OPERATED A DILLON 650 TODAY

chief38

chief38

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I just got back from a friends house and helped him set up his new Dillon 650 reloading press. It took a while because I am used to my Dillon Square Deal and it's a completely different machine. So after about an hour of adjusting the dies, powder drop and powder safety checker, we started loading .45 Colt. All I can say is WOWWWWWW!!!!! Man is that press fast! Within a few minutes we were whaling on it and had loaded 700 rounds in short order. I would estimate that it is about twice to three times faster than my SD is. In all fairness, the Dillon 650 has the electric case feeder attachment on it and because the press is so much larger the leverage is so much greater, even loading large pistol cartridge like the 45 Colt seemed almost effortless. On my SQ I have to really work he 45 Colts. I am now even considering selling my SD and buying a 650. I will say that I was quite impressed with this machine and think it's heads & tails ahead of the 550. From what I experienced today, I would advise anybody interested in a reloading press to definitely look into the Dillon 650!
 
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The 650 is a great press. Add a case feeder and it's a hard system to beat. The caliber conversion kits are expensive, but like you said, man can you load a lot of rounds in a short period of time.
 
A friend of mine was loading 45ACP on a Dillon 1050. He had a small primer pocket case mixed in with the large primer pocket brass. He was loading away at a good speed and the primer exploded and set off the others in the tube. Although he was shaken by the experience, he wasn't hurt. Granted, he should have been more careful but it speaks well for the Dillon equipment that he wasn't hurt.
 
When I discovered that I had some small primer 45 acp brass (from the Range) mixed in with my regular large primer stuff I went through it and gave away all the small primer cartridges. They are not worth the potential headache!
 
rck281 said:
A friend of mine was loading 45ACP on a Dillon 1050. He had a small primer pocket case mixed in with the large primer pocket brass. He was loading away at a good speed and the primer exploded and set off the others in the tube. Although he was shaken by the experience, he wasn't hurt. Granted, he should have been more careful but it speaks well for the Dillon equipment that he wasn't hurt.
Click to expand...

Haste makes waste.
 
chief38 said:
When I discovered that I had some small primer 45 acp brass (from the Range) mixed in with my regular large primer stuff I went through it and gave away all the small primer cartridges. They are not worth the potential headache!
Click to expand...

Send them to me! Nah seroiusly, I have plenty.

But I am finding them to be more and more prevalent around here, especially since all Blazer 45 is now SP. I separate them out and reload them same-same.

The small primer pocket is just one more attribute to check when I'm examining my brass.
 
I run a 550B & a 650, both really good presses. IMO, the 550B is a better press than the SDB, why I bought one more than 25yrs ago. The 650 is just about perfect as a progressive. Not everyone "needs" such a machine, but need & want often have little to do with one another.
 
rck281 said:
A friend of mine was loading 45ACP on a Dillon 1050. He had a small primer pocket case mixed in with the large primer pocket brass. He was loading away at a good speed and the primer exploded and set off the others in the tube. Although he was shaken by the experience, he wasn't hurt. Granted, he should have been more careful but it speaks well for the Dillon equipment that he wasn't hurt.
Click to expand...

Your friend has turned into a handle puller. I get the occasional SP 45acp in my 650 all the time. I just pluck it out & keep spare sized & decapped cases ready to swap in stn #2. I can feel when the primer isn't right, after all, that is what you are supposed to do, feel the primer seat, not mash it into the case. Have him slow down, he will still get 900+ rds/hr.
 
My Square Deal still works fine but after using the 650 today it makes my SD feel so slow, so antiquated and so tedious. I've been reloading for 30+ years now and only do it because of necessity - NOT because I enjoy it. I view reloading as a boring task that I must endure to shoot as often as I do. Because I dislike reloading I finally get around to it (when I run out of ammo in a specific caliber) and I will assemble 2000 - 3000 rounds which will last me for a while. I'll then cover the press until I run out of another caliber and that's how I reload. Some guys actually enjoy it and do a little a few times a week. The 650 is a means to make a boring tedious task go quicker - for me. Might consider selling my SD and buying a 650.
 
I say if your wallet can take it, go for it. You've been reloading so you probably have supplies, tools and a bench. Not like someone new starting out spending all that money on just the press and then having to buy a bunch more items-- which tends to lead towards someone with a really nice press sitting in a box.
 
fredj338 said:
Your friend has turned into a handle puller. I get the occasional SP 45acp in my 650 all the time. I just pluck it out & keep spare sized & decapped cases ready to swap in stn #2. I can feel when the primer isn't right, after all, that is what you are supposed to do, feel the primer seat, not mash it into the case. Have him slow down, he will still get 900+ rds/hr.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Whether using a single stage, a turret, a progressive, whatever, the reloader must "be the machine".

"Just loading away at a good speed" and mashing primers into place is not advisable.

Also, the 1050 uses a primer magazine and slide system that isolates the primer being inserted from the rest of the magazine. A single activated primer cannot "set off the others in the tube". I do wish people would stop making stuff up.:mad:
 
I use a 550, and am happy with it. My limited experiences with a 650 showed me a real advantage from a safety perspective. On the 550, I advance the rotating case holder. On the 650, every time you pull the lever, it advances automatically. Now, I've never double charged a round, but it looks to me like a distraction has less potential for an accidental double charge on the 650 than on the 550.
 
FloridaFlier said:
I use a 550, and am happy with it. My limited experiences with a 650 showed me a real advantage from a safety perspective. On the 550, I advance the rotating case holder. On the 650, every time you pull the lever, it advances automatically. Now, I've never double charged a round, but it looks to me like a distraction has less potential for an accidental double charge on the 650 than on the 550.
Click to expand...

This can't be stated enough, I think an auto progressive press like the Dillon 650 or the Hornady LNL AP is good for beginners since you cannot forget to index it. I have been a LNL AP user for years, but just picked up a 650 last week and really like it.

Chris
 
I currently use a single stage, and have been for over a year. As I have numerous "good" loads - I am starting to see the value of a AP press.

If using all new cases, I have no issues with an AP press - manufacture/ assemble away - it should produce excellent ammo and it seems absolutely the best way to go.

However, it seems to me that for fired brass - several reloading steps, described in all the reloading manuals, are completely skipped by the AP process/functionality and I question, is that wise?

For example, some brass lengthens after firing and re-sizing - for uniform crimping - it should be trimmed.

and, is the primer seating isolated from the other operations - so you can feel it seat? - or are other cases being de-primed/flared, seated, crimped and sized also during the same stroke and masking some of that "feel"?

and sometimes there are chunks of (carbon)? in the primer pockets - shouldn't that be checked and removed after de-capping?

shouldn't the small primers (45 ACP) be identified and separated when sorting through and examining fired brass, as bluejax states, before it goes into the case feeder?

Sometimes I wonder if some AP reloaders skip these steps just because its more convenient to keep the process going and churning out hundreds of rounds an hour - or that these steps are just completely unnecessary.
 
It's just as easy to skip steps regardless of the machine employed. The progressive just allows the lazy person to meet their inevitable fate a little sooner! ;)
 
blujax01 said:
It's just as easy to skip steps regardless of the machine employed. The progressive just allows the lazy person to meet their inevitable fate a little sooner! ;)
Click to expand...

Let me add a question. Are some AP's set-up better than others to interrupt the AP process to allow some of these tasks, if you want to??
 
I can only speak to the Dillon 650. Seating the primer is a forward stroke, separate from and distinctly different from the pull to advance the round. The reloader can definitely "feel" the primer seating or not seating.

I have not encountered chunks of carbon in a primer pocket bad enough to prevent proper seating but if one cares to examine the pockets, it's easy enough to set up the press with only the sizing/decapping die, run several hundred through in a matter of minutes, then look at them.
 
I bought a 450 years ago and kept upgrading until they came out with the case feeder for the 550 --at that point I sold my 450 and bought a 650--I'm just sorry I didn't go for the 650 earlier. If you really want to maximize output put a Hornady BULLET feeder on your 650. The feeder is for jacketed bullets so I 'modified' the feeder dies and use PVC tubing with my cast bullets--all I do is pull the handle.
 
blujax01 said:
Agreed. Whether using a single stage, a turret, a progressive, whatever, the reloader must "be the machine".

"Just loading away at a good speed" and mashing primers into place is not advisable.

Also, the 1050 uses a primer magazine and slide system that isolates the primer being inserted from the rest of the magazine. A single activated primer cannot "set off the others in the tube". I do wish people would stop making stuff up.:mad:
Click to expand...

The 650 is the same way. Even in the 550 couldn't set a tube of primers off if a ham handed relaoader did detonate one while priming.
 
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