Dillon 450 or 500?

rideauwrangler

rideauwrangler

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I thought I had a line on a used Dillon 550B; however the way it was described to me is that "it has been turned into a Dillon 550B", supposedly it has all the features of a 550B but the tool head is permanant and can not be removed thus requiring changing out the dies from the turret to load different caliburs.

What is it? A Dillon 500 with the addition of a conversion kit to make it a 550? To those who may have this press how much of a pain is it having to change out the dies. If it is indeed a 500, does anyone know if it will only accept Dillon dies like the Square Deal?

Would anyone recommend against buying this type of press?

Any thoughts are much appriciated. Thanks.
 
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the best way is to contact dillon directly and ask- they have a website- or a good look at the press would tell you about the toolhead anyway--i just had a look at the at 500 which would be the primary press the conversion you're talking about came from and it shows that THAT THE 500 AND 550 B SHARE THE SAME ChASSIS- in other words , the TOOL HEADS ARE INTERCHANGEABLE AND USE STANDARD DIES- i'd want pictures first- if you can see 2 pins sticking up out of the toolhead and 2 diffeent colors, it's got INTERCHANGEABLE HEADS
 
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I am not critizing the 450, but it is a very old model. I know that Dillon has a lifetime no BS warranty, but you might not have parts available specific for the 450 a few years from now. Besides, it is a pain not being able to change tool heads just like what you can do with the AT500 & RL550. It will only take a minute or two to change tool heads with the later models if you want to hange caliber without fooling around with the new caliber die setup. Imagine yourself setting up 4-types of die (depriming/sizing die, powder die, seating die and crimp die) everytime you want to change calibers to reload.... YOU WILL HATE doing the setup everytime you change calibers... TRUST me on this.
I will stay away from the 450 if it is not capable of intechangeable tool head and stick to the latest/newer models (AT500 or RL 550).

Good luck on your search.

Reload safely :)
 
Years ago I had a 450 press and when the 550 first came out you could buy a 550 frame and a few other parts to convert the 450 to a 550 equivalent which included the tool heads for the new frame. I sold my 450 and bought a new 550 back then so I never did the conversion on my old press.
The press you are describing has not been converted properly, it sounds like a 450 with the auto primer and powder features added which would be OK if you only reloaded one caliber because it was a bit of a PITA to change the dies on my old 450 each time I changed calibers.
 
nognog said:
I am not critizing the 450, but it is a very old model. I know that Dillon has a lifetime no BS warranty, but you might not have parts available specific for the 450 a few years from now. Besides, it is a pain not being able to change tool heads just like what you can do with the AT500 & RL550. It will only take a minute or two to change tool heads with the later models if you want to hange caliber without fooling around with the new caliber die setup. Imagine yourself setting up 4-types of die (depriming/sizing die, powder die, seating die and crimp die) everytime you want to change calibers to reload.... YOU WILL HATE doing the setup everytime you change calibers... TRUST me on this.
I will stay away from the 450 if it is not capable of intechangeable tool head and stick to the latest/newer models (AT500 or RL 550).

Good luck on your search.

Reload safely :)
Click to expand...
+1
If you load more than one calibre, get a press with a removable toolhead.
 
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