RL1100 Target Demographics?

[mmc45414]

So I have been using a 550 since 1984, ended up with two 650s, and just sold one of them (and a bunch of guns) because I have decided to take the RL1100 plunge. Mainly for the swaging but also for the leverage, and really because I just want it. I really do not do the volume to justify it, the solution here is to shoot more volume. I want it and I do not have other opulent things in my life, so what the hell.

So the other day I am again looking at the catalog and noticed something. Now maybe I am just touchy because I just had a birthday, but is the target market people like me that have to get old before they can swing the 1100 or 1050?!?!?! Just Kidding (not kidding...)

[DDTSGM]

IDK, but the advertising is kind of off-putting to me. Doesn't mean I don't like Dillon, just sorry to see them kinda going the way of so many others with the 'OAF' theme.

JMO, YMMV

[mmc45414]

IDK, but the advertising is kind of off-putting to me. Doesn't mean I don't like Dillon, just sorry to see them kinda going the way of so many others with the 'OAF' theme.

JMO, YMMV

Yes, but is not as over the top as some. I like my Swampfox optic, but a bit turned off by the flag wrapping.

Anyway, just hit the click on the RL1100 with 9mm and 223 conversions, now the eight week wait begins...

[Artemas2]

It seems to me like it's more the 1100 being grown up and mature tech more so than "Old". Which having been young and poor while loading 15-20k rounds a year on a single stage is about right

It is a weird way to promote the machines though

[entropy]

So I have been using a 550 since 1984, ended up with two 650s, and just sold one of them (and a bunch of guns) because I have decided to take the RL1100 plunge. Mainly for the swaging but also for the leverage, and really because I just want it. I really do not do the volume to justify it, the solution here is to shoot more volume. I want it and I do not have other opulent things in my life, so what the hell.

So the other day I am again looking at the catalog and noticed something. Now maybe I am just touchy because I just had a birthday, but is the target market people like me that have to get old before they can swing the 1100 or 1050?!?!?! Just Kidding (not kidding...)

Different “Tier Level Operators”...

The marketing in this whole business cracks me up. Everyone is targeted as a steel-eyed wannabe. I’ve yet to see an add with a bald, aging guy with a pot belly...which in actuality...represents an ever increasing demographic. It’s kinda like the whole saturation with “all things Punisher”. Now it’s black T-shirts, ball caps, beards and contrast lighting. 🤷

That said...Dillon does make “Tier One” stuff. Lol

Why doesn’t the 1050 guy have a hat?

[mmc45414]

It seems to me like it's more the 1100 being grown up and mature tech more so than "Old". Which having been young and poor while loading 15-20k rounds a year on a single stage is about right

I just turned 63yo, I aspire to live long enough to load as many rounds on this 1100 as I have loaded on a 550. They are on 8wk backorder, so the clock is ticking!!!

Why doesn’t the 1050 guy have a hat?

He has hair. If ya got it, flaunt it!

Different “Tier Level Operators”...
That said...Dillon does make “Tier One” stuff. Lol

[Patrick Taylor]

I purchased a 1050 a year or so before the 1100s were announced. Pretty much bought it for the same reasons you mention and was using a 550 at the time. Still have the 550 and use it as much as the 1050.

If doing it over I would probably purchase a couple more 550s and call it good.

[Jim Watson]

I started out with a SDB, then two SDBs.
(Actually I had started progressive loading long ago with a CH AutoCHamp .38 and a MEC 650 12 gauge.)
The SDB .45 had a hard time seating primers. So I splurged on a Super 1050 as I was shooting more .45 than 9mm or .38 at the time. It was new on the market at the time, I waffled between 1050 and S1050 until there was nothing left but the Super. I figured it took 6 years to amortize.

I replaced the other SDB with a 550, easier to change calibers between 9mm and .38 and I could even load .44-40 for CAS.

As time wore on, I was shooting more 9mm than .45 and was debating between converting the S1050, buying another S1050, or buying a 750. Then Covid struck and I was loading less of everything so I did not make any changes. Just as well, I had more Large Pistol primers on hand as the shortages got bad, so I am now shooting more .45s and running the S1050 more.

A friend went Hornady and says if he had it to do over again, he would buy Dillon. But now he has every improvement, factory and aftermarket and no need to change.

[mmc45414]

If doing it over I would probably purchase a couple more 550s and call it good.

I started out with a SDB, then two SDBs.
(Actually I had started progressive loading long ago with a CH AutoCHamp .38 and a MEC 650 12 gauge.)

My pathway to this is winding. I started in 1973 with a Rockchucker my dad bought to help us feed the S&W M-15 I bought (with his oversight) with money ($93!!!) I made delivering newspapers (mostly Christmas time tips, I still remember that guy that gave me five bucks).

In 1984 we lived with her parents right after we got married (until we figured out that the company we both worked for was NOT going to relocate us to Dallas) and my younger brother-in-law who also likes to shoot bought an 450. We moved and I continued to use it on the condition I kept him in loaded ammo. This was no problem, cause I really kind of enjoy doing it (and he hasn't really shot that much). I ended up buying a frame and upgrading it to a 550, probably should have just sold it and bought one but I was young/frugal/broke. I ended up with conversions for 380/9mm/38/357(separate toolhead)/40/45/44 and with all of those conversions I was reluctant to switch to the 650. But I added a second 550, and when they became available I added the case feeder to one of them.

Eventually, after getting the SL900 for 20ga, I decided the indexing was really nice and I should not switch but add a 650 (and sold the 550 with the case feeder). I started out expecting to just to use it for 9mm, but then bought a 223 conversion (that I also use for 300BO), and a 45 conversion. Then I sold a rifle to a friend and decided I would rather have a second 650 than one more rifle (there was no option to buy it without a conversion, so I got 38).

At some point I bought a bunch (3k?) of crimped 9mm brass that looked like a real bargain but ended up being a PITA because I started out being able to load them without swaging but started being more and more problematic, but at that point my extensive collection of 9mm brass is pretty well polluted with crimped cases. Fortunately the Lee APP came along and I bought one and started using it to swage 9mm. Obviously the primers need to come out first, and I started sizing instead of just decapping, making it possible to use lubricant since they would get washed before loading, and loading sized brass sure is a smooth operation. Then I bought a second APP to leave setup for 223, and I could size/deprime in the 650 and then move to the APP for swage (I bought a second one because the case feed setup is a fidgety process). So the main motivation for the 1100 is the swaging, I guess I could just buy processed 223 brass and throw away all that mixed up 9mm brass, but...

I decided some of the stuff that I owned wasn't getting used, and I am at a YOLO point in my life, so I just sold one of the 650s and ten guns I wasn't shooting or carrying much and bought the 1100 and four guns I wanted (two 1301s and two more M&Ps).

I had also not had the 550 mounted after getting the second 650, and it is back in a proper position and I am using it again, and it is still an enjoyable piece of equipment. The APPs have been moved off the bench, when the 1100 gets here I will probably sell them.

So the 1100 is definitely a want not a need, my volume doesn't justify the expenditure, leaving only one possible solution:
Shoot More

[mmc45414]

I was expecting an 8wk backlog, but I ordered on a Friday and it shipped the following Monday.

I have probably run about a thousand 223 cases so far to pre-process them. Decap die with a Squirrel Daddy expander to fix any dented mouths, then the primer pocket swage, then a couple blank stations until it goes around to the other side to size.

So far not a hint of buyers remorse, it is a lotta money but it is pretty cool. A few subtle things like the rods that locate the shell plate instead of relying completely on the spring loaded balls is one of those things.

Smaller on the bench than I expected, something I was concerned about.

So far all good and very happy.