Drank the kool aid, went blue yesterday.

[TheDoctor]

Friend had a totally tricked out 650 he was wanting to sell. Wound up trading him a pistola for it. Both of us are happy, and the values of each are fairly equivalent. Never understood the attraction for these things, but after spending the past few hours taking it apart and going over it, all I can say is WOW. Granted, if there was something on this that could have been upgraded or improved, it was. Even still, I am impressed, and since I fix complex things for a living, and my main gripe is poor engineering, impressing me is not a simple task. Main complaint I can see so far is going to be the cost of caliber conversions! Ouch. And I do NOT like what I see so far with the powder through expander design. Might be ok for jacketed, but will not work for cast. And I almost got a hernia packing this beast into the house!

[beeser]

...And I do NOT like what I see so far with the powder through expander design. Might be ok for jacketed, but will not work for cast...
Why do you think it will not work for cast lead bullets?

[TheDoctor]

Right now, it's set up for 9mm. The expander plug is not quite long enough. It will flare a case just fine, but it is not going to do anything to expand it properly. The plug measures .353, and that is not a good thing if your bullet is sized to .357. Waiting for a M die type ptx for a dillon, not sure when someone will make one.

[beeser]

Right now, it's set up for 9mm. The expander plug is not quite long enough. It will flare a case just fine, but it is not going to do anything to expand it properly. The plug measures .353, and that is not a good thing if your bullet is sized to .357. Waiting for a M die type ptx for a dillon, not sure when someone will make one.
Ran into similar problems with .32 ACP LSWC bullets. But there are solutions for the 650. You could resize at another station, possibly the spare set aside for the powder check. Or have a powder/resizing die specially made. I believe there is someone that makes them but don't recall a name at the moment.

[LUBEDUDE]

There is a guy on eBay making Dillon Powder Funnels. He may make you one to your specs.

[Artful]

Congrats, and several people here will machine the funnels for Dillon Die.

I'd start with a PM/Email to Buckshot
also you can PM/Email lathesmith

another option
http://www.mrbulletfeeder.biz/ - ask for Rick
http://www.mrbulletfeeder.com/contact/
Rick Koskela / RAK Systems, LLC / Mr.Bulletfeeder® /
480-235-8864
https://youtu.be/VNkxZ19wysU

[deepwater]

I am surprised that Dillon does not have a solution. They sell cast bullets. I would give them a call before I did anything else.

deepwater

[jmorris]

You say it's "tricked out" might want to make sure he didn't change the powder funnel out for a 1050 powder funnel.

A lot of folks swap out the 650 one with the 1050 one because one size fits all and they don't stick. What many don't realize is that the 1050 funnel (left) does not expand at all, only bells the mouth and the expander for the 1050 is on station #3 as part of the backup rod for the swager.

The 650 funnel (center) both the expander and bells the mouth.

http://i664.photobucket.com/albums/vv5/qvideo/IMG_20150414_231942_568_zpsrdhiqruf.jpg

[Artful]

Dillon says their existing Die works just fine with jacketed and cast
- refuse to see a problem so no solution needed per them.

[dudel]

And I do NOT like what I see so far with the powder through expander design. Might be ok for jacketed, but will not work for cast.

My 550 uses the same powder through expander setup, and it works fine for 9mm cast. You might want to try it first before dismissing it. Lots of people loading cast with 550/650 machines.

[Alexn20]

NOE makes expander plugs and powder through expander plugs.

Check this page: http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.php?cPath=89&osCsid=0ba91h72m5aup9roe8att3cmm4 & http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.php?cPath=91&osCsid=0ba91h72m5aup9roe8att3cmm4

[TheDoctor]

Has a 650 expander. When I say tricked out, talking about dillon strong mount, ergo roller handle, phenolic dent ball, shell plate bearings, cam rod bearing, live primer catcher bottle, spent primer catcher bottle, led lighting, bullet trays, alarms, electronic counter...about everything except an autodrive! And no bullet feeder....

[Ola]

I've not tried 9 mm, but .357 and .44 Mag expanders work great with cast. No need for improvement in that department.

[NavyVet1959]

Another of those things where you start to really wish you had a lathe. :)

[TheDoctor]

That ain't no joke! Have the "know how", just not the means!

[NavyVet1959]

That ain't no joke! Have the "know how", just not the means!

If you are careful, you could probably take a slightly larger expander, chuck it in a drill press, and use a file to decrease its diameter to just slightly larger than what the standard expander diameter is for that caliber. For a 9mm, maybe a 10mm expander would work after you worked on it a bit with a file while it was rotating in your drill press? Assuming the chuck on your drill press opens up large enough for the body of the expander. I haven't tried it, so I don't know what the diameter of the body of the expander happens to be.

[wcp4570]

I've loaded over 15k cast 9mm on a 650 with the Dillon caliber conversion and dies for 9mm and it just turns out quality ammo. Couldn't ask for anything better.

wcp

[wv109323]

I am in the same trap with a neck expander too small. My 9MM requires a .358 boolit.(.3565 bore). The expander is around .353 and when I stuff a .358 Boolit in the case the boolit is sized down. Thus the boolit keyholes.

[Petrol & Powder]

Blue Kool-Aid .......ahhhhhhhh, the best!

Dillon not only makes good products but they stand behind them, all of them.

[Moonman]

Get a MR BULLET FEEDER Powder Funnel, it works like a Lyman "M" die, swap out with the Dillon Powder Funnel.

[retread]

There is a guy on eBay making Dillon Powder Funnels. He may make you one to your specs.

I make my own. Simple machine job if you have access to a lathe.

[VHoward]

Get a MR BULLET FEEDER Powder Funnel, it works like a Lyman "M" die, swap out with the Dillon Powder Funnel.
I have Mr bullet feeder ptx for my 9mm, 357mag and 45acp I actually ordered another of the 357 mag ptx dies for my 9mm as I need to size my 9mm to .358 also. works like a charm. Also if you don't want to size down your cast bullets during the loading process, then also do not use Lee's factory crimp dies.. I like the seating and crimp dies from dillon as you came remove the innards of them to clean without losing your settings.

[runfiverun]

I took the Dillon 9mm die and put it back in the box.
I replaced it with a LEE carbide size die [it sizes the case less] then I swapped out the 9mm powder funnel with one of my 38 specials.
the one part you'll wanna get a couple of extras of is the primer advance arm.
I bent mine around and made it manual so I have to advance it each time by hand.

[offroader69]

Got the blue fever

[flyingrhino]

Right now, it's set up for 9mm. The expander plug is not quite long enough. It will flare a case just fine, but it is not going to do anything to expand it properly. The plug measures .353, and that is not a good thing if your bullet is sized to .357. Waiting for a M die type ptx for a dillon, not sure when someone will make one.

I use Mr. Bulletfeeder powder funnels. They are designed to expand the mouth just enough to make the bullet start from the dropping from the feeder die. They are great. I cast all my own and load nothing but cast.

[steelworker]

I have loaded thousands of 9mm MBC 147gr bullets. I tried using the Dillon powder measure, but I couldn't get it to work reliably at the very low end of the charge range. (only 2.9 power pistol IIRC) Instead I put the Lee powder thru die on with the Pro auto disk measure and I haven't looked back. This XL650 is my first Dillon, and all I can do is kick myself for not getting it years ago!