Scar270

Engineer here...ha ha, that's me too!! Yeah I just picked one up used, and I make everyone who comes to my house watch it fill a tube. I'll put them from the tube back into the machine just so I can show them again. No one else seems nearly as interested as me, they all give me that "ya so..." look.

I have an RCBS Pro 2000, and just recently updated to the auto index kit. I think it has it's place, and I to some extent wish I had went Dillon, for where I was at the time, it was the right choice, and still works well now. The powder measure works great, never had any issues with it, however it is not a powder through expander, so you need to have a separate expander die, or use a Dillon measure. The auto index works fine, and the priming system works fairly well. Occasionally I get an upside down primer. I talked to RCBS and they told me to slow down on the priming part of the downstroke, and the probably has pretty much went away. The APS priming strips work well, and the primer strip filler works well, I do prefer it over primer pick up tubes, however if I had one of the dillon primer tube fillers I may feel differently. The biggest downside is no case feeder available, or likely to become available. If it had a case feeder, I'd be extremely happy with it. Caliber conversions are really easy, and that is the real plus side of it, and why I purchased it. Changing primer sizes is one bolt out, and a different one back in essentially. The toolheads don't include the powder measure, so you have to reset the powder measure, but you also don't need a bunch of powder measures, so it's cheaper. Shell plates are one bolt to change, toolheads are two pins. If I have toolheads set up, changing primer sizes, shell plates, primer plates, and resetting the powder measure would be a 5 minute job. I load a large number of different calibers, which is why I chose the RCBS. Many of those calibers have brass worth enough I can't justify keeping 1000's of each brass on hand, so I do have to set up for each caliber at least once a year, some many times. Production rate is easily 300 an hour for rifle, and 400 for pistol (this was before the auto index, I have not used it enough since I got it to get a real feel for speed with the auto index yet, but it should go up). I was using the RCBS lube dies, they are a good concept, but don't work well for that long, and cause more trouble then they are worth, I went to using spray lube before I start, and now I make out much better. In fact my rifle production is probably catching up to my pistol production rates now. I know have a Dillon 1050 set up with conversions for 9mm, 38/357 and 45 acp, and would like to get a few more for it, as there is certainly hands down no comparison, but I can't justify the costs of conversions for most of my calibers, or the cost of enough brass to warrant converting it. For my multitude of rifle calibers that I load, the RCBS works quite well, I am considering a bullet feeder of some make, since the case feeder isn't an option, as that would speed things up greatly if I only had to handle the brass. In short, for lots of caliber changes and production runs of 200-500 rounds before conversion, the RCBS is fantastic, if doing larger runs then that, find something with a case feeder for the speed increase.

Yeah, I didn't figure telling you at this point would help a lot, sorry. You can always sell one off, or as you said, a spare generally isn't a bad thing. At least now you know if you set up for more calibers all you need is pilots.

You don't actually need two of them, you can buy one and just get the extra pilot. Although if you have two and leave them set, then you can just swap them on the trimmer and it will be faster to set up.

I love mine. Takes longer to set up, but if your doing a reasonable amount of brass it's well worth it.

Thank you, now it makes sense.

It roll resize the brass.... Neat, but that leads to my next question, why not resize with a standard resize die? Or is this to get rid of things like Glock Bulge? I assume there is a very good reason for this machine, so educate me please. Thanks.

Some really neat setups, but can someone tell me what this machine actually does? I've never seen one before.

Thanks very much, that's very helpful. I hadn't thought about or realized that you load brass and bullets from opposite sides. The RCBS is like the Hornady, and the left hand loads both. I have a Ponsness Warren shotshell press, and have found the same thing you are talking about, and am looking at adding a hull feeder very quickly for that same reason. For me the 650 is the only other Dillon I would look at, and I wouldn't consider it without a brass feeder anyway. As for caliber conversions, the RCBS is also cheaper, with maybe a $30 die plate, instead of 2-3 $3 bushings, and then a shellplate for about $30. However I load enough different calibers, I don't buy die plates for them all, and doubt I would even buy Hornady bushings for them all. I instead invest my money in brass, so I only have to most of my calibers once a year or so, some even less often then that. Thanks again for explaining your concerns, while I don't think they would change my decision on a 650, with where I am in my reloading, however I can certainly see your concerns, and will make sure to remember the case feeding when talking with others considering a 650 or 550. It's nice to chat with people who have operated a few different presses, which is difficult to do, as at the price of progressive presses, most stick with the one they buy to start with.

noylj, what particular aspects concern you about the 550 and 650? I have never had an opportunity to run either, only the 1050 and I love it.

Thanks, lots of interesting things on this forum. goat68, call RCBS and tell them what you have, if they have parts they will probably help you out. I've contacted them before about obsolete presses, and they didn't want to sell me parts, but they would take it in and fix it for me still. So give them a call and see what they say, I find they have excellent customer service.

Sorry I'm a bit late, but I do have an RCBS Pro 2000, and just recently updated to the auto index kit. I think it has it's place, and I to some extent wish I had went Dillon, for where I was at the time, it was the right choice, and still works well now. The powder measure works great, never had any issues with it, however it is not a powder through expander, so you need to have a separate expander die, or use a Dillon measure. The auto index works fine, and the priming system works fairly well. Occasionally I do get an upside down primer, something that still baffles me how that happens, as I can't for the life of me see how they get flipped over, yet they do. As I say that it is a very rare incident. The APS priming strips work well, and the primer strip filler works well, I do prefer it over primer pick up tubes, however if I had one of the dillon primer tube fillers I may feel differently. The biggest downside is no case feeder available, or likely to become available. If it had a case feeder, I'd be extremely happy with it. Caliber conversions are really easy, and that is the real plus side of it, and why I purchased it. Changing primer sizes is one bolt out, and a different one back in essentially. The toolheads don't include the powder measure, so you have to reset the powder measure, but you also don't need a bunch of powder measures, so it's cheaper. Shell plates are one bolt to change, toolheads are two pins. If I have toolheads set up, changing primer sizes, shell plates, primer plates, and resetting the powder measure would be a 5 minute job. I load a large number of different calibers, which is why I chose the RCBS. Many of those calibers have brass worth enough I can't justify keeping 1000's of each brass on hand, so I do have to set up for each caliber at least once a year, some many times. Production rate is easily 300 an hour for rifle, and 400 for pistol (this was before the auto index, I have not used it enough since I got it to get a real feel for speed with the auto index yet, but it should go up). I was using the RCBS lube dies, they are a good concept, but don't work well for that long, and cause more trouble then they are worth, I went to using spray lube before I start, and now I make out much better. In fact my rifle production is probably catching up to my pistol production rates now. I know have a Dillon 1050 set up with conversions for 9mm, 38/357 and 45 acp, and would like to get a few more for it, as there is certainly hands down no comparison, but I can't justify the costs of conversions for most of my calibers, or the cost of enough brass to warrant converting it. For my multitude of rifle calibers that I load, the RCBS works quite well, I am considering a bullet feeder of some make, since the case feeder isn't an option, as that would speed things up greatly if I only had to handle the brass. In short, for lots of caliber changes and production runs of 200-500 rounds before conversion, the RCBS is fantastic, if doing larger runs then that, find something with a case feeder for the speed increase.