From: Sproul@sproul.sproul.com (Mark Sproul)
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: Dillon 650 review
Date: 30 Sep 92 01:57:52 GMT
Organization: Sproul Consulting


[MODERATOR: Nice review, Mark, thanks for posting!]

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*              DILLON XL-650 REVIEW         *
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I have my new Dillon XL-650 up and running, here are my comments.

Overall, I am very pleased with the unit, the appearance of the 
unit is very nice.  When set next to a Dillon 550, it seems twice 
as big.  The unit just looks like the big brother of the 550, most 
parts of the design are similar.

The new features to the Dillon 650 are:
 1. Automatic case feeding
 2. Automatic indexing of the shell plate
 3. Powder check station
 4. 5 Stations

Excluding the new features, the biggest single change from the 
550 press is the primer system.  It rides up and down with the 
shell plate as opposed to the older models where the primer system 
stayed at the bottom and the shell plate came down over it.  Also, 
it has a rotating feed instead of an in-line back and forth feed mechanism.

Operation:

Starting with empty brass dumped into the hopper.

First the hopper is large and tall. I am 6'4" and can just see 
into the top of the hopper.  A rotating plastic disk set at about 
a 45 degree angle catches the empty cases and rotates it to the 
top where it drops into a funnel.  There are four different disks, 
one each for small rifle, large rifle, small pistol, and large 
pistol.  You only get one with the unit but can order additional 
ones for other calibers.  The brass drops down a clear plastic 
tube about 18" long, when the tube fills up, a switch in the 
bottom of the funnel assembly turns off the motor.  As the ram 
is raised, the bottom case is feed through a drop mechanism 
and an elegantly done system places the new case onto the shell 
plate as the ram is lowered to the bottom of the stroke.  It is 
important that the stroke be done all the way EVERY time.

On the next stroke, the case is raised up to the sizer, de-priming 
die in station 1.  A plastic cup attached to the bottom of the shell 
plate catches the spent primers and does a better job than the system 
on the 550. As the ram is brought to the bottom of the stroke, at the 
very last portion, the shell plate indexes one station clockwise. 
The primer is placed at the bottom of station 2.  Dillon admitted 
to one goof in an addendum to their documentation that if you don't 
have brass in the unit, the new primers are continually feed and 
end up on the floor.  They are working on this and will send out 
a fix to all customers as soon as it is ready.

The next station has the powder system which is identical to the 
system on the 550-B.  It is case actuated and if you are loading pistol, 
the powder funnel is also the mouth expander.

Station #3 is used for the powder check system option.  I ordered 
this option, but all of the pieces were not ready and they said it 
would be shipped latter.  The explanation of the system is that it 
is a go/no-go check just make sure the case was charged properly.  
It is not supposed to be very accurate, maybe +/- 1 or 2 grains.  
It is intended for safety not exact accuracy of the powder charge.  
It works with a rod that goes down into the case and pushes up a sensor 
rod that has to be adjusted.  If it is outside the limits, it beeps.

Station 4 is normally used for bullet seating and station 5 is used 
for optional crimping if needed.

I use station 4 for a C-H bullet feeder die which is feed by a Western 
Manufacturing bullet collator (I think Western is out of business, if 
anyone knows anything about them, please let me know, they used to be 
in state of Washington).  And then station 5 is a bullet seater.

Comments:
The manual is very well done with lots of good pictures, but still 
needs some refinements and additions.  The part about the setup of 
the case feeder was not completely clear.  They know this and are 
working on revisions to the manual.

The case feeder system is mechanically elegant.  It is much to complicated 
to explain in detail but it is quite an accomplishment of mechanical 
design and simplicity of operation.

So far I have not loaded any ammo on it yet, but have been using 
it to process brass.  I have station 1 set up with a Lee heavy 
duty decapper, station 2 with an RCBS LUBE die, and station 3 with a 
full length sizer die with decapper rod, minus the decapping pin.  
This processes once fired .223 brass so that it is ready to trim etc.  
It goes VERY fast, just crank the handle.  Its fast enough that you 
have to be careful about making your arm and shoulder sore.  I think 
Dillon should have a spade type handle as an option for more comfort.  
This is more important for the commercial loaders and serious shooters 
like myself that do a lot of reloading.

Dillon, as normal, is VERY VERY VERY helpful if you call them for 
assistance.  I had some problems with the motor in the case collator.  
I called them up, they are sending me a new motor.  At first the motor 
jammed and would not start.  After I spoke to them I took out the motor 
(it was only 5 screws) and then took the motor apart and got it un-jammed. 
It still does not work perfectly, it doesn't always start and does not 
seem to have enough power but the new motor should fix all of that.

The technician at Dillon stated that he had NEVER seen a case go in 
the feeder upside down.  Well I have seen it happen twice with .223.  
It is possible but does not happen very often.  Watching how it happens 
and trying to make it happen, I feel that it would NEVER happen on a 
longer rifle case such as .308.  The pistol system is a fair amount 
different and probably would not happen there either.  I wanted to see 
what happened with the upside down case, so I just continued and let 
it go through the system.  It made it all the way to the shell plate 
but of course did not go in, it just fell over.  I felt that this was 
OK, it does not mess anything up and you just miss one round.  The worst 
that could happen is that round might get dented if you did not realize 
it in time.

Someone asked about what it needs as far as a bench to mount it to.
I mounted it to the same bench my other presses are mounted to and
had no problem. My bench is made out of 2 x 12s and mounted to the
wall directly.  I have a leg directly under the press area and a 
reinforcement piece of 1x4 running strating back directly under the
press.  This helps a lot with the torque.

A couple of people have asked if I was going to sell my old 550. The
answer is no, I have 3 550s and will still be using them.

I am VERY pleased with the unit and would recommend it to anyone doing 
a lot of reloading.  The total price with the case feeder option and
powder check option is around $550.

Also, if you are not already on their mailing list, call the number 
below and ask to get "the Blue Press", it is Dillon's catalog/newsletter.

Dillon Precision Products Inc.
800-421-7632
602-948-8009
602-998-2786 (fax)

-------------------------------------
Mark Sproul - KB2ICI