Im going to be purchasing a Dillon rl550 and am interested if anybody can give me some info on a few aftermarket upgrades.
If you have any info on a couple products uniquetek sells please speek up. The products Im looking at are the turbo bearing for 550, whidden gunworks machined toolheads with the clamping kits, and there micrometer powder bar kits.
Im looking at the machined toolheads, because i want to maintain the tightest tolerances i can with a progressive. I have been using single stage since the beginning. I have used progressive i just can not stand more then .005 variation in length of trimmed cases, oal at ogive. I do not even like the difference in measurement of oal to the meplat, but as long as they fall within the difference i have from measuring the bullets i deal with it. I would rather the ogives be consistent.
So if any of you have any of these products let me know what you think of them, and if you have seen a measurable difference in the tolerances you are getting.
If they do not make much of a difference i will just load pistol ammo on the 550 and continue to load rifle asmi have for years.
Please no suggestions for the Hornady. I have used one of my buddies and my buddies Dillon. You may love the Hornady but i think it is just barely adequate. That is my opinion and we know what they say about opinions. I also do not want a 650. If i were to go for an auto advance progressive it would be a 1050.
Thanks for any info you can provide i appreciate it.
I’ve shot 1/4 MOA using the standard tool heads for .223.
Standard powder bars and everything. Now I’m trimming off press on a Giraud, but powder, bullet seat, and Crimp are all full throttle progressive blow and go.
Ditto. The standard Dillon equipment is pretty darn precise. Your loadings get more accurate as you experiment with different powder and bullets, and then test them out. How accurately your powder meters out is another factor, along with how accurately you set up the meter. Every time the machine is cycled, powder gets shoved into the powder measure…so with most powders you have to cycle through an empty case so that you get a fresh powder drop each time. Little things you learn as you use the machine to make it more accurate.
He lost me there too. I dump the first powder charge back into the hopper just to let the powder settle. But I don’t know what he means with the empty case.
Before you run the machine, the powder bar on the powder measure is in position to receive powder from the hopper. As you cycle the machine, the powder bar will move to the right and swip off a measured amount of powder. If you have a case in station two, the powder funnel with detect the case and the powder bar will move all the way over to the right to drop the powder into the case. If there is no case in station two, then the powder bar will only slide half way and not drop the powder. Once you finish your cycle on the machine, the powder bar returns to the starting position to receive powder from the hopper. If no powder was dropped from the previoius cycle, then that powder will remain in the powder bar. However, when the bar slides that powder charge back and forth it tends to settle more depending on what powder you are using. So, when the bar returns to the hopper it can add more powder to the existing charge in the hopper. So, you usually end up with a charge that is several grains stronger than what you metered out for your production charge. If you are working with maxium charges, this “could” lead to problems if you dump too strong of a charge. In order to keep this settling effect minimized, you need to keep the powder bar loading and dropping with no interuptions. So, you just stick an empty case in station two to trigger a powder drop when you begin production in station one. Just dump the powder in that case back into the hopper, rotate the primed case from station 1 to station 2, and you are good to go.
In regard to difference in charge in the settling effect, it can range from several tenths of a grain in service caliber handguns, to several grains in rifle calibers. It depends on how much of a charge you are measuring out.
Ok, gotcha… yep, if I have interruptions I do one of two things, dump the charge and go from there, or weigh the charge and pour it back in the case and set it back in press, then continue.
Im fully aware that high end very accurate ammo can be produced on any Dillon. When i used a 650 my buddy had i was getting a little over .005 variance at the ogive. It could have been the press not being properly cared for.
Just yesterday i loaded some 168 grain amax for a friend in 308 with varget. Before loading i used the Hornady comparator to measure the bullets base to ogive. I measured about 30 and came up with no more than .003 in variation. I set up to seat at 2.800 oal. The measurement to the ogive was 2.174-2.177. Which fell in the range of what i had previously measured for the bullets.
I read info i believe came straight from Dillon that said you can expect as much as .010 in variation when using a Dillon press. I might have also read it on Brian enos’s website. I know it came from one or the other. Im just trying to figure out if that is normal or is that the most you will see.
Some may think i might be a little bit anal with my expectations, but the way i was tought if there is more than .005 variation that can not be accounted for in components. You figure out what you are doing wrong. I do not hold pistol ammo to the same standards.
So what kind of tolerances is your press holding at the ogive if you have numbers. I have been loading on a rock chucker for roughly ten years. So i would not mind moving up to a progressive.
I don’t even have a bullet comparitor. I’ve just never had to dig that deep into the load to trouble shoot it. I appreciate the idea of wanting great consistency. But I also don’t look a gift horse in the mouth… and my OCD ass doesn’t need another variable to obsess on.
I’ll second…third…whatever, the powder settling phenom. Have experienced exactly as described above. Need especially to compensate for this when setting up the toolhead with the various die adjustments. When you get to the stage of setting the powder measure, you need to cycle empty cases to make sure you are weighing throws made in the same uninterrupted mode that happens when actually reloading. The owner’s manual never mentions this, but it is something that you will pick up and notice the effect of with experience.
Can i shoot well enough to notice the slight difference? No. I just was taught to keep variations minimal. I was taught by an older guy who used to be my neighbor, and he was very precise. It has warn off on me. My ocd keeps me looking for the next best tool to measure my ammo. I figure if i keep everything as tight as possible with little to no difference in each round i know its not the ammo if i have a bad shooting day.
I measure every round as it comes off the press. I have tried not to. If i put it down without measuring it bugs me, and i end up measuring it after the next round comes out.
I want a dillon to for loading after i have the load developed. I would still use single for my ocw loads, and then once i have settled on one switch to the dillon to load all components.
Right now i have my eye on a concentricity gauge. Im trying not to pick it up, because it will be another thing to obsess over. It seems that most of you do not measure at the ogive. Why not? Just wondering.
For me it’d be buying a tool to measure something that I don’t find to be a problem.
I have the Sinclair Concentricity guage. But when we sorted off 5 of our worst runout SMKs and shot them for a 100m group, they were still MOA. I just use that guage to spot check here and there, or when experimenting with a new/different die.
I never had a problem before i started using it. I just did not like seeing the variation at the meplats especially matchkings. So i picked it up a long time ago to measure at the ogive. Im not the greatest shooter, but i can usually keep groups around moa or a little better. Depending on setup.
Im hoping after i shoot some rounds reloaded on a dillon i will realize i do not have to be so strict on the tolerances. I will probably still buy the upgrades for the press. I have read some reviews of the products, and everyone seems happy with them.
I only get to shoot a couple times in the summer, because of the heat. So i usually stock up on components during the summer. With the election coming up i decided not to end up low on everything like last election. With what i stockpiled it Will take months to load. Even if i load 7 days a week for 8 hours a day. The dillon should speed things up. I like the idea of producing a round every pull of the handle. Im just going to have to break my habit of measuring every round, and just measure a random amount of rounds that are finished.
Shot highpower for several years. Always loaded 200 & 300 yard ammo on a 550. Loaded the 600 yard ammo on a Rockchucker. I loaded some 600 yard on the 550 and could not tell the difference on the target. Still, I kept loading the 600 on the Rochchucker more out of superstition than fact.
For awhile I chased all the precision measurements until a more experienced shooter told me I was wasting my time. He basically said “let the target be your guide on whether you ammo is good enough, quit measuring everything you can, load more ammo with the time you save and shoot more, you’ll have better scores doing that than by worrying about how perfect your ammo is.”
HOWEVER…if you really need to squeak out that last 1/10000 of an inch of accuracy go over to the Brian Enos forum…those boys know all the tricks for making the 550 run.
Not speaking from personal experience, but from stuff I read once (don’t remenber where): if you can run the handle the same every time, things like the clamped tool heads won’t help you much because you will have consistent pressure on the toolhead. So work on being consistent in your stroke.
Stumpnav i know that you can load great ammo on a progressive. Its a mind over matter thing for me. I do not know if it is ocd or what. I was thinking if i get a progressive i may be able to just load it and shoot without all the ocd measurements. If i load some ammo measure it and it falls outside of what i consider acceptable, and it still shoots great i think i can let go. Its good to hear from someone who has not seen much if any difference from single to progressive.
Chadbag i always strive for a consistent pull, but i will make sure to be as consistent as possible.
