Newbie

#1 · March 12, 2016, 3:27 am

Just ordered 550b and am excited to get it and started reloading. I have 380,9mm,and 223/556 ar15. New to reloading and am looking for some pointers and advice. I plan on getting 3 complete set ups for each set up I figure that it would be less of a pain setting up. I welcome any and all advice from you pros out there. And thanks in advance for your help.
Uncle Roy from Texas.

#2 · March 17, 2016, 3:29 am

Welcome aboard. I reload all three of those and your new 550 will handle all of them well. I've been reloading with the 550 for 20 years, and would never switch my loader.

#3 · March 18, 2016, 6:01 pm

Quote from Reloader on March 18, 2016, 6:01 pm
Welcome Uncle Roy!
I m not a pro, I am a new guy myself (about a year now). I can tell you what has helped me with my 550 (Which I love). Watch a lot of the You Tube video's about the 550 I have learned almost everything I know there. I would suggest a powder alarm, trust me its easier than opening a few cases haha.

Buy yourself some reloading manuals and read them, I know it sounds boring but its not. They are so intresting its hard to put them down. Most of the book is just reference so what you need to read is less than 100 pages.

The problems I had with my press (or me using the press) I had tightened the BIG bolt that holds the case holder, now I run it almost sloppy and it turns easy. I also had a LOT of problems with primers on the press. Both old primers and the new primers. I finally called Dillon and the man suggested to replace the pin on the part that holds the old primer after it is popped out of the case and dumps it into the cup that mounts on the right bar of the press that moves. That fixed most of my problem with old primers all over the press and not allowing it to go all the way down to seat the new primer. I still would have a problem with one in every 50 or so not getting primed and there is no way to know except taking every brass out and looking at it and them placing it back in the press (pain in the butt).
While I was working on that problem I purchased a wet tumbler to clean my brass and it requires to de prime before I clean it and I have a old single stage press so I have started using it to deprim on and it keeps the Dillon a lot cleaner and it's fast. I use the Lee Universal deprimer die which is cheep and there is a aftermarket replacement pin available that just does not break when doing 223 cases and then having to stop and wait for Dillon to ship me some more pins. I store my cleaned brass is plastic Ammo cans and have purchased a RCBS universal Hand primer and I primer all my brass before store it. I had to take the Dillon Re-sizing die apart and remove the decaping pin. I now have no problems running my Dillon press, I am so happy with it I purchased a second one.

Do not get me wrong, I just love this Dillon press, I am not running it down just saying you will have some problems, if you call Dillon they will help you and this forum is a great resource. I just finished loading 1200 9mm and not a single problem everything went smooth.

I see you are going to load 223, I know this is a lot of money but I finally bit the bullet and purchased the Dillon Power Case Trimmer and it works great. And if you are going to use range brass you will need a Dillon Swagger for the Primer pockets on some of the military brass.

After you get your feet wet check out casting some of your own bullets. That can really save you some money. When you get the price of the bullet down to 2 to 4 cents you can shoot larger calibers for about the same as the 9mm. My favorite is the 45 Colt in a Single action revolver or my Henry lever action.

I used to enjoy shooting, now I really enjoy reloading and shoot so I have a excuse to NEED to reload some more.

HAVE FUN
Delbert McCord

Welcome Uncle Roy!
I m not a pro, I am a new guy myself (about a year now). I can tell you what has helped me with my 550 (Which I love). Watch a lot of the You Tube video's about the 550 I have learned almost everything I know there. I would suggest a powder alarm, trust me its easier than opening a few cases haha.

Buy yourself some reloading manuals and read them, I know it sounds boring but its not. They are so intresting its hard to put them down. Most of the book is just reference so what you need to read is less than 100 pages.

The problems I had with my press (or me using the press) I had tightened the BIG bolt that holds the case holder, now I run it almost sloppy and it turns easy. I also had a LOT of problems with primers on the press. Both old primers and the new primers. I finally called Dillon and the man suggested to replace the pin on the part that holds the old primer after it is popped out of the case and dumps it into the cup that mounts on the right bar of the press that moves. That fixed most of my problem with old primers all over the press and not allowing it to go all the way down to seat the new primer. I still would have a problem with one in every 50 or so not getting primed and there is no way to know except taking every brass out and looking at it and them placing it back in the press (pain in the butt).
While I was working on that problem I purchased a wet tumbler to clean my brass and it requires to de prime before I clean it and I have a old single stage press so I have started using it to deprim on and it keeps the Dillon a lot cleaner and it's fast. I use the Lee Universal deprimer die which is cheep and there is a aftermarket replacement pin available that just does not break when doing 223 cases and then having to stop and wait for Dillon to ship me some more pins. I store my cleaned brass is plastic Ammo cans and have purchased a RCBS universal Hand primer and I primer all my brass before store it. I had to take the Dillon Re-sizing die apart and remove the decaping pin. I now have no problems running my Dillon press, I am so happy with it I purchased a second one.

Do not get me wrong, I just love this Dillon press, I am not running it down just saying you will have some problems, if you call Dillon they will help you and this forum is a great resource. I just finished loading 1200 9mm and not a single problem everything went smooth.

I see you are going to load 223, I know this is a lot of money but I finally bit the bullet and purchased the Dillon Power Case Trimmer and it works great. And if you are going to use range brass you will need a Dillon Swagger for the Primer pockets on some of the military brass.

After you get your feet wet check out casting some of your own bullets. That can really save you some money. When you get the price of the bullet down to 2 to 4 cents you can shoot larger calibers for about the same as the 9mm. My favorite is the 45 Colt in a Single action revolver or my Henry lever action.

I used to enjoy shooting, now I really enjoy reloading and shoot so I have a excuse to NEED to reload some more.

HAVE FUN
Delbert McCord