Dillon 550 vs turret press

[muleystalker]

Me, I have two Dillon 550 presses, one for small primers the other for large primers that I load handgun ammo on. I also have a Redding T-7 that I load rifle ammo on.
We do not shoot enough rifle ammo anymore for me to bother loading on the Dillon.

As for changing toolheads it is hard to beat the Dillon. I have two turrets for the T-7, one of which it set up for 30-06, but changing them out is kind of a hassle as the ball detent is not captive, so I just swap out my dies on the extra turret.

Just put some heavy grease on the spring and ball and you are good to go.

 

[Mike TackleBerry]

I have the hornady bushings but didnt care for them. They move up quite a bit on the upstroke. Just couldnt convince myself that was ok.

It actually helps, By them moving a little bit it removed the .002 of the runout out on my Rock chucker. My loaded rounds were perfectly concentric.

 

[kenhwind]

Just put some heavy grease on the spring and ball and you are good to go.

The ball would be stuck to the underside of the turret, but for reassembly that isn't a bad idea.
For some obscure reason I decided I needed to replace my older Lyman Spat-T press and bought the Redding T-7 and sold the Spat-T. now I wish I had kept the Lyman too.

 

[sksshooter]

The ball would be stuck to the underside of the turret, but for reassembly that isn't a bad idea.
For some obscure reason I decided I needed to replace my older Lyman Spat-T press and bought the Redding T-7 and sold the Spat-T. now I wish I had kept the Lyman too.

What did you like better about the spar t? I have one listed for sale right now. Turrets dont seem to be readily available for them and its a bit more involved to take the turret off that the newer ones are.

 

[pyrotekniks]

I never realized the Dillon toolheads were so affordable, here is a site that offers them in different colors and custom engraving. This looks like the setup to have

Dillon RL 550

Top Quality Parts

joferusa.com

Great price thanks for sharing. The engraving is a nice touch.

For those worried about concentricity, o rings have helped me out with that a lot along with honing the bottom of the shell plate

 

[sksshooter]

i went ahead and made a deal to pickup a t7 from a local individual. it includes 2 turrets, inline fab mount, roller handle and a wall mounted inline fab turret head holder. will pickup this evening.

talked it over with the wife and showed her the options i was considering including cal conversions for the 550, the t7 and also the lee classic turret. showed her a few youtube videos and asked her which one she thought i should go with. her opinion was the t7. i then told her the costs of each and her opinion was don't buy the cheap one and the dillon seems pretty spendy for what you get for each one so she believed the t7 was the best option. who am i to argue with her. i mean they are always right anyway so t7 it is.

 

[justpassinthru]

i went ahead and made a deal to pickup a t7 from a local individual. it includes 2 turrets, inline fab mount, roller handle and a wall mounted inline fab turret head holder. will pickup this evening.

talked it over with the wife and showed her the options i was considering including cal conversions for the 550, the t7 and also the lee classic turret. showed her a few youtube videos and asked her which one she thought i should go with. her opinion was the t7. i then told her the costs of each and her opinion was don't buy the cheap one and the dillon seems pretty spendy for what you get for each one so she believed the t7 was the best option. who am i to argue with her. i mean they are always right anyway so t7 it is.

Smart wife!
If you're not happy with the way the turrets fit, Redding will send you whatever bushings you need to get it like you want it.

 

[sksshooter]

Smart wife!
If you're not happy with the way the turrets fit, Redding will send you whatever bushings you need to get it like you want it.

The guy i purchased the press from is a machinist by trade. He claims the bushings have been lapped for each respective turret and that he was gettting less than .002 movement. Im going to take his word for it as im a little more basic in my loading approach. Overall i am happy with the press. I am going to order the inline fab quick change base and plates for my 550 and my lee app. Im currently using t track and wood bases to attache my presses however im going to make the micro ultramount connect to my track and do away with the wood bases.

 

[kenhwind]

What did you like better about the spar t? I have one listed for sale right now. Turrets dont seem to be readily available for them and its a bit more involved to take the turret off that the newer ones are.

It is not that I liked the Spar-T better, the issue is that I bought the new Lyman single stage press to use when the T-7 is set up for miscellaneous chores and the press, while a nice press, is a bit under leveraged for pulling bullets.
The Spar T was a well built press and plenty strong enough. I managed to get a 300 RUM case stuck in the die and had to use two S-K combination wrenches double wrenched to pull it out.

 

[sksshooter]

Inline fab micro base and my other press plates came in. Ended up just bolting it down because it didnt land where i wanted on the t track. Im pretty pleased with it though.

 

[Emmett Dibble]

I loaded red and green for a long time, bought into the blue, hated it severely, went back to the red and have never looked back…

FWIW, if you are a HIGH VOLUME shooter, 3 gun or something simular, Dillon will spit out 1000 rounds as fast as you can keep everything moving.

If you are a low volume shooter, Classic cast Lee turret is the way to go. Very easy and even when I am loading volume (9/556) I can crank out 50 quality rounds in 15 minutes…

Still Load bolt precision on big green, a chucker supreme.

YMMV, IMHO and all the other disclaimers…