Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Anything better than a Dillon?

Nobody mentions the Star presses which were technically the basis for the Dillon concept. Stars are precision machined from steel and brass parts nothing cast or aluminum. If you’re loading pistol or revolver ammo they are very accurate however these presses are not bottleneck rifle cartridge capable. I’m not setting here trying to tell reloaders that Dillon is inferior as their users know better. But Stars are made by real machinists to much closer tolerances so fine tuning is almost always necessary where the Dillons operate on wider tolerances and out of the box are much more forgiving. Once a Star is properly set up and adjusted they are scary smooth, quieter, and from my forty year experience and many other competition pistol/revolver shooters will turn out repeatably accurate ammo with perfect seating depth and crimps. When I shot serious Bullseye with 38 wadcutters in my Clark ‘ Midrange National Match and S&W model 14-2 or IPSC matches with 45acp and 38 Super 1911 race guns I rarely experience velocity spread enough to affect point of impact. Powder drops were always dead-nut on. I couldn’t say the same with my old Dillon Square Deal or 500. I used to reliably load 500-700 rounds a week IPSC major power loads never had any problems unless it was light hit primer squibs.

The Star will not produce as much ammo as quickly as the fastest Dillons but there there are a number Star users who have retro-fitted pneumatic actuators along with case feeders ( Dillons work great ) and bullet feeders and these machines are much faster than a Dillon. If you see one operating they cycle like a small version of a large commercial loading machine. If you’re handy mechanically these modifications make the Star a different animal capable of satisfying even the most demanding shooter. Star’s finely calibrated powder feed slides can’t be improved upon for straight walled handgun cartridges. Made from non-sparking bronze alloy they meter extremely accurate for flake, ball or flattened ball powders. Long stick rifle powders, like IMR would certainly create problems but these powders aren’t used in pistol ammo. Slides can be ordered and machined for any powder and weight. There are several suppliers for these slides and some parts but parts are very rarely needed. Forty plus years and I’ve never replaced any parts which I can’t say for Dillons and why Dillon service is so great. For decades, and even today, police departments and military marksmanship squads still rely on Stars to load practice and match ammo. There are still thousands of Star presses out there so they aren’t impossible to find though honestly they aren’t worth what some sellers ask.

Rick

Nothing that I have seen. I use a 550, but a 750 is definitely the Cadillac of them.

If you change rounds as much as I do, the 550 is better. Not as fast but the faster ones are more of a pain to swap out rounds.

So if one is cranking big numbers, go 750.

Multiple rounds, multiple tool heads, go 550.

IMO.

DF

I didn't know that...my limited experience is confined to 2 friends...I had rebarreled rifles for them, developed loads and kinda sorta guaranteed the rifles to then hold 1 moa. They used a Dillon Square Deal (whatever that is...and a 650) and then said, we are not getting good results. I got some of their fired brass, loaded up the pet loads using my press and dies, bingo, sub moa, with them doing the shooting on my range. So I ASSumed it was their presses, probably not if Tubb is using Dillon.

Wondering if it wasn’t more of a die situation than a press situation.

LOL, your girlfriend bought you a rifle for Christmas, and you conclude that you should have gotten rid of her? Any lady that buys her man a rifle for a gift has my respect.

Same here. I’d be proud of a pellet rifle most days

He’ll learn.

Ha!

DF

Hell, I remember how thrilled I was many years ago when Mama got me a set of dies for a recently acquired 264. GREAT Christmas present.

To me there’s only 2 options, the 550 is fast, easy to use, also easy to change calibers… The best option for many folks… I’ve probably loaded in excess of 50,000 rounds on mine.

From there it’s either the 1050 or 1100, but these are mainly for competition shooters loading one caliber. I know a few people that have one set up for each caliber they shoot.

I wouldn’t consider a 750

I had a ‘ Mickey Mantle ‘ baseball bat as a kid. They told me it was the same kind of bat that he used.

I had 1/4 ownership on a Starr. I think that was the best at the time.

“At the time” for sure.

For cost and utility, the 550 is hard to beat.

DF

I think this is probably the best solution if you want to reload a bunch of different cartridges on the same press.

I’ve been slumming it with a Lee Turret since I was thirteen. Been a great press, but not fast by any means. One thing that I like are the cheap turrets that makes swapping out cartridges a snap.

I’d love to get something like a Dillon 550, but how much does it cost to get set up for a new caliber? Looks pricey…. I currently load for more pistol and rifle cartridges on my Lee than I can keep track of. I’d have to count all of my turrets.

I don’t mind my Lee for loading rifle ammo. I might consider buying a Dillon SD or a 550 to load pistol ammo. Wouldn’t mind being able to press out 5.56 and 300BO in quantity either.

This is just not true. The amount of time for a caliber changeover is inconsequential when you are loading more than 50 rounds. The 650 or now the new 750 is so much faster, at least 2X, it is worth it.

I have both and I use the 550 for longer, larger cartridges like 45-70 and such, because there is a difference in changeover for those and I don’t load anywhere near as many cartridges in those calibers…