Author Topic: Dillon 550 vs RCBS Pro 2000 (Read 2588 times)

Holiday · « **on:** December 15, 2004, 01:28:19 PM »

Howdy! Been considering stepping up to a progressive for my Cowboy Action Shooting and I have been looking at these two. I have heard a lot about the Dillon, but has anyone any experiance with the RCBS? Also, does the 550b have auto indexing? I know the RCBS doesn't.

ButlerFord45 · « **Reply #1 on:** December 15, 2004, 01:39:41 PM »

The 550 does not have auto indexing. Just an poinion, but I'd love to trade the five presses I have on the bench for one 550! If I knew then what I know now!! (Ever heard that before?)

sgtt · « **Reply #2 on:** December 15, 2004, 08:38:42 PM »

I have 2 550 and 1 650. There are times when the non indexing feature is a good thing.

warf73 · « **Reply #3 on:** December 15, 2004, 09:03:30 PM »

My 550B can eat a little over 10lbs. WW an hour (245gr SWC in 44mag) and my pistol can almost keep up

The 550B isn't auto indexing but the 650 is. No more than it takes to turn the indexer I couldn’t justify the extra $$.

It's great to be able to set down and spit out 250-350 rounds an hour.

Couldn't tell ya about the RCBS.

Questor · « **Reply #4 on:** December 16, 2004, 03:55:01 AM »

I don't have an RCBS progressive press. I do have a Rock Chucker RCBS single stage press and all the related RCBS equipment. I also have a Dillon 550. The Dillon equipment appears to be of higher quality. My friend with the RCBS progressive shotshell loader gets good results with his. You really can't buy junk from either of these manufacturers.

For progressives, I lean toward Dillon. I couldn't be much happier with my Dillon. I'd buy another one and this is the one I recommend. Mine is well used, it has worn out some easily replaceable parts that are available in an inexpensive spare parts kit. I've had some adjustment problems with the priming apparatus, but that was readily corrected. I've also had powder fail to charge and that was because I had not properly vertically aligned the rod that actuates the powder measure. In other words, there's a learning curve, but it's worth it considering what you get. After I made my few mistakes, everything has been just fine.

I also got the maintenance kit (grease, cleaners, etc.), and some canned air for blowing residue off the press to clean it. I also have five primer tubes that I pre-fill prior to my reloading session. It takes about 10 minutes to pre-fill 500 primers.

Both RCBS and Dillon stand behind their products. Dillon probably dominates the market for progressive loaders.

Holiday · « **Reply #5 on:** December 17, 2004, 03:48:23 PM »

Thanks for the insights. I was leaning toward the RCBS for the manual indexing and the priming design as well as the ease and cost of switching calibers, but since the 550 also is manual, I may reconsider. Since I load a lot of Black Powder, I feel the manual indexing is a plus.

One last question: Will Lee pistol dies work with these presses? I have a combination of Lee and RCBS dies, I don't want to buy new dies. I realize mating a Lee die and a Dillion press may be blasphemy, but hey, I'm cheap! :twisted:

Iowegan · « **Reply #6 on:** December 17, 2004, 04:26:33 PM »

Any 7/8"X14 die will work in the Dillon 550. After I bought my 550, I eventually replaced all my pistol dies with Dillon dies. They are more expensive but well worth it.

There's nothing wrong with Lee dies and they will work just fine.

Thomas Krupinski · « **Reply #7 on:** December 17, 2004, 04:35:13 PM »

My son has a 550B that he uses for 45 ACP and it is a very good outfit and works well. It's a local company here and they are nice people to deal with. However I called over to Dillon once asking about use of non Dillon dies for pistol and was told that the Dillon dies have a special bevel at the bottom to accomodate easier entry of the case into the die.

Don't have an RCBS Pro 2000, but do use two RCBS progressive presses. One is one of my RockChuckers outfitted with a Piggyback II and the other is a Ammo Master progressive.

I didn't care much for the auto indexing on these so I disabled it. Also I recall talking with RCBS a while back about the Pro 2000 and there was something that it required the use of those primer strips rather than the tube type primer feed I have on my presses.

Picked up a used Dillon 650 a while back and considered converting it for one of the cartridges I load for and determined it wasn't worth it for me, so I swapped it off. If I was just starting out buying equipment I would go with the Dillon. Because I am so heavily outfitted with RCBS, I am going to keep with that brand, but I don't plan to buy one of the Pro 2000's.

Catfish · « **Reply #8 on:** December 18, 2004, 10:51:02 AM »

I have used Lee dies in my 550, but I don`t like them. If your going to be loading alot of cast bullet I would highly recomand that you buy a set of Dillon dies. They are very high priced, but worth every penny. With them you do not have to take the die out of the press to clean out the bullet lube that builds up load cast bullets. You just pull the clip on the top of the die and slid everything out the bottom. I load all my handgun ammo with Dillon dies except for the 500 S&W, Dillon don`t make 500 die .