Dillon 650 and the .223

[CANNONMAN]

I've been told that there are issues with the Dillon 650 and loading .223. Any hear the same or can tell me what to look out for? I load numerous straight wall pistol rounds but want to do the conversion. Any hints or tips? Thanks.

 

[X-Ring]

The biggest issue I have had is, you must pause at the top of the stroke in order to allow time for the powder to funnel through the small diameter case neck.

 

[PCCUSNRET]

I don't have a 650, but for the 550 I was told by Dillon to use a non-stick type powder and to give the powder time to fill the case. I was using Varget and powder was falling after I rotated to next position. Gave up on loading .223 on Dillon and now load it on a Redding T-7 Turret. I use the Dillon strictly for pistol and 444 Marlin.

 

[joem1945]

I use ball powders on mine and don't have any problems. Never tried stick powders (4895) I keep for M1.

 

[jmorris]

I still size and trim on one of my 650's but I also used to load on them too. Crimped pockets will certainly put a halt to operations and you will want to avoid extruded powders. Other than that they are as smooth with .223 as pistol calibers, on the loading pass.

 

[CLP]

No problems using the 650 and 223/5.56. Some stick powder pieces will crunch with the Dillon power dispenser, but I use quick-measure.com on my station 2 and it works amazingly well with all powders- no waiting for all the powder to drop. I'm glad I have it, but I don't find that I actually need it. I think it's more beneficial for folks that want very consistent charges (+\- 0.1gr). I honestly don't care if my charges vary up to half a grain for my purposes. I can't tell a difference at least when l I load with a wider charging tolerance vs obsessively replicating the same charge for every round.

 

[Robert]

I loaded 223 on a 650 and it was a total nightmare. Though I am not 100% certain that the press as set up correctly. I load 223 and 308 on my 550, using 4895 and 4064 with out issue. The 4895 tends to get cut but I've never noticed an adverse issue from this.

 

[johnandersonoutdoors]

https://www.youtube.com/user/OBXSOLWIND/videos

I believe this gent has a couple of videos reloading .223 on a Dillon 650. Good videos, could be helpful.

 

[Nature Boy]

I load .223 on my 650 and mainly use Varget. As long as I go slow and pause at the top of the stroke I have no issues.

Last batch was 100 rounds with Varget and didn't spill any.

 

[snuffy]

I never tried it with a dillon sliding bar measure, I use a CAPD made by Hornady,(Case Activated Powder Dispenser). Then an older Hornady measure. The CAPD allows the use of stick type powder because of being a rotary drum type measure. I can use varget or IMR 4895 with acceptable variations. H-335 is dead on.







I determine if a case can be sized withOUT needing trimming, then load those as a through-put performing all operations resulting in a finished round from fired empty.

Cases that need to be trimmed are run through the press in another tool head with just a sizing die. Then trimmed and case prepped. Then loaded without a sizer in the tool head, just powder, primer and seating.

 

[jmorris]

I found that it was faster to just process all of my brass the same vs trying to sort for ones they may or may not need to be trimmed. If they don't need to be trimmed they are not and if they do they are. With the Dillon trimmer on the 650 I have sized and trimmed 1800/hr but 1200 or so is closer to where I normally run.



I eventually switched to loading with the 1050 because of the swage station, still use the Dillon powder measure, just stick with powders like 748, TAC, Xtermanator, etc and they meter fine. No need to wait or hope they don't bridge, just load.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La83ZVKnBzw

 

[stavman11]

I have a 650 just for loading .223... works fantastic
I use H335 mainly and measures great. I also use a Bullet Feeder and Case feeders.. as well as the low powder alarm.
Never an issue yet... and can bust out many many rounds an Hour
Now I do use my old Pro 1000 to prep the cases. That works well... Then I can just loaded em on the 650 Fast..
Not sure what issues others have had.. mine works flawlessly


Stav

 

[alexcue]

I've loaded probably a few thousand .223's through my XL650, and other than making sure things are lubed and trimmed evenly I've never had any issues. I'm also not trying to break any speed records though.

 

[stavman11]

Same here alex..
Im not trying to do 500rds/hr but a nice smooth system till I need to refill primer tubes (I have 6 so really pull one, drop in the next) Ill usualy do 200-400rds or so
I also dont crimp any .223