Roller Bearing Setup For Dillon Shellplate

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I have been loading on my Dillon RL-450 for almost 35 years now. And it still turns out as quality of a cartridge today, as it did back then. I've loaded countless thousands of rounds over the decades on it. Mine doesn't have the star handle on the turret for advancing the shell plate. The entire shell plate and ram is identical to the current production Dillon RL-550B models, so I thought I would take a ride to Dillon over in Scottsdale and pick one up.

Then I started looking and found this nice roller bearing setup from Hit Factor Shooting Supply. It comes with the star wheel, plus a nice roller bearing that rides in between 2 flat washers. It also includes another ground stripper bolt of the proper length, that takes into account the extra thickness of the washer assembly, and the spotface that is machined into the star wheel to accept it. This is important because if you use the stock Dillon supplied stripper bolt, it will be too short, and the locking set screw on the side of the ram will bear on the threads, and not the body of the bolt itself.

They also include some nice knobs that attach to the hex nut on the Dillon powder measure, to make adjustments to the powder charge much easier, and without the need for a wrench. They've already shipped it, and it is scheduled to arrive Monday. It will be nice to have the star wheel to make advancing the shell plate easier. And with the roller bearing setup, it should really make it nice and smooth. This kit has excellent reviews, and I'm anxious to get it installed. I'll report back as soon as it is.

This is my present Dillon factory setup.



This is the roller bearing kit from Hit Factor Shooting Supply. They also make them for the Dillon 650 and 1050 as well. If anyone is interested.

 
Nice setup. Dillon is top of the line when it comes to progressive/turret style re-loaders.
 
I use them on both of my XL650 presses, but I also bought some roller upgrades from "Snowshooze" on ebay. Top quality stuff and my XL650's run smooth as glass because all of the bearing surfaces are now roller bearing versus "slide". As good as Dillon hardware is, these add-ons make it perfect. I also added the LED light kits to both to make it easier to see the loading operations.
 
Originally Posted By: 2015_PSD
I use them on both of my XL650 presses, but I also bought some roller upgrades from "Snowshooze" on ebay. Top quality stuff and my XL650's run smooth as glass because all of the bearing surfaces are now roller bearing versus "slide". As good as Dillon hardware is, these add-ons make it perfect. I also added the LED light kits to both to make it easier to see the loading operations.
I have watched the 650 run on you tube , they load at warp speed compared to the 550's
 
Originally Posted By: CT8
Originally Posted By: 2015_PSD
I use them on both of my XL650 presses, but I also bought some roller upgrades from "Snowshooze" on ebay. Top quality stuff and my XL650's run smooth as glass because all of the bearing surfaces are now roller bearing versus "slide". As good as Dillon hardware is, these add-ons make it perfect. I also added the LED light kits to both to make it easier to see the loading operations.
I have watched the 650 run on you tube , they load at warp speed compared to the 550's
I owned a 550 for many years and sold it and bought an XL650, then later took a chance on a raffle and won another. I have one of them set up for large primer and the other for small--both with case feeders and video systems to monitor the cases in the feeder and the loading operations (split screen on an 8" LCD mounted to the press). The auto-indexing on the 650 attributes to its speed improvement over the 550. With that said, I have loaded hundreds of thousands of rounds with the 550 and it is no slouch either--especially over a single stage press.
 
Originally Posted By: 2015_PSD
I use them on both of my XL650 presses, but I also bought some roller upgrades from "Snowshooze" on ebay. Top quality stuff and my XL650's run smooth as glass because all of the bearing surfaces are now roller bearing versus "slide". As good as Dillon hardware is, these add-ons make it perfect. I also added the LED light kits to both to make it easier to see the loading operations.


It was one of those things that made so much sense when I saw it, the first thing I said to myself was, why didn't Dillon do this?
 
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