I have a new 650. Here's the problem: looking at the unit from the front-- the .32 cases are landing off center(to the right) of the slot in the staion 1 locator. Then when the slide starts to push the case forward most of the time the case will jam on the side of the locator just in front of the vee the guides the case into the slot. Anyone else have trouble feeding .32 cases??
Can't help you with your Dillon problem but would like to know what loads you are using and for what. Just use mine for plinking. Have an older Bisley 6" that I shoot very rarely with Hornady 100gr. and W296. Just got ahold of some 100gr. commerical cast that I would like to work up a cheaper plinking load. Thanks Dan and welcome aboard.
I have had great success with H110 and a 100 grn hardcast lswc. I've been meaning to try Lil'gun powder as I've heard it gives better velocity with lower pressures. I shoot the load above in both my Ruger SSM and my rifle.
-Mike
Posts: 4865 | Location: Lakewood, CO | Registered: 07 February 2002
For the .32 H&R Magnum in my 10" Contender, I use 3.0 grains of Titegroup and have recently tried AA #5 (don't recall the charge of the AA #5 right now). Both give great groups, both pushing a 100 gr., .309 dia. cast bullet.
------------------ -Dino IHMSA #56176 A man said to the universe: "Sir, I exist!" "However," replied the universe, "That fact has not created in me a sense of obligation." - Stephen Crane
I've had the same problem with 9X19 cases. My solution was to highly polish the flat and groove of the locator where the case lands before it goes into the V groove. That way it doesn't catch and stay tilted. I've been meaning to call Dillon. It seems to me the solution for small cases is to eliminate that groove at the landing. That seems to me to be the problem.
Posts: 1261 | Location: Placerville, CA, US of A | Registered: 07 January 2001
All the right pieces are in place. Called Dillon they say other than filling in the bottom grove in the station locator(which is there to allow for high primers) engineer your own fix. Nice to spend a total of over a $1000 dollars with a company that says "you figure it out" During the whole conversation this guy Lawson just wanted to impress me by saying he knows everything about presses and all the guy wanted to do was blame that stupid groove. Didn't want to hear that the casing drops so far off to the right center it doesn't even want to feed past the vee. So, yes Bob338 if your case is tilting and that tilt is causing a problem fill in the groove. I'll just have to take a pic of the off-center casing and put it on my web site to see if someone has a cure.
z1r --- Mike ---- on your reply you said something about the load for the 32 H&R mag in your SSM and your "Rifle" !!! What kind of rifle may I ask .. I've been wanting a 32 in a rifle for some time now but not in the T/C contender -- something more traditional to match the ruger Bisely I have in the 32 ... Thanks Mac in Wa.
quote:Didn't want to hear that the casing drops so far off to the right center it doesn't even want to feed past the vee.
I just dumped a bunch of cases (.357) in the feeder and cycled them through the press. Every case drops off center (towards the rear of the press). So far off center that I can see between the case rim and the locator. Every case slid into position without a hitch. I would call Dillon and demand a new locator. Sounds as if you may have gotten a bad one. Could be mismarked. Even the mighty Dillon fails on occassion.
Something in the size of the smaller cases causes the problem. I too have no problems with 38/357, and several larger cases for which I also have the setup. The only feeding problem I've ever had is with the smallest cases for which I load, the 9X19 and the 9X21.
When I called Dillon way back when, they sent me a different locator that was the same as for some other very large cases. The one they sent was unnumbered but doesn't have the "Vee" funnel on it. Just a ridge on each side, relying on the plastic round part to center it as it's pushed to the shellholder plate. It was more erratic than the original as the cases wouldn't always go into the shellholder. I do think the answer might be to fill in the groove of the locator at the landing, up to the beginning of the Vee. I'll do that with expoxy and see how that works, though highly polishing the locator did pretty well.
I'm not sure why that groove should be there anyway. How are you going to get high primers on fired cases?
Posts: 1261 | Location: Placerville, CA, US of A | Registered: 07 January 2001
Eddie I can feed 38.spec thru as fast as I can pull the handle, and yes, they too fall off center but they are just big enough that that don't catch and jam on the beginning of the vee. The only way,so far, to keep cases from falling off center is to push the handle shaft to the right very hard as you cycle the machine. Point here is that the press has enough slop in the pivot points to over correct for the off center feed. However the press should default to center. I wonder how .223 caliber casings feed? I will change heads back to .32 either tomorrow or Monday(retired)and see how filling in the groove works and post.
Almost forgot. Dillon made several design changes on the 650 fairly recently(?) so the older presses may have never had this problem. One design change is direct to the station locator. In the video they show a station locator that has a hole on the underside close to the shell plate for a small spring. On my press if you put a spring in the hole there is nothing underneath to hold the spring, it would just fall out. They changed the powder measure assembly. Anyone know where on the web I might find a parts diagram on a 650?
I'll be interested to know about the "fix". I just finished loading all my 9mm brass, about 2500 rounds of it, so I don't even have the means to check the repair.
As for the spring in the hole, it really doesn't do much. I'm not sure of its purpose. On mine it feeds and loads well with or without it. The way to hold the spring in the hole is to slightly bend the end of the coil out slightly. That will hold it in the hole. Just screw it in, bottom it, and it will stay.
Dillon will send you an operating manual, free, if you just call and ask for it. It has the parts breakdown in it. I don't believe that hole is a recent modification.
Posts: 1261 | Location: Placerville, CA, US of A | Registered: 07 January 2001
Nashcat- no offense but as I said earlier I have spoken to Dillon, twice actually. The first tech got lost and I had to call back the next day and talk to Bill Lawson, the "GURU" of presses. Now I've been kicking around machine shops, iron shops(shop foreman), mechanical construction(project manager) for a long time. When I pay over $500 bucks for a machine and it doesn't work and the manufacterer's rep says that's just the way it is and I should engineer my own damn fix, well I begin to get the feeling somebody's blowing smoke up the pole.. I'm not through with Dillon yet, after I get the pictures taken and maybe even a Quicktime movie they will hear from me again. If I'm lucky one of their guys will machine a bdy bushing with an eccentric hole so as to drop the casing in the center of the station locator. Stay tuned
I wanted a lever gun but every Gunsmith I talked to couldn't guarantee that it would feed reliably. So, I had a new rifle built on an EA Brown action. It's a falling block action and even with a 22" barrel it is quite small. The balance is good and works well as a squirrel gun. Like the TC it has a .308 bore barrel. I've fired all sorts of .312 cast and factory loads through it and no problems. It's great. The only nit I have to pick is that the trigger pull is too light for my tastes. I neglected to specify that this was to be a hunting rifle and should have a commensurate trigger pull. One day I'll send it back for adjustment but I have too much fun with it to let it out for too long.
It shoots great and has the added advantage of not having to conform to the published OAL. I seat all my hot "RIFLE ONLY" loads long so they cannot be chambered into the cylinder of my Ruger.
I truly wish Marlin would produce a model 94 chambered in this round. With a 24" barrel you could load it once and shoot all day.
-Mike
Posts: 4865 | Location: Lakewood, CO | Registered: 07 February 2002
Back to the original question for a bit. I bought a used 650 conversion for .32 S&WL/MAG and didn't really notice that the station 1 locater had the groove filled in with thin strips of cloth medical tape to make it a smooth surface.
I never realized why but reading this post tells me why. I have loaded lots of ammo with this converion and have had no problems. The fix to your problem may be easier than you think. I bought the conversion from a Bullseye shooter who obvoiously had the same problem and fixed it.
Posts: 84 | Location: Southeast AZ | Registered: 25 November 2000
FIXED -- Setup the press with washers underneath so it is out of plum, gravity takes care of the rest. OK, maybe not the most technically engineered solution but it worked. And yes, I did fill in the slot like Dillon had suggested.
