Jimk60

I looked high and low for those tubes locally and could not find them. I did not try an aquarium only specialty store, so that could be where I went wrong. I'll have to look for one locally.

I do not have an MBF, I have what was known as the DIY bullet feeder, no longer available due to cease and desist order on possible patent infringement from AA. Hobbyist didn't have financial means to fight in court. Having said that, I load both plated, lead tumbled in lube and lead with lube ring. I use the bullet feeder for all plated. For the lead tumble lube, I use a rotating tube bullet feeder designed to fit on my Hornady bullet drop. For the lead with a lube ring, I use the Hornady metal tube designed for their bullet drop dies. Why do I do this rather than place each lead bullet? Easy, I can load my tubes (4 on the rotating one, 3 separate ones for the individual), clean my hands, and not touch a lead bullet for up to 100 rounds.

A question, why are you lubing your pistol cases?

I had this happen once. The cause of my problem was the case feed arm return spring had broken, and the 2 pieces were binding up inside the return spring hole. That kept the case feed arm from moving far enough to drop the case. Check the spring. Ya just never know.

I've sold all my Dillon tool heads and replaced with billet, so I can't show any pics. But I received my press used (about a year old at the time) with 3 Dillon tool heads. I purchased a 4th tool head and notice they were different. Dillon had beefed up the tongue on the new head, it was a little thicker, plus it had a bevel to aid in insertion. This may have been an attempt on their part to to reduce the toolhead movement.

Original question was what recipe do you use, not should I wet clean. I don't understand the mix of Dawn and Wash and wax. The logical side of me says this won't really work. Dawn strips everything from the metal. Most car detailers will wash a car with Dawn to strip all wax and dirt prior to a good polish and wax, or just a good wax. So mixing the 2 just doesn't make sense TOO ME. YMMV. I have a home made tumbler that holds 1.5 gallons. 10 lb pins, plus 8 lbs brass works best. 2 Tbs Armor Wall Wash and Wax with Carnuba, 1/4 Tsp Lemishine, pins, brass, and fill with water. Tumble 2 to 3 hours depending on how dirty, Usually 3 hours for .45 ACP because the powder leaves a lot of residue. Less time for 40 and 9mm. If you opt for the car wash, make sure it is a wash and WAX product rather than wash and clean, or wash and shine, or you will get little benefit. With the Wash and Wax you get better lubricity when sizing and belling pistol cases. Plus they will resist tarnishing for a very long time. I have some 40 cases I cleaned 4 years ago that look like they were cleaned yesterday.

Check their website, they should have that info. Their magwell is listed as legal for single stack 1911,s. but I am not sure about double stacks.

Have 650, case feeder and bullet feeder. 1050 not in my future, so have to work with whats available. As far as amount of effort to pull the handle, I have 3 comments: 1. Inline Ergo Handle. In fact, when I pull it in the down stroke, About halfway through the stroke, I will add my left hand to the equation, not because of added strength, but because of the additional control force, it makes the stroke smoother. 2. On the upstroke, you pause slightly just before seating the primer. Then an even push to seat. I can easily recognize issues. Such as seating a primer in a crimped case, or a primer seated sideways. This is all through experience and feel. 3. I wet needle clean all my brass. If you follow the standard recipe for cleaning, Dawn, Lemishine, water and needles, you end up with brass that screams for lube to reduce the amount of resistance required to go through the 650 process. I have changed my recipe to Armor All Wash and Wax with Carnuba, Lemishine, water and needles. The Wash and Wax leaves a hard slick surface inside and out. Makes sizing, belling, and using the FCD much easier. A side effect of the W&W is that the brass is super shiny, and will not tarnish. I am using brass I cleaned 2 years ago that looks like I cleaned it yesterday.

Currently on gun broker: 9MM Pro core Upper

Steve RA, I have the same tumbler, only it says RCBS. Lots of info here. I currently have enough brass to last a while, so I wont need to clean any for a while. I have been wet tumbling in a Big Dawg design tumbler that I built myself. As far as I know, the original post from Big Dawg on his design is till up and available, and includes a list of all parts and some links to buy. I can tumble 8 lbs of brass at a time. That's also about as much as my dehydrator holds when I dry them. The standard for cleaning with pins is to use Dawn along with Lemishine. Dawn strips ALL oils from the brass, leaving shiny, clean brass. The downside is that you have to lube the straight wall cases, or suffer sticking problems in the sizing die, AND the expanding powder funnel. Some have started spray lubing their cases to ease this problem, but there is still an issue with the powder funnel. I have started using Armor-All Wash and Wax with Carnuba instead of Dawn, along with the Lemishine. I tried other products, both listed as Wash and Clean, and Wash and Wax, and the Armor-All worked the best for me. The benefit of using of the A-A product is twofold. First it puts a shiny hard surface on the brass and significantly eases the effort required in re-sizing and belling at the powder funnel.. Second, the wax coating leaves the brass very shiny for a very long time. It will maintain that shine and lubricity, and will not tarnish over time.

Just received the current issue of FrontSight magazine, the official publication of USPSA. They had articles on the 2016 Revolver nationals, and the 2016 Single Stack Nationals. They include a lot of statistics that were pretty amazing, In Revolver class, 82% of reloaders used Dillon, 27% 550, 23% 650, 21% 1050, and 11% SQD. In the Single Stack class, a whopping 90% of reloaders used Dillon. 38% 650, 24% 1050, 24% 550, and 6% SQD.

I have 5 of these from Tom Sziler at CNCshooter Excellent quality, non anodized. They have a raised portion to provide a platform to allow easy tightening of the die nut. He will also engrave any caliber you want, or leave blank.

Also check out the tips and tricks in the re-loading faqs sub forum. Here.

You need the XL650 manual from Dillon from here. The online manual will contain all the info you need to set up your machine, and/or determine what parts are missing. Since you seem to have a large number of conversion parts, I have also attached an Excel spreadsheet that contains a cross reference list of all conversion parts for all DIllon machines. Dillon Caliber conversion xref all presses.xlsx

I do not now the owners, I have purchased a few things from them that were delivered in a timely manner. Keep in mind this is small, family run business. The are dependent on some suppliers for the parts they sell. Also, they are in Mid-Southern Illinois. The term "Sooner or Later' is short hand for "I'm doing the best I can, and will get it too you as soon as possible'.