Are Dillon 'Quick Change' kits a must?

[Triple765]

I've never used a Dillon powder measure or anything before. Is it a pain in the *** to swap from pistol to rifle setup with it? I've occasionally changed my RCBS power measure from pistol to rifle cylinder. Especially with the powder charge settings written down, it's not a huge deal. Do you Dillon users see it as a required accessory?

[Citadelgrad87]

Guys do it both ways. I have so little time for hobbies that i just socked money away and i keep the whole setup on a stand, all i do is change the toolhead and the base plate, and sometimes the primer assembly.

Its really nice to switch in under 5 minutes.

[Divehobo]

One tool head is all you need BUT it means swapping and recalibrating each die every time you change caliber. Powder measure bar will possibly need change. Turns a few minute caliber change into a production. What is your time and frustration worth? Multiple tool heads at a minimum and leaving dies in place, rotate in and out as you change. You might be able to only having a few powder set up but you'll find that is also tedious and time consuming. Buy once, cry once - separate tool head for each caliber you load

[Triple765]

I assume lock rings on their dies would be fine? I wouldn't mind swapping those out. Don't know about that powder measure bar, though. I'll have to watch a video of someone setting it up.

[RiskyBusiness]

Buy the Lee auto drum and you can change calibers by swapping out just the drums, comes with 5. Only $35 compared to $100 for the dillon. Wayyy better and less time consuming

[KevinA.]

Having a separate tool head for each caliber is a must for me. Extra powder measures aren’t completely necessary but do make the change over less painful. I bought a tool head stand off eBay that holds 3 that cost about the same price as the Dillon one which only hold one.

[Divehobo]

Ebay tool heads get you most of the way there. All sorts of different colors to choose from at decent cost savings from Blue. You will still need powder dies but can get those from Dillon. If your having a dedicated machine for a specific caliber, get the larger capacity power tube.

[the_tunaman]

The only calibers that I use the powder measure for, out of the 14 calibers that I load, are 9mm, 38/357, 44, and plinking 30-06. Everything else is thrown by hand, as they are either precision rounds or treated as such.

Definitely desirable to have separate tool heads for each set of dies, so that they can interchange easily without having to calibrate each time.

The other point not mentioned is the primer setup - need to change the bar and tubes out any time you go from small to large (or vice versa), but it is a quick process based on the Dillon design (at least on the 550). Not the original question, but wanted to bring it up in case the OP isn’t familiar.

[Kurgan]

I keep separate tool heads with powder measures for calibers that I load.

[Citadelgrad87]

I keep separate tool heads with powder measures for calibers that I load.

Yep. Its expensive. It took me a while.

But now if i have an hour to load, i can be up and running in a different caliber in about five minutes, including a couple test drops of the measure.

I use my label maker to call out the charge weight and bullet weight i am set up for.

[Red9]

Yep. Its expensive. It took me a while.



But now if i have an hour to load, i can be up and running in a different caliber in about five minutes, including a couple test drops of the measure.



I use my label maker to call out the charge weight and bullet weight i am set up for.

Me three. Took a few years, could use a few more powder drops.
Toolheads are the way to go. Less setup time imho.
I use blue tape and a sharpie on the powder drop for load info. Lol


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[mjmagee67]

Yes and no....

Yes I have separate heads for my most common calibers...9, 40, 45, 38

For calibers I don't load that often I have one head I just convert over and load. The last time I did 223 I loaded about 2500 rounds..

[mmlook]