Just ordered first Dillon press.

[PJones1911]

Dillon makes the best reloading equipment IMHO. I have had a Hornady and had many problems with it and then switched to Dillon.

Welcome to the money saving world of reloading.

[98sr20ve]

Read the manual. Read it again. Then start the setup. Also, don't load with the press not properly bolted down.

[wes777]

650 is the bomb!

[Pythonman]

Thanks everybody for the help. So far I've only loaded 100 rounds and then I stopped and ordered some more stuff like the RCBS Lockout die which just arrived today. Meanwhile I've totally cleaned and degreased the primer pickup tubes, the primer magazine tubes, the primer advance wheel etc. I also carefully adjusted and set up each die at each station making sure to lock them down with a cartridge case inserted fully in each die as I dialed in the perfect settings. I clipped one coil off of the spring under the detent ball under the shellplate which cut powder tossing down to practically nil thank heavens. I was getting powder everywhere. Anyhow I decided fairly quickly that I'd feel more comfortable waiting until I'd gotten a suitable powder check system installed and after some research I decided I'd really like the lockout die because it shuts everything down until the cause of the bad powder charging gets found and fixed. I'm determined to make this thing run as smooth as silk and if the worst case scenario happens where I am plagued with primers getting hung up in the priming section of the 650 I would still be way ahead if I simply resize/deprime on a single stage and then hand prime and let the Dillon take over from that point. It sounds too pathetic to make any sense out of I know, but I actually do know a guy who does just that with his non-Dillon progressive that apparently gives him headaches from unprimed cases constantly showering powder all over the shell plate and bench. Anyhow I've got a few days off work for a long weekend so I'll try my luck again!

[GR8GIFT]

A heavy duty bench will help lots. Doesn't look like your bench is stable enough to me. Just a thought you can get a pretty heavy work bench from Menards precut lumber for about 70 bucks with all the screws to put it together with a drill and screwdriver.

[lablover]

Pythonman

I'm curious what lube you cleaned off the press? I pulled mine out of the box and within a few hours had about 500 rounds done. I didn't clean a thing ! I didn't see any excessive gunk on primer tubes or anything. I also agree about the bench. The 3/4" whatever that top is made of is not enough without a frame. I see you have a 2x4 stuck in there for support. That top needs to be very rigid! I have to imagine that thing does some rock n rollin when you use the press. Now if that top was made of a nice 2x2 frame then 3/4" you would be OK. Me, I would make the frame then use 1" for the top. Bullet Proof Strong.................yes, I'm a Cabinet builder

BTW...I love the Albums! woohoooo

Edited September 28, 2012 by lablover

[Pythonman]

Thanks guys, first things first. Although that bench might not look it, it may as well be made out of granite! It doesnt wobble, flex, shimmy or anything even with my 320lb butt standing on it. There's absolutely no movement and with the albums stored the whole shebang probably weighs about 450lbs. If I ever thought it wasn't up to the job I would have junked it years ago, and may anyhow for something with more room on it, but not because this one is structurally unstable. Not by a longshot. As far as what I had to clean on my press all I can say is I had problems loading the primer pickup tubes because something was causing the large primers to hang up or flip as I was loading them. Same with the primer magazine tube installed in the press. A call to Dillon got me the advice to run patches with just alcohol on them through the tubes and make sure they were clean. I found grease or some other lube on the patches when I did so and the primers have so far worked much better. I just took apart the primer assembly from the press to likewise clean it up and found more possible contaminants that could have had detrimental effects on the reliability of the operation. All seems fine now.

[buckaroo45]

M? What M? dint get no stinkin' FM w mine. Last owner lost the FM. Yea, I know, Dillon had 1 but dat took all the challenge out. Kick the tire and giter' airborn, I say. Whurs ur sens uv aventur?

[Jonathan Taliani]

M? What M? dint get no stinkin' FM w mine. Last owner lost the FM. Yea, I know, Dillon had 1 but dat took all the challenge out. Kick the tire and giter' airborn, I say. Whurs ur sens uv aventur?

Does that post come with a decoder ring?

[Flexmoney]

M? What M? dint get no stinkin' FM w mine. Last owner lost the FM. Yea, I know, Dillon had 1 but dat took all the challenge out. Kick the tire and giter' airborn, I say. Whurs ur sens uv aventur?

Does that post come with a decoder ring?

My bad. He was probably responding to me. I had posted, and then deleted my post after reading further.

I had asked Pythonman if he had RTFM.