Anyone own a Dillon XL650 ?

[fireball]

I'm looking at ordering the Dillon XL650 as my first reloading press. I have a friend thats going to show me the ropes on a single stage first.

My question to other owners is that the Dillon web site is not to specific as too which extras are essential, this might not be so obvious to me as I am a rookie. I will be reloading .308, .223, .45colt/.454, .38sp, and possibly 9mm.

After the xl650 its' self additional: shellplates, tool head and size specific dies, primer tubes, would be required.

 

[bear.23]

I'm looking at ordering the Dillon XL650 as my first reloading press. I have a friend thats going to show me the ropes on a single stage first.

My question to other owners is that the Dillon web site is not to specific as too which extras are essential, this might not be so obvious to me as I am a rookie. I will be reloading .308, .223, .45colt/.454, .38sp, and possibly 9mm.

After the xl650 its' self additional: shellplates, tool head and size specific dies, primer tubes, would be required.

OK I might now a think or too about this....

You can mix and match but it's more a PITA then anything else..

Ideally you will have a complete (including powder measure) toolhead setup for each caliber...

That would be a toolhead, powder measure, dies and a conversion

You may depending on calibers you are loading have some duplicated parts in the conversions..

At the minimum you will need dies for each caliber and the minimum parts for the conversion.. (look at the chart in the back of the 650 manual from dillions site ( Our site is down at the moment as we are preparing to move)

But that would mean setting up the dies each time..

So get a toolhead and some extra powder dies.. you can leave your dies setup in the toolhead but you will need to setup your powder measure each time you change caliber...

Clear as mud?

 

[GSoD]

I would order it set up for the calibre you will be doing the most if that is possible.

Once you see it in action and see what goes into setting it up / what is involved with a calibre conversion you can determine what extra calibres you want to go with.

 

[Walter Hornby]

in addition to the basic 650 things that are nice to have but Can be ordered as cash flows allow are a bras feeder (there are four shell plates for it i believe), a bullet feeder and a primer shaker. if you are using a brass feeder i find spray lube helps for some reason.

 

[OKTREE]

I use a 650 with case feeder for 9mm and 10mm rounds. I have a separate tool head c/w powder measure for each meaning that I do not adjust any die when moving between calibers. Still a bit of work to change over as the primer sizes are different. I will load a minimum of 1,000 rounds before it is worth my effort to change the press.

All rifle, 460 S&W and 454 Casull are loaded single stage, with each charge weighed.

Unless you are shooting high volume of more than one calibre, the change over may not be worth the effort. I shoot high volume 6mm Norma BR, with every round loaded single stage. The accuracy/quality potential of a round loaded on a progressive will not approach that readily achieved with a single stage.

Regarding extras, extra primer charge tubes are important. The charge tubes and case feeder are the only extras that I have purchased, so I can not comment further.

I also find Dillon dies work much better in a progressive than some other 'brand name' dies - I damaged two different brands of 9mm sizing dies. Lee works well also.

 

[tjhaile]

Do you plan on running a case feeder for pistol calibres? This is where you will really have a production advantage over the manual indexing 550.

If not, you may want to consider a 550. You likely won't see much difference in output without a case feeder and toolheads and calibre change kits are much less expensive. You definitely want a toolhead and powder die for each die set.

For .223, or any other bottleneck rifle case, you need to size cases and trim as needed before running through the rest of the loading cycle. You can either use a single stage to size cases or keep a spare toolhead just for resizing. Once you have prepped your cases, you can prime, throw charges, seat, and crimp (if needed) with a toolhead assembled with the rest of your dies and the first stage used for priming only.

Either press will serve you well.

 

[mdragon9]

If you haven't already check out the Brian Enos site, it has some of the best info on the Dillon 550 and 650 I've found. The FAQ page goes over the basics on what you need

http://www.brianenos.com/pages/dillonfaqs.html

By the way, I don't find switching calibre particularly difficult and I switch between 3 fairly frequently (.38, .45 ACP, .45 Colt). That's also when I clean everything.

My advice:
- buy a tool head for each calibre
- buy the stand
- buy Dillon dies