My buddy's wife is asking for advice in regard to a progressive for her Husband for Christmas.

She says Santa has no budget limitations. It needs to do 9mm to 30-06.

I suggested a Dillon 750. Is there anything out there better?

I have used a Dillon rl 450b now 40 years to load all my pistol and rifle rounds. 38 special to 458wm.
That 750 will make lots of ammo…. The 550 will make more than most folks can or will shoot.
F01

No there is nothing better

No budget worries, get nothing less than the 750, and don’t pay any attention to anyone saying that there is a press “as good as” for anywhere near the money of the Dillon…

Amen. #4 son has a 750 and loves it. Loads rifle and pistol. I'm the old dad with my 550.

for the reasonably priced, and warranty wise, no, but it doesn't do it all. Forster coax does more, and then there's the real expensive ones like Zero and Area 419.

Thanks for the responses. I told her, Call Dillon ask for the 750 and everything you need to load each cartridge in consideration.

Good that she is shopping early. Dillion has been having a hard time getting the supplies to make their stuff. Especially dies IIRC. Might need to shop used for an "everything" list.

Thanks. I am sure, if she falls short on pieces and components, I will get a call.

Had Dillon 550 for many years and I love it

Agreed..I started with a Square Deal in 90ish, upgraded to a 650 shortly after..
Many thousands of rds since..30 + years..

Next press is a 750!

If you are looking at low volume, accuracy oriented reloads, you can do a lot better than Dillon. Not my opinion, this is Mr Starrett's opinion.

Accuracy requirements? Minute of self defense!

I'm not sure that I agree, David Tubbs loads his ammo on a Dillion and he kicks a lot of azz in competition

i have an XL 750. I think it's a great press. I used to have a Hornady Lock n Load progressive but the Dillon is definitely better.

Dillon's customer service is outstanding. They've said not me new replacement.parts if one gets broken. They have rebuilt three presses for me with new parts as needed for less than $80. Also, if you call them about needing a part they will get it in the mail right quick.

There are aspects of different machine that are better. Some would argue the Mark 7 is the best. But Dillon is the standard.

I own both a 550 and 650.




I use my 650 for my IDPA and 3Gun pistol loads
I use my 550 for 13 other handgun calibers and .223 3Gun and .308 blasting ammo
I use a Redding Ultra Mag for the majority of my rifle loads.

For me, volume dictates between the 550 and 650/750, how much time, VS how much ammo you need. IF I was bouncing back and forth between 9mm and 30-06 I'd probably stick with the 550, it's just quicker for me to convert calibers. The 550 also has the capability to act like a single stage, due to the manual indexing.

I had a Dillon to load 9mm with. Never could get it to work! Sold it and never have another Dillon.
These days I do all my reloading on an RCBS Rock Chucker. Been using RCBS press's for over 50 years and no complaints! Then again I have no need to spit out 1000 rds of ammo in an evening. I am a firm believer in the idea that there is no best of anyrhing. What there is is people that have strong prejudice's for one brand over another. Thing to do is take your husband out looking at press's and get him the one he choose's! Example, my RCBS Rock Chucker is best because I can use it properly! Had a girlfriend years ago that bought me a new 243 for christmas years ago. Had a plastic stock and I can't stand the, should haave thrown her out right there. She had no idea what I liked but bought what she thought I should like. That rifle got a factory wood stock soon as I found one, 700 ADL Remington!

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…