First batch of ammo on progressive, Dillon RL550B

[sasu]

After owning a Dillon RL550B progressive press for a decade I finally installed it yesterday. Today it was time to make some ammo with it.

Setting up the RL550B is very simple if you have reloaded before. You set up every die individually by putting a case in that station. This is made easy by the manually indexing plate, i.e. it does not change stations unless you turn it manually, and also the removable case holding pins make it fast to put in and take out a case from any station - while you are setting up the dies you do not have the pin installed.

It took me 28 minutes to make 44 rounds after the dies and the powder measure were already set. The manual indexing is very easy to perform when setting a bullet and putting in an empty case.

I ran into some newbie glitches. Some of the cases had very tight primer pockets and refused to take the primer fully. Two such cases went into the waste basket (after dropping some oil in the cases to deactivate the primers), one primer I drove in with a manual primer tool. At one time there was no primer in the primer feed, it remains a mystery whether it did not pick a primer or the primer fell out.

Before putting on a bullet I looked inside each case to verify that there is a normal amount of powder in there. But as there were those aforementioned breaks in the rhythm I did not depend on that powder check procedure and weighed every complete round. Two cartridges weighed 6-8 grains less than the others, the powder charge for the load being 6.1 grains - a possible indication of a powderless cartridge. I had to disassemble these two lightweight rounds. They had a proper amount of powder. Then I weighed the bullets and the empty cases and found out the cases were the cause of the weight difference. Better safe than sorry.

The progressive press will be very useful as I pick up some routine using it and find a nice rhythm. Why did I wait ten years to start using it...

EDIT: There were only 44 rounds made when I loaded the press with 50 primers. I had to investigate the issue and this where the missing 6 rounds were:
two cases thrown away as the primers would not seat fully, probably crimped primer pockets;
two cartridges disassembled to verify if there is powder in them, they weighed too little, see explanation above;
one primer found in the used primer basket, I wonder how it got there;
one primer was still sitting in the pick up tube.

 

[daveg.inkc]

I use the Lyman prime pocket de burr chamfer tools. No more pocket problems

 

[contender]

De-burring primer pockets is fine,,,, EXCEPT that on a Dillon 550,,, you start with primers still in the cases.

I own 4 Dillons & love them all!

 

[daveg.inkc]

I know they are fine presses. Time savers for sure.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Weighing completed rounds is hit or miss for sure.

A better method would be to weigh all the components before starting the reloading process, to cull out the odd ones, and then weighing the completed rounds when finished but who has time for that? ...or maybe the question should be who is that careful (anal) about stuff?

 

[Mus408]

I have a 550B press also and found that priming the cases with a hand primer before running them thru the press gives me a smoother operation. I also decap the old cases in another press before cleaning them.
You might try adding a small mirror to give a visual right after the powder dump station.
Another thing I have found is if you stop loading and continue the next day be sure to check the powder
weight on that first dump as it will be several tenths of a grain heavier than what you have it set for.
Other wise it has been a great reloading press for me.

Picture of mirror showing empty case...red pencil pointing that out.

 

[pruger45]

I've been handloading for 47 years with both turret and single stage presses. I've never had an empty case! I don't trust progressive presses and will never use or own one. Also, since I clean every primer pocket and visually inspect said primer pockets I have never charged an un-primed case. And lastly I'm after quality not quantity.

 

[contender]

pruger45 makes some good points.
However,,, I too have been loading a long time,,, about 40 years myself. When I first heard about Dillons,,, I studied,,, and never felt the "need" & worried about potential problems. For years,,, off & on,, I'd look at Dillon & then,, justify why I did not need one.
Well, in the late 1990's,,, I got into USPSA competition. I found myself needing a lot of ammo. And my single stage RCBS was excellent,,, but slow. I re-visited the idea of a Dillon. I studied HARD,,, and decided a 650 was the best way for me to go. Auto case feed,,, AND a powder check station, with the powder check system. I studied the fact that world champions,,, national champions,, and almost anybody who was serious about shooting USPSA or IPSC used a Dillon. (There used to be surveys in the USPSA magazine after the nationals,,, about equipment. They have recently done it again.) If serious, world class competitors trusted a Dillon,,, it had to be good. The final nail in the proverbial coffin was when a world champion & I were talking,,, and he said; "Every factory load is done on a progressive machine."
I bought a 650, with case feed, and the powder check.

According to my notes,,, my 650 alone has loaded me about 35,000+ the last time I checked. NOT once have I ever had the powder check buzz telling me I had an issue with the amount of powder in a case. After the first year,,, I realized I needed to remove the battery or it'd die & corrode the p/c assy when not in use.
I have never had a misfire of any ammo I loaded on my Dillons either. I haven't had to clean primer pockets like I used to do.
I DO inspect my cases a few times as I'm cleaning & handling them before loading. I DO inspect each round after loading for flipped over primers, & raised primers. I DO use a chamber check gauge on each round to assure it'll function in my gun. Yes,,, I've had an occasional flipped primer,, but moreso when using my SDB's than my 650. Yes,,, I've had a FEW raised primers,,, but again,,, in my SDB's than my 650. And yes,,, I've had rounds not fit in my case gauge,,, that I set aside & use for "practice" & not matches. Never had any problems with them in practice,,, but I don't take chances with my match ammo.
As for quality,,, I think the world & national champs are easy proof of the quality in their ammo. Mine mirrors that as well.

Now,,, I also still have & use a pair of Rock Chucker presses. Mostly for my low volume,,, serious hunting ammo. (Deer & elk) I still inspect my cases before cleaning & right after. I re-size & deprime them,,, and clean again to get the lube off the bottleneck cases. I then trim to length, clean & then uniform the primer pockets,,, (unless they were uniformed before,) all before they see any components. Then I assemble them with the care a benchrest shooter uses,,, to make sure I've eliminated as many potential human errors as possible.

But,,, I also use my Dillons for my straight walled, pistol ammo,,, that is used in the field,, hunting. Why? Because after side by side comparison,,, (RCBS vs Dillon) my pistol ammo is identical in performance.

My 550 is currently set up for 223 ammo,,, as my AR-15 eats it a bit faster than my bolt guns & my Contender. And yes,, I'd trust it for serious varmint hunting as well.

My point to all this is the fact that I was a VERY hesitant reloader when it came to using a "new fangled,,, progressive reloading press." Yet,,, my Dillon presses have proven their quality above & beyond my expectations. I went from a reluctant cautious skeptic to a serious believer of them.

 

[AJGUNNER]

pruger45 makes some good points.
However,,, I too have been loading a long time,,, about 40 years myself. When I first heard about Dillons,,, I studied,,, and never felt the "need" & worried about potential problems. For years,,, off & on,, I'd look at Dillon & then,, justify why I did not need one.
Well, in the late 1990's,,, I got into USPSA competition. I found myself needing a lot of ammo. And my single stage RCBS was excellent,,, but slow. I re-visited the idea of a Dillon. I studied HARD,,, and decided a 650 was the best way for me to go. Auto case feed,,, AND a powder check station, with the powder check system. I studied the fact that world champions,,, national champions,, and almost anybody who was serious about shooting USPSA or IPSC used a Dillon. (There used to be surveys in the USPSA magazine after the nationals,,, about equipment. They have recently done it again.) If serious, world class competitors trusted a Dillon,,, it had to be good. The final nail in the proverbial coffin was when a world champion & I were talking,,, and he said; "Every factory load is done on a progressive machine."
I bought a 650, with case feed, and the powder check.

According to my notes,,, my 650 alone has loaded me about 35,000+ the last time I checked. NOT once have I ever had the powder check buzz telling me I had an issue with the amount of powder in a case. After the first year,,, I realized I needed to remove the battery or it'd die & corrode the p/c assy when not in use.
I have never had a misfire of any ammo I loaded on my Dillons either. I haven't had to clean primer pockets like I used to do.
I DO inspect my cases a few times as I'm cleaning & handling them before loading. I DO inspect each round after loading for flipped over primers, & raised primers. I DO use a chamber check gauge on each round to assure it'll function in my gun. Yes,,, I've had an occasional flipped primer,, but moreso when using my SDB's than my 650. Yes,,, I've had a FEW raised primers,,, but again,,, in my SDB's than my 650. And yes,,, I've had rounds not fit in my case gauge,,, that I set aside & use for "practice" & not matches. Never had any problems with them in practice,,, but I don't take chances with my match ammo.
As for quality,,, I think the world & national champs are easy proof of the quality in their ammo. Mine mirrors that as well.

Now,,, I also still have & use a pair of Rock Chucker presses. Mostly for my low volume,,, serious hunting ammo. (Deer & elk) I still inspect my cases before cleaning & right after. I re-size & deprime them,,, and clean again to get the lube off the bottleneck cases. I then trim to length, clean & then uniform the primer pockets,,, (unless they were uniformed before,) all before they see any components. Then I assemble them with the care a benchrest shooter uses,,, to make sure I've eliminated as many potential human errors as possible.

But,,, I also use my Dillons for my straight walled, pistol ammo,,, that is used in the field,, hunting. Why? Because after side by side comparison,,, (RCBS vs Dillon) my pistol ammo is identical in performance.

My 550 is currently set up for 223 ammo,,, as my AR-15 eats it a bit faster than my bolt guns & my Contender. And yes,, I'd trust it for serious varmint hunting as well.

My point to all this is the fact that I was a VERY hesitant reloader when it came to using a "new fangled,,, progressive reloading press." Yet,,, my Dillon presses have proven their quality above & beyond my expectations. I went from a reluctant cautious skeptic to a serious believer of them.

What Contender said----thanks for saving me some typing. :wink:

You should probably send that entire quote into the Blue Press for publishing.

Don't worry, your trust and speed will increase the more you use it.

 

[sasu]

Appetite grows while eating. Now that I have tried out the RL550B I am already looking for additional progressive presses.

I am negotiating the price on a package deal of Hornady Lock-n-Load AP for several calibers. I would like to try out the Lee Load Master, to see how an economy press performs. Dillon XL650 is a solid press. The new RCBS Rock Chucker 7 looks very tempting.

I have table space for only two more progressives so I have choose.

 

[contender]

I have played with a friends Lee,,, and after having to re-adjust things a few times after doing some loading,,, he decided to sell it & buy a Dillon.

Hornady makes a good machine,,,, but even when I was having a discussion with Steve Hornady,,, and was sharing pics of my reloading set-up,,, he commented; "It's the wrong color." To which I replied; "No,,, it's the same color as my first progressive & y'all came along after the fact." He came back with; "They do make good stuff."

The few RCBS progressives I tried appeared to be a bit finicky,, and set-up was harder & trickier. Not sure about the current crop.

Since you already have a Dillon,,, I'd stick with them.

Here is the picture I showed Steve;

 

[daveg.inkc]

Very nice Ty! Impressive.

 

[sasu]

Another batch of ammo done on the RL550B, this time 357 Magnum. It took 21 minutes to make 50 rounds, starting from the moment when I began picking primers into the tube. No misses nor glitches this time but I took my time.

A few hundred rounds per hour should be achievable once you find the proper rhythm. Manual indexing is no problem at all. After lowering the ram I take a bullet in the left hand, an empty case in the right hand, then rotate the plate, check the powder level, insert case and bullet and work the handle again. Easy.

But still I want to try out an auto-indexing progressive, too. Hornady, Dillon or RCBS, maybe even Lee.

 

[RoninPA]

I too have been reloading for a while, I started in 1974 with a Lee Load-All. Took forever to load 50 rounds .

Then progressed (no pun intended) to an RCBS Junior (I believe, that was a long time ago) then to a Lyman Crusher (still use it).

Then like Tyrone I got into competition. In this case it was PPC and at that time everyone basically shot .38 specials (148 gr hollow base wad cutter, 2.5 grs of Red Dot then changed to 2.5grs of Solo 1000 (it burned a lot cleaner), Federal small pistol primers - gave just over the minimum of 700fps - under certain conditions you could actually watch/see the bullet go down range and through the target). Since we shot a minimum of 1000 rounds a week in practice and 320-480 rounds in competition, I had to speed things up. I went to a Dillon SDB (SquareDeal B) - loved it (other than the proprietary dies).

Once I retired from the USAF and moved to PA (where I grew up), and started the business, I started shooting a lot more different calibers so I had to move up again. Decided on the Dillon 550 (probably should have gone to the 650 but I'm quite happy with what I have).

Old habits are tough to break, like hand depriming, cleaning, making sure the primer pocket is clean, etc. I had several very experienced competition shooters tell me not to worry about the primer pockets being spotless. I took their advice and then started doing the depriming and repriming on the SDB. I'd clean the cases then go to the press. I can honestly say that in the 3 years and over 100,000 rounds I never had a misfire due to a primer not igniting.

Now, that said, for my rifle rounds (.30-06 for my Garand, .30-30 for my Winchester 94 (used to be my dad's), .30 carbine for the M1 Carbine and .223/5.56 and .300 Blackout for the AR's and my Ruger American) I deprime, completely clean the cases and primer pockets because I don't want to put dirty rounds through my rifle dies, and I don't load near as many as pistol rounds. I use my Lyman single stage for the -06 and -30 but use the Dillon for the others.

No matter what you use, in my opinion, reloading is fun and relaxing (at least for me). Especially if it's nasty outside, and you don't have anything else to do on your "Honey Do" list, a few hours in front of the press(s) is enjoyable and relaxing.

 

[sasu]

Shot the 50 rounds of 357 Magnum today that I made on the RL550B.

The bullets are Alsa Pro 158 gr FMJ but are meant for some pistol caliber as the diameter is 0.355"-0.356". There is no crimp groove. There were several instances of bullet jump blocking the cylinder from rotating and it was easy to press the bullet back with a finger tip. These bullets have to be crimped over the shoulder I guess. I do not have another handgun caliber that could use these bullets, there are still hundreds of the left.

The load was 7.3 gr of N340 and CCI-500 small pistol primer. Here are photos of the gun, the cartridges and two groups at 20 meters/yards. Not the best accuracy, but then this was the first powder charge I tried with this bullet.

 

[contender]

Those are 9mm bullets. But,,, you are "experimenting" and plinking etc. Instead of crimping over the olgive,,, try adding a bit more to the roll crimp instead. Small amounts until you see an improvement.

 

[sasu]

They must be intended for 38 Super, being such heavy weights in 0.355".

Alsa Pro also makes 357 Magnum bullets with the proper 0.357" diameter. I just happened to buy these 0.355"s in a hurry not realizing they are undersized for the 357 Magnum. For plinking and IPSC/IDPA practice they are fine as long as I can prevent bullet jump.

They would make good subsonic loads for 9 mm Parabellum. Pity I do not have a silenced 9 mm.

 

[contender]

Good catch,,, I was focused on the diameter,, not the weight.

 

[sasu]

Third session on the Dillon RL550B resulted in a 108 rounds of 45 ACP.

A lesson learned, too. I have been buying once used empty cases from a local indoor shooting range. This time most of the cases I used had crimped primers. I had to stop my progressive reloading to take care of the crimped primer pockets by resizing the cases on a single stage and using a primer pocket reamer. Annoying.

Now I have changed the priming system on the Dillon RL550B from large to small and back to large. It is very easy, takes a couple of minutes. There is one adjustment to take care of but it takes just a few seconds: when attaching the primer feed body you must watch the alignment of the slide so that it centers in the shell plate priming hole. If you do not do that the primer feed plunger will catch the base plate when the ram is lowered.

Caliber changes on the RL550B are a breeze.

While planning to buy another progressive I have learned some more details about some of the models.

The Lee Load Master is really a four station press, not five. One of the stations is used up by the priming function and you cannot have any useful die in that position.

I watched a video on caliber and primer size change on the Dillon XL650 and that looks complicated. If I buy an XL650 I will dedicate it to one primer size.

A powder level check die is not mandatory as it is easy to visually verify that there is a correct amount of powder in a case as you are putting a bullet on it. You need good lighting to see the powder level, though.

The manual indexing on the RL550B is quick to use, I do not think it makes using the press any slower than if it were auto rotating.

The feel of the priming process is very good on the RL550B, I could sense every time I had problems with a crimped primer pocket. Some of the cases were quite hard to prime even after reaming the primer pocket and I had to use extra strength on the handle to seat the primer flush. I will ream the primer pockets some more for the next round of loading the cases.

 

[contender]

Sounds like you are well on your way to fully enjoying your Dillon. TO comment on some of your observations.
I dedicated my Dillon 650 to large primers only when I started. I have a pair of SDB's to do my small primers calibers. Other than that,,, the caliber conversion is easy on the 650.
As a precaution,,, I got a powder check set-up for my 650,,, yet I now feel it's not necessary. Never heard it buzz EXCEPT when I test it.

Manual indexing the 550. As long as you pay attention,,, and MAKE SURE you index it,,, no problems. However,, I know of a USPSA competitor & friend who used to use a 550. He loaded 3000 rounds on his 550,, and right before the Area 6 match,,, went to test the latest batch. He blew up his Glock,, injuring his hand. He showed up at Area 6 with a bandaged hand. He was able to shoot the match,,, but his scores were well below what he would normally post. He knows he likely forgot to index the 550,,, and he sold his 550 & bought a 650 because it has the auto indexing feature.
BUT,,,,,,,,, BUT,,,,,,, as long as you go a little slower,,, and pay attention,,, the 550 is a fine machine.

Seating primers isn't usually an issue,,, but occasionally I do get a completely flipped over primer in my SDB's.