bigjim21

I use 20oz of heet (red bottle) fuel line dryer and 4oz pure lanolin oil. Couple sprays in a Tupperware box and shake around. So far it seems to work great and it takes no time.

I have an rcbs measure. I'll try it. Also I meant .1grn accuracy on the charge master btw.

I have an RCBS chargemaster and I also bought the AT500 dies for my toolheads so i can go that way OR use the measure. I'm actually pretty impressed with the dillon "belted magnum" measure. I'm generally .03grn +- with heavy stick powder like 4350 or RL22 and I strongly suspect in a belted magnum that's burning +- 2 whole grains outside the barrel anyway - it may not show up on paper. I'm going to find out. Either way I'm going to try and transition as much of my rifle stuff to ball powders as I can so I can skip the chargemaster step. your electronic scale is only accurate to about a grain anyway, from what i understand so if i can get into that range with the dillon then I'm golden. I am handling brass prep by running cases through a universal decapping die in a dedicated toolhead, THEN trimming at that point (once) with an EZ-Trim-It in a drill press, ultrasonic cleaning, then tumbling. I have each toolhead set up with an RCBS X-die at the resizing station, so I dont have to trim after the initial trim. It works startlingly well. I'm using home made case lube (4oz liquid lanolin oil + 20oz of ISO-HEET).

I measure oal to the ogive with a bullet comparator. Variations in oal were mostly due to the way I had the seating die set up. I had it run all the way down to the shell plate firmly. I backed it off to just kiss the shellplate and that took out most of the variance. It varied slightly until each station was full too. I'm going to lock the toolhead down with a uniquetek kit and see what that does to oal. After that I'll float the dies with an o ring and see if that takes runout to zero. I'm fine with .002" though.

I ran 20 300 win mag 180gr loads through it last night and measured runout using standard toolheads and a redding competition bullet seater die. All measured under .002" runout and most were right at or under .001". Using h4350 I got plus minus 3/10gr variation.

I ran 20 300 win mag 180gr loads through it last night and measured runout using standard toolheads and a redding competition bullet seater die. All measured under .002" runout and most were right at or under .001". Using h4350 I got plus minus 3/10gr variation.

After doing an enormous amount of snooping and skulking about online for information on the XL650 and Dillon in general for long range hunting / precision rifle loading - I got the press for Christmas and ordered all the various accessories last week. I was particularly interested in runout, OAL variation and accuracy of the powder measure with extruded powders. I ran my first box of shells through the press today - 7mm Weatherby Mag using IMR 4831 powder and barnes 140gr TTSX bullets. I am using standard toolheads, a standard RCBS two-die set, and the Dillon Belted Magnum powder measure system for this particular caliber. After some general fiddling and flailing trying to get it all set up, I threw my first charges as follows (looking for 73.0 grains of IMR 4831) 73.0, 72.7, 73.0, 73.2, 73.1, 73.3, 73.3, 73.2, 73.4, 72.9, 73.2, 72.8, 72.7. I was thrilled with that level of accuracy from an off-the-shelf measure with extruded powder and from there I just started cranking. I measured runout on the loaded rounds using the Hornady LNL dial indicator and found runout generally negligible in the +- .002 range, but most of the loaded ammo was dead on with less than .001" runout. For a $35 2-die RCBS set and nothing else fancy for this particular caliber - I was impressed. I noticed a fair amount of OAL variation in the loaded rounds (something along the lines of .0050"+-) and was initially a little concerned, but then I took a handful of bullets out of the box and measured them. the variation in OAL of the loaded rounds seemed to be consistent with observed variation in bullet length from the factory. I will check it again using a micrometer seating die for my next batch, but I am extremely satisfied to say the least. As far as setup goes I got the inline fabrication ultramount, ergo handle, shellplate bearing kit with low mass detent ball, and press lighting kit. I ordered the casefeeder (which works incredibly well) and polished the internals of the powder measures to a high shine. I considered the locking toolheads, but decided against them unless OAL/runout turns out to be an issue. So far it looks to me like its not going to be a problem.

Hello all - I've been handloading my ammo since I was 3 (Thanks Dad!), killed my first deer at 8 with .243 ammo I loaded and continued to roll my own for the next 30 years. I've used progressive presses for shotshells since I was in middle school, but never for metallic cartridges. I asked for a 650 this year for our annual family early Christmas and got it. I am going full-on 100% progressive for all my long range precision rifle ammo (220 swift, 223, 243, 257wby, 270, 7mm-08, 300 win, 338 win, 340 wby). I am about to complete the press gift with a full bells-and-whistles order for all the other stuff. I use nearly 100% extruded powders along the lines of RL25, 22, 19, IMR4831 etc. so I am thinking about just getting the powder dies and funnel (or whatever it is) so I can use my chargemaster to throw the powder charges and effectively have a hybrid progressive/single stage press, but I am open to suggestions. Any thoughts on how best to handle the extruded powders and any other parts to begin collecting? I ordered an ultramount, skylight kit, ergo handle, and the shellplate bearing upgrade already. I am considering the Whidden floating die toolheads and various powder charging options. Thanks!