First of all I am new to reloading so I guess I need to vent more than anything else with this topic. I bought a used Dillon XL650, circa mid-90's a month or so ago. I got it at a pretty good price which included many extras. I set it up and read the manual several times. I cleaned and lubed it and made a conscious effort to familiarize myself with how it worked, even called Dillon a few times for missing parts and advice. When I was finally ready to start making ammo a friend, who has a 550, came over to give me a hand. Everything seemed to go well for the first 50 rounds or so then problems with the primer feed station started. I could not get the handle to cycle forward all the way, it was jamming. I called Dillon and they said the indexer arm was probably bent thus not catching the primer disc properly causing the incomplete cycle. They sent me a new one. To be honest it didn't look any different than the old one I replaced it with. So I am all set to go and after 30 or so rounds the handle starts to jam again on the upstroke, along with that the cases are not feeding properly on station #1. I have the correct shellplate mounted for 9mm and everything. I take it apart clean it reinstall the components, but no luck. I called Dillon they tried to walk me through everything and were very helpful, but could not solve the problem. I was advised to pack it up and send it to them for repair. I only have to pay for the postage to send it out.
It is pretty frustrating to read about how great these machines are only to have problems. I can see once it is working as it should how fast and easy it is to produce ammo, but I haven't gotten there yet. In the 6-8 hours I have spent reloading and trying to get the machine to work properly I have only produce about 150 bullets. I guess it would have been easier buying the ammo at Wal-Mart. In all fairness to the product I have no idea how long the previous owner let it set unused or if it was abused in any way. I hope Dillon can make it right, because I was so looking forward to enjoying this new hobby. Thanks for listening I feel better now.