Cowboy1629

Up until this week never had an issue with my 550 or 650 that couldn't be fixed with a simple phone call to Dillon. See my post in this section. I'm sure Dillon will make this right but it sure isn't convenient to have to mail defective parts back to them on my dime and have to wait on them to decide if they will repair or replace it then wait on return shipping. Don't get me wrong, I still think Dillon is top notch, just not sure about their new no BS Warrantee.

It's safe to say one of these have never been used on this press. Never heard of one until reading this post and looking it up.

I've ran mine down to almost empty and not seen much of a difference. When it started getting low I checked every 10 rounds or so that way if it dropped off I only had 10 rounds or so that were questionable. When it did start changing it was only 0.1 or so at a time so you could adjust for it.

I don't know... I have a Brazos Edge that was hard chromed when it was new, I don't think I have ever had an issue with it. I would of had my open gun hard chromed if I wasn't to impatient of adding the extra time because there was a pretty good backlog when it was built.

The only wear on the platform was really around the opening for the spent primers where it just broke the edge of the opening. I'm sure they will make it right, just used to "free" and faster service.

Not the best of pictures from my cell phone but I did snap a couple before sending the parts in. This is the underside of the shell plate. I didn't take any of the platform. You can see how the shell plate is dimpling out on the bottom side. The first photo you can see where the plate is starting to crack too.

Had my first major (what I consider major) failure on my 650 Friday. The last couple of times loading 9Major I noticed I had a few primers flipping up on their edge before trying to seat them. Usually if I tighten my shell plate down a bit this takes care of it but in this case it wasn't working so I thought I probably had some crud built up between the platform and the shell plate since I hadn't changed calibers in a while so I proceeded to pull stuff apart for cleaning. What I discovered was my 9mm shell plate was dimpling under where the case sits. In fact some had even started to crack. I looked at several other shell plates to see if they displayed the same flaws which they didn't. I called Dillon to describe what I had and the rep had me look at station 1 on the platform to see if the hole was enlarged or not perfectly flat. The opening seemed OK but I did notice a lot of wear on the first edge the plate makes contact with as it rotates. The rep said to send the shell plate and platform in for repair/replacement. He said they don't send those parts out anymore. He said mine would be repaired or replaced based on what they determined. He went on to say this type of wear is normally seen on commercial loaders and asked if I was one. I've only had this press for about 3 years and only load for myself so not sure why I'm seeing this type of wear unless maybe it was a weak shell plate. The bummer is it cost me $10.25 in shipping and once they get it he said it would be in house for around 3 days before putting it back in the mail to me. I guess I should keep more loaded ammo on hand for this type of issue in the future. It sure would have been nice if they had some type of exchange like put new parts in the mail to me that day and if they didn't receive the old parts in 10 days charge my credit card for the new parts. Been totally satisfied with past experiences with the 550 and 650, they just drop the part into the mail to me so only down for 3 days or so.

For competition, Montana Gold is my favorite however they do cost more than others.

I've got the Tandemkross on mine.

This is what I use. Only had it for a couple of matches now but sure beats carrying everything in the bag over the shoulder. There is enough room for my large Shooters Connection Tournament bag in it but it's tight.

I had the same issue with certain bullets/brass combinations on 9mm. Went to the U-die and never looked back

Try this... http://www.brazoscustom.com/magart/0509.htm

My powder measures are stained but I do put the powder back in the container after every reloading session.

I really like Weapon Shield. http://www.steelshieldtech.com/mainpage/retail-product-weapon-shield.html

A few years back I purchased a Brazos High Performance Edge and I'm still 100% content with it for my limited gun. If you went that route and decided a few years later to have a custom gun built, you wouldn't have any trouble selling it.

I have the same issue with my 650 and Dillon dies. I have my sizing die adjusted down to the shell plate too. I'll get a few that don't pass the gauge test but they always work in the gun. I ended up putting a u-die in station 2 and haven't had a problem since. Probably didn't need the u-die but it's kind of like an insurance policy. Did the same thing with my 9mm with the same results.

I've had 8lbs of Silhouette on back order from Graf's, Brownell's and Midsouth since March with no word yet. Also have AutoComp on backorder with Graf's with no word on that one either.

Dave Dawson can fix you right up.

650 & 550. 650 for 9, 9Major, 40, and 45. Everything else as well as rifle gets loaded on the 550.

I have an old metal detector the kids used years ago that I use for this. I mostly shoot from the gravel areas of my driveway but sometimes I get too close to the edge of the yard a loose a round or two. I'll breakout the metal detector to find them. If I detect any .22's I pick them up too and through them in the container with my spent primers. The scrap guys get all of them as well as any other scrap brass. At a range or match I usually leave my brass lay since it's mostly 9 Major that has been shot numerous times.

I have the roller handle on my 650 and like it but tried it on the 550 but preferred the ball. I guess it is because I remove my right hand all the time on the 550 and not the 650.

You guys that use the RX inserts do you feel that it affects your vision? I have read some people think the inserts are too close to their eyes and their eyelashes rub on them. I would like to go with inserts to have a less expensive option for changing lens colors but sounded like there was a lot of issues with the inserts from what I have read on. Everything from dirt between the lenses to steaming up between them as well as distortion. I went with prescription Oakley's this time with the black iridium polarized lenses since they will serve as my shooting glasses as well as sunglasses. I still have my regular prescription photochromic glasses for lower light conditions. In the future I would be interested in the inserts if I heard enough positive things about them.

Haven't been able to try a lot yet just a few across the chronograph yesterday. Gun: Cheely Bullet: MG 121 IFP COL: 1.165 Primer: CCI SRP Powder: HS-6 First Batch: Charge: 8.4gr Avg FPS: 1369.7 PF: 165.7 SD: 23.4 Figured standard deviation would come down with a larger run. Second Batch Charge: 8.7gr Avg FPS: 1422.0 PF: 172.1 SD: 10.4 Both batches were with 20 rounds. Need to do more testing but I think I'm pretty close with the second batch. Hope this helps others looking for this combination.

No problem loading 9 Major here.

Here you go... http://www.shootersconnectionstore.com/STI-Pin-Set-2011-P784.aspx