.308 Reload accuracy from 550B

[Revived]

Have been reloading pistol and shotgun ammo for several years…. Own progressive machines for both… more specifically, I have been able to reload very accurate handgun ammo on my Dillion 550B… Just starting an AR-10 build and hoping to use the Dillion to reload .308… My concern is accuracy… Can anyone currently reloading .308 shed some light on the pro’s and con’s of this…. What should I expect? is runout a big issue with the 550B?
Just hate to dump money in retooling just to find out I should have just stuck to factory match ammo or an arbor press…

[CSACANNONEER]

My thought is that you would benefit from a single stage press. I have reloaded sub moa rifle ammo using only my 550 but, I prefer to size on a sigle stage press before I trim.

[draconianruler]

I reload .308 on my 550B but have to use a seperate powder dispensor and then poor in the powder through the funnel die. Slows down the process a bit but the dillion powder dispensor was not very accurate (all over the place). This is with extruded powder IMR4895.

[RHT447]

My main gripes about loading rifle ammo (ie--brass requiring re-sizing lube) in a progressive press are:
1. No way to trim brass
2. No way to clean primer pockets
3. You wind up with loaded rounds with sizing lube on them.

I use a single-stage press. I do my reloading in two stages:

1. Brass preparation--tumble, size, trim, clean off size lube, clean primer pockets. To get the lube off, I use a plastic bucket and some spray engine de-greaser. Rinse with water, follow with a few drops of Wisk detergent, agitate, rinse again, and set in sun to dry. Then I box them up until I need them.

2. Prime and load. I would recommend a competition seating die. Personally, I like Redding dies.

For straight case handgun ammo, I agree a progressive press is the way to go.

[rksimple]

In addition to the reasons stated above, priming using the Dillon doesn't give you very tacticle feedback as to how your primer pockets are doing. Seating with a hand priming tool lets you know just how tight they are.

But for blasting 223 ammo, I do use a Dillon. I size and trim separately.

[dexter9659]

I have a 550B and reload .308. Here is my process:
1. Tumble
2. Lube
3. Size and Decap in 550B (For this stage I Minimize tolerances on the sizing by tightening the plate so that it will not turn which essentially turns the 550B into a single stage press)
4. Trim using an RCBS Power case-trimmer with 3-way cutter.
5. Decrimp using the Dillon 600 Super Swager.
6. Clean up the primer pocket with the RCBS Case Prep Machine's Military Crimp Remover
7. Uniform the Primer Pocket Uniformer on the RCBS Case Prep Machine.
8. Prime all the cases on the Dillon 550B with the same Single Stage Setup.
9. Mark all the cases as mine.
10a. Convert the 550B to normal progressive mode and charge, lube + seat and crimp.
10b For precision loads I use the RCBS Digi-Scale for exact loading followed by the Dillon lube + seat and crimp
11. Check for defects

This results in a long painful process which often involves a loading party with some friends and quite a bit of pizza, Football, JD and Beer. But oh man does it make for some nice oober sub MOA results.

[30Cal]

I do a couple steps separately--prime, trim. I usually use a Harrell powdermeasure, but haven't seen that it makes any difference in accuracy over the stock Dillon one using IMR4895.

[6079Winston]

I don't reload rifle ammo on a progressive press, but the US Palma Team reloaded all their practice ammo on a Dillon 650 in 1995. Not a bad endorsement.

http://www.odcmp.org/new_forum/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=20795

[Jicko]

You can ALWAYS use your 550 as a single stage press....

I was using my 550, but then eventually, I bought myself a cheap RCBS RC2.... much easier and more accurate... (as compare to using the 550 as a single stage)

550, for plinking..... single stage for the more serious stuff...

[elsolo]

In addition to the reasons stated above, priming using the Dillon doesn't give you very tacticle feedback as to how your primer pockets are doing. Seating with a hand priming tool lets you know just how tight they are.

But for blasting 223 ammo, I do use a Dillon. I size and trim separately.

That's one benefit of the upstroke priming on the 650, you only feel the primer getting seated during that part of the stroke.

I still do rifle resizing on a single stage due to lube and trim.

[ar15barrels]

priming using the Dillon doesn't give you very tacticle feedback as to how your primer pockets are doing.

I disagree.
I can easily feel the differences in primer pockets on a 550/650.
Only the 1050 seats on the down-stroke.

[rksimple]

I
Only the 1050 seats on the down-stroke.

And the 350.

[ar15barrels]

And the 350.

That's old school.

I don't think it primes on the down stroke either though.
The down-stroke is when you are pulling the handle DOWN and the ram is going up.

[rksimple]

That's old school.

I don't think it primes on the down stroke either though.
The down-stroke is when you are pulling the handle DOWN and the ram is going up.

I'm talking on the downstroke of the ram. And no, you can't feel NEAR the tactile response as from a hand primer. On my 350 I don't usually like to make the determination. Maybe I need to load another 50k or so rounds on it to get used to it. Maybe I just need a 650.

[scr83jp]

I use my RL550B to load 30-06,300wm,45-70,243, & a plethora of handgun cartridges.When I started with a Dillon RL450 I loaded some 30-06 mil surplus Den '42 & '43 brass with a 165gr Nosler Solid Base , 58gr of IMR 4831 & a CCI LR Primer 5 shot group of 7/16 inch from the 100 yard bench using my sako leupold scoped rifle.