Defective since new and horrible service
Quote from Reloader on February 16, 2017, 12:38 amThe press is mounted on a strong mount bolted to a very strong, solid wood workbench (no plywood) that is bolted to the studs of my workroom. All of the issues are with the priming system and after numerous calls to customer service area I have given up! In my last 2,400 rounds loaded I tracked failures to pick up primers and consistently it was between 15-20% failure rates. In addition the failure to properly seat the primer using three sharp pushes to seat the primer is down to just over 10% down from 60% previously. I achieved the 10% failure to seat by adding 3 steps to cleaning my brass:
Tumble brass in media
Depriming brass with a hand deprimer
Ultrasonically cleaning brass
Manually cleaning the primer pocket with a primer pocket cleaning toolWhen I was only doing stage 1 of the above the failure to seat was at least 60%.
Let me walk you through using the press to reload a typical 100 round. Every round I have to watch the Primer Slide as it will get stuck in the “out” position at least 40 times out of 100. When stuck I remove the locator button on the second die and remove the case. Cycle the press twice to finish the rounds in stages 3 and 4. Hopefully the primer is now picked up but about 5% of the time a primer is spit out of the bottom of the of the press. Next I restart from scratch the reloading process and end up repeating the above steps until I have so many failures that I just do every other stage with a round because the press is so unreliable. After “completing” the 100 rounds I do the following:
Pick up the unused primers that the press spit out
Sort the “finished” rounds into three groups:
Those done correctly
Those needing the primers hand seated
Those with no primersClean up all of the spilled powder from the area around the press as sometimes the press does not pick-up a primer and there is no way to know this has happened (10% of the time!).
Disassemble and clean the press of the spilled powder from the rounds with no primer
Pulls bullets from rounds with no primersI have used CCI, Winchester and Remington primers with no change in the failures. In addition I have loaded large and small pistol primers and standard and magnum primers with no difference in the incredibly high failure rate.
At this point the press can be fixed, you can use it for R&D to learn what not to send out the door or it can be trashed and I will sell what I have left on eBay. I really do not care to have a progressive press in my possession that it is more work than a single stage press. I would never sell this unusable press it to any unsuspecting person.Every time I reach out there's another "try this" response. The latest was to take apart the primer system and using calibers set it to factory specs.
If this is top notch customer service I would hate to see bad customer service. Two friends are considering Dillon presses and I cannot recommend the company.
The press is mounted on a strong mount bolted to a very strong, solid wood workbench (no plywood) that is bolted to the studs of my workroom. All of the issues are with the priming system and after numerous calls to customer service area I have given up! In my last 2,400 rounds loaded I tracked failures to pick up primers and consistently it was between 15-20% failure rates. In addition the failure to properly seat the primer using three sharp pushes to seat the primer is down to just over 10% down from 60% previously. I achieved the 10% failure to seat by adding 3 steps to cleaning my brass:
Tumble brass in media
Depriming brass with a hand deprimer
Ultrasonically cleaning brass
Manually cleaning the primer pocket with a primer pocket cleaning tool
When I was only doing stage 1 of the above the failure to seat was at least 60%.
Let me walk you through using the press to reload a typical 100 round. Every round I have to watch the Primer Slide as it will get stuck in the “out” position at least 40 times out of 100. When stuck I remove the locator button on the second die and remove the case. Cycle the press twice to finish the rounds in stages 3 and 4. Hopefully the primer is now picked up but about 5% of the time a primer is spit out of the bottom of the of the press. Next I restart from scratch the reloading process and end up repeating the above steps until I have so many failures that I just do every other stage with a round because the press is so unreliable. After “completing” the 100 rounds I do the following:
Pick up the unused primers that the press spit out
Sort the “finished” rounds into three groups:
Those done correctly
Those needing the primers hand seated
Those with no primers
Clean up all of the spilled powder from the area around the press as sometimes the press does not pick-up a primer and there is no way to know this has happened (10% of the time!).
Disassemble and clean the press of the spilled powder from the rounds with no primer
Pulls bullets from rounds with no primers
I have used CCI, Winchester and Remington primers with no change in the failures. In addition I have loaded large and small pistol primers and standard and magnum primers with no difference in the incredibly high failure rate.
At this point the press can be fixed, you can use it for R&D to learn what not to send out the door or it can be trashed and I will sell what I have left on eBay. I really do not care to have a progressive press in my possession that it is more work than a single stage press. I would never sell this unusable press it to any unsuspecting person.
Every time I reach out there's another "try this" response. The latest was to take apart the primer system and using calibers set it to factory specs.
If this is top notch customer service I would hate to see bad customer service. Two friends are considering Dillon presses and I cannot recommend the company.
Quote from Reloader on February 26, 2017, 4:46 pmSorry to hear of your experience. I, as well as everyone I know who has a Dillon, have experienced nothing short of superb customer service from the company.
I'd say keep trying with customer service. I've had a Square Deal B, and now a 550C, and they have been very helpful to me on both machines when I needed them. I'm sure they can sort out your issues if you give them a chance.
Sorry to hear of your experience. I, as well as everyone I know who has a Dillon, have experienced nothing short of superb customer service from the company.
I'd say keep trying with customer service. I've had a Square Deal B, and now a 550C, and they have been very helpful to me on both machines when I needed them. I'm sure they can sort out your issues if you give them a chance.
Quote from Reloader on February 27, 2017, 5:43 pmAt this point the next step would be send you a new primer feed system to bolt on and try. Please phone or email us. If you email, please include your address.
At this point the next step would be send you a new primer feed system to bolt on and try. Please phone or email us. If you email, please include your address.
Quote from Reloader on August 13, 2017, 10:56 pmSorry for the delay in response. CS asked me to send in the entire press so I will be doing that shortly. I did not reload since February so I forgot about this string.
Sorry for the delay in response. CS asked me to send in the entire press so I will be doing that shortly. I did not reload since February so I forgot about this string.
Quote from Reloader on August 30, 2017, 12:06 amdid you take out the primer slide and clean everything in that area?
the red/blue tip on the inner primer tube can get crushed and once crushed needs to be replaced
the top of the outer primer tube shield needs to have the top fitting tight so the inner tube won't come up
have you cleaned the inner primer tube? crud can accumulate
did you take out the primer slide and clean everything in that area?
the red/blue tip on the inner primer tube can get crushed and once crushed needs to be replaced
the top of the outer primer tube shield needs to have the top fitting tight so the inner tube won't come up
have you cleaned the inner primer tube? crud can accumulate
Quote from Reloader on June 28, 2020, 3:34 amIf you'll get the primer tube for a 650, it's brass. Haven't replaced since switching. Works great even though I was told you couldn't make this change.
If you'll get the primer tube for a 650, it's brass. Haven't replaced since switching. Works great even though I was told you couldn't make this change.
Quote from Reloader on August 19, 2020, 4:36 amIf the set screw on the rear of the primer assembly isn’t set correctly it will cause these types of failures. The set screw should be set so the primer cup stops directly under the primer magazine tube, and thus picks up the primer correctly. If the set screw is too far in or out it allows the primer slide to stop so that the primer cup is not centered under the magazine tube. Thus, the primer won’t get picked up correctly in the cup, and causes malfunctioning. This can occur if not set right new. And, when changing from using small primers to large primers or vice versus. The set screw has to be correct for each or malfunction may occur. It happened to me, and I figured it out by taking the primer system off, and observing closely. Works great once that set screw is correctly setup.
If the set screw on the rear of the primer assembly isn’t set correctly it will cause these types of failures. The set screw should be set so the primer cup stops directly under the primer magazine tube, and thus picks up the primer correctly. If the set screw is too far in or out it allows the primer slide to stop so that the primer cup is not centered under the magazine tube. Thus, the primer won’t get picked up correctly in the cup, and causes malfunctioning. This can occur if not set right new. And, when changing from using small primers to large primers or vice versus. The set screw has to be correct for each or malfunction may occur. It happened to me, and I figured it out by taking the primer system off, and observing closely. Works great once that set screw is correctly setup.