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[Sayeret Shaldag]

Hey Guys,

BlackTen and I are almost finished setting up our trusty Dillon 550 with the Case Feeder. We have been wanting one for a while and I hope it will let us really rock and roll. As I live in an apartment I am lucky enough to have a best friend with a huge air conditioned garage. I don't care about sweating just our equipment not rusting.

We have not adjusted the Cam yet nor set up the toolhead with the new 9mm Lee FCD. We ordered both the CF plate for 9mm and the one for .45 ACP, but Dillon only sent a Red adapter for .45 ACP. I feel like we should have received a Green adapter and Station 1 Locator as well, but the instructions say nothing about an adapter being included.

We had to shim the mount in the back to get the CF assembly tubes to align properly, but I think we are making progress. Any suggestions or tips on using the CF would be most appreciated. We are still waiting on the PD bullets we ordered several weeks ago so we are dead in the water until then.

 

[jarhead jim]

Congrats Sayeret. Some day I'll have a big Blue. I'm leaning more towards the Square Deal though.

Jim

 

[Sayeret Shaldag]

Thanks JJ as noted above I am lucky enough to have a partner. We try to share a lot of the costs so it makes things cheaper. Having a partner also makes the job of reloading so much easier because one of us is cleaning brass, doing QC, or refilling primer tubes while the other is on the press. I am always getting bitched at for not refilling the primer reservoir fast enough and I imagine that bitching will only get worse with the addition of the Case Feeder.

We have not seen all our reloading gear and ammo in the same place in two years as BlackTen was in the process of moving and I had much of the gear in my storage locker. It is nice to have all our stuff in one room.

 

[digger]

Once you get the hang of setting up your DIllon you'll love it. Mine works great!

 

[Sayeret Shaldag]

I am dreading the setup and tuning on the Case Feeder and also dreading recalibrating our .45 ACP and 9mm dedicated toolheads with the newer 1 inch die lock rings. It's been a while.

We have yet to bolt the Wilton vise and Dillon super swage to the table as well. When I call Dillon about the Green 9mm adapter I will order some Toolhead Stands as well as you can see our dedicated toolheads are hanging off the pegboard which I am not keen on. Will this ever end??? It's sapping my gun money!!!!!

 

[sofltodd]

very nice!

 

[jetskrtal]

Sweet setup!!!
I'd like to order 10k 9mm please!!!!!!!

 

[Medic21]

Dillon 550 with the Case Feeder

Most problems I've had were operator induced. It's a PIA if you don't carefully sort your brass. 380's stop the process when loading 9mm as does 40 when reloading 45ACP. It's more annoying than time-consuming to clear the stoppage. For reasons unknown, periodically a case won't fall cleanly and directly into the tube and it wedges in the funnel. The plate continues to revolve and soon after a cascade of cases begins to fall onto the floor. Again, annoying but not real time consuming. I’ve had mine over a year and am very pleased with it. Also plan on buying a small stepladder to fiddle with plate and reservoir and invest in a parabolic mirror on the ceiling or suspended from the ceiling to help keep track of how many cases are in the reservoir.

 

[cvasqu03]

Very nice. When someone is complaining that you're not filling up the primer feeder fast enough, I tend to look on it as a good thing. Man I wish my setup would allow me to load 100 rounds in the time it takes me to refill the feeder.

Absolutely awesome setup. So how many different calibers are you setting up for? Please let us know your rate of operation once you get to it.

 

[Patriot]

He'll be able to load >500rds/hour in 9mm once he gets the hang of it.

 

[SubGunFan]

Congrats Sayeret. Some day I'll have a big Blue. I'm leaning more towards the Square Deal though.

Jim

S.S..... Sorry for the temp hi-jack......

JJ, PLEASE don't "waste" your $$$ on the Square Deal. At least start with a 550. The Square Deal does work, but is a "one caliber" press. The Square Deal does NOT use standard dies.

Again, sorry S.S.

.

 

[jarhead jim]

S.S..... Sorry for the temp hi-jack......

JJ, PLEASE don't "waste" your $$$ on the Square Deal. At least start with a 550. The Square Deal does work, but is a "one caliber" press. The Square Deal does NOT use standard dies.

Again, sorry S.S.

.

I know, but I'll only ever own one machinegun and that's the only cal. I'll ever reload in mass.

Jim

 

[gunbunny]

You guys need a ton of extra large and small primer tubes. That is the easiest way to keep the loaded rounds dropping into the bin with a quick and regular frequency!

 

[az paul]

Nice setup!!

 

[Sayeret Shaldag]

Guys,

Thanks for the compliments, encouragement, and advice. We added two fluorescent work lamps today which will make a huge difference when we are reloading and prevent us from making stupid errors. I flushed all the dies out with WD-40 and installed the newer 1 inch lock rings and LEE FCD dies. We have dedicated toolheads for 308, 223, 9mm, 45 ACP, 38/357, and 10mm.

The RF 100 Primer Filler would almost be like adding a third set of hands to our operation, but at $300 I will just get another primer pickup tube or two. Before that we need to get a case trimmer and an Auto Annealer .

I will post some more photos of the whole room once we are up and running. Once everything is set just right and dialed I find listening to Vietnam War era music really helps us get in the zone. A few beers never hurt either.:beer

JJ you should definitely go for the 550 as it will let you reload both your .45 and .223 and eventually you can add all the bells and whistles. Remember your time is money so the faster you can get your rounds pressed the more time you can have to work on the log splitter, build Gatling guns, and spend time with the family. Ours has never missed a beat and has been going strong for over 8 years. We do take care of it like it was Air Force 1 though. The last time we ran the machine I used the 550 Machine Maintenance Kit to change out some springs and smaller parts and the machine felt like it was brand new again.

 

[BlackTen]

Sayeret is a persistent mf

I must say that w/o the constant nagging of my best friend Sayeret, the reloading room would not have been put together as quickly as it has. Thanks Sayeret for helping me put this room together. Now we can finally reload again.

Everyone, thanks for your compliments and kind words.

JJ, the 550 is a must, it's been a good machine for nearly 10 years now.

 

[jarhead jim]

Is the 550 an auto indexing press or manual?

Jim

 

[mhpdblue]

Jim
the 550 auto indexes and can handle just about anything short of 50 cal...its a nice press

the 450 is the manual indexer

 

[MrM4]

Jim
the 550 auto indexes and can handle just about anything short of 50 cal...its a nice press

the 450 is the manual indexer

Acutally thats wrong,

the 550 is a manual index machine as for the 450 i dont know I do know the Square Deal is a Auto Index machine though.

Are the 450 and SD the same thing?

 

[SubGunFan]

....................

Are the 450 and SD the same thing?

The 450 is the predessor to the 550. The old 450s were manual primer feed and manual powder feed. It had knobs on both the primer bar and powder bar. Also, the 450 did not have the removable toolhead.

Loading on the 450 was like this.................

Insert a case in station 1 and bullet in station 3.
Raise the ram all the way up, and leave it there.
Work the primer and powder bars manually.
Lower the ram and prime.
Index the shell plate.

And repeat...... And repeat...... And repeat......

450 users that moved up to the 550 thought they were in heaven with all the 550 auto improvements.

.