Broke my 550 tonight

[88E30M50]

While changing my primer feed from large to small primer, I managed to break my 550 tonight. The screws that attach the primer feed assembly to the frame simply pulled the helicoils out of the assembly. I had noticed that the primer assembly was not as solid as it had been in the past a couple of months back. Tonight, I could not get the primer system to work and it looked like the helicoils were being pulled out of the primer assembly. Then, when I reassembled the system for the 10th time tonight, they just pulled completely free and now there's no way to attach the primer assembly.

I'll give Dillon a call on Monday to see about ordering a new assembly. I am always careful when putting that back together, but sometime over the years I must have over tightened it. Either that, or I bumped the primer assembly and stressed the connection. Either way, I'm SOL for priming my brass until I get some parts.

 

[Mark 1911]

On the bright side, I've heard only positive reports on Dillon's customer support.

 

[88E30M50]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[2in1evtime]

I keep a hand primer available for things like this. works
til you can get a press fixed!

 

[Snipercop]

Their customer service is wonderful. They'll replace it for nothing with their NO BS guarantee. You may be on hold for a little bit, but they'll get ya sorted out.

 

[red_zr24x4]

Mine pulled the first few threads out of both holes, I put longer bolts in mine.

 

[Que]

Dillon will back their product and I'm sure you will have a good experience. The reloading companies are about the only ones I would put any faith in anymore. They all seem to be pretty solid.

 

[red_zr24x4]

Dillon will back their product and I'm sure you will have a good experience. The reloading companies are about the only ones I would put any faith in anymore. They all seem to be pretty solid.

Dillon and Ruger have about the best CS I have ever seen, RCBS is very good too

 

[88E30M50]

Dillon still has the best customer support I've experienced. One call and they are sending out a new fitting at no charge. I was on the phone with them for less than 5 minutes. I love a company that stands behind their products.

 

[88E30M50]

Mine pulled the first few threads out of both holes, I put longer bolts in mine.

I'll give this a shot to see if it can work until the new part arrives. There are not that many threads left at the top of the hole, but it may be enough to get by for a week or so.

 

[Dean C.]

We are having issues with ours as well, the primer assembly on the 550 seems to be overly complicated as on the Hornady Lock N' Load and the Dillon Square Deal the assemblies are much simpler and less prone to issues.

 

[Fullmag]

Dillon and Ruger have about the best CS I have ever seen, RCBS is very good too

Have dealt with RCBS customer service before it was outstanding.

 

[88E30M50]

I called Dillon on Monday and a new primer housing was on my door yesterday after work. That really is good CS. After looking the assembly over, I'm thinking that the primer system is kind of a weak spot on the 550. Mine went from working perfectly for a long time, to being finicky to finally not working and ultimately broken. As the threads pulled through the housing, they caused the fitting to bulge at the base, which affected how the primer bar moves. I think this is where the finickiness of the system came from. Now that it's been replaced, the system is perfect again.

I'm back to thinking about getting a second 550 so I can run one for LP and the other for SP. I know it only takes 5 minutes to swap them out, but all that swapping is what I think caused mine to fail. If that bottom fitting were made of a good grade of steel instead of a fairly soft aluminum, it would not be the issue that it is.

 

[red_zr24x4]

I might have to call monday and see about getting mine replaced

 

[ScouT6a]

I read the OP a couple of times. I guess I am at a loss as to why you are unscrewing the housing from the frame to change from small to large primer. ?????
I change the primer slide by pulling it out the back (towards you) and change the primer feed tube. No need to take the whole assembly off of the frame.

 

[ScouT6a]

As a side note. I have a Dillon carbide die set in .38/.357 that I bought from a gentleman, used. The seating stem was missing. Just used the one out of my 9mm seating die for a few loading sessions. (Same part) I called Dillon the other evening and ordered the seating stem. They would not let me pay for the part or shipping.

 

[88E30M50]

I read the OP a couple of times. I guess I am at a loss as to why you are unscrewing the housing from the frame to change from small to large primer. ?????
I change the primer slide by pulling it out the back (towards you) and change the primer feed tube. No need to take the whole assembly off of the frame.

I'm not sure I follow how you are doing that. On my 550, I cannot remove the primer slide out the back of the assembly due to the primer cup and spring. I'll play with it a bit tonight to see if I can do what you are talking about doing.

 

[ScouT6a]

Yes, you have to remove the primer cup. A little downward finger pressure and then loosen the set screw on the side of the primer slide. Pull out the cup, spring and plunger and then the primer slide comes out, after you unhook the return spring.
Been doing it this way for 25 years.

 

[red_zr24x4]

Mine came with 2 primer slides, 1 for small and 1 for large. When I take mine apart to sitch I use this opportunity to clean up any spilt powder.
I'm thinking about buying one of those extended slide spacers, seems to make the primer slide smoother.
For the OP, was it just the bottom block or did it have the tube attached?

 

[88E30M50]

Yes, you have to remove the primer cup. A little downward finger pressure and then loosen the set screw on the side of the primer slide. Pull out the cup, spring and plunger and then the primer slide comes out, after you unhook the return spring.
Been doing it this way for 25 years.

Either I'm an idiot or you are a genius! I never thought to do it that way and when I gave it a shot last night, it made a primer size swap a simple 2 minute job without messing with the adjustments. Thanks for that advice, as it probably saved me about $700 in getting a complete second press to keep from removing the whole housing. In all of the years I've been reloading, I always thought that I could not get to the set screw that captures the primer cup but never thought to give it a shot.

Like RedZr says below, mine came with two primer slides and I had always figured that was because you swapped slides not cups. Just doing the cups is a breeze compared to swapping the slides and having to adjust the primer system each time.

Mine came with 2 primer slides, 1 for small and 1 for large. When I take mine apart to sitch I use this opportunity to clean up any spilt powder.
I'm thinking about buying one of those extended slide spacers, seems to make the primer slide smoother.
For the OP, was it just the bottom block or did it have the tube attached?

They sent the whole sub assembly with the tube, fitting at the bottom, pivot point for the actuator rod and primer tube screw cap at the top. I was worried that they would send just the fitting and that I'd have to mess with the press fit of the tube, but they did it right.