Reloading accessory must haves

A few months back I asked about reloading presses and with the forums help I purchased a Dillon 750. Going to start by reloading .45. I bought some accessories from Dillon (casefeeder, rolling handle, etc). But I was curious what you all found as must have accessories that would aide in accuracy of loaded round, reliability, ease of use, etc.
I am going to be using Dillon dies and loading SWC

The powder measure needs a micrometer dial, there are better expansion tubes available. I think Photoescape sells both. A nice heated scale would be nice. A good set of calibers is nice. 

Other than that you did good by getting a 750. 
Extra primers tubes and small parts kit from Dillon would be nice.

James Hensler wrote:A nice heated scale would be nice. 

Hello James,

Okay, I'll bite.  What is a "heated scale"?

Thanks.

Jim

The best 'universal' accessories I have found for reloading are things to keep the area organized. I have a bunch of bins and organizer type boxes that are a huge time saver. A set of calipers (dial or digital) are nice to have around as well.

Christopher

You have to get a LED light kit for your reloading press.  I got one for a Dillon and it makes a world of difference:

Here is a link to the various brands of presses they support:

https://kmssquared.com/products.html

No affiliation with the company.

spursnguns wrote:

James Hensler wrote:A nice heated scale would be nice. 

Hello James,

Okay, I'll bite.  What is a "heated scale"?

Thanks.

Jim

Jim the better scales have to be turned on for 30 mins before using to warm up

I suggest an Inlinefabrication Light, a Dillon Strong Mount and a spent primer system.

The little 3D printed plastic tabs for the brass locator buttons are very helpful - many sources on the web - or just cut some out of a piece of detergent bottle. But I find that the tab on station 3 has to be trimmed narrower otherwise it snags and jumps out - on my XL650 anyhow.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dillon-XL650-550-Locator-Pin-Tabs-Set-of-12/383511693877?hash=item594b140a35:g:StAAAOSwwfFcOJJm

If you do decide to start loading different calibers I really like the color anodised tool heads engraved with your choice of ID. 
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dillon-Precision-tool-head-XL650-Style-toolhead-with-CNC-Engraving-By-Jofer-USA/162798759284?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
And a sturdy rack to mount them out of the way.

extra primer pickup tubes so you can preload 3-400

spent primer tube to dump primers into a gallon jug

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dillon-Precision-XL-750-Spent-Primer-Chute-Progressive-Reloading-Press-Accessory/143403462802?hash=item2163833092:g:JbQAAOSw0ThdmTmv

case feed cutoff.. nice to have when you are messing with the loader

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Case-Feeder-Lock-for-Dillon-XL650-and-XL750/174196327666?hash=item288ee904f2:g:8DcAAOSwDOVeTU3m


those are the only things I've added to my 750 although, I already had a strong mount  and pull handle I used from a 550.

Mr. BulletFeeder!

AP

I'm a big fan of the high/low powder check system.

I also like a seating stem that seats on the shoulder of the bullet. That way the same seating die can be used even if you change bullet brands and/or slight profile changes.  My friend Steve made one for me but I know I've seen them for sale on the net before too.  

The small parts kit from Dillon is handy.  When something breaks in the middle of a loading session, you fix it and continue.  The next morning you call Dillon and they send a replacement but you are not down any time.  It's actually brilliant on their part to sell parts that are warrentied but it is indeed helpful to have the parts on hand for the consumer.   

And as Christopher said, a storage system for little part's is very useful.

Good luck.
John

A nice set of calipers to measure crimping, an ultrasonic case cleaner and most importantly a scale.

And you thought the 750 was expensive by itself

A reliable powder scale is a must have.  I have both calipers and a micrometer that I bought at Harbor Freight.  Could get by with just the mic, it is digital and reads to .0005", but only opens up to 1".  

I recommend the Frankford arsenal wet tumbler, and a can of Hornady One Shot.

Definitely the spare parts kit !!!!

Spend once right now and you will be glad you did one day.

Things will break and this will keep you reloading.  Call Dillon for the part to put back in your spare parts kit. 

Also the SWC seating die mentioned earlier which seats on the shoulder.

Recommendations on the SWC seating die?

dapduh2 wrote:Recommendations on the SWC seating die?

Here's the one I got.  

http://uniquetek.com/product/T1561


There may be others available on other sites.

Anything Rosie the reloader tells me to buy is a necessary accessory!
Check out this video and enjoy the lighter side of learning reloading and the must haves-I must have a mentee like her! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kitp0Fwd7ow

David:

Since you got the Dillon 750 (I use the 650s), here is my list.  It's just a lot of smaller things that worked for me since I try to reduce reloading time to a minimum. You have enough to start and then just think about what might help as you go along. 

A good, really good reloading bench.  Dillons need very stable benches to work well, especially the case feeder. And you need stable platform for your scale (which ever kind you get - beam or electronic), but not on the reloading bench if you can help it.

The roller handle for your most used machine. 

Roll of masking tape for making notes and marking powder containers with dates, opened, bullets used from box, powder settings, primers in tubes, etc. 

Oh, yea, a reloading notebook to keep track of load, powder, primer, case, number of rounds, dates, OAL, crimp, etc.!  

Calipers first, then micrometer later. 

Extra primer tubes.

Low Powder sensor - I keep my powder tubes wrapped up or with the cardboard cover on them.  It keeps the plastic from darkening and I have the powder and charge written right there in front of me on each one. 

Primer Warning Sensor, and an extra .45 case on top of the primer follower rod.

If you are shooting Lead SWC in .45, the bullet seater mentioned above is really helpful.  Or you can drill out the round nose end of the standard Dillon seater with a 3/8 inch drill bit if you are careful. Don't drill into the pin hole.

A small paint brush, set of picks and toothbrush to clean off any debris, powder, clean out the shell plate, etc. occasionally

I also use O-rings under the sizer, seater and crimp dies.  Personal preference, but it takes up any vertical play in the threads.

Kriol Oil.  If you live in high humidity area, be sure to wipe down your dies, inside and out with Kroil and wipe off all you can to leave a thin film.  It also works for cleaning the dies.

The spare parts kit - yes. 

The standard powder bars work well for me, I do use extra wavey washer or a little removable locktight or nail polish after setting my preferred load.  Sometimes you can pick up extra powder bars cheap and I used to have a couple set for different loads until I got set up with complete different toolheads and measures. The special power bars and micrometer dials are OK, but were a little too flexible for my set up and I don't do a lot of adjusting loads, or testing.  I just get the X- Small dillon bars and and the brass knob / finer thread bolts.  

Air rifle cleaning rod, extra small patches and alcohol for cleaning out all the primer tubes, and the press primer tube every 6 months or so depending on how much loading.  You'd be surprise how much primer dust collects over a year!

I do like the Dillon Allen wrench set and holder mounted on one of my presses.  I would not have bought it for myself, but it was a gift and it has actually been very convenient.  

CR

Ditto on the Hornady one shot spray case lube.  I also like their case cleaner for my ultra sonic case cleaner.

IMO most of the items mentioned are "nice to have" not "must have". Read Cecil's post, he pretty much nails it. He usually does.

Basic safety / quality control items are must have: caliper and scale. IMO a dial caliper is better than a cheap digital caliper. A beam scale is better than a cheap eBay jewelry scale. A decent reloading electronic scale is worth the cost if you are are going to experiment with loads. Cheap calipers and cheap scales are slow to reach a reading, have a lot of noise in the reading and run through batteries too fast for me.

Very helpful items are lights, spare parts kit and a few extra primer tubes. I really like the KM Squared lighting kit, but any of the lighting kits will drastically improve visibility in the press. It wouldn't take too much to rig your own from a cheap flashlight or LED strip if you are so inclined. I know one fellow shooter who insists you need at least 10 primer tubes. I don't like loading that many without a rest. I like to take a break every 300-400 rounds.

People differ on Ball handle vs roller handle. I think the roller handle is worth it. Using a ball handle I had to wear a glove or put a sock over the ball to avoid blisters on my soft office hands.

Specific to the XL60/750
My life got better when I got the spent primer tube adapter and missed live primer parts from dillonupgrades.com, but I am easily irritated by little things. It wouldn't be too difficult to jerry-rig something similar, but they are pretty cheap and work fine from the start. FWIW I didn't get the jar and all the rest, I run a longer piece of tubing down to a milk jug.

I like the Primer Stop Switch from Uniquetek, but don't think it's necessary, especially if you get the live primer catcher above. If you are going to set up the press for a single load and rarely change, it isn't needed. If you plan to load less than 100 rounds of test loads at a time, it is helpful.

IMO a sharpie marker works as well as The Case Feeder stop plug referenced above.

If you are going to change calibers, it's worth it to get a caliber conversion kit for each. If money is tight, just get the plate without a separate powder measure. Swapping dies takes 30-60 minutes to set up and it probably won't be exactly the same as last time unless you spend even more time. Swapping out a conversion kit takes a minute, maybe 5-10 if you have to re-set the powder measure. Having a dial knob on the powder measure or putting a reference mark on the adjuster bolt and counting how many turns for a particular load makes adjustment a lot faster.

A primer tube filler is a big plus. I have the original Frankford Arsenal Vibra-Prime and find it very useful.

For lead, or coated lead, swc bullets in the 45, I highly suggest using the following.
1) 45 Colt sizer
2) Mr Bullet Feeder stepped powder funnel
3) UniqueTek SWC shoulder seater

Some mechanical method to detect underfilled or overfilled cases and stop the press.

Not everyone agrees with me, but I consider this an essential piece of safety equipment when reloading pistol on a progressive, given the catastrophic consequences of a double charge and the squib risk of a low charge.

I am an attentive reloader and I don't allow any distractions when I'm making ammo, but my RCBS lockout die has caught mistakes I would have missed otherwise. The only time I'd leave this die off the press would be if I'm using a powder bulky enough to make double charges impossible.

pgg wrote:Some mechanical method to detect underfilled or overfilled cases and stop the press.

Not everyone agrees with me, but I consider this an essential piece of safety equipment when reloading pistol on a progressive, given the catastrophic consequences of a double charge and the squib risk of a low charge.

I am an attentive reloader and I don't allow any distractions when I'm making ammo, but my RCBS lockout die has caught mistakes I would have missed otherwise. The only time I'd leave this die off the press would be if I'm using a powder bulky enough to make double charges impossible.

I agree 100%, this is why I always recommend a 5 stage progressive which also get you an auto advancing shell plate which further reduces the risk of a double charge. My RCBS lock out has caught a couple issues, typically an issue with my powder drop, one time the linkage screw backed out and it wasn't actuating the rotor. This is the reason I don't think a Dillon 550 is a good starter progressive.