case feeder for Dillon 550, any good?

[Hogxtz]

Anybody have experience with the Dillon case feeder on a 550 press? Do you like it?

[popeye4]

Are you asking about the quality of the feeder or usefulness on the press? I"ve got one on my 650, but that one is a bit more automated than the 550. It works great for me and I wouldn't live without it.

[bubbala]

i don't have one on my 550 ,so i have no business posting.... on the other hand the reason i don't have one is every time this is asked people advise against it. the popular thinking is get a 650 if you want a case feeder.

[LeadPilot]

I'm a big fan of the 550 case feeder. It really shines as a brass processor.

[liber]

The 550 case feeder will only feed pistol cases as I recall.

That's the big advantage of the 650 case feeder, it will feed rifle cases.

[sirgrumps]

I bought a 650 specifically because the case feeder could do rifle cases.
BUT as I am learning how to do rifles cases, reloading .223 in bulk on a progressive, it's no where near as simple as pistols.
I thinking of this setup, a 550 for large pistol primers with case feeder, another 550 for small pistol primers with case feeder, and a 1050 for .223, and a a single stage for .308

[jericho89]

BUT as I am learning how to do rifles cases, reloading .223 in bulk on a progressive, it's no where near as simple as pistols.

Why? What issues are you having. I have tens of thousands of 223 on a 650 and I use the same process as I do with pistol rounds.

[Eljay]

Why? What issues are you having. I have tens of thousands of 223 on a 650 and I use the same process as I do with pistol rounds.

Brass prep seems to be the sticking point for most people, specifically trimming. Probably my big reloading purchase for 2017 is going to be the goodies to trim on the 650 but until then I'm mostly shooting pistol this year.

[LeadPilot]

If you end up getting the 550 case feeder and want to add a 650 to your bench down the road, you can use the feeder on both machines.

[Hogxtz]

Thanks for the help guys but it looks like I am screwed. I called Dillon today, they told me the feeder will not work on my 550. Turns out my 550 is so old it has the wrong version frame without the cut-out for the feeder. I also came to the conclusion that since I load thousands of 556 and the feeder wont help with rifle on a 550 anyways, I will just upgrade to the 650 eventually.

[liber]

Thanks for the help guys but it looks like I am screwed. I called Dillon today, they told me the feeder will not work on my 550. Turns out my 550 is so old it has the wrong version frame without the cut-out for the feeder. I also came to the conclusion that since I load thousands of 556 and the feeder wont help with rifle on a 550 anyways, I will just upgrade to the 650 eventually.

You could probably sell the 550 for a decent price to upgrade.

[Lead Waster]

I have one and after I figured it out, it is very good. Being able to keep your hand on the handle is awesome. having to take your hand off and grab brass, insert it and return your hand to the handle seems like a simple task, and after a while it sort of it, you are also seating bullets with your left hand.
Not really a big deal, but the casefeeder really is a nice add-on. Of course the 650 and it's feeder work better because on the 550, it's a retrofit.

Once I figured out how to tune it (I put tape on the shaped metal that the feeder follows, that controls how far in to push the case, but you are supposed to actually unscrew that thing and move it) it was great.

One problem is that if a .380 case feeds in, it jams up the works. And if you need to remove a case from the first stage, it's a pain in the butt ... buy some tweezers to grab the case because you have to put your hand into that station from the left, through the press, since the right side is blocked by the feeder.

My other tip is that if the feeder is empty, pull the handle to bring the shellplate top the top before turning on the casefeeder or else they get all messed up at the bottom (when the plate is at the top, the feeder is pushed forward so new shells fall onto the top of the "pushing arm" and is enclosed in the tube. If the plate is down, the first shell falls down into place in front of the pushing arm and can tip over, making it hard to extract it without also tipping over the next one and so on).

All in all a very usefull addition to the 550b! Oh yeah, it replaces the shelf area with the "paper clip" and I've found on mine, I had to make some cardboard "ears" for my spent primer cup as it doesn't seem to work as well catching primers as it did with the non-case feeder shelf.

I mostly loaded 9mm on it, but for me the problem was hitting a crimped primer meant extracting that shell from the first stage, which was annoying, so I bought a used 1050 and bullet feeder so it would swage my 9mm primer pockets for me. So the 1050 does all the 9mm.

But for all other calibers I use the 550b with casefeeder. And I have a spare 550b without case feeder for whatever. The 550 with casefeeder has done maybe 3000 rounds.

I'd buy it again, and I'm glad that Dillon finally made one for us 550b users!

[Lead Waster]

Thanks for the help guys but it looks like I am screwed. I called Dillon today, they told me the feeder will not work on my 550. Turns out my 550 is so old it has the wrong version frame without the cut-out for the feeder. I also came to the conclusion that since I load thousands of 556 and the feeder wont help with rifle on a 550 anyways, I will just upgrade to the 650 eventually.

Wow, sorry. My 550b is from 1998 and the feeder worked for me.

Dillon won't swap frames with you to make the sale?