A fellow I work with is selling a Dillon XL 650 with shell plates for 44 mag and 9mm. I have been thinking of purchasing a progressive press, but am unfamiliar with Dillon. Is this an excellent press? What should I pay for it? It is apparently new and unused but several years old. It does not have any of the accessories like auto case feed and powder checker.

Thanks,

Thomas

Case feeder is standard feature if i dont remember wrong. I think i had to order my powder check as extra, but i only used it the first time and then i dismounted it.
The press is excellent and works fine for me, and i have loaded from .40s&w to 375HH.

I recommend one or two extra tool-head's so the caliberchange becomes easyer, if you have the money, buy an extra powder-station as well.

My first experience was that i needed to work on the casted materal and moving parts at the powder-measure to make it glide smooth, after that everything has been hassel-free.

A small hint, dont always buy the complete conversion kit's from Dillon, save money and check the table in the back of the manual , you will see that many shellplates and powderfunnels are the same for some calibers.
Go for it !

No, the case feeder does not come with the basic press,($172.95 with one case feed plate). What you get with the basic 650 press, is one set up for your chosen caliber complete with one tool head, auto primer feed with low primer alarm and both size primer disks. This does not include dies. The powder sensor is extra,(mine works just fine).

You would pay around $443.95 for the basic press. Add about $65.00 for another caliber conversion, and $15.95 for another tool head. Definetly get a tool head for every caliber,(that's what slides into the press, the dies screw into it), it lets you set the dies once and simply slide the tool head in.



This is mine, I have 6 caliber conversions at the present time.



Here it is set up to load .223. That's the Hornady case activated powder die with the Hornady measure. I didn't want to mess around with the Dillon bar type measure for the fine ball powder I use for .223,(WC 844). I also load .308, that would require a magnum Dillon measure bar.

If this guy offers it for around 400 bucks, grab it. Otherwise go to www.brianenos.com there's quite a bit of price reduction through him. His price for the 650 is $399.95!

The Hornady powder measure is much better for Varget than the Dillon measue.
JCN

Please, tell us more about using the Hornady powder measure on the Dillon presses.

Hammer

Okay. The shell activated die is available direct from Hornady or thru various internet reloading acessory providers. Midway has them for $45.79 on this url http://www.midwayusa.com/rewriteabrowse/2/701/9315***731***

It will also work with the RCBS powder measure.By buying the powder die itself,(next item under the case activated die kit), you can move the measure without having to unscrew the main die. That's if you load two or more calibers with the Dillon like I do.

It works much the same as the dillon measure, but transforms the upward movement into a rotary motion to work the drum on the measure. Mine works slick as whale snot!



I turned the powder sensor backwards to work in station #4 so the powder measure could be in station #2. Because it only works if a case is present, there's no spilled powder if a case fails to feed.

I don't think there's any contest that the Hornady measure will work better and be more accurate than the Dillon measure and it's easier to set.

Thanks for the great information.

Will that fit on a Dillon 550B?

I'm not sure if there's enough room for it on a 550B, I don't have one. It will screw into any press or tool head with a 7/8X14 thread. IIRC the 550B has 4 die stations on a smaller tool head? I'll take a pic of the tool head without the powder sensor die on it so you can see the whole die, linkage and how big or bulky it is. BRB.





It's up to you to decide if it'll fit on your tool head. It can be turned any which way. I just prefer to have it positioned with the adjusting screw to the left.

As for the smoothness of operation, I've loaded several thousand .223's and a hat full of .308's without a single hickup.

Grizz,
is it Hornady BR powder measure you're using or the "standard" L'n'L edition?

I use mye XL 650 for loading match ammo in .6BR and use vv N150 powder. Because I couldn't use the Dillon measure because of the much too high deviation I have trickled every load and simply replaced the measure with a big funnel on top of the power die. This works but is very time consuming. Even my RCBS Charge Master often misses the charge with .1-.3 grains. Have you tried N150 with your configuration? If this workes it is almost too good to be true... A deviation of .1 gr I'm willing to live with, but I feel a bigger one would affect this little cartridge too much.

Thank you!

if you look at the midway add - the hornady set up is all spelled out. it does work very well, especially for rifle calibers. I still use the dillon one for pistol, but mainly because i've got the toolheads set up for them. 650 is one great setup. I would think a figure of 300 would be more than fair. You will want the casefeeder. the only problem i really find with all the progressives is that you have to really concentrate on what you're doing. there's no such thing as watching a tv out of one eye and loading with the other.

+1 Butchloc, especially the parts about needed a casefeeder and not watching TV. You have to concentrate with a progressive................DJ

Another good way to go is the new powder measure from Johnson Design Specialties. There are adds for it in Handloadermagazine. They have a set up for your Dillon. No kernel cutting, and a true +/- .1 Grain accuracy.

LD