550B vs 650

[kpep]

I'm currently thinking about another press. I have two 1050's (not the supers). Anyone have thoughts about the 650 over the 550B? Only about $140 more for the 650. I'm used to the auto indexing on the 1050 and understand that the 550B does not have it. I can't load the rifle cal. I want on my 1050's. Although the 550B states it loads more different cal' then the 650. I've never used the 550B or the 650. Any info or suggestions would be appreciated.

[August]

Do we have to use enhanced interrogation techniques to get you to tell us the caliber in question???

[ddeaton]

caliber conversions for the 550 are less expensive, but I dont have any runtime on them myself. I have 2 650's and am very happy with them. Dale53 loads on a 550 and he really likes it. I load 45acp on one and 223 on the other. I keep one set up for small and one for large primers and intend to get caliber conversions after I recover from these $$$.

Here is a couple links for some good Dillon info including a topic matching exactly your thread.
http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showforum=78

http://www.brianenos.com/pages/dillon.html#which

[Russ in WY]

I like them just fine, Yes they are manual index, but thats the way I started & it is all in what one gets use to I guess. As mention the Cal conversion are cheaper & from what I have seen & heard here the Primer feed on the 550's are a bit more user friendly. Loading mostly rifle now ,but have loaded many 45 ACP in the past. My 2¢. Russ.

[housedad]

I have been fairly pleased with my 550 B over the years since I bought it new. I think it was 1988 or so. over 250K rounds and still going strong.

However, there seems to be a mixup every once in a while while loading (everytime my screwup, not the machine) and I have to be extra vigilant to not drop a double charge. Many calibers will overflow and tell you you have a problem, but some of the pistol calibers have given me headaches.

For that reason alone, I would have gone with the 650 if it had been around when I bought the 550B. That would be one source of worry off my head. It would have been worth the difference in price for the unit and conversions.

I will be buying a 650 at the end of the year.

What about the the 550B? From my cold, dead hands...



Bion

[mike in co]

yes i think volume and number of calibers involved is a big part of the equation. i load small lots of lots of calibers...so the 550 is good for me( yes i occassionally run big lots5-6k, but more likely to run 10 or so mixed cal 100-200 rnd lots)

mike in co

[Rick459]

kpep,
i own a 650 and two 550B's. if you are looking just to load blasting ammo to feed high fire rate wepons and need to load alot at one sitting then the 650 is the way to go. if you want to load more precission quality rifle rounds then the 550 is more suitable whereas you have more control with it.
one of the most important steps in making any match quailty rifle rounds on any machine is "CASE PREP". ok now on to the misconseption that a progressive press with auto index will prevent one from getting double charges. most double charges are on a progressive presses and are caused by Half Stroking the press.
that is why Dillon changed the linkage design on their powder measures. for those of you that don't know what half stroking is, that is when you do not bring the shell plate platform all the way back down on the up stroke.(which can happen when one is moving too fast loading) the new Dillon powder measure linkage prevents the powder bar from moving all the way to the left to pick a up another powder charge during a half stroke;
if you own a Dillon with the new powder measure linkage(the one with no springs) you can put a case in station 2 and see for yourself. it doesn't matter if you have a 550 or 650. the only way to get a double charge the 550 with the new linkage is to not rotate the shell plate. as for the priming system being the weak point on the 650...then i must be blessed as i have owned my 650 since 1995 and have not experinced any sideways,up side down or blown primers. but then i don't deprime on my Dillons. i pre-prep all my brass(hand gun and rifle) which includes depriming them and cleaning the primer pockets. so i guess the secret to keeping your progressive running smoothly is keeping it clean. HTH
one more thing, you can use the Dillon Powder Check on the 550 for rifle rounds as long as you don't crimp them. the powder check goes in ststion 3 with the seater in station 4. will post a pic latter of my modified tool head(just need to drill 1 hole for the dillon powder check) using the dillon powder check. you could also use the RCBS or Hornady powder check in station 3 without having to drill any holes. HTH

Rick

[hotwheelz]

I have and use both got my 550 first about 8yrs ago picked up my first 650 around 3 yrs ago. I really like the 650 for case prep work ie: depriming and resizing rifle case with the case feeder this really speeds things up. I think I am as fast with the 550 as I am with 650 b/c if you dont police your brass 100% you will have problems with the case feeder by this I mean if your loading 9mm and have a stray 40cal case in there it can be a pain when you go to remove the feeder tube to get the 40cal brass out it has a tendancey to get the rest of the brass all over the floor. I admit this is my own fault not the machine. I dont like that the 650 can and will let you leave the primmer way high on my 550 if the primmer is even a smidge high the shell plate will not rotate once again this is operator error not the machine but like most people I am not a robot and sometimes I dont do things perfectly. I use both and think they are fine machines but I would take my 550 if I only had 1 to chose from.

[housedad]

kpep,
if you own a Dillon with the new powder measure linkage(the one with no springs) you can put a case in station 2 and see for yourself. it doesn't matter if you have a 550 or 650. the only way to get a double charge the 550 with the new linkage is to not rotate the shell plate.
Rick

I really did not realize after all these years that there was a change in the measure. I looked at the diagrams on the dillon site, and they are a new design from mine. I have 8 powder measures. I will call Dillon for a new belcrank upgrade.

Imagine not knowing all these years.

[Rick459]

here's a link

http://www.ericwesselman.com/DillonPowderMeasure/

[yarro]

I had 2 550s (one with the casefeeder) and switched to one 650. I like the 650 much better. The conversion plate in a better design on the 650. I broke one doing .308 on the 550 while the 650 will rip the rim of the case before that happens. I also broke a 9mm one on the 550. I have never had any flipped or sideways primers on the 650. I have had that happen on the 550. Changing calibers maybe takes me an extra minute on the 650 when compared to changing calibers on the 550 with casefeeder. Auto indexing is nice as it is another motion you don't have to make. The extra station is nice for powder check when loading smokeless though if you are loading something takes takes very little powder it may not catch something out of whack enough to be dangerous so it is not a excuse not to measure a charge occasionally. Sometimes I add another measure with filler if loading BP using my Black Dawg conversion measures (Don't use an unconverted measure for BP). Some use a compression die there when loading BP.

For pistol, I just clean the cases, dump them in the feeder and go. For rifle, I size de-prime on my single stage press, trimer, clean pockets, inspect then on to the Dillon for all the rest. I plan on getting the Dillon power trimmer/sizer next to speed things up. You can go much faster with the 650 casefeeder that the 550 casefeeder. That being said, I actually got the 550 casefeeder to work with .223, 7.62x39, and 6.8 SPC. It just takes some conversion parts from the 650 to make it work and you have to be smooth in the operation of the press so the taller cases don't fall over. That was an issue with .357 mag when trying to go fast with the 550 casefeeder as well. I keep thinking that a bullet feeder with a collator would be awesome, but I can lift a lot of bullets for 500 bucks.

As far as how a 650 compares to a super 1050, I know one person who has a 650, 1050, and super 1050. He stated that he sees little to no increase in production when reloading rifle on the super 1050 over the 650. He does see an increase over the 650 when reloading pistol on the super 1050 and has stated that the 1050 is faster still. He said that he would not buy a super 1050 if he did it over again unless he was going to reload military rifle brass without doing the resizing/case prep separately.

-yarro

[WildmanJack]

kpep,
if you own a Dillon with the new powder measure linkage(the one with no springs) you can put a case in station 2 and see for yourself. it doesn't matter if you have a 550 or 650.
Rick

Rick,I have an RL 550 and I can throw multiple charges if I'm not careful. If I don't move the shell plate I can just keep pulling the handle and fill the case to the top if I want. My Dillon is less than a year old, am I missing something here? Do I need to get them to send me some new parts? I do have an older powder drop ( the one with the springs) but all the rest are the new ones without springs and unless I misunderstand you, they will throw mulitple powder charges no matter what.
If I am wrong or misinterpreted what you said please forgive me, but I'm always lookin to learn.. Thanks

Jack

[Rick459]

wildmanjack,
if you can get a double charge on your powder measure with the new bell crank upgrade half or short stroking the press, then you need to call dillon to find out why. what the neww bellcrank does is to keep the charge bar from moving all the way back to the left to pick up another charge when you half stroke or short stroke the press and charge the same case twice(or double charge) read the link i posted a couple post back. he explains better than me.

Rick

[garandsrus]

Keep in mind that a lot of folks like the old style (springs) powder drop better than the bell crank. The old style is much smoother.

I have a 550 and 650. I like them both. The 550 is better for short runs of multiple calibers while the 650 is better for a long run of one caliber. I also like the 650 with a case feed for rifle case prep.

John