Been loading rifle for a long time. Really enjoy it. Use my Rock Chucker which is fine for my volume.

Now getting into higher volume (for me) pistol loading and got a Dillon 550. Going to start with 45acp. I have a boatload of questions:

Are there any stations that are too much of a pain to set up that you still do manually? I'm thinking of priming, throwing powder (I have a chargemaster lite), etc.

Can I use my Hornady dies on the Dillon plate?

Do you guys trust the powder thrower to be close enough to your nominal powder to use it?

My crimp die has been hit or miss on single stage loading, with some rounds needing it and some not. Presumably this is due to lack of trimming and different headstamps acting differently in the early reloading stages...but how do I deal with that on a progressive?

I've been loading on Dillons for many years and will share my experience. Setting up the dies has been pretty easy for me . I can't remember a time when they were a pain. I am generally patient and meticulous...that helps.

Yes, you can use Hornady and most other dies. I say "most" because there may be an exception that I haven't found yet. As I adjust my powder, I use a scale to check the charge. After that, I will generally check a few rounds as I load. It isn't precision so expect some minor variations. There are various things you can do to increase accuracy but I haven't found the need to use them.

Finally, I set my crimp die up as normal and run with it. If I do my part I don't have a problem. I don't think I have ever trimmed pistol brass.

Dillons may not be perfect but they work for me.

ST - are you the one I bought that Dillon from? Somebody down your way sold me one last year - another THFer met you to pick it up and met me to drop it off.

For a progressive, brass prep is more critical. Get all the trimming and primer pockets the same and it should be really smooth. Only have to process the brass once in most cases.

I'll preface this by saying that the majority of my loading has been 9mm in bulk for pistol competitions. But I've also loaded a lot of .38 and .357 over the years, too.

But pistol reloading on a progressive should be the easiest, lowest stress reloading experience. Pistol cartridges don't really grow to the point where you need to trim them. God, I can't even imagine how pissed I'd be if I had to trim a bunch of 9mm cases. If I was considering adding steps like priming off-press, and I wasn't able to just crank away at my handle and get satisfaction I'd never shoot pistol calibers at all.

Your crimp will vary with case length, yes, but if it's set to the point where on the odd case it's either too much or too little, you need to adjust it to hit an "average" crimp for all cases so it's not excessive. Especially with 9mm and .45acp, all you should be doing with your crimp is removing the bell/flare, not trying to hold onto the bullet. That's done by case tension and is dependent on your sizing die. A little variation on either side of "removing the bell" won't hurt a thing in terms of reliability, accuracy, etc.

Powder measures for progressives are also typically very accurate and repeatable with pistol/flake/ball powders. I have a maximum of 0.1gr variation using CFE pistol from my Hornady powder measure, and similar from my Dillon using Bullseye and H335 (for 5.56). I loaded 9mm major for my USPSA open gun for a long time, and that does not give you a lot of room for error on your powder throws. I felt completely comfortable doing it with my setup on my progressive.

Finally, yes you should be able to use Hornady dies on the 550.

Never loaded on a progressive but I cringe at anything relying on a powder thrower. Maybe mine sucked or maybe I didn’t use it as perfectly as I could but I have no faith in them.

YIKES. If I had to do anything interrupting the flow of reloading on a progressive press, I think I'd just forget about it and do it all on a single-stage. It just seems like it would negate the entire point of having a progressive.

If you're loading brass of mixed headstamps, that could be another reason that some cartridges appear to need the taper crimp than others...it would come down to the thickness of the brass at the case mouth.

Funny, I was dealing with setting the crimp on some 9mm loads just last night. I always SWORE I'd never load 9mm...yet here I am. And I am supposed to be downsizing, too. Anyway, the correct crimp on these is more important because the bullets are Berry's plated HPs. If the case mouth bites into the plating you risk damaging it enough to cause accuracy problems. I seat and crimp in separate steps since all my handgun loading involves bullets I cast myself---with the exceptions of a couple of cast and/or plated bullets I buy in volume.



The brass is kinda green or tarnished looking because I overloaded my wet tumbler. I've had that happen a few times...not sure how too many cases impedes the action of the stainless pins, but evidently it does somehow. I actually think it's kinda cool...they look like military ammo of some kind and they ARE clean and free of dirt and grit. Performance is not affected.

But back to your progressive...I also prefer to use a powder measure such as a Uni-Flow for handgun loading (some rifle, too, depending on how well the powder will meter). Weighing each charge would drive me up a wall and I would find something else to do for fun. I DO ALWAYS inspect the charged cases before seating bullets. I use a flashlight and look for anything that doesn't look just like everything else. Been doing it for years and still have ten fingers.

I do have one suggestion for setting up your measure, though. I do this: if I want a charge of 11.8 grains, I throw TEN charges in the pan and weigh it to verify that it weighs 118 grains. My reason is that it gives you a more precise average throw weight, and I want that because there seems to always be some variation from one charge to the next. Weighing just a single charge on a scale with .1 grain resolution just isn't all that precise. Another advantage is that you can set your measure to throw in quarter-grain increments if you like, even if your scale only reads in tenths of a grain. I sometimes do this on .233 loads. I can charge a case with 25.75 grains and be sure I am pretty danged close to that. If ten charges weigh 257.5 grains, then I am confident that my actual charge is very close to 25-3/4 grains.

I load 9mm and several others on a Dillon 650. You have a powder check station which basically is maybe accurate to 2 grains so really looking for no charge or maybe double charge if you had a powder bridge situation ( never seen one ).

Little secret that no one tells you but think about it. Maybe the powder drop is accurate to .1 grain. If you load Titegroup at 4 grains you might notice ,1 grain. If you load Accurate #7 at 7.8 grains a .1 grain difference is not noticeable. Sure it cost more per round but the slower powders are more forgiving since you use more. All my 9mm have 4.4 inch or more barrels so no worries about slower powders. My SD/ES with slower powders is generally much better.

We sometimes shoot to 200 yards with our 9's. My hand loads beat any factory ammo anybody else brings. It's real obvious when you see rounds impacting the hillside like a shotgun pattern vs being able to walk into the target and score multiple hits consistently. Roughly 5 ft. drop!

Patriot it was I.

I load all rifle and pistol on a Hornady Lock and Load progressive. One thing I learned from Blackout Bill who loads on a single stage is never get distracted...never drink, never multitask, + 1,000% focus --- and never walk away till you have completed what you're doing. You get into a rhythm and it's all good. My press has five stations for round production. When loading pistol I use all 5 spots on the shell plate....when loading rifle I skip every other spot on the shell plate.... works for me and is highly efficient.

I will also use the powder drop for rifle cartridges but not for all rifle cartridges. Works very well with 35 Remington 4570 3006 (IMR 4895 and 4198).

Patriot,

I load .45 ACP on a 550B. It is what I carry and shoot the most.

Dies that work on a RCBS single stage will work fine. I use all four stations:

1. resize and decap

2. flare and powder fill

3. seat

4. taper crimp

Make sure the dies are snugged to the plate and check occasionally to make sure they are not backing out.

The Dillon powder thrower works fine with Win 231, well enough with Viht N320, and horribly with TiteGroup. I finally dumped the Tite Group on the grass it was such a hassle. Win 231 is for .45 ACP what Varget is for a .308, it works with almost any load, light to full power.

Adding a low cost LED light to check every case is helpful. Check ebay or online vendors. They are cheap and very helpful. A consistent technique of force used helps improve consistency of the drops. Check the drop on every round starting off to see how consistent the drops are and developing a consistent technique.

There is a die made that flares, but has a hole in the middle to pour through powder that is weighed on scales if you want to go that route.

Your comments about crimping raise a flag. Using mixed brass may be the source of the problem. Only use a taper crimp and crimp no more than needed. I shoot a Les Baer which runs well with a taper crimp of 0.471” - .0.472” measured at the case mouth. Do not roll crimp at all. Flare the case as little as possible, just 0.005” - 0.010” is needed..

At a minimum, sort the mixed brass into batches of the same type and adjust the dies as needed for each type.

Budget permitting, dumping all of the brass and starting over with one batch of new brass from the same lot will simplify life and likely yield more consistent results on the target. I reloaded the same batch of Federal brass, 2,000 cases, for years and never had to trim it ever, not once. The barrel had to be replaced before the brass did. When a new barrel was installed, I ordered a new lot of brass. .45 ACP is very easy on brass as it is relatively low pressure, even with full power loads.

Also, make sure to use adequate lube. I put about 50 - 75 cases in a ziploc bag, spray One Shot in the bag and then roll them around.

As mentioned already, pay very close attention while loading.

Take a break when mental fatigue sets in and it will. Realistically, to load 1,000 rounds takes me three to four hours on the 550B by the time I stop to fill primer tubes, empty the finished ammo to boxes, and take a break every 45 minutes or so for some coffee.

>>>Make sure there are no distractions.<<<

>>>Focus on making quality ammo, not going fast.<<<

Double charges and squibs are equally dangerous for different reasons. When the loading is finished, a quick QC check is to take an electronic scale like on a Chargemaster, put a loaded round on it, and zero it with the loaded round. If the load is say 6.0 grains of powder, a case with no powder will be - 6.0 grains below zero, a double charge will be +6.0 over zero. That method only works if the brass is all the same and relatively uniform. Weigh several empty cases to see how much they vary.

Another good check is to remove the barrel. Drop every round in to make sure it goes freely into the chamber. It often is called the “plunk” test because that is the sound a round makes dropping in.

The 550 is a wonderful tool and a real workhorse. I really enjoy mine.

Jeffbird covered everything I was going to say except: Hornady makes two sets of 45acp dies. If you have not purchased them yet, the taper crimp set is what you want. If you have their standard .45acp dies I would advise you to get a taper crimp seater.

I already have dies. It was the standard hornady set, and I added a taper crimp that I use on my rock chucker. I don't use the roll crimp die.

Thanks for all the info jeffbird. I've never used lube on pistol loading, and with the carbide dies I didn't think it was necessary?

I need to figure out how to install/set-up/adjust the powder thrower.

I thought the same about carbide dies, but then tried sizing with lube. It smoothes the sizing stroke, which also improves the powder throw consistency.

There are several good youtube videos on setting up and adjusting the 550.

Here is Dillon’s “official” video and others are available just for the powder measure.

https://youtu.be/zp0UyNTp4jg?feature=shared


It takes some patience, tinkering, and lots of measuring and testing starting off. Have calipers and Allen wrenches handy.

This spare parts kit is handy to have on hand:

https://www.dillonprecision.com/20048


This cleaner and lube is helpful for cleaning dies and the powder drop tube. It will not contaminate powder or primers.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1014743671?pid=170954


Your welcome and good luck.