indychris

Thanks, Dillon! I just called and there should be an alignment tool on the way. As for your questions, the cutouts in the shellplate all seem consistent as far as I can tell with the naked eye. The shellplate is snug, and all the dies have been tightened with lock rings from the beginning. I'm still curious as to why the statements about using Dillon Dies. The gentleman with whom I spoke (and, who was very polite and professional, I must say) went down the same road about using only Dillon dies. I guess I thought the whole purpose behind the 7/8 X 14 was the ability to use other standard die sets, of which I have numerous. Anyway, Thanks again for your help! Chris

I took a couple of pictures that may or may not help illustrate the problem. Due to the tightness of space and lack of permeation of the flash, I'm not sure they'll help as much as I would like. These are pictures from the side view and from the perspective of the die hole in the tool head on top. Image #1 #2 AND #3

Thanks for your time, Gun Geek. I know you've got better things to do than help a Dillon Novice, so I greatly appreciate your help! I'll answer the questions line by line below. BTW, I'm using caps below for ease of reading; I'm not shouting. Thanks again! Chris

Thanks for the reply, Gun Geek. I poured over the manual looking for what I might have missed, but I can't find anything. The brass is fully seated inside the radius, and I am using pieces that have properly seated primers. I loaded 20 rounds last night, and the end product is looks good and the rounds are consistently within spec. The only problem is that in order to get the brass to feed into either sizing die, I must guide each piece into the station #1 die by hand. The main issue still seems to be that on the upstroke, the brass is being lifted far to the left of center in the die. It is not the die, as the off-center feeding is quite obvious even without a die in place. It seems to me that that shouldn't be the case. I tried three different brands of NEW brass this afternoon just to make sure it isn't an issue with the brass. All of them have the same problem. Any other suggestions? I appreciate the help! Chris

Hi, All- I have been reloading for several years on a Hornady L-N-L AP, and just added a new 650 to my Routine. I got the press set up without difficulty, but ran into issues with one die. for starters, I guess I should mention that I purchased the press set up for .45 ACP. Instead of ordering the Dillon dies, I opted to start with a new set of Hornady Custom Grade dies that I already have. As I was setting up the new dies, I quickly discovered that my brass was hitting near the outside edge of my resizing/depriming die in station #1. I worked with the press for more than two hours attempting to figure out, including confirming that I am using the proper shellplate, tightening/loosening the shell plate to see if there is a "sweetspot," checking the indexing to verify that is is indexing properly, verifying that the toolhead is seated as it should be, and working with the actual die to make sure that the trouble wasn't originating there. I even went to Gander Mountain and purchased a new RCBS die set just to see if it would work with better precision. I had the same problem with the RCBS die. Finally, I called the service department at Dillon and was told that I would probably need to use a Dillon die as they operate the best on their progressive presses. I don't question at all that dillon makes quality dies; however, one of the two primary reasons for going with the 650 is that it uses the standard universal threads which can accommodate many of the dies I already own. I guess I was still unconvinced after our conversation, so I kept trying to ascertain the problem. What I noticed next leads me to wonder if this could be the culprit. I took all the dies out of the press and watched from a top view as the brass cycled in the press. What I noticed is that in stations 1 & 3, the brass does not come up into the center of the die holes. In fact they seem to be off-center significantly. Oddly, though, 4 & 5 are perfect, and #2 isn't off by much. I also noticed that when I watched the brass on the upstroke, the bullets enter the dies at a slight angle, rather than directly parallel to the walls of the dies. I then found that I can "force" the brass into the resizing die, but again, only by manifpulating each piece by hand, causing it to enter at a fairly extreme angle. It doesn't seem to impact the operation of the press or the dies, but I am wondering if that could be the cause of my problem. Ultimately, I am pleased with the solid feel of the press, but am wondering if I am going to have to purchase all new resizing dies from Dillon, or if this is a remediable issue. Thanks! Chris