Just how strong is a Dillon 650?

[TheDoctor]

Busted 2 decapping pins on berdan brass the other day. I would have felt it easily on my rockchucker, but being new to the 650, didn't have the feel for it yet. Seems to have much greater leverage than the rockchucker, but is it as strong? More, less, same?

[Nueces]

I don't know about relative strength, but each stroke on a Dillon has a lot more going on than one on a single station press, which I expect reduces your ability to feel stuff on any single station.

[glockfan]

hold on. there,s definitely a ''feel'' you'll get through the lever at one point with experience on the 650. either feeling the decapping pin hitting a harder than usual one,or a tight flash hole when pushing the lever to prime the case at station 2. this fraction it takes to stop the motion when you get the feel that something is wrong right before it's too late lol.

[LUBEDUDE]

Nueces and glockfan are spot on. While I don’t have a 650 I do have a 550 and a few 1050’s. A 1050 has more going on than a 650 and I feel when something is not right.

[Iron Whittler]

I have a Dillon 650. As to strength, it is a match for most reloading presses. Mine is one of the very first ones offered to the public. I might suggest you use a lee universal deprime die by it's self on a tool head to deprime cases of unknown origin. it will lessen the problem of broken deprime pins. I doo this for most brass I load before putting them in the wet tumbler. You cases come out clean inside and out as well as the primer pockets. By doing this you will greatly extend the life of your loading dies as you are removing the grit on your cases which will wear you dies. Be safe, have fun.

[Tatume]

My experience with the Dillon XL650 is similar to what people here have already said. Whenever something is not right I can feel it. Then I lower the ram an inch and check, then raise it again. Usually it's a case that has moved slightly and wants to be centered in the shell holder. Lowering only an inch does not index the shell holder.

BTW, I've been loading since the mid-1970s and have never worn out a die. Neither have I ever seen a die that was worn out. Nor do I know anybody who claims to have worn out a die. Can somebody here show us an example of a worn out die?

[Valley-Shooter]

A worn out die usually has scratches in it from running dirty brass.
I have a Hornady 45 ACP sizer I scratched. I bought a brass tumbler soon after and a new set of dies.

[Reddirt62]

This is how I decap rifle brass.....and sometimes I have a size die in station 2.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[jmorris]

A decapping pin is as strong if the die is installed in a single stage as it is when installed in a progressive.

A Lee die, with it’s collet can save a lot of pins if you apply too much force.

Sizing is by far the most force you will apply at any one station. If just doesn’t take much force to throw a charge, seat and crimp. Get a bottle of Dillon spray lube and use two or three squirts on 200-300 cases and the force required to size even pistol brass will be reduced dramatically along with that will be an increase in “feel” because he process is smoother.

[Dan Cash]

How strong is a Dillon 650?
AS strong as it needs to be to do what it is intended to do.

[bgw45]

Imho, sort before breaking. I recycle all berdan brass to make a little coin.