Something I've Noticed On 650 Re: Heavy Charges

[Matt Griffin]

This may be floating around somewhere, but I couldn't find it searching:

I've noticed that if I'm cycling the machine fully without throwing a powder charge, such as when setting bullet depth, the minimal throw of the powder bar will increase the next charge about .4gr. Maybe obvious to everyone, but thought I'd throw it out there. Once I start cycling in earnest, I always pull the first case in station 2 and set it aside, then finish it at the end of my run.

Also: Thanks to Shred for the tip about removing the primer cycling piece when testing; the hardest thing with the 650 is getting it to stop.

H.

[nhglyn]

I am new to the 650 (always used a 550). What was that tip about removing the primer cycling piece when testing? What do I do? Thanks.

[Matt Griffin]

I am new to the 650 (always used a 550). What was that tip about removing the primer cycling piece when testing? What do I do? Thanks.

Facing the machine, near the top on the right side of the frame, is a black plastic piece with a ramp. When you raise the ram, it moves the silver bar, indexing the primer feed forward. It's held on with a single screw, and doesn't require adjustment, so when something goes screwy you can just pop it off and cycle the machine without spraying primers everywhere. When you're ready to go again, just screw it back on.

Other tips:

When you're just getting started for a session, I wait until I have the first case in Station 1, ready to go. I then put a primed case in two manually (I always have a few from adjustment testing) then raise the ram for the first cycle. However, before coming all the way down, and particularly before the plate starts to index, I reach in with my left hand and remove the case from station 2. This is the heavy charge I was talking about. Then, also without moving the ram, I reach in with my right hand and index the silver primer advance bar until there is a primer in station 2. Now I can lower the RAM and prime the first case, then get a proper powder charge on the next upstroke.

Also, when everything blows up, you can remove the casefeed tube and empty it, then manually cycle the casefeeder thingy to get the rest of the cases out of the adapter.

Between emptying the casefeeder and stopping the primer advance, it's much easier to fix problems and change loads without panicking at all the components flying everywhere.

H.