Pistol press
- Thread starter robbor
- Start date
I have two Dillon 550’s on my bench currently. One is set up for large primers, the other for small. I have owned them for over 20 years. I have stated before that for many years I was primarily a handgun shooter and shot as much as possible. These two Dillon presses have been, hands down, the best investments I’ve ever made. Between the two, they have loaded a double axle dump truck full of ammunition - .38, .357, .40, 10mm, 9mm, .32’s of different variations, several wildcats…you get the picture. Sure, I’ve broken some small parts over the years. Most of them I had spares for. The parts that I needed were only a phone call away. No questions, no problems, and usually within a couple of days the part(s) would be at my house. No charge. I broke a powder measure once and called to ask about replacing the part I broke. Dillon sent a new measure. I understand that the supply chain issue that has disrupted everything has bit them as well, but my experience has been good. I will buy blue.
If you plan on reloading pistol and rifle then 650 is better than 550 due to its extra station and ability to add a Swage It to deal with .223/5.56 crimped primers. I would also take a good look at Hornady Lock-n-Load.
I have been using Square B for +20 years, and it is a great press. It is well built and extremely compact. When I bought it it was half the price of a Dillon 650. Thanks to Hornady introducing the Lock-n-Load progressive press, Dillon had to significantly reduce the price on 650 to remain competitive.
I have dedicated heads for each pistol cartridge I load on Square B (9mm, 45ACP, 38/357) which makes life easy. The only downside to Square B is that it uses special dies (proprietary Dillon)… not the worst thing but means that it is a little less flexible than a normal progressive press. As long as Dillon makes the dies for your cartridges then you are fine. There is no way for Square B to deal with crimped primers that you might sometimes encounter with military 9mm cases.
End of day you just have to decide if you might want to also load any rifle on the press…
I have been using Square B for +20 years, and it is a great press. It is well built and extremely compact. When I bought it it was half the price of a Dillon 650. Thanks to Hornady introducing the Lock-n-Load progressive press, Dillon had to significantly reduce the price on 650 to remain competitive.
I have dedicated heads for each pistol cartridge I load on Square B (9mm, 45ACP, 38/357) which makes life easy. The only downside to Square B is that it uses special dies (proprietary Dillon)… not the worst thing but means that it is a little less flexible than a normal progressive press. As long as Dillon makes the dies for your cartridges then you are fine. There is no way for Square B to deal with crimped primers that you might sometimes encounter with military 9mm cases.
End of day you just have to decide if you might want to also load any rifle on the press…
I have the LnL with the case feeder and its predecessor, the Projector. They are good presses. Changing calibers is straight forward enough. They only time consuming task is adjusting the powder measure. I shot USPSA for years and loaded many rounds on them. I do know one guy that returned his LnL and replaced it with a Dillon. I was very pleased with the Hornady customer service.
I have not owned the Dillon products, but I have operated the 550 and the 650. I have never set them up. They are very good presses. Most of my fellow USPSA competitors used the Dillon, mainly the 650.
divingin
Gold $$ Contributor
I bought a couple of the lower part of the measure for the LNL (the case actuated bit.) Since I load 3 different cartridges, I figured I'd need 3 actuators, but started with one spare. Turns out that 45ACP and 32SWL have the same case length, so I set one up for those, and the other for 38 Spl, and swap the actuators when loading those. Didn't need the 3rd one.
The actual charge weight swap is done by swapping out the rotor micrometer assemblies (they store in the die boxes with the dies.) That leaves the primer system as the only PITA when changing (and aside from being a largely "by feel" operation, even that's not too hard.)
I don't load rifle on the progressive, so the pistol rotor is the only one I use. Using the same powder for all 3 cartridges means no powder swaps, which also simplifies things.
That's good thinking. I have multiple micrometer assemblies. Never thought about buying the lower parts of the measure. I'm probably too cheap to buy them anyway. What I did wind up doing was drawing a sketch showing the number of threads showing above and below the ring for the different calibers.
Square Deal is a great one. No longer a reasonable price though.
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