Dillon XL 650

[Dlachance]

Considering picking up one of these in April.

http://m.dillonprecision.com/mcontent/p/9/pid/23803/catid/1/XL_650

Do any of you guys have experience with them, reliability, build quality etc? On another board, a bunch of guys really like thee things. I dont know too much about reloading in general, though. Also, are there any public shooting ranges around the df/w area where I can retrieve larger caliber casings.

Thanks

[slowyellow]

Dillon in particular is the caddy of reloading equipment. I've got a 650 and absolutely love it! Very good build quality and some of the best customer service out there. There will be no buyers remorse if you pick one up.

[Dlachance]

Thanks for the info. As far as setup, did you have any intial issues? Good customer support is a plus. Which calibers do you load? Any pics of the setup?

I appreciate it!

[CJ]

The 650 is the cheapest Dillon auto-indexer. The benefit is faster reloading, the detriment is caliber conversions are more expensive than the 550. It all depends on how much you want to reload. If you don't plan on doing runs of 1,000 rounds at a time, than a 550 would probably be better, cheaper, and easier. If you do runs of 1,000 rounds or more at a time, a 650 is better. As far as quality, they are the best.

[Dlachance]

Well since the new car is out of the question, I'll be able to spend a bit more on this project. Initially want to do a 2500 round run of .45 230gr jhp's. Based on my limited research, 4.9grams/round is ideal? Will go ahead and get the dies for .357 and 9mm while I'm at it, 1000 .357 and a few thousand 9mm. Going to have to do quite a bit of research though. Not sure on how often I'll reload, since it will be here at the house. I have a couple friends who'll be using it while I'm gone though.

[CJ]

Well since the new car is out of the question, I'll be able to spend a bit more on this project. Initially want to do a 2500 round run of .45 230gr jhp's. Based on my limited research, 4.9grams/round is ideal? Will go ahead and get the dies for .357 and 9mm while I'm at it, 1000 .357 and a few thousand 9mm. Going to have to do quite a bit of research though. Not sure on how often I'll reload, since it will be here at the house. I have a couple friends who'll be using it while I'm gone though.

Powder is measured in grains, as is bullet weight. But yes, 4.9 grains sounds about right for a bullseye load, that would be on the softer side. 4 low, 5 normal, 6 hot, generally. I use bullseye for most plinking pistol rounds because it's super cheap and efficient. Just make sure you seat the bullets correctly, and you crimp them. .45 is the trickiest to get right, as it can jam quite a bit if you mess up the seating depth or the crimp. Since .45 headspaces on the rim of the case if you over crimp it jams. If you under crimp, it jams.

[Dlachance]

Powder is measured in grains, as is bullet weight. But yes, 4.9 grains sounds about right for a bullseye load, that would be on the softer side. 4 low, 5 normal, 6 hot, generally. I use bullseye for most plinking pistol rounds because it's super cheap and efficient. Just make sure you seat the bullets correctly, and you crimp them. .45 is the trickiest to get right, as it can jam quite a bit if you mess up the seating depth or the crimp. Since .45 headspaces on the rim of the case if you over crimp it jams. If you under crimp, it jams.

Might take a bit of practice to get it right, and would get expensive if not done right. Would 9mm even be worth it to run? They are pretty cheap in the first place. Although, if I'm going to go ahead and run the others, may as well. Not that I'm doing for profit, (which I'm not), in the case that I would need to sell, are people inclined to buy personally made rounds instead of store bought, or are they worried about if it shoots well or not?

[CJ]

Might take a bit of practice to get it right, and would get expensive if not done right. Would 9mm even be worth it to run? They are pretty cheap in the first place. Although, if I'm going to go ahead and run the others, may as well. Not that I'm doing for profit, (which I'm not), in the case that I would need to sell, are people inclined to buy personally made rounds instead of store bought, or are they worried about if it shoots well or not?

You can't sell unless you have an FFL to do so. The insurance is fucking insane, it makes it completely unrealistic to even consider. I've looked into it many times, it's a whole lot of money to do. It's a case of government intervention killing business. Unless you can sell 20k/rds a month minimum, forget it.

As for 9mm it is worth it last time I checked, you need to buy bullets is very large bulk to get your costs down. 9mm cases are EVERYWHERE, I regularly sell 2-5k of them a month. bullets and primers are your primary unit cost drivers for 9mm.

[Dlachance]

Very well. In bulk, I'm assuming you're talking 5-10k+? As stated in first post, where can I located brass on the cheap, if you dont mind.

[CJ]

Very well. In bulk, I'm assuming you're talking 5-10k+? As stated in first post, where can I located brass on the cheap, if you dont mind.

Hell I can make you a good deal on brass if you like, I pick it up quite frequently. Yes bulk is 5k+

[Dlachance]

Hell I can make you a good deal on brass if you like, I pick it up quite frequently. Yes bulk is 5k+

PM me some prices, if you'd like. I may Not be able to pick any up though before I ship. The loader will be ready in April. I appreciate it!

Edit: also, why the hell am I having a hard time locating small primers?

[CJ]

PM me some prices, if you'd like. I may Not be able to pick any up though before I ship. The loader will be ready in April. I appreciate it!

Edit: also, why the hell am I having a hard time locating small primers?

primers can really be a bitch sometimes, when you see a good deal make sure you post it up here. I posted up a smoking good deal on rifle primers last week. During the 08 election, they almost vanished completely.

[slowyellow]

Thanks for the info. As far as setup, did you have any intial issues? Good customer support is a plus. Which calibers do you load? Any pics of the setup?

I appreciate it!

The only issue that I had was with the bullet shoot catching on something. I just had to make a very small bend and it was good. I load 9mm, 45 ACP, and 223 on my 650. If you have the money, I'd HIGHLY recommend the auto case feeder. I think that doubled, hell maybe even tripled my production times. That is also one of the huge advantages of the 650, is that it is setup to run that case feeder right out of the box.

I do reload 9MM, and I think that it is well worth it. You just have to grab components when you can at a bargain. You'll see yourself start thinking in the thousands instead of hundreds as far as what you need to buy. And with pistol rounds powder goes a LONG way compared to rifle. That should probably go without saying, but when I started loading rifle I was like, "sweet jesus where is all of the powder going", lol.

Here are some pics of my setup.

[Dlachance]

That is a really nice setup you have there! Do you have to gauge every single casing? Benifits of carbide?

[CJ]

That is a really nice setup you have there! Do you have to gauge every single casing? Benifits of carbide?

You do on rifle cases, not on pistol. Carbide makes it a little easier on pistol cartridges without lube, but the benefits are rarely worth the extra cost, you'll never wear out a standard die.