Dillon's Service, not always the well oiled machine!!

[6bg6ga]

I assume this thread is about "Dillon Service" so I will tell about yesterdays call to them. I opened up a 9mm conversion kit for my 650XL. I started to change it over from the 45acp config in which it was purchased to the 9mm. I loostened the set screw for the step bolt that holds the shell plate to remove it no problem. I converted the shell feed to the 9mm and the primmer feed to small primer. Whats left? Ok, put the shell plate down on the 650 and put the step bolt thru the hole in the shell plate and into the press. Simply put the bolt will not physically go thru the hole in the shell plate as its about .003 too small a hole.

Getting to the call....called them and told them what I had for a press and the guy asks me a second time and I repeat that I have a 650XL. I tell him I have removed the original shell plate and the step bolt from the machine and tell him the step bolt will not go thru the hole in the conversion shell plate 9mm plate. He asks me if I loostened the set screw holding the step bolt in the machine. Look, its already out of the machine and he responds with the ball probably fell in the step bolt hole. Finally I respond with SIR, I am away from the press. I have the shell plate in front of me along with the step bolt that is supposed to go thru the center of the shell plate and it physicallt will not go thru the damn hole because the hole is too small. I have also garfed up the step bolt in the process. He responds with I've never heard of this. I will send you a new shell plate #5 and I said you better send me a new step bolt also he said ok. He is sending me a return ticket for the #5 shell plate and the bolt.

Now, could I not have made this any clearer? The shell plate is off the machine. The shell plate is undersize so the retaining step bolt will not fit thru its hole. Where do they get some of these guys?

[mold maker]

You'd be surprised at the folks he has to deal with. He also may be dealing with several folks at a time through other media.
I agree that, attention to your conversation would have saved your frayed nerves.
Glad to hear that the NO BS warranty, was fulfilled.

[jmorris]

Could have started a new thread but sounds like a phone call was all it took to get new parts on the way.

If he had never heard of the problem, I can understand the extra questions. If some one called you up and told you it was raining chickens outside you would likely have follow up questions.

It also helps to use proper names or even better the actual part number. They don't always know what your talking about. Google "step bolt" and take a look at the image that comes up, then google "shoulder bolt".

Dillon calls it a Shellplate bolt #13418.

[troyboy]

Would have just made the hole bigger myself. Looks like cs did you as expected.

[257]

I have lost and or broken things on my presses over the years when I called Dillon I was treated great had the parts I needed in 2 to 4 days and was never charged for parts or postage even when I said it was my fault that I needed them

[6bg6ga]

Would have just made the hole bigger myself. Looks like cs did you as expected.

Its like this... I paid $77 for the conversion kit. I expect things to work. I didn't want to enlarge the hole in the shell plate. Its about quality control and their need to maintain it and their need to know if there is a problem out there with a specific item in this case the number 5 shell plate. Could it possibly be something in their production process? Yes, and that is why I contacted them.

jmorris is correct and I thank him for bringing this forward. I should have used the correct name for the shellplate bolt. Unfortunately I was seeing red at the time because I had rendered it the shellplate bolt useless because now it was scratched and couldn't be used for any setup and I was setting there with a useless 650XL press.

Now, for another question.... I just opened up a 40/10mm conversion box and found the following inside it and wonder if the correct shell dropping components are in the box.Attachment 114631 There are two red shell dropping components as well as a purple one. Am I missing the small purple one?

[6bg6ga]

To be correct here as the picture show the conversion kit had 2) case feed adapters in it and one casefeed arm bushing. Does the 40cal / 10mm have a purple case feed arm busing along with the purple case feed adapter? If so I need to call Dillon again to see if they can send me the missing case feed adapter.

[6bg6ga]

I don't know if you can see the scratches in the bolt or not but its unusable.


Attachment 114632

[jmorris]

I think you were right in not modifying the part and I understand being mad too.

The case feed arm bushing drops into the case feed arm, red indicates it is the medium pistol bushing. (p52 of the manual).

The case feed adapters are red for 10mm and purple for 40s&w (P46 of the manual).

If you don't have a copy you can down load one here.

http://dillonhelp.com/Dillon%20Manua.../XL650v6p1.pdf

The bushing is the same because it only fits the diameter of the case the adapters are different heights (10mm/40) to keep cases from flipping around while sliding out of the colum of cases into the shell plate.

[EDG]

I will relate an old story that I tell about Dillon. I think sometime in the late 80s they introduced the D'Terminator electronic scale. One of my shooting buddies who was a computer guy was one of the first adopter types. He was usually the one to buy a new gadget when they were still unproven and expensive. He bought a new D'Terminator in the early to mid 90s and had some problem with it. He brought it by one day when he was going to load some ammo. We both messed with it a long time but it would always drift a grain or two. After weighing 4 or 5 loads we would check it and find it needed to be re-calibrated. He gave up on the scale and left, leaving it with me to mess with. A few months went by and I messed with it again with the same results and I called Dillon. A very frank and honest guy answered and said that unfortunately that was the state of the art for those scales at that time because the low priced load cells were not that good. He said send it in and they would see what they could do. Not eager to waste the cost of mailing the scale for another that did not work I carefully put it back in its original package and put it in the top of the closet where it remained for the next 8 years. Technology goes from 316S computers to 486 then the Pentium. Near Christmas time one winter, I called again and again the guy at Dillon said send it back. I thought about it a while and laziness prevailed so it went back into the closet for another 3 years. Then I noticed in the Dillon ads in the gun magazines that they were introducing a new D'Terminator. I was concerned that the Dillon warranty might not be honored because it was a totally different product. The old D'Terminator had a 1200 grain capacity and the case with the turned up front with the very large angled display. The new model had a 900 grain capacity and a smaller display. The old model continued to be listed in ads so I called Dillon again and again they said send it in. A few weeks later a new scale arrived in the mail. At first I was not happy because it was the lower priced 900 grain model. I put batteries in it and put it through its paces. WOW - It was amazing. Very sensitive and no drift. I immediately weighed a bunch of bullets and wrote the weight of each on it with a marker.
Then they were reweighed in different sequences. The new model worked well beyond my expectations so I was happy.
I sent my buddy an email about the good news for his scale. He said to keep it that he had bought another brand since that he was happy with.

To summarize
Dillon offered an early model scale that really was an immature product but Dillon offered to stand behind it 3 times.
Dillon sent a later model as a free replacement 11 years later. It works perfect.
I was not the original purchaser of the scale, I was only acting in behalf of my friend who gave up on it. Dillon still honored the warranty. I was not a Dillon customer at that time and I am still not a Dillon customer. I have never bought a single thing from Dillon. Dillon's niche serves mostly hand gunners with the semi- progressive and progressive machines. I do not load much for hand guns so I do not really have much use for Dillon's machines but I do admire their warranty service.

[6bg6ga]

Update...

Received the new #5 shell plate and the shell plate bolt PN13418 and the postage paid return envelope.

Installed them made a few tweeks and I am now cranking out 9mm ammo.

[r1kk1]

I have the 1200 gr version of the scale and no problems. If it dies, I will look for a replacement with around the same capacity. I need to get a hold of buckshot to make me a funnel for 500 Linebaugh. Funny thing is Dillon said to use the 50ae funnel. The don't have one for 50 Alaskan, 50-70, etc.

take care

r1kk1

[joelsteinbach]

3 Dillon Presses, and 16 years later, I have never, never, gotten any poor service, advice or information from any of the telephone staff, My parts have always arrived in a timely manner and usually at no charge. KUDOS to Dillon and their great company.

[9w1911]

No complaint here. You could probably sweet talk a rep into a free press if you were polite enough.

[ROGER4314]

I've had wonderful service from Dillon since about 1980 when I bought a pair of RL 450 presses. Later came another RL 450, and one SD press. I sold those and then acquired one RL450 and one RL550. The bushings in the RL450 seized up so I ordered a 550 frame and converted it over completely to all of the new 550 primer, powder and loaded round ejection features. Dillon GAVE me the repair parts and I purchased the upgrade parts. Believe me, in all of that, I had plenty of dealings with Dillon CS folks!

Some CS issues were settled better than others but NONE of the problems were terrible. All things considered, every problem was solved and I can truthfully say that nothing on the RL550B press is a mystery to me. I learned a lot!

They asked me to return the seized up press bushings and arm but were not willing to pay the shipping. I'm a real easy guy to understand. If you want the parts back, then YOU pay to ship them. I still have them.

To the OP.........
I worked in the rat race for decades and finally retired. I let the stresses go and have the blood pressure of a teenager! That's down from taking Benecar for BP in high stress employment! The higher number on my BP was 190+. Now, it's 112-120 and I take NO medication!

Life is too xamned short to stew over it. Either decide to DO something about the problem or let it go! That's a decision that only you can make. If it's bad enough to make an attack in response, then do that. If it's not....let it go and go on with life.

Flash

[Duckiller]

Have a 550 that doesn't work right. Won't feed primers properly. Have to pull primer feed bar all the way back by hand. Talked to someone at Dillion when I got the press . Was told " buy our video". haven't talked to them about adjustment of primer bar. RCBS is lots nicer. Do we how have thread police or can the original poster control what is posted to "his" thread?

[azrednek]

Do we how have thread police or can the original poster control what is posted to "his" thread?

Only the moderators can remove posts they don't like. As in my case I didn't post a rosy picture of Dillon so the moderator that didn't like what I said pulled it out, then put it back in the original thread after this thread gathered more attention than his.

[Alvarez Kelly]

You guys crack me up. I'll trade you a Hollywood Senior for any reasonably complete but obviously poorly functioning Dillon 550 you might have.

PM me.

[azrednek]

I really wish this thread would die!! In all honesty I started it after having my post removed then reinstated by an arrogant moderator wanting to control the gist of a thread he started. It was never my intention to start a flame Dillon thread. I did however want to share my unpleasant experience with two Dillon employees in a thread regarding Dillon's service. I never intended to knock Dillon's equipment. I have a Dillon Square Deal set up for 45 ACP I've had for well over 25 years and it still works just fine. Lets let this thread die, please

[Plastikosmd]

Not exactly the way it went down. I did remove your post from my thread because it obviously was not about Dillion Precision product customer service but instead was about some misunderstanding between you, 2 cops and an EMPLOYEE of Dillon Precision. I sent you a nice PM explaining my reasoning and suggested you start your own thread:


You repsonded by PM with:

I did reinstate all post you placed on my thread once you started this thread in an attempt to keep the records straight which I am glad I did seeing how you twist the facts.

Wow!


As far as Dillon, I just knocked my trimmer off the bench and broke the electrical connection thing at top. Quick call to Dillon, fixed free of charge.

This is maybe the 3 rd thing they have fixed for me, all issues caused by me.

Up to 3 of their machines (550x2 and big 50 reloader) would buy another in a heartbeat