SteelCityShooter Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 I have an XL650 purchased in early 2008 that has loaded over 20,000 rounds of 9mm and .38 Special, all small pistol primers obviously. It has recently started giving me primer feed problems. The Rotary Primer Disk will occasionally not index quite all the way to the next position and the primer seating punch then hits the edge of the hole in the disk. This happens about one cycle out of 10 or 20, not all the time. It also happens with no primers in the tube as well as when actually reloading. When this began, I disassembled the entire primer feed assembly and cleaned everything and that didn't fix the problem. I also changed the primer cam for a new one and that didn't do it either. I turned the disk over in case one or more of the holes was worn on top and that didn't help. I tried marking the holes where the failures occurred but it doesn't seem limited to certain holes and is somewhat random. Any thought or suggestions? I tried calling Dillon CS but the wait times for help are huge and I thought I'd see what ideas the collective wisdom on this forum could offer. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rishii Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 I had a similar problem, took it apart cleaned etc, nothing worked call Dillon, punch in your call back number, you probably need new parts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rishii Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 Also mine started to act up after I used it to deprime a bunch of 9mm before wet tumbling and had a few primers hang up and jam in the primer wheel, which was enough to throw off the timing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelCityShooter Posted December 10, 2020 Author Share Posted December 10, 2020 5 hours ago, rishii said: I had a similar problem, took it apart cleaned etc, nothing worked call Dillon, punch in your call back number, you probably need new parts Yeah, that's tomorrow's project. I was hoping there was a simple answer but new parts are probably going to be needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted December 11, 2020 Share Posted December 11, 2020 Mine got so dirty once it basically stopped rotating. Cleaned every part and it was fine. Another time the spring got bent somehow and it would randomly not index Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George16 Posted December 11, 2020 Share Posted December 11, 2020 Install a new spring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelCityShooter Posted December 11, 2020 Author Share Posted December 11, 2020 (edited) 38 minutes ago, George16 said: Install a new spring. I cleaned everything spotlessly so that didn't do it. The disk does rotate well, it just gets hung up every so often. Which spring? Edited December 11, 2020 by SteelCityShooter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caspian guy Posted December 11, 2020 Share Posted December 11, 2020 There are 3 springs that matter... One is what tensions the ball bearing detent that stops the disk in a particular spot. The one that pushes back out the arm that indexes the primer disk... The other is the wave spring/washer that is on the shaft that the primer disk rotates on. If cleaning the whole thing doesn't fix it changing, one or all of those springs usually does it for me. I have sometimes also had the indexing arm get bent which needs a swap or straightening in a vise . This is a good reason to have a dillon parts kit handy, so you have parts to swap, then when you find the culprit you get Dillon to send you a replacement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muncie21 Posted December 11, 2020 Share Posted December 11, 2020 (edited) Another vote for changing the indexing spring. My spring looked fine, but when I removed it, from the arm, it came apart in 2 pieces. Edited December 11, 2020 by muncie21 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted December 11, 2020 Share Posted December 11, 2020 7 hours ago, SteelCityShooter said: I cleaned everything spotlessly so that didn't do it. The disk does rotate well, it just gets hung up every so often. Which spring? The one in the little activating lever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furrly Posted December 11, 2020 Share Posted December 11, 2020 (edited) The indexing arm that advances the disk as a spring, replace it.. Dillion Wil send you a new one. Edited December 11, 2020 by Furrly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EEH Posted December 11, 2020 Share Posted December 11, 2020 the primers must be bad so ,send me all those little buggers ( primers ) that worry you, I’ll fix them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EEH Posted December 11, 2020 Share Posted December 11, 2020 Replace spring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelCityShooter Posted December 11, 2020 Author Share Posted December 11, 2020 7 hours ago, EEH said: the primers must be bad so ,send me all those little buggers ( primers ) that worry you, I’ll fix them. Your so kind! However, the problem persists even with no primers in the press so I'm afraid I'm going to have to disappoint you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RudyVey Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 Guess these issues were the main reason for Dillon to change the primer system on the new 750 to the one from the 550 presses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 1 hour ago, RudyVey said: Guess these issues were the main reason for Dillon to change the primer system on the new 750 to the one from the 550 presses. I don’t know. I had nothing but problems with the 550 priming system. It’s the weakest link in that press so I certainly hope they did something to improve it for the 750. I bought a 650 and got rid of my 550 years ago and have had only a few problems pop up. There is no way I would ever see the 750 as an improved machine over the 650. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RudyVey Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 (edited) 17 hours ago, Sarge said: I don’t know. I had nothing but problems with the 550 priming system. It’s the weakest link in that press so I certainly hope they did something to improve it for the 750. I bought a 650 and got rid of my 550 years ago and have had only a few problems pop up. There is no way I would ever see the 750 as an improved machine over the 650. That's odd. The only problems I ran in from time to time is an upside-down primer when I try to use my Vibra prime. Since this thing is a pita, I now all pick up my primers with the tubes, and no problems. I run two 550's, one for large and one for small primers. Edited December 12, 2020 by RudyVey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vluc Posted December 13, 2020 Share Posted December 13, 2020 Went through the leaning, replacing springs, the whole 9 yards on a 20+ YO 650. Decided to refurb it, sent it to Dillon for a makeover, came back and runs better than it ever has. Couple hundred between shipping and Dillon's cost, but well worth it in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelCityShooter Posted December 16, 2020 Author Share Posted December 16, 2020 Time for an update. Following everyone's advice, I changed the primer cam, primer index arm, the index arm spring, the detent ball, the detent ball spring and the locator tab and spring and the wave washer. Since I have the Dillon replacement parts kit for my 650 I thought while I was in there I I'd change everything. Now the machine seems to be working properly so one of those changes fixed it. I called Dillon and they are sending replacements for the parts I used so in another 12 years I'll be able to do this again. Thanks to all who helped and commented. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George16 Posted December 16, 2020 Share Posted December 16, 2020 (edited) Glad to hear you got it all sorted out. Edited December 16, 2020 by George16 Sp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CenTX Posted January 24, 2021 Share Posted January 24, 2021 Dillon has a series of videos under "Troubleshooting", including one on "Greasing Axle On Primer Feed". Dillon says this is a common cause of 650 primer feed problems. https://www.dillonprecision.com/xl650-product-videos.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sigarmsp226 Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 CenTX - Thanks for posting this link. I was not aware all of the self help videos were available for the 650. Thanks Again...Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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