I recently bought a truckload of reloading stuff from a lady nearby.Her husband recently died and he had a huge amount of stuff to reload pistol,rifle and shotgun loads.The question I have is that out of the presses that were in it one was a dillon 550.Is this press to advanced for a newbie such as myself that has no prior experience and is this press big enough to load rifle rounds as well or mainly handgun loads.I would be loadin 30-30,270,30-06 and 7 mag.Thanks in advance for the help.
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Dillon 550 question
- Thread starter rsjustice
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Www.dillonprecision.com is dillon's website. The 550 has the greatest range do rifle and pistol calibers of any of the Dillon presses. The short answer is that yes, it will handle the calibers you mentioned.
It's a great press. While there are many members here that will help you don't hesitate to call Dillon with any questions you have. They will answer any questions you have and replace any broken parts no questions asked. It is their no BS
lifetime warranty. If Detroit built cars and had customer service like Dillon does its presses nobody would buy a foreign car. Get the ABC's of reloading and read it a couple of times. There are several good videos on line that are helpful. I found that 45acp was the best place to start.
lifetime warranty. If Detroit built cars and had customer service like Dillon does its presses nobody would buy a foreign car. Get the ABC's of reloading and read it a couple of times. There are several good videos on line that are helpful. I found that 45acp was the best place to start.
I agree with the two above responses as well but will add that you might consider keeping a good single stage press as well to do some of your large rifle rounds with. The Dillion 550 is a fine machine, I have one myself, but I still use an old RCBS rock chuck for my rifle and small qty loading. It's kind of a pain to set up a 4 stage progressive for 20 rounds unless you buy the extra tool head and powder measure at $125 a pop.
Good advice here to keep one of the single stage presses.
Heck keep everything until you learn more about reloading in general.
Heck keep everything until you learn more about reloading in general.
Solid advice given here. That Dillon is a fine machine and will produce some very fine ammo. However it is very easy to make a mistake when using a progressive press like the Dillon, even for old timers.
The single stage is slower, it is also good at keeping you focused on each individual task in the process. When you get comfortable and have discovered your "pet Load" for your calibers, that is when I would break out the 550 and experiment with it to achieve the same results you were getting on the single stage. Just my two cents, for what it's worth.
The single stage is slower, it is also good at keeping you focused on each individual task in the process. When you get comfortable and have discovered your "pet Load" for your calibers, that is when I would break out the 550 and experiment with it to achieve the same results you were getting on the single stage. Just my two cents, for what it's worth.
This is good advice.
Also, a good website for the beginning reloader is http://ultimatereloader.com/
It provides answers for a lot of the frequently asked questions about reloading and has some good demo videos.
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I miss my 550b. 
Then again, I'm not shooting enough to warrant buying another one. Perhaps one day....
IMHO if you're just reloading those rifle calibers, you're probably not reloading enough to make a progressive worth the hassle. Even if I had my 550 set up I'd use a single-stage press when I'd do small batches of rifle ammo. I think progressive presses come into their own when you're doing several hundred rounds of each caliber at one sitting. I.e. bulk pistol ammo and rifle ammo such as 5.56.
Then again, I'm not shooting enough to warrant buying another one. Perhaps one day....IMHO if you're just reloading those rifle calibers, you're probably not reloading enough to make a progressive worth the hassle. Even if I had my 550 set up I'd use a single-stage press when I'd do small batches of rifle ammo. I think progressive presses come into their own when you're doing several hundred rounds of each caliber at one sitting. I.e. bulk pistol ammo and rifle ammo such as 5.56.
its far too advanced for you. ill pay you $50 and take it off your hands. 
