I was looking for a progressive to reload primarily rifle ammo that I use a lot of, gopher shooting. Cartridges like 17FB, 22 Hornet, 221FB, 204, 223 etc. After a lot of research I finally settled on the Dillon 550B for three main reasons. Manual indexing, relatively easy caliber changes, (ability to load a number o cartridges with the same ocnversion kit), and reputation. There was virtually no cost difference between a rigged out 650, and a rigged out Hornady LNL, and the 650 was only $70 more than the 550.
Got a great deal on it from Shooters Edge here in Calgary, $429, which was cheaper than Dillon and no $160 in shipping costs. Shooters Edge did not have the rest of the conversion kits, tool heads etc that I wanted, but they do have a good selection in pistol calibers. Unfortunately it sounds like they aren't planning on carrying Dillon in the future due to delivery lags and the very high freight costs.
It came with the 204 conversion kit so that is what I tried loading first. I ordered the other conversion kits and spare tool heads etc from Dillon. Their price is good but $110 shipping on a $450 part order is a real killer. Was still cheaper than buying it at any of the other stores locally that carry Dillon and I would have had a deal of work to find everything I was looking for.
Set up was pretty easy to do, just a little fiddling to get everything working perfectly smooth. Set up the powder thrower with the large powder bar. Adjusted it to throw 27.6 grains of Benchmark. Passed ten loads to settle everything in then threw 35 consecutive loads into a 204 case and weighed the result on a scale accurate to .02 of a grain. The lightest load weighed 27.46, the heaviest 27.68 for a maximum spread of .22 grains. The average was 27.587.
I then adjusted the measure to throw 26.7 grains of 8208. Ran 10 cycles of the powder thrower, then checked the next ten, they were all falling very close to the 26.7 grain nominal. I then loaded 50 rounds, which took all of about ten minutes and I wasn't moving very fast as I wanted to do everything exactly the same each time to start to build the automatic memory processes. ( the full load was new WW brass, 26.7 8208, CCI 400 primers and 40 grain Vmax bullets).
I weighted all the completed rounds to double check and ensure there were no short or heavy powder loads.
Measured the runout on the loads, max run out was .006, most ran in the .002-3 range. This is new WW brass that had no weight sorting or prep work of any kind done to it, I didn't even debur the flash holes. The cases were neck sized using an Redding neck bushing die, and the bullets were seated using a Redding regular 204 Seating dies.
Took those 50 to the range yesterday and Chronoed all 50. Max velocity 3746, min 3697, which was the only one below the other minimum of 3714 fps, for a max spread of 49 fps. The other 49 ranged from 3714 to 3746, for a max deviation on them of 32 fps. Average velocity was 3733. While I wasn't concentrating as much on groups as getting the Chrono results, I had no trouble keeping the 5 shot strings under an inch at 100 yards and the couple I did focus a little bit on went under 1/2" quite easily..
Given these first very promising results I believe this Dillon is going to work out perfectly for loading high volumes of 17 FB, 22 H, 221 FB and 204 ammo, that will be lots accurate enough for gophers out to at least 350 yards.
When the 17 FB kit gets here I am going to repeat this with it. On the 204, I had zero problems with 8208 or Benchmark feeding into the cases properly. I will be very interested to see if I get any bridging with the 17 FB.
I have done accuracy tests on my Lyman 55s, Harrell, RCBS BR and a Lee powder thrower. (The Lyman's have been the best at throwing the smallest max deviation, as well as being the most consistent)
Per the above, I have now tested the Dillon 550. At 0.22 max deviation, and given the Chrono and shooting results, this seems to be pretty good but I would like to hear the results from anyone who has tried the same test on a Hornady LNL AP progressive, using the Hornady powder measure. I have heard the Hornady's powder thrower on the progressive is more accurate than the Dillon but I cannot fond any comparative test data.
Would like to hear of test results from others for their loaded ammo off a Dillon, particularly rifle ammo. Would also like to hear from anyone who has tested Hornady LNL AP loaded ammo.
P.S. Kept searching and found this
http://www.reloadingtips.com/reviews/hornady-powder-measure.htm
Got a great deal on it from Shooters Edge here in Calgary, $429, which was cheaper than Dillon and no $160 in shipping costs. Shooters Edge did not have the rest of the conversion kits, tool heads etc that I wanted, but they do have a good selection in pistol calibers. Unfortunately it sounds like they aren't planning on carrying Dillon in the future due to delivery lags and the very high freight costs.
It came with the 204 conversion kit so that is what I tried loading first. I ordered the other conversion kits and spare tool heads etc from Dillon. Their price is good but $110 shipping on a $450 part order is a real killer. Was still cheaper than buying it at any of the other stores locally that carry Dillon and I would have had a deal of work to find everything I was looking for.
Set up was pretty easy to do, just a little fiddling to get everything working perfectly smooth. Set up the powder thrower with the large powder bar. Adjusted it to throw 27.6 grains of Benchmark. Passed ten loads to settle everything in then threw 35 consecutive loads into a 204 case and weighed the result on a scale accurate to .02 of a grain. The lightest load weighed 27.46, the heaviest 27.68 for a maximum spread of .22 grains. The average was 27.587.
I then adjusted the measure to throw 26.7 grains of 8208. Ran 10 cycles of the powder thrower, then checked the next ten, they were all falling very close to the 26.7 grain nominal. I then loaded 50 rounds, which took all of about ten minutes and I wasn't moving very fast as I wanted to do everything exactly the same each time to start to build the automatic memory processes. ( the full load was new WW brass, 26.7 8208, CCI 400 primers and 40 grain Vmax bullets).
I weighted all the completed rounds to double check and ensure there were no short or heavy powder loads.
Measured the runout on the loads, max run out was .006, most ran in the .002-3 range. This is new WW brass that had no weight sorting or prep work of any kind done to it, I didn't even debur the flash holes. The cases were neck sized using an Redding neck bushing die, and the bullets were seated using a Redding regular 204 Seating dies.
Took those 50 to the range yesterday and Chronoed all 50. Max velocity 3746, min 3697, which was the only one below the other minimum of 3714 fps, for a max spread of 49 fps. The other 49 ranged from 3714 to 3746, for a max deviation on them of 32 fps. Average velocity was 3733. While I wasn't concentrating as much on groups as getting the Chrono results, I had no trouble keeping the 5 shot strings under an inch at 100 yards and the couple I did focus a little bit on went under 1/2" quite easily..
Given these first very promising results I believe this Dillon is going to work out perfectly for loading high volumes of 17 FB, 22 H, 221 FB and 204 ammo, that will be lots accurate enough for gophers out to at least 350 yards.
When the 17 FB kit gets here I am going to repeat this with it. On the 204, I had zero problems with 8208 or Benchmark feeding into the cases properly. I will be very interested to see if I get any bridging with the 17 FB.
I have done accuracy tests on my Lyman 55s, Harrell, RCBS BR and a Lee powder thrower. (The Lyman's have been the best at throwing the smallest max deviation, as well as being the most consistent)
Per the above, I have now tested the Dillon 550. At 0.22 max deviation, and given the Chrono and shooting results, this seems to be pretty good but I would like to hear the results from anyone who has tried the same test on a Hornady LNL AP progressive, using the Hornady powder measure. I have heard the Hornady's powder thrower on the progressive is more accurate than the Dillon but I cannot fond any comparative test data.
Would like to hear of test results from others for their loaded ammo off a Dillon, particularly rifle ammo. Would also like to hear from anyone who has tested Hornady LNL AP loaded ammo.
P.S. Kept searching and found this
http://www.reloadingtips.com/reviews/hornady-powder-measure.htm
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