Time for a new press

I have deep pockets when it comes to my reloading room. I am very happy with my 550s and would not change over to a 650/750.

You sound like you could go either way, 550 or 750.

I will suggest you study both, but to add something here you haven't already heard....

I will suggest you get with a friend or instructor who could let you live demo both presses, and then decide.
The set-ups, change-overs, and runs on these two machines are very different.

If money were no object, I could see someone with your description having one 550 and one 750. But if that causes the kids to go hungry then don't listen to me..... I tend to err on the side of "more automation is better"....

If you have both and can just run the 750 for bulk runs and do the smaller runs on the 550, and lets say you decided one or the other was too much capacity for your needs, you could always let one or the other go and would have no problem selling them.
Good Luck and teach your children well.....

Sounds like you want an XL750…

If you want to really pump out rounds, you’re going to want to go full progressive where the shell plate rotates with each stroke and have the ability to add a bullet feeder.

For semi-auto rifle stuff like 223/556 on the 750 you’ll probably find having 2 tool heads is the way to go (1 for processing/sizing, 1 for priming, powder, and seating). You can swap the primer feeder for a Swage-It on pass #1 with tool head #1, then swap back to the primer feeder and use tool head #2 for the second pass. You can just trim in between passes using a drill mounted case trimmer like the one from Frankford Arsenal or WFT or whatever you already have.

That said, with all those different cartridges, hold onto a single-stage too, or get a 550 too, as it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have the option to use those for smaller volume stuff.

If you plan on a bullet feeder you'll need at least 5 stations. If you genuinely need a 650/750, do yourself a favor and buy a 1100.

Forgot to mention...

I use my 550s for precision rifle ammo and small volume pistol ammo like 41 Mag, 45 Auto Rim, etc.

I use my 1100s for large volume ammo like 9, 40, 45 and short range 223/308.

The primer crimp swage station totally makes it worth it. With a bullet feeder, cranking out 1,500-2,000 rounds an hour is easy.

Cascade Hemi said:

If you plan on a bullet feeder you'll need at least 5 stations. If you genuinely need a 650/750, do yourself a favor and buy a 1100.

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He's not wrong.

If you're going to be going back and forth between more than a few different cartridges, many of them rifle cartridges, the extra cost upfront isn't bad for an 1100.

IMHO a 750 is better suited to making shitloads of 9mm (or whatever pistol cartridge), an 1100 can do that too, but also opens up more options for the rifle stuff.

Remember, GBPSE.

I've got a 550, 650 and 1050. The 550 is used for loading (but not brass processing) of precision rifle ammo - priming on the press, powder through a funnel weighed on a precision scale, bullet seating. The 650 is used for brass processing for precision rifle (toolhead with deprime die, full length die, mandrel die) and also gets frequently converted over to 9mm. The 1050 does exclusively 223 for a precision rifle trainer, but uses the Dillon powder thrower rather than precision weighed charges. I also separate brass processing from loading on the 1050 as well. Deprime/FL size/mandrel on the first pass, then tumble clean and trim off the press, then the loading pass is just prime/powder/seat and there's no residual lube on the brass that second pass.

In your situation, I'd strongly suggest the 750. There's no reason you can't load precision rifle ammo on a 750 using a funnel to feed precision weighed charges. It's the same priming system as the 550 and will make quality, low runout ammo. The 750 will be a HUGE upgrade for processing bulk 9mm or 223, the case feeder and auto-index drastically speeds things up. Probably close to 2x as fast as using a 550.

You would want to set up rifle calibers with a two toolhead process. One toolhead for brass prep, then tumble the brass clean, then a second toolhead for loading. 9mm can be done all at once since you don't need lube.

Only downside is the time it takes for caliber conversions, which can be mitigated by doing larger bulk lots of processing/loading.

Dave__th3__ss said:

For those not trimming on the Dillion are you sizing /deprime , prime and pulling them to trim or what’s your process?

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Didn't quite answer this question clearly.

Trimming is done with a Giraud. First pass through the Dillon is with the alcohol/lanolin lube which is a bit sticky. Once the depriming/sizing is done then the brass gets tumbled a second time so all the lube is gone. Then it gets trimmed on the Giraud and stored in bins labeled as "Ready to Load". I'll load ammo as needed with a second pass on the Dillon, using a second loading toolhead. Usually loading is done a couple hundred rounds at a time. Either whatever is needed for a competition, or to fill up an ammo can for practicing/plinking.

Once all the "ready to load" brass has been used up, then I process the entire batch of brass again.

Dave__th3__ss said:

That’s kind of how I figured most peoples process went. Almost seems a waste to prep on a dillion especially if not trimming on machine .

I guess sizing and depriming in my single stage is the way to go. Just the actual loading portion is sped up by having the progressive.

So on the 550c setup for rifle after case prep would be
station 1 - mandrel & Prime
Station 2 - powder
Station 3 - powder check ?
Stating 4 - bullet seatin


How accurate is the powder throw on the Dillion? Or would you say it’s better to trickle and just dump powder? I keep seeing mixed opinions on reading about it.

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Oh gosh no, it's a huge benefit to do brass prep on the Dillon. Especially if you went to a 750.

First, I think there's actually a quality improvement. When you have the depriming die separate from the sizing it keeps the sizing die cleaner. You also get less runout when you use a sizing process that is a full length sizing die *with the internal expander ball removed* followed by a separate mandrel die. The fact that there is no resistance on the upstroke of the press handle means you can run the press faster and more smoothly. Add on a primer catch tube and the 750 stays nice and clean. I get extremely consistent shoulder bump and essentially zero runout with this process, and have done tens of thousands of precision rifle rounds this way for competition.

Speed is a massive improvement too. I process precision rifle brass usually in 600 piece lots. With a Dillon 650/750 that takes under 25 minutes. If you were to do three separate dies on a single stage it would take forever. Even running only once through the single stage probably is double the amount of time as a 650/750.

Trimming off the press is not big deal, a Giraud can knock out 600 pieces in under 20 minutes.

My 550 when set up for loading is Station 1 priming (no die), Station 2 powder funnel, Station 3 seating die, Station 4 empty.

Powder thrower on the Dillon is acceptable when using powder that is finer grained. I use XBR8208 for my 223 and it throws charges that are +/- 0.1 grains. Pistol powders in smaller quantities are extremely consistent, and ball powders work good too. It's just the chunkier stuff like Varget that's not as consistent, probably +/- 0.2g.

The precision weighed powder charges are for PRS match ammo, where we might be trying to hit 1MOA or even smaller targets at 1000 yards and need very consistent velocities. This gets weighed down to the powder kernel with a fancy lab scale like the FX120i.