Goin to 8009 East Dillon Way tomorrow!! Tips?

Leave your credit cards in the hotel room! Better yet cancel them!

Have fun it should be an interesting day if they will let you look behind the scenes.
 
Well.... That was awesome! I had no idea the operation was so..... small. Har!

I took outside pics, but wasn't allowed inside pics. Trade secrets and miniguns and all..... And I forgot to take a store pic as I was so excited I think.

Anyway, highlights of what I learned in point form.

-half the facility is verboten as all the M134 Miniguns that Dillon Aero makes for all branches of the U.S. military are made there. It's sheeted off with armed guards from what I could see. Makes you feel all tingly with what's on the other side. Dillon also produces freedom. Who knew?

-there is/are: 1 guys makes all the case vibrators. 2 guys make all the 550's. 1 guy makes all the 650's. 2 guys make the 1050s and shotgun presses.

-this is crazy. 1 guy packs ALL the presses. ALL. No exceptions.

-Employees can't get pistol powder either.... Not even Dillon is immune.

-There are 3 guys in the "Repair/Warranty" section. Of all the Dillons sold from company start, there were 16 in for servicing this day. It will take about 3 weeks to fix all 16 he said. The guy there explained that it's very rare that anything actually fails. They typically fix abuse and accidental breakage, no questions asked. He showed me one press that was buggered because the guy used engine oil and explained that was bad. The machine was a mess of black. The machine was 20ish years old though so.....

-Castings come from another building. They just finish at this facility.

-The tour guy almost sold me a carbide .223 sizing die for 73 bucks before realizing it was supposed to be 135ish. Darn.

-While I was there, 3 separate guys walked in and bought the "recommended setup equipement". One 650 and 2 x 550. They just asked for the Dillon recommended and bought it all. All came out over 1000 and the 650 well close to 1500. I thought it was notable that no one hummed and hawed and try to figure out what they needed etc. Just paid the money and walked. Crazy.

-The phone in help line had 8 people. Largest department in the store. No wonder Dillon is so well thought of.

-The employee bulletin board had a poster that said "Any and all OT approved for all employees on the production floor." Bam. Just like their warranty. Also says they are behind. A very good place to be for a company selling tools.

-The Dillon 550 still outstripes all other Dillon presses for sales numbers.

-I bought a 650 tool head for 27 bucks. Tool head stand for 23. 6 bottles of Dillon Lube for 6.59 a piece. A 650 press cover for 32 bucks and a die wrench for 7 bucks. That's half of what we pay in Canada. Go free trade. Even before the dollar tanked this was no different. What's up with that? I also got Dillons .40/10mm specific loading book. Very nice read.

-I wish I wasn't flying as a new RL 550B was 439.95 and a new Square Deal was 384.95.

-Even Dillon was out of a lot of Dillon swag.

I'm sure I'll remember more later. Pics can't go up til I head home in a few days.
 
Did they tell you that they fill a UPS truck every day? Did you notice one of the guys assembling presses uses a RCBS single stage press to press parts in place? I thought that was funny. Did you notice in the store, all of the pictures high on the wall? There is an open spot where a picture used to hang. The last picture that hung there was George Bush. They said they wouldn't hang a picture of the current president.
 
pmt said:
Did they tell you that they fill a UPS truck every day? Did you notice one of the guys assembling presses uses a RCBS single stage press to press parts in place? I thought that was funny. Did you notice in the store, all of the pictures high on the wall? There is an open spot where a picture used to hang. The last picture that hung there was George Bush. They said they wouldn't hang a picture of the current president.
Click to expand...

-They advised they send out about 4 pallets of presses each day. And I saw the cube size, 25 foot?? van at the loading bay.

-Now that think of it, I noticed an RCBS press in the back corner on a white bench. One of the cheap ones. No one was using so I just figured they needed a single stage for some reason. They do sell some RCBS and Redding in store. Good relationships I guess.

-They shouldn't hang his picture. Ever. And it should be struck from history. Maybe a target made of him...
 
No wonder there's no powder,pallets of machines leaving everyday, everybody's starting to reload.f:P:2:I love my 550 and have reloaded thousands of various rounds out of it.My Dillon digital scale went on the fritz after warranty ran out,my vibratory cleaner burnt out after warranty expired and I stripped my primer tube feeder that were ALL replaced free of charge no questioned asked!:dancingbanana:
 
Dillon Store Pics Added Finally!

So here's the Pics I said I'd put up when I got back. Wasnt allowed to take pics of the back area for security reasons I guess?? Miniguns and all....

So I passed this on the way there. Tres Cool!!

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Got to the store and here's a couple from inside. Nice display setup so you could see everything.

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.50 BMG Progressive Press. Didn't know one existed....

I have some others on another Camera of outside I can throw up.... But imagine a square building with a blue strip around it and thats about it. Nothing exciting.

C.

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And a Picture of a set of miniguns barrels from in a store display.

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Why not buy a machine there and put it on as checked luggage? The only thing you should be paying is GST. It's a tool, so those should be exempt from duty -free trade and all, no?
 
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