Originally Posted by
sargenv
As good as the 550's are, and even with the case feeder that they now offer... I've had three of four friends blow up their firearm of choice when double charging their pistol case using their manual index 550's.. I have several friends who use the auto index SDB, 650, and 1050's and none of them have ever had the experience of a double charge kaboom. Yes the 650 is a bit steep.. I had the priviledge of using a pro 1000, and previous to that my Rock Chucker for en mass loading.. nothing compares to the 650 in speed of loading and/or changeover from caliber to caliber. It takes me about 15 mins to completely change over from small pistol (40 S&W) to large rifle (30-30, 308 win) which includes die changeover, primer punch changeover, case feed changeover, and powder measure changeover. The calibration of the dies and final set of the crimp etc takes a few more mins.
In addition to loading ammo, I also use the 650 to seat the cores in the 9mm brass that I then later swage with the die from BT Sniper in my 9mm into jacketed 40 S&W bullets.. It can really speed up that process. I have a friend who had the Hornady but he sold it and picked up a 650. There is a reason (besides marketing) that Dillon Blue is so popular. My press has some quirks, but to use anything else would likely really drive me crazy.. When I'm really cranking and in the groove, I'm making my 40 S&W's at the rated 800 ish per hour. Whenever I've broken something.. it's been because I've been impatient, if you don't do what I've done, it will simply keep on cranking out ammo..