have added both Dillon's and a second LnL in the last year...all purchased at auction along with a large amount of other reloading equipment.
Auctions are the way to save some money on equipment...if you are willing to invest the time and if you don't get caught up in bidding wars. In other words...know when to quit.

[375supermag]

I love finding Dillon stuff at auction. Looks like you got a good deal.

Here is a listing on eBay for 44 spl/mag dies and complete conversion. This is the 3rd time he has listed it for sale and it hasn't sold or been bid on yet.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/DILLON-550-44-MAG-3-DIE-SET-WITH-POWDER-DIE-TOOLHEAD-CONVERSION/183919147995?hash=item2ad26f7bdb:g:2eEAAOSw5nZdQIT J

Thanks for the link...

[375supermag]

Hi...
There was a very nice Dillon 900 at the auction as well. It went for$550.
I didn't bid on it. I don't shoot much more than about 1000 rounds of 12ga a year so I doubt it is cost effective for me. I am content to shoot clay birds 5-6 times a year plus a few boxes of #4 and #6 shot for hunting season.

[375supermag]

Cool.

Its easy to find cheap stuff cheap.
It takes a little effort to find good stuff cheap.

This was not the first time I tried to buy a Dillon press at auction. I have spent many hours of travel time and some long days sitting in an auction hall trying to get a good deal. I have watched people pay more than new prices for a 550 because they got caught up in a bidding war. I would rather buy nothing than do that even if it means a couple of hours drive time and 5-6 hours in an auction hall.
I was very fortunate Thursday...only one other person was interested and he dropped out of the bidding fairly quickly. And the fact is that this is an extremely clean piece of equipment is just a plus. I only had to drive a little over an hour one way, although I did spend several hours waiting for the Dillon to come up for bid.
I am content to spend time rather than money.

[Petrol & Powder]

If I had more bench space ...........(I know, I could fix that), I would like to find a bargain priced 550 to serve along side my old 550. That would allow me to keep one set up for small primer and the other for large primer.
I think if I came across a deal like the OP did, I would snatch up a 550 just to have it.

[GLShooter]

I guess my virtually NIB 550 and the big new Dillon tumbler for $100.00 was OK then?

Greg

PS: I have thrown away the bandanna I wore that day.

[David2011]

Yeah, that was an OK deal, Greg. Why can't I ever get in on the thievery deals? That big tumbler will give you a workout. I had a large and a small, got rid of the big one. My aging shoulders didn't like picking it up to dump it.

[GLShooter]

Yeah, that was an OK deal, Greg. Why can't I ever get in on the thievery deals? That big tumbler will give you a workout. I had a large and a small, got rid of the big one. My aging shoulders didn't like picking it up to dump it.

It was about 15-16 years ago on Thanksgiving morning I was looking at the regional paper insert and saw an ad for a 550 and tumbler for $50.00. I dang near vapor locked as this was at 0630. Finally at 0900 I called the guy and asked if he still had it. He did and he said I could come over ON THANKSGIVING!! I got the address and headed for Sun City City, AZ. H ewas at the store and showed up soon and headed to the garage. He had the goodies and I saw another box of stuff. I asked what was in that one. It had three top plates, four conversions and powder dies, primer alarm, about 4 pounds of new powder, 15 boxes of handgun ammo, 8 boxes of shotgun stuff, 1000 556 FMJ's, a new in the box RCBS 10-10 scale and all sort of other little goodies. I asked if he'd take $100.00 and he was glad to get it. Total with all the goodies just from Dillon was right in $900.00 plus another $400 on components and ammo. The press looked brand new and the tumbler had never been tun. Unfortunately it only came with one powder measure and Dillon upgraded it to the safety jerk bar deal for me along with the newer bars for free. I traded them one of the conversions for a 30 Carbine set up as I didn't need some odd caliber that was in the mix. I already had a big Dillon tumbler so it doubled my capacity for lots of brass.lol It didn't take long for that pres to joint it's Dillon family on my benches with the tree 300's and a 650.

I have to admit this is by far the best deal I ever got in the reloading world. I've done well occasionally on firearms gifted to me but only one topped this and that's a drilling worth about $15,000 that I paid $300.00 for but that was another story.

Greg

[375supermag]

I guess my virtually NIB 550 and the big new Dillon tumbler for $100.00 was OK then?

Greg

PS: I have thrown away the bandanna I wore that day.

That is a great deal!!!
Still trying to find a large Dillon separator at auction for a good price...not crucial, but I would like to have a large capacity separator.

[GLShooter]

That is a great deal!!!
Still trying to find a large Dillon separator at auction for a good price...not crucial, but I would like to have a large capacity separator.

Those really make it easier for using those big boys. I ve had mine 25 years. I use the small version to handle my SS media.

Greg

[Lloyd Smale]

hard to dream up anything bad to say about a 550. Its the energizer bunny of presses it just keeps loading and loading.

[Dale53]

Yeah, that was an OK deal, Greg. Why can't I ever get in on the thievery deals? That big tumbler will give you a workout. I had a large and a small, got rid of the big one. My aging shoulders didn't like picking it up to dump it.

I have the large Dillon and can appreciate what you say. When I first got mine, I dumped it when emptying. However, after I had my dedicated casting and tumbling station in my then-new utility barn, I placed my tumbler on a "stand up" bench. I merely remove the lid when emptying, and use an empty coffee can to load the media separator which normally sits directly under the bench on a shelve. I slide a stool over towards the tumbler bench, slip the separator bin up onto the stool, open the separator and merely load it up using the coffee can. It is quick, efficient, and saves my aged back[smilie=w:.

Just a thought or two...
Dale53