IrishPsych Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 I have two 650s. One is new in box and the other is setup. I will admit it's been a year since I've reloaded; got married, work, woodworking all got in the way. I was going to sell one 650 but like the idea of having one for rifle and one for pistol. That said, is having a bullet feeder worth getting ride of a powder check? Having only 5 stages it's my only choice IF I want to seat and crimp separately. I like the safety aspect of a powder check especially if I take the wife shooting and friends. I guess the other question is, how crucial is seating and crimping separately? It was advised to do that from the start. I have a new hornady seat and taper crimp die but have never used the crimp feature. Thanks in advance for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 A $10 light and paying attention to powder drop in every case makes a powder check a waste of space in my opinion. Get the MBF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPD7119 Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 +1 for the MBF. Once you get it set up and dialed in you won't look back. Just pay attention when loading and you'll be good to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerritm Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Best add on I did since getting the 650. Fill case feeder, fill bullet feeder, have a bunch of primer tubes ready and go to town. One note, did start off with the Mini BF and did not like it, took too long to fill. Got a light & pay attention. Case check all rounds for fit & high primers. gerritm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jejb Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 I'd use the Hornady die and keep the powder check. I already had RCBS dies when I got my 650, and they also do the seat/crimp in one station. I'd been doing it that way for over 20 years with my RCBS progressive, so I had no worries about it on the 650 either. And it works great. I don't understand why you'd want to split those operations up into 2 dies, personally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MemphisMechanic Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 You will kick yourself for not installing a MBF sooner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xdr Posted March 22, 2019 Share Posted March 22, 2019 the bullet feeder = best upgrade to my 650. I think it gives me a higher quality loading session as I can pay more attention to whats going on including visually verifying the powder drop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lgh Posted March 23, 2019 Share Posted March 23, 2019 (edited) According to Dillon, the powder check will detect "none vs double charge". It doesn't really check the accuracy of the charge. In 9mm, the case is pretty full with a typical charge and a double will spill over. A no charge is, well, pretty easy to see. So if you do a visual you should be good. I don't use a powder check for 9 but I do for Titegroup charges in 45 since the case is big and the charge is small. Edited March 23, 2019 by lgh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rojo1911 Posted March 23, 2019 Share Posted March 23, 2019 No question the biller feeder will help you load faster. Listen to Sarge, get the light kit and pay attention when loading. You definitely won’t regret it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jejb Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 I don't understand why anyone would not have the best/safest of both worlds, if they wanted to add a bullet feeder. Use a die that crimps and seats in one operation, and you can have both the powder checker and bullet feeder. The OP even already owns the seat/crimp die. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jejb Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 On 3/23/2019 at 8:11 AM, lgh said: According to Dillon, the powder check will detect "none vs double charge". It doesn't really check the accuracy of the charge. In 9mm, the case is pretty full with a typical charge and a double will spill over. A no charge is, well, pretty easy to see. So if you do a visual you should be good. I don't use a powder check for 9 but I do for Titegroup charges in 45 since the case is big and the charge is small. I've never used the Dillon powder checker. Since I already owned an RCBS one when I got my 650, I just use it. And it's the same way, only really tells you if you have none or a double. Which is fine with me. I check the drop weight regularly and it's always on the money. I use some TG in 9mm and it could easily be double charged w/o spilling over the top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bwikel Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 On 3/23/2019 at 8:11 AM, lgh said: According to Dillon, the powder check will detect "none vs double charge". It doesn't really check the accuracy of the charge. In 9mm, the case is pretty full with a typical charge and a double will spill over. A no charge is, well, pretty easy to see. So if you do a visual you should be good. Bingo! If you think you are getting alarms for deviations of tenths of a grain you are fooling yourself. A visual check is all you need to confirm, that is really all the powder check alarm is doing anyway. If you don't want to hover over the press to do a visual check add an endoscope to the press and view it on a tablet or your phone for the visual confirmation on powder level. This can easily be done in the tool head hole used for the powder check rod and these days you can pick up an endoscope for like $20. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IHAVEGAS Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 (edited) 33 minutes ago, jejb said: I don't understand why anyone would not have the best/safest of both worlds, Fair question. I trust my eyes, and an excellent light shining down on the powder charge, as much as I did the powder checker. Also there is no messing around with adjustment when you change loads. With a MBF my problem now is that reloading used to be a hobby and now I have to find something else to do with my time. Edited March 26, 2019 by IHAVEGAS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SterlingSomeone Posted March 27, 2019 Share Posted March 27, 2019 A bullet feeder will be a huge time saver. My powder check only gets used when loading rifle. The bullet feeder helps me pump out around 8-900 rounds an hour on the 650 at a leisure pace with multiple QA checks for powder charge size and COAL. My rf100 also helps speed production. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jejb Posted March 27, 2019 Share Posted March 27, 2019 (edited) 21 hours ago, IHAVEGAS said: Fair question. I trust my eyes, and an excellent light shining down on the powder charge, as much as I did the powder checker. Also there is no messing around with adjustment when you change loads. Not me. That is an operation I want to get 100% right, every time. I have the UFO light, and it's great. But I know I'm not perfect. The powder checker never, ever gets distracted or bored. Is the Dillon powder checker hard to adjust for different loads? The RCBS one is very simple to adjust that way. Edited March 27, 2019 by jejb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IHAVEGAS Posted March 27, 2019 Share Posted March 27, 2019 If I can not be focused and attentive then I will not reload. I think the powder check is a fine thing to have if you want it , but it's not 100 % reliable, I had to replace the microswitch in mine and a battery or two but both failures came on gradually in my case so it was very easy to detect the problem and not have it fail when needed. Dillon was probably not hard to adjust if you are not as ocd as I , I tended to want to fiddle until it was set close to perfect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jejb Posted March 28, 2019 Share Posted March 28, 2019 Like I said, I've never used a Dillon. Your points are well taken, and suggest Dillon's system is perhaps overly complicated. Makes me glad I use the all mechanical RCBS one. I've never had it fail to work correctly in many 10's of thousands of reloads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeldBoy Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 On 3/19/2019 at 7:26 PM, Sarge said: A $10 light and paying attention to powder drop in every case makes a powder check a waste of space in my opinion. Get the MBF what is the MBF? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 4 minutes ago, WeldBoy said: what is the MBF? Mr Bullet Feeder by DAA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theblacklabel18 Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 If you think you’re going to have a double charge, there’s no sense in trying to go faster. But with the dillon 650 you have to mess up really bad to double charge it. If double charging were a big problem with the 650 you would hear more about it. It’s a reliable machine. Just pay attention to the charges as others said and if you get complacent then take a five minute break and get back at it. You’ll still load a lot more ammo in an hour than you would without the mbf. Best of luckSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lgh Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 2 hours ago, theblacklabel18 said: But with the dillon 650 you have to mess up really bad to double charge it. I agree. Try to induce a double charge and you will probably find it doesn't "just happen". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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