Pistol dies Dillon and other

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canoetrpr

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Just bought my first centerfire pistol (45 ACP). I might go with a Dillon 550B press, or might go with a turret (Lee) press; haven't decided.

Was thinking I ought to get the Dillon dies. For now I will be loading on a single stage (Redding Big Boss II).

Is there any reason I should or should not be getting Dillion dies for my single stage setup and to then move to a Dillon possibly? I learned that Dillion does not seem to come with a case expander die as I think others do as they have an expander built into their powder die I think on the conversion kit?

Rest of my rifle dies are Redding. Any problem at all if I get Redding 45 ACP dies and then take them to a Dillon press?
 
As long as you get Redding titanium carbide dies they will work fine in the 550, I use RCBS and Dillon carbide dies in my 550. The case expanding is done by the powder measure station and the expander/powder tube is included in the caliber conversion kit.
If you are going to single stage reload for a bit you will need the 3 die set with the expander, then you will probably end up buying a separate die for crimping on the Dillon, for 45 ACP a taper crimp die works best to just straighten out the slight flare on the casing from bullet seating.

I found this on the Redding site:
Titanium Carbide Die Sets
Two types of die sets are available. The conventional
three (3) die set includes the titanium carbide sizing
die, expander die and bullet seating die with built-in
crimp.
The “Pro (progressive) Series Die Set” is a special
three (3) die set designed for use in progressive
machines. An expander die is not included in these
sets as the most popular progressive machines
expand the case mouth at the powder drop station.
Progressive die sets are supplied with a profile crimp die (or taper crimp die if the
cartridge headspaces on the case mouth) because the best possible crimp is
attained after the bullet is seated.
Click to expand...
 
Yes, the Dillon puts the case expander/flaring tool in the powder die.

I was given a couple of Lee turret presses. And for single operations they are fine. But one of these was a progressive press. Even though it was free I ended up buying a Dillon and was happy to pay the money.

I did eventually get the Lee working decently well and then gave it to a shooting buddy. I would not have wanted to give it to him as I got it or we would not remain buddies.

So go Dillon when it's time for that new press.

And yes, the Dillon dies do not come with any expander die. So you would need to get one. Instead the expander is part of the caliber conversion kit which has the shell plate, retention buttons and expander piston for the powder die. So you'd be missing that function for using these dies on the Redding.
 
the LEE 4 die set will do well for you & is useable in the Dillon or any other common press . Dillon dies are great for production , but a pita , if your in load development .
 
nada said:
the LEE 4 die set will do well for you & is useable in the Dillon or any other common press . Dillon dies are great for production , but a pita , if your in load development .
Click to expand...

The Dillon powder dispenser doesn't work with the Lee powder/expander die. And the expander core in the Lee die doesn't directly work in the Dillon powder die. A shim is required.
 
So long as they have the right thread most dies work in all mfgs presses. I have Lee, RCBS and Forster dies and they all work in my Dillon 650. One thing I notice with the RCBS dies in the Dillon is that they have to be screwed in to almost the end of the thread to reach the shell plate (when it's in the up position) and that's always concerned me a little in it seems there's not much thread left to get the locking nut tightened. I believe the Dillon dies account for this better. Like most, I had a single stage before buying a progressive and have had no actual problems with any dies. I can see some advantage perhaps to buying Dillon dies for a Dillon press.

How much are you planning to re-load? Rifle and pistol? I was doing some 40SW on my rcbs press for a little while and did it get old really fast. If you're going to be doing a fair bit of re-loading and especially if your doing different calibres, save some more and get the Dillon 650 with the case feeder.
 
kb007 said:
So long as they have the right thread most dies work in all mfgs presses. I have Lee, RCBS and Forster dies and they all work in my Dillon 650. One thing I notice with the RCBS dies in the Dillon is that they have to be screwed in to almost the end of the thread to reach the shell plate (when it's in the up position) and that's always concerned me a little in it seems there's not much thread left to get the locking nut tightened. I believe the Dillon dies account for this better. Like most, I had a single stage before buying a progressive and have had no actual problems with any dies. I can see some advantage perhaps to buying Dillon dies for a Dillon press.

How much are you planning to re-load? Rifle and pistol? I was doing some 40SW on my rcbs press for a little while and did it get old really fast. If you're going to be doing a fair bit of re-loading and especially if your doing different calibres, save some more and get the Dillon 650 with the case feeder.
Click to expand...

Yup!!
 
If you're going to shoot 500+ rounds of pistol a month, maybe consider investing in a Dillon 650 with the case feeder. I can easily do 500 rounds/hr including loading the primer tube.
 
All my size dies are Lee because they are the best, cheapest, most durable, and easy to set up. Don't get me wrong on Dillon presses because their presses are the market leader. However I switched to LEE sizers because after a couple of thousand resizes the dies scratched my cases so badly that.....the Hornady titanium nitride dies were not any better.
The Dillon RL550 press is state of the art and their "No BS" warranty is legend. I just don't like their sizers, but you can use anyone's sizer in the RL550 press. And BTW, their RL2000 tumbler beats every tumbler on the market!!!
 
550 vs 650?

I would recommend the 550b for a first progressive simply because it can also function as a multi position single stage press. The manual indexing means less confusion and more flexibility if loading rifle rounds where you want to separate the operations so you can powder up off a weigh scale for each charge. It also lets you de-cap and THEN clean more easily than the auto indexing on the 650.

Don't get me wrong. A 650 is an AMAZING machine. But it's focused on churning out lots of ammo in a hurry with very little operator tinkering. The 550b can still turn out 350/hr without breaking a sweat but it's equally at home working with small batches of special ammo in single stage mode.
 
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