Dillon Equipment Took a Huge Price Jump During Covid

[COSteve]

With a career in Aerospace, I've got data on excel spreadsheets for virtually everything. I guess you can say it's in my DNA to make them to organize my data. Anyway, I've kept track of the prices of my Dillon equipment I've acquired over the last 20+ years and while I don't have the largest setup, it is pretty good sized to handle 7 pistol and 9 rifle calibers.

So, I was tidying up my spreadsheet this morning by looking at Dillon's website to see if there were any changes since February when I got the 2023 prices and came up with the following interesting information I thought I'd share.

First: Dillon has historically raised their prices once a year in January. The price increases have not been huge each year since the early 2000s. As I said, I have a fairly extensive set of Dillon equipment with I've collected in the past 20+ years. Not as much as many but still a considerable amount with a XL750, Casefeeder, 4 Casefeed Plates, Strong Mount, Aluminum Roller Handle, Super Swage, Rapid Trim Case Trimmer, D-Terminator Electronic Scale, 8 Quick Change Kits, 9 Caliber Conversion Kits, 42 Akro bins, 14 Tool Heads, 13 Tool Head Stands, Powder Check System Assy. and a whole raft of odds and ends from Dillon.

I only have a single Dillon set of dies though so their huge price increases for dies isn't in my calculations for the most part. I like Lee's Deluxe Carbide sets for pistols and a combination of a Dillon resizing die and Lee Pacesetter Dies for rifles. I like the Lee seating and crimp dies over the Dillon's because they are adjustable by hand with a knurled top while the Dillon dies require a wrench.

Anyway, in total, my Dillon equipment had a retail price in January, 2020 of $5,078.18 and today it has a retail value of $6,488.77 That's a 27.78% increase in just over 3 years. How does that compare to say, the previous 3 years from January, 2017 to January, 2020? My records show that the percent rise for the same equipment during that period was a total of 13.94%. How about from January, 2014 to January, 2017? My records show that the rise during that 3 year period was a mere 3.45%. And finally, from January, 2011 to January, 2014 a rise of 4.50%.

Oh, and just the XL750 press which replaced the XL650 in August, 2019, and I bought in January, 2020 sold for $649.99 which included a single caliber conversion kit without the dies or the casefeeder. It currently sells for $859 for the exact same equipment!! That's a 32.16% increase in just 3 years!! So, if it feels like the prices of Dillon's equipment has skyrocketed since 2020, it's because they have. Just like everything else.

Second: You can get a better price on some items by calling Dillon rather than by ordering on-line. I confirmed with Dillon's CS that there are some disconnects between their on-line system and the prices in Dillon's Blue Press. An example is their AkroBins. On-line the 550/650/750 size are listed at $3.50 each no matter how many you buy while the Blue Press and the phone-in CS people will sell them for $2.99 ea, 6 for $15.30 ($2.55 ea), and 12 for $24.84 ($2.07 ea). You can only get the lower price by calling. If you order on-line they can't do anything to change the price so they suggest that you call and make the orders.

[2ndovc]

Must be another quiet day in Colorado.

[AJMD429]

.
Interesting
Dillon stuff is a good investment I guess

'Money' is going to be worth less soon, for sure.

[harry]

Or buy it somewhere else and save a hundred bucks.

https://www.scheels.com/p/dillon-precis ... es#start=1

[COSteve]

Or buy it somewhere else and save a hundred bucks.

https://www.scheels.com/p/dillon-precis ... es#start=1

Read the fine print. It doesn't come with a caliber conversion kit which is typically $120 so it's exactly the same price as from Dillon.

Starting in January, 2023, I noticed that Dillon now breaks up the press and caliber kits in their on-line ordering as 2 different items. I guess because if you are upgrading from a XL650, you don't need much. So, you have to add the price of the Caliber Conversion Kit (common ones are $120) to the price of the press to get what use to be the price for the whole setup.

In January 2020, that price for a XL750 setup for say, 9mm was $649.99. Now it's way higher with just the press at $739 and the 9mm conversion at $120. So, $739 + $120 = $859.

Interestingly, in the Blue Press and if you call in, you can still order the press and caliber conversion as a single part number for the same price, $859.