I have been looking at the Dillon square deal and 550 reloaders for a while. Bid on a SD on ebay and won the bid. Have not recieved it yet, but I want to ask what is common practice when it comes to priming the cases.

Right now I am using a Lee Autoprimer and a RCBS single stage press. Is the priming tube procedure on the SD something I can trust or do I need to still use the Lee?

Any advice would be appreciated.

i have used a SD for some years now and the priming station has always worked for me, just need to follow the process is all

If the SD system is the same as the 550B, any one who tells you that some thing else is better has NEVER used a Dillon!
I LOVE my 550B, went to it from a Lyman turret press, will NEVER go back!
I load 22-250, 243Win, 270Win, 7mmMag, 30-30, 30-03(30-06), 300Win Mag, 338Win mag, 35Rem, 458Win Mag, 40S&W, 44Mag, and 454 Casull on it.
The only problem is with stick powder, but they (Dillon) tells you righ up front it's not perfect! It's realy close, powder trickling is minimal, ball and flake powders are no problem at all!

Regardless of how you choose to prime, an excellent measure to use to check your primer seating is to stand the case up on a level table after priming to check it for wobble. A lot of people test the reloads they are going to use on a hunt by running them through the action so during the hunt there'll be no screwups. If your primer is not seated all the way home and you slam the bolt closed with force you could easily set the load off. Just one mans opinion. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

Regardless of how you choose to prime, an excellent measure to use to check your primer seating is to stand the case up on a level table after priming to check it for wobble. A lot of people test the reloads they are going to use on a hunt by running them through the action so during the hunt there'll be no screwups. If your primer is not seated all the way home and you slam the bolt closed with force you could easily set the load off. Just one mans opinion. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal
If the primmer isn't seated all the way you WILL feal it when you turn the shell plate, you will also develop a "FEAL" on the arm as you push the primmers in, it has a very positive stop, it doesn't "feal right" if the primmer doesn't seat properly.

I have very few problems with the Dillon primer feed system. Frankly, if you are going to prime your cases in a separate step you might as well not bother with a progressive such as the Square Deal.
As with all priming systems, just be careful not to force anything, and if something doesn't feel quite right, check it.
I run a Dillon 450, and I visually check the primer feed each time as it goes back and forth, so that I can see if the primer is sitting square on the primer bar. I also don't try to run it at maximum speed, as I find slow and steady gets me almost as many rounds without any rejects.

You can trust it and that's a fact, but you should weight the first 5 and if OK, go for it. Then weight every 25th one or so. That's the way I do it. I use ball or flake powders so I don't know about stick powders. :D

Thanks for the repies. I kind of think along the same lines as al_sway, if I'm going to decap and prime in seperate steps why use a progressive.

RLEEH,

I have used a SDB for several years now. I have loaded thousands of rounds without a single malfunction. The press really does work. The priming system is simple, rugged, and reliable. It is also easy to convert from large to small primer and vice versa. If a primer does hangup, then it is very simple to remove the priming system and reinstall it again. It does not require you to fiddle with anything else on the press. Just be sure to mount your press to a solid bench, and the primers will seat just fine all the time.

Best wishes,
Rushbeau

RLEEH,

I have used a SDB for several years now. I have loaded thousands of rounds without a single malfunction. The press really does work. The priming system is simple, rugged, and reliable. It is also easy to convert from large to small primer and vice versa. If a primer does hangup, then it is very simple to remove the priming system and reinstall it again. It does not require you to fiddle with anything else on the press. Just be sure to mount your press to a solid bench, and the primers will seat just fine all the time.

Best wishes,
Rushbeau

I also have had a SDB for several years now and can only 2nd what Rushbeau has to say they are great loaders.