Looking to get into progressive
- Thread starter TheArmyMan204
- Start date
My set up and operating procedure is fairly similar to BCRider's. Simple and easy. Can easily run 300 to 400 rounds per hour, without breaking a sweat. To answer Reeferman's concern about manual indexing on these units: Personally, I like it. If I think there's any kind of a problem at all, at any point in the reloading cycle I can stop, back up, go forward, take stuff out, put stuff in, check cases, fix a problem, then get back to work. Without having to worry about whether I missed a step, somewhere. A person gets so used to the manual indexing thing after a while, that it becomes second nature. Slide in a case, seat a bullet. Pull the handle. Shove the handle forward to seat a new primer. Thumb the index star forward with your thumb. Repeat. Next thing you know, the primer low warning buzzer is going off and you have another 100 rounds loaded. Simple, efficient and nearly foolproof. May not suit every taste, but, the Dillon 550 works.
I do it in two passes through the press on my Dillon 550:
1. Full length resize and deprime. Tumble cases to remove lube, trim, and remove primer pocket crimp if required. I prefer to break down sizing into two steps, with the sizing die station 1 and a Lyman M die in station 2 to expand the necks. The sizing die decapping stem is set up to not neck expand with an undersize expander ball. I find that expanding on the up stroke of the ram results in less case growth and smoother operation.
2. Assemble cases into loaded rounds. Station 1 is priming only, with a decapping die as a fail-safe to catch anything blocking the flash hole. Stations 2 and 3 throw powder and seat bullets, respectively. I don't normally crimp rifle cases, but station 4 is available if required.
I use a Giraud trimmer. It's sure not cheap, but it is worth it in labour savings.
Yes it is. And for my part I find that to be an advantage. As Alex mentioned a few posts back it greatly simplifies recovering from any sort of issue that might occur since the problem isn't automatically set to the next station.
It does slow the process down a hair but not all that much. And in fact I so like the manual indexing that if I did get an auto indexing 650 or some other brand in the future I might end up removing the indexing parts and set it up for manual indexing.
To each their own of course. And I fully recognize that I'm in the minority on this option.
You're probably right. I guess we'll see how it goes if I ever get a 650. I'm so happy with the 550b that I'm not sure it'll ever happen. So far the 550b more than keeps me knee deep in freshly loaded ammo.
And that may be a factor to consider. I figure that all told I likely shoot around 800 to 900 rounds a month. But generally 200 to 250 of those are rimfire. So if I'm going through 600 rounds of center fire a month then I can keep up with this by only running the press for 2 hours a month. I'm fine with that. So unless things change I don't see a need to upgrade.
Of course I don't just load for 2 hours every month. I'll get setup and run off quite a few thousand over the course of a week between other things. I'll typically put in two to three hours through a day (retired so it's a 7 day weekend
) for the week after which I'm up to my keester in ammo. Then I blast it away over the course of a few months where I don't even touch the reloading gear and repeat the whole thing when I get down to an amount where I break out in a cold sweat and can't function.... And for me since the 550b is already serving so well I'll likely never buy anything else. There's just no need for ME to do so.
On the other hand those with family and other time commitments may find that even though they don't shoot massive amounts per month that their reloading time is rare and precious and there's a need to pound out big numbers per hour to keep the guns fed. In that case, and assuming funds can be dedicated to the setup, a full on indexing progressive with case and bullet feeders begins to make a lot more sense. It all just depends on the situation.
And that may be a factor to consider. I figure that all told I likely shoot around 800 to 900 rounds a month. But generally 200 to 250 of those are rimfire. So if I'm going through 600 rounds of center fire a month then I can keep up with this by only running the press for 2 hours a month. I'm fine with that. So unless things change I don't see a need to upgrade.
Of course I don't just load for 2 hours every month. I'll get setup and run off quite a few thousand over the course of a week between other things. I'll typically put in two to three hours through a day (retired so it's a 7 day weekend
) for the week after which I'm up to my keester in ammo. Then I blast it away over the course of a few months where I don't even touch the reloading gear and repeat the whole thing when I get down to an amount where I break out in a cold sweat and can't function.... And for me since the 550b is already serving so well I'll likely never buy anything else. There's just no need for ME to do so. On the other hand those with family and other time commitments may find that even though they don't shoot massive amounts per month that their reloading time is rare and precious and there's a need to pound out big numbers per hour to keep the guns fed. In that case, and assuming funds can be dedicated to the setup, a full on indexing progressive with case and bullet feeders begins to make a lot more sense. It all just depends on the situation.
I got my 550B for the exact same reason, the manual indexing vs auto. And I have been using mine in the same fashion. load 1000 rounds in a few hours(usually in a day I can't get out due to bad weather etc), then not touching the machine for a while. great way to use the spare time in between other commitments.
You're probably right. I guess we'll see how it goes if I ever get a 650. I'm so happy with the 550b that I'm not sure it'll ever happen. So far the 550b more than keeps me knee deep in freshly loaded ammo.
And that may be a factor to consider. I figure that all told I likely shoot around 800 to 900 rounds a month. But generally 200 to 250 of those are rimfire. So if I'm going through 600 rounds of center fire a month then I can keep up with this by only running the press for 2 hours a month. I'm fine with that. So unless things change I don't see a need to upgrade.
Of course I don't just load for 2 hours every month. I'll get setup and run off quite a few thousand over the course of a week between other things. I'll typically put in two to three hours through a day (retired so it's a 7 day weekend
On the other hand those with family and other time commitments may find that even though they don't shoot massive amounts per month that their reloading time is rare and precious and there's a need to pound out big numbers per hour to keep the guns fed. In that case, and assuming funds can be dedicated to the setup, a full on indexing progressive with case and bullet feeders begins to make a lot more sense. It all just depends on the situation.
