Jimk60

I started needle and wet cleaning about a year ago. Had all the same problems reported by others, sticking brass, sticking and galling on the flare etc. External lubing fixed the re-sizing problem, but still had problems with the flare. . Remember that Dawn removes ALL traces of oils as well as grime etc. I then read a thread where they discussed this same issue, and 1 responder discussed using Armor All Wash and Wax with Carnuba, instead of Dawn. What a world of difference, not only does it leave a slick microscopic coating inside and out, it also prevents the brass from tarnishing. So, no more sticking on the sizing die, no more excessive force needed on the flare, and the cases maintain that shiny clean look. Win Win.

I'm a 550 guy, but wouldn't oal and crimp work between base plat and tool head? And have nothing to do with the shell plate. It works that way on the 550. On the 650, the shell plate holds the cartridge throughout the loading cycle. I would assume the 550 is the same with one less station. The fact that the roller bearing allows for a tighter, non-flexing fit of the shell plate means that the seating/OAL and crimp will more consistent, at least from the point of shell plate flex. The flex can be affected by a case that is hard to resize, thus putting more pressure on that side of the plate, letting the bullet seating side to rise slightly and seating the bullet deeper in the case. Conversely, if the cartridge sizes quite easily, it can allow the bullet seating side to put more pressure on the plate, lowering that side slightly, creating a longer OAL, While these differences can be only in the hundreds or thousands of an inch, if your are loading for accuracy, it can make a big difference. If loading for plinking, it wont make much difference. It can also effect the function of the round in your firearm. For instance, when I load 45 ACP wadcutters, not only can the OAL be an issue, the crimp is even more of an issue. The OAl can effect feeding and the crimp can can have an impact on the slide going into full battery. Ask me how I know.

XL650 I didn't clip my spring, i may try this. I did add the low-mass ball first. Didn't seem to help that much. I do have the needle bearing on the shell plate. This has slowed down the jump, but more importantly, I am able to tighten down the shell plate so that there is almost no vertical movement, but is still loose enough to rotate with little resistance from friction. Things that have improved since adding the needle bearing set: 1. Less chance of 'flipping' powder out of case. 2. More consistent bullet seating OAL. 3. More consistent crimp from Lee FCD. 4. More consistent powder throws with 700X. 5. Better, more consistent primer seating. I attribute these improvements 90% to the needle bearing, and 10% to the low mass detent ball. Removing these issues has allowed me to concentrate on my loading technique. My $.02 YMMV as always.

Everyone develops their own procedures. MikeL likes to load up 5 tubes to load 500 rounds. I prefer to load 100 at a time, when the buzzer goes off, I load another 100 into a tube, and then the primer feeder on the press. This gives me a little break from pulling the handle and concentrating on whats happening on the press.

I've probably bid on Ebay about a dozen times in the last 15 years. Never won a bid, always set my max and didn't waver. Found out most of the winners had software that monitored the sight, and would send in a bid seconds before it closed. Decided that was not for me. If I buy on Ebay now, it is only for Buy Now purchases.

What are you using to fill the tubes? Sarge will have to speak for himself on this. Personally I use the Frankford Arsenal Vibra-Prime. http://www.midwayusa.com/product/890424/frankford-arsenal-vibra-prime-automatic-primer-tube-filler It has been discussed on many forums. Some people love it, some hate it. It has a learning curve, but when you figure it out, it is a delight to use. Nothing like loading 100 primers into a tube in 10 to 20 seconds.

Come on guys! Velcro is way to simple. You need something complicated, takes up a lot of room, looks like it was designed by a rocket scientist and costs as much as your press. But I will use it anyway.

RL901, I am the same way. I can't justify the prices charged for the primer add on's, the Inline Fab add-ons etc. However, I did go for the Uniquetek micrometer adjustment. WIth 4 pistol calibers to load, and at the time only 1 powder measure (now 2), adjustments were a b*itch. With the Uniquetech micro it became a breeze to match a prior powder settings. The consistency is hard to beat.

Thrust bearing. Spent primer chute into bottle under loading table. (Still finding spent primers on the floor from before this change.) Micrometer adj on powder measure. I would add my Totally Crimson Bullet feeder, but i haven't built it yet.

I use the Unique Tech clamp kit, and my deviation is usually never more than .003. Having said that, I recently purchased a new tool head for my 650 to load .380. The new tool head was different than my other ones, all about 2 years old. The top edge of the flange? that slides into the slot in the press had a 45* bevel on the top edge. I inserted the new tool head, and with the standard holding pins, it was obvious that it was much tighter, less up and down movement than my older heads. Continuing improvement is great.

I have he RCBS puller, and it worked quite well for 9MM. I had to pull 200+ 45 ACP 200gr SWC and found that the 9mm collet was perfect for pulling the 45 200 GR SWC. And the majority of the bullets were totally unmarred. Doesn't help the situation with the round nose, but it does show that there is versatility. I will be checking out the grip and pull.

OP, you haven't mentioned this yet, so I will bring it up now. Read the XL650 Tips and Tricks sub-forum http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=584 Tons of information on tweaking and improving the functionality and reliability of the 650. I have used a number of the suggestions from this thread. The UniqueTech powder measure micrometer, dead-nuts accurate, but difficult to read scale, much less remember how to. Home made used primer catcher that drops the primer and residual gunk down a tube into a sealed container. Really helps keep my bench cleaner. Roller bearing on shell plate. Allows bolt to be tightened to the point that there is almost no wobble in the shell plate, is still quite smooth, and reduces the 'Snap' when the plate rotates. Also, check Armslist for XL650's for sale, ask if they will ship. Most won't or want too much to ship. I was lucky, I found one for sale locally, for some substantial savings.

What he said about the station 2 locater. I got caught in this situation and had multiple primer problems. That is until I RTFM and realized I had to adgust the arm that holds the shell in position in the #2 station.

Does the back of the primer at least look like it is bulged out like the primer pin tried to push the primer out? Since some of your brass is wet cleaned, it is possible that in the time it took it to dry, if formed some sort of seal between the brass and primer. I have had this happen. Occasionaly, the primer would bulge out, sometimes it would remove the very top of the primer and leave the sides. I now deprime prior to wet cleaning with a universal depriming die. Hope this helps.

I was having issues with the brass dragging, tilting and not wanting to go into station 1. I used Dry Lube on the station 1 locator, and it seems to at least improved the feeding, and reduced the problem significantly. Based on the terrific information available on this site, I also use a dab of grease on the bottom of the locator to help hold it in place. In some instances, the locator would tilt up , and this would cause an issue with properly feeding into the shell plate. This would also cause the case insert slide to no longer be perpendicular to the locator, again, causing difficulty in the case sliding along the locator and into the shell plate.

One thing to keep in mind when using SWC in a 1911 is the feed lips on your mag. SWC feed most efficiently using wadcutter specific mags such as Metalform, or a magazine with hybrid feed lips. Standard lips are straight and parallel. Hybrid flair slightly so that as the round moves into the chamber, the back of the round starts to rise, aligning itself with the chamber. This makes going into battery more consistent.

I have also found the 200 gr SWC to not be as accurate as other 200 gr SWC. I will add that the OAL is critical for the 200 SWC in order to get reliable feeding. For my SR1911, I have to seat the Xtreme 200 SWC at 1.230 to get consistent feeding with no 3 point hangups. For all other 200 gr SWC (Cast lubed lead, Gatway coated , MBC coated) I seat at 1.225. As always YMMV

OP Can't help with powder. But possibly with OAL. In both of my 1911's, I had to set mu OAL for the Xtreme 200 gr SWC to 1.230. My other 200 gr SWC I could set to 1.225, but the Xtreme's would not feed reliably, so I had to go little longer. If you are shooting in other than a 1911, your results may be different.

Just finished checking out Blue Bullets. I think that is going to be my next purchase. PLUS they give a 5% discount to members of this forum. See Blue Bullets web page for instructions.

After seeing this thread, and investigating any other report of S&B primer problems, I decided to bite the bullet, so to speak. Went to local Cabela's, none on the shelf. Helpful floor personnel asked if he could help. I said theses primers are on sale, and there aren't any on the shelf. His response, let me check in the warehouse. Came back with 6 boxes of SPP, which I had requested. Took all 6, used 10% discount. Happy Happy. Shot 300 9MM this weekend in a S&W M&P, not a single failure to go bang. Also must say that some of my 9 cases were crimped (didn't know it at the time) and these primers seated in all but 2. both crushed. JRB305 - You used the same 10% discount twice? Didn't think they would do that, each has a unique number. Did they scan it each time?

Newer press 650 here, about 3 years old. I had the case feed arm return spring break. Since I had a spare parts kit, I just replaced the spring. Didn't want to call Dillon over a 10 cent spring. But; a week later, the Ring Indexer broke when a case jammed. This time called Dillon, recounted a broken spring and ring indexer issues. They sent me; 1. 2 ring indexer's 2. 2 indexer return springs (no issues here but they sent anyway). 3. 2 Case feed arm return springs 4. 1 press alignment tool. This is the kind of service that lets you know they are not only committed to being a profitable company, but also committed to their customers and product quality. Thanks Dillon Precision! I will never regret drinking the blue koolaid.

There were several that I noticed, which means probably many more, where the ring was not concentric, but offset. But the bullet was centered. Either as the final part of seeting, or when it ran through the Lee FCD. I do not have any pics. I have shot all of these rounds. I plan on going back to the Xtreme HP, because I know I will have less problems and score better with the HP.

Flightmurse - Seating pressure varied by headstamp. I use mixed for 9mm that will be used in steel matches. I believe the reason it was some but not all that had the ring, was due to the thickness pf the brass. Thisk brass, more pressure etc. Rdinga, certainly an option, the price is a sticking point.

This is really informative. I have been experimenting with 200 gr SWC in .45 ACP. Started with lubed lead, these I chronoed at avg 750 FPS. The following I did not chrono. Missouri Bullet Hi-Tech coated. Gateway Bullet Hi-Tech coated. Xtreme plated. All of these are 200 gr SWC. All the same load, same primer, different lots used same HS, either Federal or RP. While I didn't Chrono or shoot any of these from a rest, the Hi-tech coated seemed to shoot about like the lubed lead without the smoke. However, the Xtreme plated shot low, and I had to actually hold high to get anywhere near the 10 ring. That being said, they were also the least accurate. While I am not anywhere near an expert level shooter, there was a significant decrease in my scores with the plated. I've used them all up, and I don't think I will be ordering them again. Starting over with the Hi-Tech plated. Hop[e to Chrono and shoot from sand bags Monday.

Don't know. I dry mine in a downstairs dishwasher that has a hot dry cycle without any problems.