The Brown Goodie Truck left me a box!!

[DOUBLEJK]

I got back to the house from washin' the swather down for some expensive repairs it needs and there in my driveway sat that Goodie Truck...Twas a Fathers Day Box from my daughter...
Opened er right there in the driveway n what to my wonderin' eye's appeared.... a shiny new Dillon SDB was in it...
NEBody else use one a these?
Hope I can figure out how ta put it together....n try loadin' some fun ammo....figure it'll werk great fer mucho loads of minute of tin can stuff...

[Vegas Vince]

Sounds like you have a great Daughter! Have fun with the new toy.

Vince

[keeper89]

Doncha just LOVE that brown goodie wagon?

[Lloyd Smale]

I love the square deals ive got 5 of them set up. Very seldom use the 550 anymore. The square deals are just so much faster. But there a little more of a pita to swap calibers on so thats why 5 of them i just leave them set up in a caliber.

[Cayoot]

I love the square deals ive got 5 of them set up. Very seldom use the 550 anymore. The square deals are just so much faster. But there a little more of a pita to swap calibers on so thats why 5 of them i just leave them set up in a caliber.

I've been thinking of doing the same thing for a couple of my hand gun calibers.

How long have you been using them Lloyd? Would you consider the SBD to be very durable?

I've been wrestling with buying another Hornady LNL progressive or a couple SBDs. I really like my current Hornady and I have a RCBS turrent, but I'd like to have something set up and dedicated to large primer handgun calibers.

Your opinon please?

[Poohgyrr]

Sounds like you have a great Daughter there, congrats!

And we have a Goodie Truck alarm system at home: our old dog knows the sound of that & barks to let me know.

I don't know how she learned that trick, but she might happen to get a treat for doing it..

And our new puppy is picking up on it too..

[Bodydoc447]

I have three SDBs. A dedicated .38 special press and one for large and small primers. I have been using one of the machines bought new in 1989. The other were bought used and are of similar vintage. I have sent only one back to the factory for a rebuild. After about 175,000 rounds loaded on it. Cost me shipping one way. Buy blue! I have also received as a gift a 550B but mainly use that on bottle necked cartridges like .38-40 and .30-06. That one is only 6 years old and so is barely broken it yet.

Doc

[fourarmed]

The SDB is at its best set up for one caliber. They are very trouble-free and reliable. I have (only) two - one that has never loaded anything but .45 ACP, and one that gets switched back and forth from .38 to .357. If you do a lot of caliber switching, probably the 550 would be better.

Couple of hints: If you buy new brass, run it in the tumbler a while before loading it. Otherwise it has a tendency to hang up on the expander tube. Also, I have found Federal primers to give the least problem with seating. A leather glove on the right hand can save a blister if you are loading a lot of ammo. One without finger tips makes it easier to feed the cases.

[Johnch]

I use one for 9mm , 38 spec/357 mag , 40 S&W and 45 ACP .
On little problem I had with mine , was for the 357 mag some of the super long bullets gave me fits .

But I solved that by loading those on the 550 or the Rock chucker

I love mine , just finished loading 2/3 of a 5 gallon bucket of 9 mm .
I have a piece of down spout from the press to the bucket .
Those blue bins don't hold nearly enough , when I get rolling

Enjoy

Johnch

[Lloyd Smale]

mine are between 5 and 15 years old. All have been good presses. Theres wear items like the primer return spring indexing pawl primer slide bushings. But there all easily replaced and dillon gives them out for free. Ive broke two handles through the years and the shell plate hold down bolts occasionaly break. But to be fair my load many thousands of rounds a year.

[Four Fingers of Death]

I'm planning an upgrade in the near future. I am torn between a 650 with all of the trimmings or several SDBs. I was thinking a dedicated one for 38Super/9mm, one for 38/357 and one for 45Colt/44Mag, but, what about the 45ACP? I'm running outa bench space. It might have to be the 650. How hard is it to change the primer feeds from small to large on the 650? Mick.

PS, what will probably happen will be like these sort of thing always are, I will ponder, research, pontificate, procrastinate and generally ponce around and will then buy what is in stock or what takes my fancy on the day.

[Dale53]

I only have one Dillon press - 550B. It is a terrific machine and I have only one criticism, the powder measure should be a micrometer. Well, that can be solved by an after market part.

The ideal set up would be to have two 550B's, one for each primer size (takes too long to change primer size). Then you would be in reloading heaven. This is only nitpickin' but I am talking IDEAL, here.

If I can find a 550B for a reasonable price, I will probably go for it.

Dale53

[DOUBLEJK]

Thanks fer the tips guy's...
I got it set up last night and managed to load 10 rounds of 9MM on it....still figuring it out tho as several times primers didn't feed and to load those 10 I pulled 6 apart without primers and redid em..
Is this press a pain to change calibers on? Several of you note you have more than 1 and dedicate them to 1 caliber each...

[Ken O]

My SDB is 12 years old, but it gets heavy use. I shoot IDPA, ISPC, and Steel Challenge matches. Plus I practice in the back yard. So I load massive amounts of .45ACP. In IDPA and Steel Challenge, I shoot two classes, both .45s, a 1911 in the CDP class and the S&W625 in the revolver class. The only part that wears out for me is the plastic primer cup on the bottom of the primer feed assembly, its shot after about 25,000 rounds. I would say the SDB is very durable, I go though at least two sleaves of primers every year which is 10,000 rounds.

[Baldy]

It takes about 20 mintues to change over. After you do it a couple of times. I do hand guns only and you can really knock out a bunch in a hurry once you get the hang of it. Go slow at first and feel things out. You have one of the finest presses goin as far as I am concerned. I do 38,357,&45's.

[NVcurmudgeon]

4FingerMick, my SDB is one of the earliest ones. It had a few bugs at first, but Dillon stood behind it as they always do. They have refurbished it twice in the last 20 or 25 years, and installed the latest improvements gratis. I originally kept it set up for .45 ACP WC to support my then bullseye addiction. Now that I have a .44 Magnum Marlin Cowboy and a S&W 629 to support, I have a conversion for the SDB. Conversion works flawlessly, with never an adjustment needed, other than to the powder measure, unless I change boolits. I did get an extra tool head to facilitate quick conversions. One of the early bugs in the SDB was caused by my usng CCI primers, which Dillon's tech knew as soon as I stated the problem! I still use CCI primers, but never in the SDB.

Y'all, I am thinking about getting conversions in .38 Special and 9mm Luger, plus a conversion for the priming system. Maybe a second SDB would be best, as I then would not have to mess with changing primer systems, or maybe a 550, because I could use existing dies. I would apppreciate hearing from other quick-change artists.

[AnthonyB]

NVcurmudgeon, I have a 550B and several different conversion kits for it. Changing the primer feed assembly could probably be done in less than two minutes if I tried to rush it, and die changes are almost instantaneous if you remove the powder measure at the end of a loading session and keep dies on dedicated toolheads. I haven't spent the money on extra toolheads and only have two, but I can still set up a new caliber in less than twenty minutes. A few dedicated toolheads could get that down to five minutes easily, with nothing left to change but the powder measure. Tony

[JackOfAllTrades]

Does your daughter need an uncle with a shooting habbit?

-I'm available.

I got a BBQ for Fathers day. Hmm... Stand and cycle the handle on a new press? Or stand and flip steaks? I'm not sure which is better.

-Steve