osageid Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 The 650 was my first reloader, I am new to reloading and it has been a true pleasure and the set up was not difficult at all. I was a bit OCD as I had respect for what I was doing to be safe and rechecked and rechecked. All my rounds have been flawless! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IBJanky Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 I bought an XL 650 as my first press a few years ago and never looked back myke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pensfan Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 I bought my XL 650, as my first ever reloader, from Brian's site and am working on setting it up now. I am having a small problem with the primer mechanism, otherwise it is going together smoothly and looking forward to cranking out ammo with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98sr20ve Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Don't you live about 25 mins from Dillon? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blaster113 Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 I give you guys credit jumping into a 650 for your first press. I just got a 650 after running a 550 for about 10 years. definitely a learning curve involved and were it not for my previous loading experience the teething troubles wouldve been worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pensfan Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 I give you guys credit jumping into a 650 for your first press. I just got a 650 after running a 550 for about 10 years. definitely a learning curve involved and were it not for my previous loading experience the teething troubles wouldve been worse. I have heard the same thing from pretty much everyone haha. I am fairly mechanically inclined and I have already taken apart my press about 70% of the total possible ways. I do much better when taking it all apart and finding out how things work. Sometimes getting it back together can be a pain though, haha. One thing I have to remind myself with every lever pull is that there are nearly a dozen things going on at once and I really force myself to pay attention and observe EVERYTHING in the stroke. Right now I am only loading around 10-15 rounds at a time as I am still learning as much as I can about it and testing loads. Hopefully in the next few weeks I can start cranking out two to three hundred rounds an hour (WELL under the stated cyclic rate) when I am more comfortable with the entire process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powerslide91 Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 I bought a 650 as my first press. I had a friend locally that used one, so he showed me the setup and we did a small test run so I could get the swing of it. After that, I was hooked and ordered my own. I think it is great. Same as the comment above, right now I take it fairly slow. I just built two sets of 25 rounds that I basically measured all through the process (powder drop for each round, OAL before and after crimp, diameter before and after crimp, case gage them all, barrel drops...). Now I have good confidence on how stable the press is. I still have alot to learn and have just barely started reloading, but I am already catching myself looking at the prices for some extra caliber conversions... slippy slope and all that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicVerAZ Posted April 19, 2012 Author Share Posted April 19, 2012 Don't you live about 25 mins from Dillon? If you mean me (the OP), then yes and I already went and bought direct. I picked a 550 instead, because I want to reload several calibers and also don't care for the hugeness of the 650. My setup is in a closet that opens to reveal a workbench with the 550. I am a closet gun nut, what can I say Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisMcCracken Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 Congrats on the purchase. You can't go wrong so long as its a blue press. They have some of the best customer service I've ever encountered. Post pics once its setup! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janove Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 I started out with a XL650, loaded a lot of 9mm and .40. Bought a 550 to load some other calibers, in smaller amounts and just bought a second 550 that i have set up with large primers. So you can say i started the other way around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raysracer Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 I give you guys credit jumping into a 650 for your first press. I just got a 650 after running a 550 for about 10 years. definitely a learning curve involved and were it not for my previous loading experience the teething troubles wouldve been worse. Go big or go home!! No seriously, if my buddy didnt have one and was willing to help me out, I wouldn't have gotten one. The support on this forum incredible Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kasen Posted April 20, 2012 Share Posted April 20, 2012 (edited) Buy your press from Brian Enos for sure, "as it should be." Gets you started right. I began with a 550. My priority was to load match grade 224 to save money. I was new to reloading and I'm glad I got the 550. As this point I'm getting very accurate rifle rounds though it. Recently I purchased a 650 for loading pistol rounds. Soooo much faster. That being said, I still do my rifle rounds on the 550. Not sure if that's helpful for you. but if I had to do it over I'd do the same thing. Edited April 20, 2012 by kasen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Ryder Posted April 20, 2012 Share Posted April 20, 2012 Yep! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98sr20ve Posted April 20, 2012 Share Posted April 20, 2012 Don't you live about 25 mins from Dillon? If you mean me (the OP), then yes and I already went and bought direct. I picked a 550 instead, because I want to reload several calibers and also don't care for the hugeness of the 650. My setup is in a closet that opens to reveal a workbench with the 550. I am a closet gun nut, what can I say Glad you got setup. First couple steps are the hardest. After that it's not so hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve RA Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 First Dillon, not first press. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osageid Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 My first ever press was the xl 650, even my son is loading on it as well! I am considering getting a second 650 for his birthday so we can both load at the same time! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s4alex Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 I am new to reloading completely. Purchased a setup from BE and got it setup in my garage. Built a nice solid workbench just for it. Just like anything, take your time and do some research. I know the Dillon is capable of putting out 800+ rounds per hour. I, however, am not. I just recently fired off my first batch. Took me about 20-30 minutes to get those pumped out. I checked and double checked each round. Took multiple measurements of both brass and powder. The first few rounds I did one at a time just to get the feel. Delt with all the stupid powder spill from the abrupt indexing. Took forever to get the right powder measure that I wanted. After I went to the range and shot my load, big smile. A couple days later, I turned out about 200 more rounds. This time a bit faster. I still checked and double checked and remeasured both case and powder. Yah, a little bit more of a learning curve, but the nut behind the lever is the most important thing to get control of. Same thing when I started riding motorcycles. Biggest suggestion is start with a 250 and buy a bigger one later. I started on a 750. Still riding to this day. No issues. Take your time and don't rush it and you will be fine. Just because you it can do 800+ rph, doesn't mean you should. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trident Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 I just received a new 650 with case loader, primer alarm, roller handle, strong mount, the works....as a first press. Glad I bought the 650 as a first press. I'm mechanical inclined and found everything very straight forward with little to no problems. Used the manual step by step, did buy the DVD watched it once, followed advise from this site (thanks) and always went slow, methodical and used common sense. The only problems that I had was to get rid of crimped cases, don't force anything, ( I had one primer went off during the first hour until getting used to the primer seating process, and then later had the primer punch backing out causing primer jams. Loaded 100-200 rounds on day 2 and 1000 by the end of the week. 5k so far. I can load 100 rounds in 5:30 with mixed "lubed" brass without any crimped cases. For me having good cases is the most important part to not having to stop and reset all the time. Added the bearing mod to the shell plate and cut the spring to get rid of the powder case splash when indexing, then added a piece on the spent primer cup to keep primers from flying all over and today I just added a Redding Comp Seating Die for better and easier seating adjustments. Love the 650. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pezco Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 650 was my first press, very easy to set up! Highly recommended! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scap99 Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 Roger that! It was my first; got it in 1996. It wasn't until I got into precision rifle a couple of years ago that I added a single stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperD Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 Dillon 650 was my first metallic press. I had shots hell presses before getting a metallic press. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
splitime Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 Used 650 was my first press (is my first press). Making ammo so far that has been 100% reliable (knock on wood). I guarantee my initial setup would have gone faster with someone helping as I had Never reloaded at all before. Otherwise I'm fairly mechanically inclined and it has gone pretty well. Love my 650. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMD-KY Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 Brian says don't think about buying a 650 without a case feeder. Why is that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 Brian says don't think about buying a 650 without a case feeder. Why is that? Because you will get real tired real fast of having to completely stop the entire reloading operation, about every 20 rounds or so, to fill up the tube with brass. Unless, of course, you have a child or significant other to stand there and keep the tube full for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pops1982 Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 I got my first press (a 650) about 1 1/2 years ago and have had no problems. Had an experienced friend set it up for me and I use a couple of his tried and true loading recipes for a major and minor pf in 40 caliber and have had zero problems. I dont get all the warnings about starting with the 650. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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