Dillon 650 or Hornadly Lock-n-load

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

That's a good deal to buy local and have local support and be able to support your local gunshop. I'd go for it.

Regards,

Dave

 

[wally]

Do you have to tinker with the 650 case feeder very much? That is the biggest cause for any stoppages on my LNL by far

As a new Dillion XL650 with casefeeder user all I can say is the casefeeder couldn't be easier. No issues, and I've already had the problem of .40S&W inside a .45 case -- the feeding stopped took less than a minute to clear and it was the first time for me, will be even faster now that I know what to do.

Also had the WinNT case mixed in which was also handled gracefully - the primer wouldn't seat but I just continued on and the unused primer slid into a nice little catcher while everything advanced normally. Later I took the unprimed round and using the Lee Auto Prime hand tool inserted a small pistol primer and painted the case head black so I could discard it when picking up my empties after shooting.

I've got about about 2000 thru my case feeder already and the only issue was my letting a .40S&W case slip in with the .45ACP brass.

Since it sounds kind if like a Pachinko machine when operating, if it gets quiet you know you need to add more brass soon

If you do not have the additional powder measure on each toolhead, the change over of the powder measure (remove, dump powder, reinstall, adjust, fiddle, measure, final tweak) takes 1/2 to 3/4 hrs on the 550 and I'll bet longer on the 650 because of the self indexing to contend with.

No issues with the auto-indexing as its easy to not put the handle up enough to advance to the next station yet still have enough room to remove and reinsert the case. No reason you can't use the Lee Auto Disk Powder measure in the Dillon if you wanted a cheaper measure on each toolhead.

One other feature of the Dillon I didn't appreciate until I was using it is the low primer sensor -- once you get going with a full casefeeder its very easy to run out of primers!

--wally.

 

[Ben Shepherd]

The casefeeder on my 650 has been flawless for over 50,000 rounds so far.

As for the powder issues with the dillon charge bar: I use ball powders in all my "bulk" ammo. The sliding bar does fine with them.

 

[GaryL]

If you do not have the additional powder measure on each toolhead, the change over of the powder measure (remove, dump powder, reinstall, adjust, fiddle, measure, final tweak) takes 1/2 to 3/4 hrs on the 550 and I'll bet longer on the 650 because of the self indexing to contend with. (With back of hand to forehead and eye uplifted but closed, "WWooooooooeee, the pain and consternation.)

I have a 550B with 1 (one) powder dispensor, and honest to God, it doesn't take that long to change the caliber, powder, and primer feed all together (like to go from 9mm to 45acp). That's about how long it takes me to setup a new caliber from scratch. I don't have any special tools, micrometer adjustments, etc. I wish I did. But setting the powder measure should only take 7 tries from totally out to completely correct (there's a scientific theory and method for that), figure 10 tries to nail it.

Of course I would like something quicker and easier, which is why I'm often reading this forum for ideas.

 

[1911user]

GaryL, I also only use 1 dillon measure on my 550. I did change the powder bar screw to one from here: http://home.comcast.net/~videodog/
It's the one with scallops. I use that as a poor man's micrometer. You can get 28 seperate points from each rotation. That is enough resolution to return within 0.05 grains of a previous setting. In other words, you count the number of whole revolutions from zero then use the scallops to return to a previous setting. It should only take 1 try to get it right and then use a powder scale to verify the setting. I installed this type knob on both the pistol and rifle powder bars with no regrets. It's not quite as accurate (in theory) as a Mr. Dial or Unique-Tek dial, but it is close enough and requires no tools to adjust (that's bad if you have kids around the press, but otherwise good).

In the past, I've had 2 dillon measures and 3 pistol powder bars with a 550, but not with the current 550 (after dumping the LNL-AP setup). One of each size bar is enough. He sells the replacement knobs on ebay also. I bought a package of 3 and gave the extra one to a buddy.

 

[GaryL]

1911user, thanks for the reminder - thats a great idea. I think you've posted that before. I need to get a couple of those knobs this weekend. I've already polished up the bars and everything, so they turn/adjust very smoothly now, and dial in nicely. Plus the polishing made my throws much more consistent, even with course flake powder.