Should I sell my Dillon 550B ??

[Wobbly]

When I switch calibers, I unscrew all the dies from the toolhead and put them away, then screw in the dies for the new caliber and set them up.  It's a bit of a pain, but no big deal.

Just checked.  Why didn't anyone tell me toolheads were only $28?!?!?!?!

$27.

Check out Ebay auction # 162185968815. Those are cool. 

[jv3499]

I would be very interested in purchasing your Dillon 550..     Very interested indeed.

[IDescribe]

Check out Ebay auction # 162185968815. Those are cool. 

Huh...

I quite like a couple of those.

[painter]

27 8x10 color glossy photos with circles and arrows, and a paragraph on the back of each one sayin' what each one was...

That was a Thanksgiving story. This is Christmas. You're late !!   

It's 20 days till Christmas, and only 12 since Thanksgiving.

You're early.

[Wobbly]

It's 20 days till Christmas, and only 12 since Thanksgiving.

You're early.

BS   

Get there firstest with the mostest.
- General Nathan Bedford Forrest

[painter]

...and you're wrong about the subject of the song anyway...

"cause Obie came to the realization that it was a typical case of American
blind justice, and there wasn't nothing he could do about it, and the
judge wasn't going to look at the twenty-seven eight-by-ten color glossy
pictures with the circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each
one explaining what each one was to be used as evidence against us. And
we was fined $50 and had to pick up the garbage in the snow, but thats not
what I came to tell you about.

I came to talk about the draft."

I rest my case.

[Wobbly]

Well we got there and there was a big sign and a chain across across the dump saying, "Closed on Thanksgiving." And we had never heard of a dump closed on Thanksgiving before, and with tears in our eyes we drove off into the sunset looking for another place to put the garbage.

That's what we did, and drove back to the church, had a Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat, went to sleep and didn't get up until the next morning, when we got a phone call from officer Obie. He said, "Kid, we found your name on an envelope at the bottom of a half a ton of garbage, and just wanted to know if you had any information about it." And I said, "Yes, sir, Officer Obie, I cannot tell a lie, I put that envelope under that garbage."

...Obie was making sure, and it was about four or five hours later that Alice (remember Alice? It's a song about Alice), Alice came by and with a few nasty words to Obie on the side, bailed us out of jail, and we went back to the church, had a another Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat...

 

[painter]

We need a blind judge.

[nicky]

That's a great song.

Thank you Arlo.

[Wobbly]

Can we get back to my press issue

[painter]

Can we get back to my press issue

I didn't realize it was an issue.

If you need the money sell the 550.

If you don't, then use the old adage of never selling tools.

I'd only add that unless you're running out of time to reload, aren't you getting close to being able to set your own schedule, why make the process faster, and require a new learning curve?

Where's the issue?

Now...back to the blind judge.

[Wobbly]

Think I will make the move after Christmas.

Still researching all the things I'll need to order.

[Wobbly]

The deal breaker may be the Caliber Conversion Kits. They are 2X what the 550B kits are.

When you add 10mm and 40cal to a 550 already set up for 9mm, all you need is a new Powder Funnel ($15). But when you do that to a 650 it gets complicated with the case feed bushes and all.

 

[Wobbly]

So I went to an estate sale today from Craigslist in which reloading equipment was listed on the outside chance there might be some Dillon. Sure enough there was a room slap full (of everything but Dillon) and they wanted to sell it all to one buyer, not break it up. The deceased was apparently a long range rifle shooter, because he had 5 presses all set up for different rifle calibers. One looked to be 50BMG.

There in the corner was a red Hornady progressive! I thought yikes, this could be it. But it was not a LNL AP, it was the earlier version called the Projector, which Hornady no longer supports. And although it looks as if they use the same main frame casting, it is noting like an AP. Nix that !

Hornady Projector


Then I called the local contacts that Dillon CS sent me, and none of them stock any presses. They'll order it, but then I get the privilege of paying local sales tax.

I can see now, this is going to be a long dance !!

 

[amada8]

From original post:

Question for you Dillon reloading press owners....

I'm considering selling my 550 and upgrading to a 650. When I started out I was reloading several calibers each session, but these days I tend to load one single caliber in higher volumes. I would consider a Lock-N-Load AP, but I got too much Dillon stuff after a decade of ownership.

Time is sometime said to equal money.  (Time is money).

The equation is different for all of us...and only you can decide if the time you save if worth the short-term capital expenditure.....to you.

And....as you probably are already grappling with,,,,, the time spent "tinkering" with the 550 may have intrinsic value to you.  As far as hobbies go, reloading is pretty much perfect for an engineer like you and me.

I started out immediately with a 650XL.  Still plenty of tinkering to satisfy my inner desire to be a cog in a machine.  BUT.... I did buy a changeover toolhead including powder measure when I went from 10 to 9mm (around $250 for everything I think).   Good expenditure... for me.  If I keep expanding my gun calibers... I will probably continue doing the same.  (I don't think I will...I have all the fun I need with the .22, 9mm, 10mm and 40S&W).  But I have the ability to make that purchase without affecting long term financial goals.

If you must sell your 550 to fund a 650 purchase, maybe your finances are too tight to make this decision a prudent one.  But if you decide it is a good option, then sooner rather than later is always my mantra.  You will get top dollar on a used 550...as you will pay top dollar for a 650.  There are no Dillon bargains that I have seen...without supremely stepping into a dream scenario.  And you could be waiting a long time for that.