[Vikingdad]

A neighbor brought by his new Dillon 650 for some help setting up. (I have a 550). We are setting up for 5.56/223. I never run the decapping/resizing die as I do that in a Rockchucker and then tumble them in corn cob to remove the case lube (Dillon lube), so the first station just puts the case into the rotation, then it goes to the prime and powder charge station. My first question is is there a way to stop the primer turret from rotating if you are going to stop feeding cases? I hate to feed primers out onto the floor (which is where they invariably will go).

Next station is the bullet seating and then next crimping. That leaves one die stations empty. Does anyone set up their 650 with all 5 stations having dies in them? If so, what dies do you put there?

Also, a side question. Am I wasting time by depriming/resizing separately? It is my understanding that the cases must not have any case lube on them as it will contaminate the powder and possibly kill the primer. Is this true or am I being overly cautious?

[JonM]

I use two tool heads for bottleneck cases. One with just the sizing decapping die and one with the powder seating and crimp die if im using cannelured bullets. I clean the cases then lube them using a cardboard 4sixpack soda flat case bottom. I use spray lube on em when they are flat in there. Couple squirts dump em in the case feed. Size deprime em all. Primer tube is emptyfor this step.

Then i trim if needed and clean the primer pockets trim and chamfer. Then that done they all go into the case feed. Set up the powder seat crimp tool head fill the primer and powder and get after it. Lomg as you dont go crazy with the lube from the resizing it wont hurt anything from the sizing phase.

Stage one is for size/decap, two is for prime/powder charge, three is for the optional powder check or a bullet feed system, four is seating die, five is crimp

Bottle neck cased stuff needs to be run through two seperate times. First is cleaned lubed with spent primer for sizing decapping. Second time is after you have trimmed chamferred for priming powder bullet.

Some people tumble in between but media gets stuck in the flash holes its a pain in the ass when it starts clogging the machine. I just dont bother removing the lube

[LongRifle50]

There is no need to clean between lubing sizing and then powder charging. Unless you're dipping your cases in a. Bucket of lube. You typically use spray on lube or can even use an RCBS lube die. Only lubing the outside of the cases lightly. Not enough to contaminate powder or deactivate primers.

[locutus]

My system was to resize/decap, tumble clean, and put a RCBS universal decapping die in the sizing die station to knock any corncob granules out of the primer pocket.

I know some folks don't clean the lube off after sizing, but I've never been comfortable loading and/or shooting cases with lube still on them.

If you load in large batches like I did, (1000 per session) the time consumed in cleaning, when computed on a per round basis is negligible.

[Vikingdad]

Originally Posted by locutus

My system was to resize/decap, tumble clean, and put a RCBS universal decapping die in the sizing die station to knock any corncob granules out of the primer pocket.

I know some folks don't clean the lube off after sizing, but I've never been comfortable loading and/or shooting cases with lube still on them.

If you load in large batches like I did, (1000 per session) the time consumed in cleaning, when computed on a per round basis is negligible.

That's what I have been doing with the 550 but with the 650 I am thinking of doing it the other way. Still yet to be decided at this point though.

[anm2_man]

Originally Posted by Vikingdad

A neighbor brought by his new Dillon 650 for some help setting up. (I have a 550). We are setting up for 5.56/223. I never run the decapping/resizing die as I do that in a Rockchucker and then tumble them in corn cob to remove the case lube (Dillon lube), so the first station just puts the case into the rotation, then it goes to the prime and powder charge station. My first question is is there a way to stop the primer turret from rotating if you are going to stop feeding cases? I hate to feed primers out onto the floor (which is where they invariably will go).

When you want to stop feeding primers, just remove the Primer Cam that is attached to the right side of the frame.

Next station is the bullet seating and then next crimping. That leaves one die stations empty. Does anyone set up their 650 with all 5 stations having dies in them? If so, what dies do you put there?

The extra station was originally designed for the Dillon Powder Check system. I do use this system for all calibers except for 9mm where a poor mans bullet feeder is setup

Also, a side question. Am I wasting time by depriming/resizing separately? It is my understanding that the cases must not have any case lube on them as it will contaminate the powder and possibly kill the primer. Is this true or am I being overly cautious?

As others have stated, most bottle neck cases some times require trimming. That is the main reason for doing 2 steps.

[Vikingdad]

Originally Posted by anm2_man

As others have stated, most bottle neck cases some times require trimming. That is the main reason for doing 2 steps.

OK, that is helpful. I suppose I could measure each case first and if near the case trim to length they should be good to go ( I have never had a case lengthen to the maximum in one resizing operation). Might take a little more research before I make it a practice though.

He did have the powder check system as well but I have not set it up yet. I will do that maybe tonight. Seems like a good step to incorporate. Are you satisfied with the way it works?

As to a bullet feed, that would be really nifty to have!

[locutus]

The powder check die, if properly set up and adjusted, works quite well indeed.

But it can be a little frustrating to adjust the first few times.

[anm2_man]

Originally Posted by Vikingdad

OK, that is helpful. I suppose I could measure each case first and if near the case trim to length they should be good to go ( I have never had a case lengthen to the maximum in one resizing operation). Might take a little more research before I make it a practice though.

He did have the powder check system as well but I have not set it up yet. I will do that maybe tonight. Seems like a good step to incorporate. Are you satisfied with the way it works?

As to a bullet feed, that would be really nifty to have!

Even though you measure them B4 sizing, you will never know if they are going to stretch beyond the max until they have been sized. I reload mostly Belt Fed MG cartridges. If I had to guess, at least 50% need a trim. Since I tried this once, I now just run them all thru the Dillon 1200 trimmer and the ones that need trimming get trimed, the other ones do not.

[locutus]

One little trick I learned with the 650. Short pistol cases like .45, .40 and 9MM will often have powder "bounce" out when the shell plate indexes.

When I started the upstroke on the handle, as the shell plate came clear of the tool head, I put my "business finger" over the mouth of the case coming out of the powder checker, and as the shell plate continued to rotate, I placed my first finger over the mouth of the case that had come out of the powder measure. I kept them there until the shell plate "clicked" into place.

No spilled powder.