How to value older dillon stuff?

Tom

Well-Known Member
A friend who knows little about firearms called me for help. He's trying to help a widow whos husband was an avid shooter.
Mounted on the bench are two rl550s, as well as a rockchucker set up for lee push through. The rl550s aren't b or c models, how would you price them?
The toolheads and dies, etc. are easy enough to find current new prices on. Almost everything I see in the pics appear to be dillon, even the case cleaner.
Thanks in advance.
 

Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
I think it depends a little on how fast your friend wants to dispose of those items.
You want to be responsible to the widow and not severely underprice the items but you also don't want to draw the process out over an extreme amount of time. Holding out for absolute top dollar isn't going to do her any favors if the extra money is minimal.

With that being said, A New 550C lists on the Dillon site for $457 (press with toolhead and shell plate but no dies). Even an old 550 model can be upgraded and Dillon still supports these machines, Asking prices on E-bay are running about 75% of new and that figure includes some of the older versions of the 550.

If she wants to sell those presses quickly, I believe you could drop down to 50% of the current list price for a 550C. Half off a current 550C would be $228.50. I think that would move those older models fairly quickly.

If she sells the presses as a package (press, dies, extra conversations kits, extra tool heads, etc. ) she may want to add up the value of all the items and then offer a package discount. That will allow her to dispose of a large number of items at one time AND encourage a buyer to make a higher dollar amount purchase.

I've helped several people with personal property from an estate and it's usually just better to sell it quickly and move on.
 
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Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Couldn’t agree more.
Sometimes 200 bucks in the pockets beats 400 bucks sitting around waiting for a sale.
 

358156 hp

At large, whereabouts unknown.
Start pricing the 550s at around $25-$50.00 less than the newer, used models. Clean 'em up a bit first and they'll go. I have an '80s era RL550, and the only difference is the later style powder measure actuation. The newer ones use an additional bracket & rod because there were complaints early on about the measure being rough on brass, and even buckling some of the thinner cases. The powder measure update is still available from Dillon. Early models also had problems with the powder measures themselves and the primer slides, but mine were replaced under warranty long, long ago, as they were for other early 550 owners I've talked to. Except for these issues, my RL550 is as good as new. I keep it lubed & adjusted and it keeps me in production. If fact, I just ran the annual cleaning & maintenance on my press last Friday. Oh yeah, The first pin referred to in the video isn't present in the earliest versions. Mine doesn't have it, and I've never missed it.

Here's the maintenance video for the RL550, skip the shell plate alignment section if the alignment tool isn't available:
 
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StrawHat

Well-Known Member
P&P has some sound advice. Offering as a package is a better way of selling. If you let folks cherry pick you end up with all the pits.

50 or even 100 off new has me buying new.

Kevin
 

RicinYakima

High Steppes of Eastern Washington
Yes, I'm still sitting on a complete set of PW shotgun tools, and 4 gauges set of MEC hydraulic loaders that I can't get 25% on. Advertised at all the skeet clubs I could find in the PMW.
 

Tom

Well-Known Member
Thanks, everyone. I came up with about $1900 in new prices from Dillon's website. I passed that along and told him the brass, bullets, primers, etc. need to be identified and quantified. Looks like a lot of new brass and a lot of pistol bullets.
He asked about the loaded ammo and I told him reloaded ammo isn't worth any more than the components as it's not wise to trust someone else's loads.