Interchangeable dies?

[DNP]

My dad has a Dillon 550 at home. He’s looking to get dies for 45 Colt and Dillon is 4-6 months out…if they decide to do a run.  He’s curious how interchangeable other dies might be in his press. Anyone with any knowledge on that?  Got one you like over the other?  I have no idea why he’s after that one…I can’t imagine him going through that much 45. I think he just likes to have dies and material on hand for everything he owns. 

[jim3326]

I've had no issues running different dies.

[DNP]

I’ll pass that along. Thank you, sir. 

[shooterrex]

Dies are pretty much universal. However the Dillon dies are designed to work on their press. For example the Lee dies may not be set up to work with the powder measure and drop on the Dillon. I load 45Colt/454 on a single stage. I use the Lee dies w/the factory crimp die so my 454 doesn't pull the bullets out of the case in the cylinder under recoil.

[DNP]

Thank you for the input Rex.  

[sagebrush]

i run a 550 and use different brand dies on it works fine. also use lee factory crimp die in last station and have no problems with that

[Cunuckgaucho]

That model press uses 7/8"-14TPI dies which is the most common so as long as he buys dies with that threading he'll be fine. There are a few out there that are differet/propritary. I don't think the dies for the Dillion square deal have the 7/8"-14 threading.

 Depending on the spacing on the press head he might have to swap out the lock rings to smaller outer diameter. Not a given but different manufactures have different style/outer diameter lock rings

[DNP]

21 hours ago, Cunuckgaucho said:

That model press uses 7/8"-14TPI dies which is the most common so as long as he buys dies with that threading he'll be fine. There are a few out there that are differet/propritary. I don't think the dies for the Dillion square deal have the 7/8"-14 threading.

 Depending on the spacing on the press head he might have to swap out the lock rings to smaller outer diameter. Not a given but different manufactures have different style/outer diameter lock rings

Gracias. Great info I’ll pass along. 

[98Z5V]

7/8 x 14tpi is the common die threading, and most presses have an insert in them  that those dies thread into.  If you remove that insert, the threading is 1 1/4 x 12tpi.  Those sized dies are for larger shiit, like .50 BMG.  There are a few presses for .50 BMG in that size threading, and dies - that's the most common for .50 BMG.  There's another threading size for dies, and it's 1 1/2 x 12tpi.  There are only 2 presses out there with 1 1/2 x 12 threading for the .50, and they're both hard as fuk to find in stock, from a company that you can get ahold of, and not pay a fortune for.  RCBS used to make one, rumor is it's discontinued, Hornady is the other, and it's not easy to locate in stock, under a grand.

So, there's the die-threading sizes for everything out there that we could commonly reload. 

7/8 x 14tpi

1 1/4 x 12tpi

1 1/2 x 12tpi

That's it.  Custom shiit is custom shiit, and anybody could make anything - but that's what the reloading companies make, for threaded dies in their presses.

[DNP]

More good info. I told him to look it up and he pressured me to post up his question here. I’ve been screenshotting answers back to him…because I don’t want to explain to an engineer how to use the internet. 

[98Z5V]