polizei1

For a "small" investment, I would look into using a Harbor Freight cement mixer and a forced air heater (usually propane but you can find electric as well). I use a HF mixer to clean the brass and then just lay them out in the sun for a few hours, but the forced air would keep them moving and would dry them faster. Plus, when they're dry, just dump them out! Just be sure to keep the heat off the mixer motor.

Dawson Precision.

I love my 650 and MBF, but there's no way I'd get one again. If you're already spending that much, just get a 1050 and never upgrade again. While the 650 is excellent, I just started loading rifle now and really see the benefit a PC would provide. Unfortunately, I can't have one, and loading rifle is a PITA. I can't wait to upgrade! On a more serious note though, I would recommend running the press "stock" for a little bit first, and then add the MBF. I would order it right away however, they do tend to go out of stock.

9mm: Lee size/deprime, powder, MBF, Lee seat, Lee FCD I started with a Lee LCT and the Lee dies were included. Overall I like the FCD, but I'm not happy with the other Lee dies, specifically with the size/deprime. They are a PITA and cost a lot for the decapping pins. There are better options IMO. I haven't had any issues with the seating die, but don't like the lock design. I MUCH prefer the Forster lock-collar. 300blk: Prep - Dillon universal decapper, Dillon 1500 trimmer Lyman M-Die, powder, MBF, Forster seat, Lee FCD I would recommend the Forster dies, or the Redding Competition dies (if you need the micrometer). I also like the Lee FCD because it's easy to use and simply works great.

If you're not leading the barrel they aren't too hot, but I agree with tcazes, you're just "wasting" powder. Back it off a bit and chrono them, usually you're going to be ~0.2-0.5gr LESS for the same velocity as FMJ. You also need to load a completed round and pull the bullet to check the crimp, make sure you're getting rid of the bell but not crimping where you're cutting into the coating and exposing the lead.

Take your barrel out and test fit them by dropping them in. As JRM83 said, they should freely rotate. They should also NOT be above the barrel hood. If that is the case on either, your OAL is too long. Your also going to want to check for brass for sizing. To do this, size a piece of brass and drop it into the barrel (same as above but without a bullet). The brass should freely drop and rotate in the barrel. This will help determine if it's a brass issue or bullet (OAL) issue. If the brass is binding, you'll probably need to screw your sizing die down further. Also, be sure you're taking out the flare/bell, it can also get hung up on that. What is the OAL you're loading them too? My guess is that if it's a short chamber, you're going to have to load to ~1.10" or so.

I agree. There's no harm in trying to "improve" your rounds by lessening the SD, but IMO, it's not enough to actually cause a realistic difference. The minute amount of powder difference to get down 7PF isn't going to be felt at recoil, again IMO. I would argue the only time SD comes into play (assuming it's not stupid high) would be precision long-range rifle.

In my experience, I had to add two of the black/white spacers for 9mm to feed correctly and prevent the upside-down bullets. If you haven't added the spaces yet, do it and see if that resolves the issue. The machine is an incredible design and once it's setup properly, runs like a sewing machine, I absolutely love it.

I would venture to guess that it's you, if you've double-checked the ammo and everything is consistent. That said, shoot a 10-shot group and see what happens. It doesn't take much movement of the muzzle to have a big change at the target at 25 and 50 yards with a pistol.

As for the dropper die not resetting after seating the bullets, you need to lube the die assembly (the part that moves up and down when seating a bullet). That will allow the die assembly to freely fall back down and will prevent the other bullets from all dropping out. Second, you may need to manually bend the cut-off switch until it works with whatever bullets you're using. When I got my 300blk conversion mine didn't work either. Turned out the metal "arm" was sitting too far out and would not stop bullets from dropping. To fix this, I took a small flat head screw driver and "pushed" the metal arm back into the tube until it worked. Just play with it, you'll figure it out, it's not hard but does take a bit of time to setup, but once you do, it runs great. You also don't have to use a tie to hold up the drop spring, I load 9mm and 300blk and don't use it, mine works just fine. Also, do NOT tighten down the lock-ring on the die with a lot of force, I did that and broke mine! I just hand-tighten it down and then add a SMALL amount of extra pressure to it. The aluminum is thin!

If you're LE/MIL, LH bullets (125gr 9mm) are $0.0624/ea when buying the 3,500 count with the 5% discount. Without the discount, they are $0.0657/ea. LH are also $225/3000 ($0.075/ea without discount and $0.0712 with) for the 147's. Not sure if they do a 10k+ discount though. That's a good price

I've tried BBI, Blue, Ibejihead, and I'm going to try Leatherhead's next. I MUCH prefer the Hi-Tek type coating that BBI/Leatherhead and Ibejihead use. The Blue bullets worked great for me, but the coating rubs off a little bit and left a lot of black residue on my hands/fingers after handling them. The BBI profile didn't like my specific gun, but overall it's a good bullet. I just wish they would make a 125gr RN. So far Ibejihead is the best coated I've tried, they are very clean to handle and load just fine. Since I load the 300blk Leatherhead's I'll probably switch to them for 9mm as well, and just order everything at once. While I can't speak about their 9mm, the 300blk rounds are excellent quality, very uniform, and the coating is great. I would definitely check them out. All of mine were ordered as .356 BTW.

You won't be disappointed...like others have pointed out, it IS a complicated machine, and like anything else, most problems are actually caused by user error. Simply reading the directions, or watching the setup videos and actually getting it setup properly will resolve most of the issues. Take your time when you get it and set it up correctly, you won't have an issue. Even with 300blk, I got it to work 99%, which is a PITA with the long rifle bullets. Pistol is a breeze and loading 5k+ 9mm now on it, I've NEVER had an issue. I keep mine set at the "6V" level and it's plenty fast. A lot of the issues people have is simply lack of understanding and patience to figure things out (IMO). I suspect most people don't bother to try and understand it and go to town putting it all together and then when there's a feeding issue, they blame the machine. Example: for 9mm, you'll probably have to add two of the small spacer units for it to function properly. Super easy fix and it comes with the supplied parts, BUT, if you aren't willing to actually READ about the machine, of course you're going to have issues! It's like getting a press and just bolting it to your bench and screwing down the dies and then blaming the press when you can't get properly loaded ammo. Disclaimer* I'm not talking about actual mechanical problems, the early design allegedly had it's flaws. The new designed MBF is far superior.

I load on a 650 and have never had priming issues with Win brass. That's weird...

I agree, while I love my 650 and MBF, I'm processing 223 brass now and wish I would have just bought a 1050 from the beginning. One day I'll be able to upgrade! For those that are on the fence about the MBF, I can confirm that with a little bit of adjustments and tweaking, the MBF works for long 308 bullets as well (I'm loading 300blk). Big advantage over the GSI IMO.