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I have seen happiness - and it is blue!

2K views 11 replies 9 participants last post by  David III 
#1 ·
Hopefully this is the proper forum to post this in.

Got the opportunity to work on a Dillon 650 this weekend. Those things are amazing. After working up a good load in our 1911's we ran a batch of 2,000 .45 ACP. It took roughly 2 1/2 hours with two of us working it (one guy pulling the lever, the other guy seating the bullets). Every one was perfection wrapped in a shiney brass case.

Towards the end the indexing collar broke (my fault - didn't seat primer fully and torqued the lever a bit too hard.) My buddy says - no big deal - and placed a call with Dillon to have a new part shipped right away. Apparently Dillon has a lifetime, no questions asked guarantee.

I've always been a frugal reloader (is that a redundancy?) - but I may have to look into dropping the money on this press. It will have to take the place of a new toy - but all of that time sweating over a single stage press could then be used for shooting! :)
 
#5 ·
I've been stuck so long on my old multi Lee set-up - hard to change tho I know I could up my production dramatically. Thing is these days - I concentrate more on the big cals and so these do not really merit rapid thruput - too much need for care.

I think at my age the money needed for a Dillon can go towards factory ammo in the common pistol cals - tho I do like to reload .357 in particular, with the smaller cals. Otherwise it's rifle stuff and .45-70, .454, 44 mag etc.

This is my bench some while back - hasn't changed a whole lot (just less tidy!).


 
#6 ·
P95carry , nice bech/work area. I have my dillon and MEC presses set up on my bench side by side. Always too much equip. for the space.
 
#7 ·
I have an XL650 from Dillon and wouldn't trade it for a new gun that I really wanted. An incredible machine. The "NO BS" warranty Dillon offers is just that. NO BS. If a part fails call them on their 800 line and have a new part in 2 days, no questions asked, no charge.

In fact I recall a story printed in the Dillon Blue Press about a guy who was in the process of moving. He had laid his RL550B in the bed of his truck on top of some other stuff and while going down the freeway at 70MPH hit a bump, the Dillon bounced out of the bed of the truck and bounced and skidded down the freeway for some distance, doing a considerable amount of damage to it. He calls Dillon and told them the story just as it happened, they said to send it in so they could check it out. Sure enough it was irrepairable. Mike Dillon sent the guy a brand new press the next day.

Now THAT is what I call customer service. They also have the easiest phone number to remember, for us gun nuts anyway. It's 1-800-223-4570. If a shooter can't remember that phone number he should give it up. :1saufen:
 
#8 ·
You won't be sorry. I loaded on a Honady pro-jector for a few years. It was more like sweated at realoding on the Hornady. I never did get it to run right for more than 100 rounds without haveing to stop and fix it. That press was a big reason I dropped out of reloading for 6 years.

When I returned to reloading, I donated the Hornady to the local gun club as a door prize. I bought a Dillon and have never been happier. If you going to reload I would go for the dillon. I shoot competitively and load alot of one claiber. I am going to pursue purchasing the 1050. I tried one and while the 650 is nice I liked the ergonomics of the 1050 as well as everything happening on the downstroke. No "feeling" the primer seat it is set and mechanically done.

Which ever way you go have fun..


Steven
 
#9 ·
standles,

If you had to buy one or the other, considering price and functionality, would you still take the 1050 over the 650?

I do enjoy reloading even with a single stage press. But when you want to crank out 500 rounds for an intensive practice session it would be nice to have a high capacity machine like this. And I have no doubt the quality is far beyond what you could pick up in cheap factory ammo.

It's great having friends with cool reloading equpiment. :)
 
#11 ·
joe/OH said:
standles,

If you had to buy one or the other, considering price and functionality, would you still take the 1050 over the 650?

I do enjoy reloading even with a single stage press. But when you want to crank out 500 rounds for an intensive practice session it would be nice to have a high capacity machine like this. And I have no doubt the quality is far beyond what you could pick up in cheap factory ammo.

It's great having friends with cool reloading equpiment. :)

Joe:

If your cranking out 500 rounds/sitting the 650 is the way to go. When I sit down to crank out practice ammo I am cranking out 2000 at a time. I also mainly shoot pistols and shoot mainly 2 calibers. If you want to reload rifles (the 1050 will do short rounds like 223 308) or swap between calibers often then 650 again. so in my case the 1050 works well. I also keep a 550 for the odd lots I reload.

Steven
 
#12 ·
Another vote for Dillon. I've run thousands and thousands of 223 and 44 Magnum through my 550. The only thing I can think of that might be a "negative" is that if you want to change calibers and if you want to have a separate powder measure with the dies in a toolhead for each, it is somewhat expensive for all of that. I have that kind of setup for the calibers I run on my 550, and I hate to think of the cost of all that. But... I am incredibly lazy and don't want to have to reset everything.
In fact, I am so lazy that I'm thinking about getting another 550 or a 650 that I can just leave set up in 45 ACP. Unfortunately, I keep running out of cash since I keep seeing pistols I have to buy!
 
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