Dillion XL650

[warf73]

About to maybe almost kind of get serious about buying a 650. But with dies powder cop and the press shipped to the homestead I'm basicly at $725 which leaves no money for case feeder at this time.
My question is how many brass does the tube hold that feeds the press? I'll be reloading 380acp at first then 40s&w but would like to know about how many brass fit in the tube before I'll have to drop more in.

Just a guess would be great.

Anything to watch for on the 650 (currently run a 550B) that I should know about. I've not read anything that really jumps at me but nothing saying I didn't over read something.

Thanks Robert aka Warf73

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Robert,

The tube is not really long, but you can make your own collator/case feeder for it. Anything from modifying a Lee collator to a full powered feeder. They're not impossible to make at all and not necessarily expensive. Check out this link to a powered one recently made by Pablo 5959:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?270152-30-00-DIY-case-feeder

[Rottweiler]

The tube is about 18 inches long. I'd guess about 20-25 .40's or about 25-30 .380's

[jeepyj]

I know it hold exactly 14 pieces 38 spls
Jeepyj

[jmorris]

You can also make the tube taller to hold more and get extra tubes that you can load cases into and use similar to the way you use the primer filler tubes.

[flyingrhino]

I made my own case feeder. As noted above you can also get tubes from HD or Lowes, pvc or cpvc, and make preloaded tubes just like the primer tubes.

I personally don't have a powder cop, never saw the need for one and have never had an over or under charge. That's in 20 years of using a 650. I position myself so I can see the powder level in the case and that works for me. Others swear by them. Until about a year ago I didn't have the case or bullet feeder. I built them both and wish I had done it years ago.

You will love the 650.

[rodsvet]

Sell the 550 and buy the whole setup. You will want to get more tool heads, measures, etc. anyway. As long as you have a single stage for fooling around, you will be set. Rod

[KAYDADOG]

If your not loading 500-1000 rounds at one sitting you can easily hand feed the cases at an even pace. Everybody wants to see how fast they can load rounds what's the point. Take your time and the machine will produce quality rounds. Optional items can always be purchased at a later date. I own two 650 presses and an older 1050 press and one cartridge feeder only used if loading 500 plus rounds at one time. Dillon presses are one of the best out there. If your doing multiple calibers at least buy the extra die plates. Once there set up caliber changes are relatively easy. I purchased the second 650 to only load rifle calibers in a semi-auto mode. Use Redding competition dies. First pass do neck sizing and primer seating only. Second pass, first manually load powder from powder measure then seat and crimp to finish round. The Redding dies have micrometer settings for depth. On the last station I also have a Mahr/Federal digital bar graph gauge to check repeatability within 0.0001".
Like others have said manual collators can be used. I made three different tube sizes that I have setups for my Dillon 1050 press and Star sizer. Eight tubes hold about 150/cases or about 200/bullets for sizing. For small runs manual collators work just as good if not better in some cases. Just need to put some designing into setup.
Buy quality equipment to start and you'll never regret doing so. You can always add on.
Good Luck

[John J]

It will hold 20-40cal & 24-380s

John J

[warf73]

Thanks everyone,
When I get the press, looks like I'll make some tubes to get me by.
I don't load fast on the 550 but when I set down to load 380acp or 40 S&W its min of 1000. There have been times were I've sat down before a big prairie dog hunt and load up 2k 204 ruger, 1k 223, and 1k 22-250. Not done a big hunt in a while but have done it a few times. Just an OCD thing about 1k loaded rounds for guns that are shot allot. With the purchase the of the 650 I can see the OCD number expanding to 2k if not 4k for the 380 & 40 and possible the 357 since I'm really digging the wheel gun.

Thanks guys for the numbers and the help in making due until I can make or buy a case feeder.

Robert

[Handloader109]

I'd second the comments on ignoring the powder cop, have one and as a fairly new 650xl owner coming from a ss press, I looked in each as I placed the bullet anyway, just me, but I'd have a plan for the case feeder. It is a great feature.

[sparky45]

Why not give this a look? http://sassnet.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=233964
Not sure this link will work, but this guy has "invented" a modification that will allow you to have a "DILLEE" casefeeder that will work on a Dillon progressive. He has his set up on a 650, but it should work on a 550 or 1050 for that matter. This guy is a Cowboy Action Shooter, hence the sassnet link.
Total cost for this setup is approx. $50.

[Mauser48]

The guy at my gun shop owns a few 650s. He loads pretty fast and said he has never out run the case feeder to where he had to wait for the tube to fill up again. I wouldn't worry about an extended tube.

[warf73]

Why not give this a look? http://sassnet.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=233964
Not sure this link will work, but this guy has "invented" a modification that will allow you to have a "DILLEE" casefeeder that will work on a Dillon progressive. He has his set up on a 650, but it should work on a 550 or 1050 for that matter. This guy is a Cowboy Action Shooter, hence the sassnet link.
Total cost for this setup is approx. $50.
Ver slick set up that should fit the bill till a later date if I replace it at all.

[flyingrhino]

Case and bullet feeders aren't necessarily for speed. I really don't load much faster than before. It's just more leisurely now and I can pay more attention to watching what's going on. Also, no more pinched fingers putting the bullet on the case. I find reloading more relaxing now that I've got the auto feeders.

[jmorris]

The guy at my gun shop owns a few 650s. He loads pretty fast and said he has never out run the case feeder to where he had to wait for the tube to fill up again. I wouldn't worry about an extended tube.

A little confusion here partially due to Dillon's wording.

The 650 comes from the factory, as standard equipment, with the tube, tube bracket and the entire device that feeds cases from the tube into the shell plate. Most would call that part the case feed.

Dillon sells as an option a collator that takes a pile of brass and drops them out all base down into the supplied tube. They call this collator or case feed feeder, simply the case feeder.

My suggestion on a longer tube was so the op, who didn't want to buy the "hopper"/collator, a way to have a larger capacity.

[firebrick43]

After loading on a 550 and owning a 650 I would rather have a 550 if the was no case feeder. I find the 650 very unergonomic without a collator. The case feeder makes the 650!

I also at one time owned a lee loadmaster and it collator was one of the surprisingly nice (and simple) things about it. The dillee collator mentioned above is something I could live with if I had to!

I personally don't see the need for an individual to own a 550 and a 650 so my suggestion would be as mentioned to sell the 550 and spend the money for all the farkle so as the roller handle, strong mount, bullet tray, a lot of heads/conversion kits, and collator with a metric s$@t ton of akro bins.

[EddieNFL]

If I could have only one, it would be a 550. I'm glad I didn't have to choose.

[shootinfox2]

Remember, Dillon makes a case feeder for the 550.

[EddieNFL]

Remember, Dillon makes a case feeder for the 550.

For pistols cartridges.

[rodsvet]

I've had both 550 and 650's. Both are good machines. I bought one of the first 650's over 20 years ago and a 550 about 1 year ago. I still have the 650 but sold the 550 after about 2 months. Probably just me, but after you have a machine that does everything but set the bullet for you, (and you can get it to do that too), I just could not get used to all the hand movements to make the 550 work well. I found that I used my RC for anything under 100 rounds. Now I have had alignment problems and wore out several parts over the years. Some parts I broke by being impatient, but over all The 650 is one hell of a machine. And the no BS warranty has kept me buying blue over green or red. Just my .02, Rod

[jmorris]

After owning either auto indexing progressive or single stage/turret presses for decades I piced up a 550 to bridge the gap between rounds I don't load enough to convert a 650 or 1050 over but more than I like to load on a turret or single stage.