Progressive

[Rick W.]

I have loaded a little on a Dillon progressive for the 9mm and the 30 Luger. I have been spending a little time with a 45acp in a 25-2 as well.

So that means, getting tired of switching out parts between the little and bigger case dies/stars etc.

Been looking at the Dillon Square Deal. I have 450's and 1050's now, but the little Square Deal is easier on the checkbook and is pretty much progressive, still have to handle cases and bullets; but does auto-index.

I figure that some of the shooters here have one or two or more of these. Seem to have a good rep, and Dillon service has been right good.

So asking for comments on a Dillon Square Deal for the casual reloader like me, been ok for you? I probably would just set it up for one cartridge and bullet and leave it alone, so optional plates/dies is not a biggie.

My last case of 115gr Winchester bullets(4400x) has dried up finally.......been shooting the Luger a little and a SIGP320-x5. Not bought a press or bullets for a long time relatively speaking, so going to have to look for bullets too......

[DavidJayUden]

I have 2 square deals, one in 9 and the other in .45. I never change anything, just dust them off and go when I'm getting low. No complaints.

[plunkster]

I have a progressive set up for .45, but use a turret press for 9mm and .380... It's a little slower than the progressive, but super easy to switch back and forth - takes about a minute or so. The main time-consumer for the switch is changing the powder dropper setting.

[ithacaartist]

A Dillon Square Deal B was part of a package I bought from a friend a while ago--a Caspian frame 1911 Bulls-eye pistol built with all Colt parts in .45 ACP, the loading press, and a raft of empty brass and reloaded SWC rounds. The Square Deal presses can be converted to other calibers, but the conversion kits for other calibers turn out to be quite expensive. Moreover, they can't accommodate bottleneck shells like .30 Luger, or longer stuff like .30 carbine.

I wound up selling the Dillon press for enough to buy a new Lee Loadmaster, which is much more versatile and less expensive to change calibers. The Lee machine has less of a reputation for quality than other brands, perhaps, but apparently works well for someone who is a careful technician and able to keep track of things enough to quickly spot if things begin to go wrong and make the right adjustments.

[rhuff]

I think that the Dillon Square Deal press is good for the person planning to load just one or two straight walled pistol calibers. Since the dies are proprietary to that press, one can only load those calibers that Dillon makes the dies for. As far as I know, there is no casefeeder made for this press, but it is progressive and self indexing.

All in all, there seem to be a lot of folks that are very pleased with their Square Deal Presses. I load so many different calibers that I went with the Dillon 650, and then set up complete toolheads for each caliber that I load in quantity.....I also added a case feeder, as I am being better to myself than I used to be. I still have my old Lyman turret press, and it gets used for calibers that I don't shoot a lot of.


The price seems to be right on the Square Deal, and having Dillon back up their press for life, makes for a solid choice in my view.

[Rick W.]

Thanks for the kind and knowledgeable replies.

Looks like to me I might "need" a 45acp Square Deal. I looked over the fence at the Lee offerings as well. Several friends have the Lee models and think they are ok for their needs. Over the years, RCBS served me well in their single stage for pistol and rifle, and Dillion got me into progressives for pistol cases; no complaints. My old Lee autoprimes wore out years ago, but I fixed them with some help off the internet and a 45acp case. Reloading has been good times, sure has.

I was not aware that the square deal dies were not available in 30 Luger, these dies are smaller I guess to fit in the smaller head of the square deal. Guess I could fabricate the dies, but getting older, just leave the Dillon 450's alone and buy a new 45acp square deal.

Hard to imagine that the days of 3 dollar a box 9mm's with jacketed Winchester bullets has come and gone for me sorta speak. I see bullets have gone up some since I bought 9mm bullets last, guess tis time to get into the modern age huh?...........

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by Rick W.

I looked over the fence at the Lee offerings as well.

I had a Lee turret press back in the 80's; forget which model. 6-position, quick change turret. But the turret was a slip fit on the axle but was loose in the vertical plane. If you sized a case, you could see the turret tilt. I had to put a feeler gauge under the opposite side to avoid wrinkling cases.

I 'batch' reload, so running 50 cases through and then moving turret and feeler gauge wasn't all that big a deal. But I expected more. There was no way you could run it as a progressive,.

The Lee was supposed to be a replacement for my RCBS Rockchucker. I ended up using both, as single stage presses.

Now I have another Rockchucker. I set my dies up for it and the accompanying shell holder and I'm a happy camper.

[Rickybill]

I have two Square Deals.
In general, one is always set up for .45 ACP and the other for whatever other cartridge I'm shooting at the time; 9mm now, .38 Super a few months ago.

I don't find caliber changes so onerous that I won't do it to load as few as a couple of hundred rounds.

[mrerick]

I'm not a Dillon press owner or user, but do use a Hornady Lock-N-Load AP progressive press.

Here's a video of it in use, demonstrating a LED light I added to it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIraXq6u0VY

[LU1900]

Two RCBS 4X4 for me since .....30 years ...