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Dillon 650 9mm to .40s&w conversion


1eyedfatman

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I've only been reloading for about 6 months and only with 9mm. I've finally got things where I like them with the 9mm and my rounds for IDPA/USPSA/etc are performing well. I worked through getting the crimp correct and ending the tumbles/keyholes. I'm starting to trying different powders to play with feel and power factor but all I have to change there is the powder and powder measure. The used Dillon I bought came with everything needed to reload .40 as well including another toolhead, powder measure, dies, shell plate, etc. Given I don't have to touch my 9mm dies and can do a quick change with the toolhead, is going back and forth between the two calibers pretty easy and one would expect everything would be the same as before with the previous loaded round?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Some things I have learned: Hornady locking rings...I use them for all my dies. Set them once and be done with it. Never any problems and you can mount and dismount the dies from the toolheads with no issues.

I have two toolheads and load a bunch of different calibers switching back and forth between caliber that use the same primer size.

You are aware that the 9 and 40 use the same shellplate and shellholder pins in a Dillon. Bought from scratch you'd buy a 40/10 and 380/38supercomp conversion kit to load 10-40-9-38-380. Always consult the Enos crossover charts!

Remember to check your powder charge every time you caliber convert as well as the setting of the reset lever spring system.

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Once I am sure everything is set, crimp, seating depth, flair (bell) I use green locktite in the locking ring area because on rare occasions I have had the locking rings come loose. As Forrest stated, always double check everything after you change over. Its also not a bad idea to check everything once every couple hundred/thousand rounds just to be sure. I have complete change over kit including powder measure on a Dillion 650.....

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Its also not a bad idea to check everything once every couple hundred/thousand rounds just to be sure. I have complete change over kit including powder measure on a Dillion 650.....

Sometimes the dies will loosen in the tool head. As I put mine in place with an adjustable wrench...it can happen to you! Worst offender is sizing die followed by seating.

Extra powder measure.....oooh ahhhh.....Great idea when the rounds use different powders. How do you get the toolhead off without loosening or removing the powder measure? The powder reset rod on my 550 is not very easy to remove.

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You are aware that the 9 and 40 use the same shellplate and shellholder pins in a Dillon.

I thinking this is typo... Do you mean 10mm and 40 S&W? 9mm and 40 S&W caliber conversions share no common parts unless you consider the case feed plate and even then, I've had better luck using the small pistol casefeeder plate for 9mm and the large pistol casefeeder plate for 40 S&W.

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You are aware that the 9 and 40 use the same shellplate and shellholder pins in a Dillon.

I thinking this is typo... Do you mean 10mm and 40 S&W? 9mm and 40 S&W caliber conversions share no common parts unless you consider the case feed plate and even then, I've had better luck using the small pistol casefeeder plate for 9mm and the large pistol casefeeder plate for 40 S&W.

What he said
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  • 2 weeks later...

Oops yeah 550...sorry reading glasses cleaned. Sorry I was mistaken. Finally thank you for reminding me that I needed to change the locator buttons for 9mm I have loaded some ammo with the wrong buttons recently. Thanks!

Edited by Forrest Halley
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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I use that clamp kit that Uniquetek sells along with floating die toolheads and separate powder feeders on my 550 for all of my caliber conversions. It adds an extra minute to the swap but it adds to the consistency of my loads since the gap where the toolhead sits is eliminated.

I use the shellplate from the 9mm and switch out to the #2 pins for the .40. I also swap out the station 1 locator and the plastic tube feeder thing. I have had no issues with the small plate on my case feeder feeding the .40 so I leave it on.

All in all, I can do a complete swap in less than 5 minutes if I take my time. The process is basically the same going from 9mm to 38 super or 10mm as well.

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