Dillon 550 or Square Deal for a dedicated 9mm reloader.

[The Apprentice]

I already have a redding single stage press that I use for everything. I load small batches of .38/357 and 45acp and some precision riffle, I have always bought my 9 mm but saved my brass. I want to start bulk reloading 9mm for practice ammo. This will be a dedicated 9mm machine so for this use does the 550 offer much more with its abbility to add a case feeder are there any other advantages.

#Dillon550 (https://pistol-forum.com/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=Dillon550)

[Luke]

I've never ran one with a case feeder but being a manual progressive I'd think a feeder would waste money. My buddy loads off a 550 strictly 9mm. I will talk to him on the way home from work (45 minutes) and he will crank out ~450 rounds during the phone call.

[bofe954]

For dedicated 9mm it wouldn't offer much. You won't want to reload anything on your single stage after you use a progressive though. Caliber changes for the 550 are pretty cheap if you already have the dies. If you reload for more than one caliber don't buy a SDB.

[SLG]

If it is really just for 9mm, I would start at 650, and seriously look at 1050.

[Smitty79]

Case feeder adds about 75 rounds an hour, for 9mm on my 550.

[pablo]

I'd take SLG's advice and look at the 650 or 1050. I reload 9mm on a SDB, just cranked out 6000 rounds in two days, and there's no way I'd buy another one. It's a quality reloader and it's a good value for the money, but it primes on the upstroke and the leverage is terrible and the ergonomics suck. It takes a lot of force to seat primers and to get the press at a good height to seat primers the handle needs to be mounted at around bottom of the rib cage level. That puts the shell holder at about waist height, it's hard on the lower back and just an awkward height to work with. The priming system on the SDB can get a little flaky at times.

It's not so bad that I've actually carried through on my plan to sell it and upgrade, but if I could do it again I'd buy the 1050. It primes on the down stroke and what would take 15 hours on the SDB would take 4 on the 1050.

[Jim Watson]

I am at present loading 9mm on a 550 but would be just as well off if I had my old SDB back.
I would not undertake to load .45 ACP on a SDB again, the primer seating leverage is so bad. The 550 is better but not a lot better, so I have a 1050 for that.
I was just strolling around the shop today thinking "Where would I put another 1050? Shuffle everything to get them all in a row or get quick change hardware?"

[The Apprentice]

I'd take SLG's advice and look at the 650 or 1050. I reload 9mm on a SDB, just cranked out 6000 rounds in two days, and there's no way I'd buy another one. It's a quality reloader and it's a good value for the money, but it primes on the upstroke and the leverage is terrible and the ergonomics suck. It takes a lot of force to seat primers and to get the press at a good height to seat primers the handle needs to be mounted at around bottom of the rib cage level. That puts the shell holder at about waist height, it's hard on the lower back and just an awkward height to work with. The priming system on the SDB can get a little flaky at times.

It's not so bad that I've actually carried through on my plan to sell it and upgrade, but if I could do it again I'd buy the 1050. It primes on the down stroke and what would take 15 hours on the SDB would take 4 on the 1050.

Thanks thats the kind of info Im looking for and was one of my concers with the SDB. How is the hand clearance on the SDB is it tight setting cases and bullets.

[pablo]

I don't have any problems with the space provided by the machine. I have a problem with having it mounted low, on a 34" table top, so I can get some force behind the handle on the upstroke without it wearing out my wrist. I have to stoop to reach the bottom of the down stroke and to load cases and bullets. I stand to the left side of the machine to get behind the lever and lean to the right to load cases. It's just bad ergonomics and it takes a toll on my lower back. If I mount it higher it really takes a toll on my wrist and shoulder and I get a lot of high primers.

[JV_]

FWIW: I like my Super 1050. If you want to crank out 9mm, it's a good press. Loading at a rate of 1000 / hour is not difficult to obtain once you get everything dialed in.

[Mitch]

I already have a redding single stage press that I use for everything. I load small batches of .38/357 and 45acp and some precision riffle, I have always bought my 9 mm but saved my brass. I want to start bulk reloading 9mm for practice ammo. This will be a dedicated 9mm machine so for this use does the 550 offer much more with its abbility to add a case feeder are there any other advantages.

If I was willing to spring for the case feeder I'd get a 650. If I was choosing between the 550 and a Square Deal B I'd get the 550 in a heart beat, but I probably wouldn't add a case feeder to it. The increase in production (or lack thereof) with manual indexing wouldn't be worth $200+ to me.

[vcdgrips]

I have a SDB in 9mm and a 550 in .45. If I had it to do all over again, I would have gotten either another SDB or a 650 for the .45.
Bottom LIne-if you are cranking out rounds in any volume, I like the auto indexing etc. YMMV

My first shooting mentor literally had 4 SDB set up one his bench in 9mm, 38/357, 44 and 45. This was his preferred set up for 20 + years until he sold them all and bought two 650s
with one set up for small primers and the other large.

[ER_STL]

I bought and immediately sold an SDB when I first started getting into loading. It's tiny and the work-area was very cramped. I appreciate the additional space afforded by the bigger presses.

[Sal Picante]

You can run a case feeder and a bullet feeder on a 550... Just saying. sure you have to index all the time, but that's not that bad...

(How? Use the seat & crimp combo die: sure a PITA to setup, but you only need to do it once really...)

[SecondsCount]

I just helped a friend setup his SDB for 9mm, and I own a 550, 650, and a 1050. The advice to go with the 650 is solid. My 650 with casefeeder is my dedicated 9mm press and the 1050 is dedicated to 223. The 1050 would be a little nicer to use for 9mm but not enough to keep changing it back and forth between calibers.

[disseminator]

The number one reason to go 550 or 650 IMO is the incompatible dies that the SDB uses.

Get a 550 at least and you can grow into it without any worries and add calibers at will since it uses industry standard die sets.

[LittleLebowski]

You can run a case feeder and a bullet feeder on a 550... Just saying. sure you have to index all the time, but that's not that bad...

(How? Use the seat & crimp combo die: sure a PITA to setup, but you only need to do it once really...)

Have you done this on the 550? Was it worth it?

[dsa]

Have you done this on the 550? Was it worth it?

I have a close friend that did. He got it all set up and came over one night when I was on my 650 went home and sold his 550 set up and ordered a 650. He said the 650 was much smoother running with the case feeder and bullet feeder.