550 w/ Casefeeder vs. 650 w/ Casefeeder

[benos]

The 550's Casefeeder has been on the market long enough - there may be at least one person out there with both a 550 w/Casefeeder and a 650 w/Casefeeder on his loading bench. If you happen to be one of those people, please feel free to compare the two setups.

What I'm looking for is opinions from people with direct experience with both setups (as opposed to speculations).

In my opinion, the 550's Casefeeder is marketed for the individual who already owns a 550, maybe in a few pistol calbers, and now for a couple hundred bucks he can upgrade his 550 with a Casefeeder. But if you are going to buy either a 550 or a 650 intitally, and you absolutely have to have a Casefeeder, then I'd almost always recommend the 650. If you do the math it's only an additional $55, and now you have auto-indexing.

Although I do like the 550's priming system better than the 650's, I would still recommend the 650 for this purchasing scenario.

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[Jaxshooter]

I am considering a case feed for my 550 to load 38 super comp. Loading it on my 650 causes powder to spill when indexing (10.4 gr 3n38). I have done all the tricks like trimming the spring and letting my finger drag on the shell plate and it still throws powder. I have 2- 550s and 2-650s.

[steel1212]

I was going to post but I still don't see the need for a case feeder for the 550 anyway, I mean you have to rotate the shell plate and while your doing that with your left hand grab a piece of brass with your right. Save your money and buy more bullets lol....sorry for not helping.

[benos]

I was going to post but I still don't see the need for a case feeder for the 550 anyway, I mean you have to rotate the shell plate and while your doing that with your left hand grab a piece of brass with your right. Save your money and buy more bullets lol....sorry for not helping.

There's definitely some truth there. With that in mind, however, I asked Jason (at Dillon) just how much faster he could load with the Casefeeder on the 550. (He's one of their primary testers, and put a lot of rounds through the prototype 550 Casefeeders.) He said the Casefeeder would give him approx. 200 rounds/hour. In his opinion, the fact that the 550 Did Not auto-index wasn't really that big of a factor. (Or in other words, it didn't slow him down that much.) That makes sense, because it's so easy to control and index the 550's Shellplate. I've probably speculated on every theory for this question... somebody out there's got have both machines with Casefeeders... but maybe not.

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[JThompson]

I ran my 550 for a couple of months before I got the case feeder from you. I found I could load about 20% more in the same amount of time. The primary reason was not getting the case in the correct position on the first try every time. I also damaged more cases when I was moving fast. It also frees my eyes up to verify the powder charge and bullet seat instead of trying to look a case into position. All in all I love the case feeder. I used a friends 650 for a couple of days when mine was waiting on a part from D. It seemed a little dif where primer seating was concerned and I didn't get the feedback upon seating I feel in my 550... Perhaps it was just the lack of familiarity with the press that made me feel that way… perhaps not.

I like to manually index the press because I have more control over powder spillage, which I hardly ever see on my 550, but noticed some with the 650 when cases were close to full. Again, this could have been caused from lack of experience with a new press. I love my 550 and would not go to the 650. IF I was going to go to another press I would jump to the 1050. I think the 550 does everything I need and does some things better than other presses from D.

Edited November 21, 2007 by JThompson

[mike_in_md]

Is there a technical reason why the 550 casefeeder doesn't feed rifle cases? It seems that the advantage of the 650 caefeeder is that it allows for rifle cases. If us 550 users can't do rifle cases with the casefeeder then I just don't see the point in buying it since I use my 550 for 38, 45, 223, and 30-06.

Wouldn't changing from pistol to rifle defeat the simplicity of setting up the 550 since the case feeder equipment would need to be removed?

[maineshootah]

Is there a technical reason why the 550 casefeeder doesn't feed rifle cases?

+10000000000000000 x 6 to that!

I love the primer system on my 550 a lot better than my 650.

I wish the casefeeder would handle .223.

[JThompson]

Is there a technical reason why the 550 casefeeder doesn't feed rifle cases? It seems that the advantage of the 650 caefeeder is that it allows for rifle cases. If us 550 users can't do rifle cases with the casefeeder then I just don't see the point in buying it since I use my 550 for 38, 45, 223, and 30-06.

Wouldn't changing from pistol to rifle defeat the simplicity of setting up the 550 since the case feeder equipment would need to be removed?

Good point and one I hadn't considered since I don't load rifle....

[Chris Keen]

+1 to each and every comment above

I started loading on a 550 about 4 years ago. I bought it used from a local shooter here in Dayton for about $500. It came with a cheap tumbler, a RCBS 10-100 beam scale, 9,000 primers of all kinds, 500 115 gr. bullets, and 10 sets of dies complete with 10 tool-heads, and 10 caliber conv. kits. Everything a reloader could ever want .... dies for 9mm, 38/357, .40, .41, .44 MAG, .45 ACP, .30 carb., & .223. I was in heaven.

But as soon as Dillon announced a case-feeder for the 550 was coming I couldn't wait to pre-order one for myself. It was an obvious choice for the average IPSC / USPSA shooter. You could load for most of the popular pistol calibers (9mm, 38 super, .40, .45) with minimal work / parts changing between them, double your output, make your life easier, AND do it all for a couple a hundred bucks? Very much like the 650.

So I used the 550 with the new case feeder for a couple of years with little or no problems out of it at all. I loved it. It had all the benefits of the 550 (better control of powder spill, easy to verify powder drops, multiple calibers available to me at the time) with the benefit of the 650 of having "a case-feeder" .... and then there's the added bonus of freeing up tons of counter space by putting LOTS of brass, in a little area, up on top of the press ... out of the way.

But when I finally got the chance to buy a really nice looking 650 used from fellow BE'er Zhunter for a really great price I jumped at it. Not really thinking ....... just doing. And not really sure what I was going to do with my 550/case-feeder combination ... I just knew I wanted a 650. And boy was I glad I finally did it ..... I love the 650 so much more, especially now that I just went back to loading on the 550 again just because I already had a .45 shell-plate, dies, and a tool head for the 550.

The 650 is a little harder to control powder spillage, but it is easily monitored by keeping a finger on the brass as it turns. I found super alot harder to control than say Prod. or LTD where you are only loading 3~5 grains of powder in a case, but it can be done. But the increase in speed is measurable. It sped me up 500 ~ 600 in an hour. I was used to only doing 400 an hour on the 550. But even the 650 is not without ALL flaws. The primer system is a pain if you somehow crush a case in the #1 position or miss it altogether. And the primer seating is less noticeable on the 650 than on the 550, but it is not too much different than learning trigger reset on a new pistol. It can be felt after some practice. Other than that I would have to say the 650 is a superior press than the 550, but not by that much

I still dont know if I'll keep my 550, but I like having a back-up press. Dillons are great, but they do break from time to time. And living in Ohio it can take as much as a week to get a part. So I ordered an extra set of .38 super dies, and set up a tool-head for both machines to crank out some super ammo if the need should ever arrive. I also have an extra set of .40 dies I am not using right now. I should set up one of them on both machines too.

But there is one other advantage in owning both a 550 & a 650. And it ain't that my 2 best friends have 1 of each (Bseevers has a 650 and PHaroh. Bender has a 550) and I could probably use one of their presses as a back-up ...... it's that I am able to offer that same kind of assistance to my best friends should one of their presses ever break down.

Edited November 23, 2007 by CHRIS KEEN

[JThompson]

Great review Chris.

[steel1212]

Chris so what your saying is just get a 650 instead of the casefeeder lol. That is kind of what I'm thinking about doing. Get a 650 with the small plate for 40/9 and use it for those 2 calibers and leave my 550 setup for .45 or other LP/LR stuff. So my opinion is if you have a 550, have the space, save your pennys and get a 650 if you do several calibers, which most of us on here do.

[Chris Keen]

Yup!

[mike_in_md]

Chris,

Excellent photo of the 550 and 650 side by side. It's clear that the 650 is more beefy than the 550 by far! That 650 is a looker!

[scirocco38s]

I was going to post but I still don't see the need for a case feeder for the 550 anyway, I mean you have to rotate the shell plate and while your doing that with your left hand grab a piece of brass with your right. Save your money and buy more bullets lol....sorry for not helping.

There's definitely some truth there. With that in mind, however, I asked Jason (at Dillon) just how much faster he could load with the Casefeeder on the 550. (He's one of their primary testers, and put a lot of rounds through the prototype 550 Casefeeders.) He said the Casefeeder would give him approx. 200 rounds/hour. In his opinion, the fact that the 550 Did Not auto-index wasn't really that big of a factor. (Or in other words, it didn't slow him down that much.) That makes sense, because it's so easy to control and index the 550's Shellplate. I've probably speculated on every theory for this question... somebody out there's got have both machines with Casefeeders... but maybe not.

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I agree with Jason. I would have a 550 with casefeeder beforre the 650. I have stated before the 650 achilles heel is the primer system and I just dont care for it. I have had a 550 for 10 years and it has been a workhorse. 3 years ago 1 saved and bought a 1050 instead of the 650. I have never regretted it. Last year I bought the casefeeder for the 550 and I would have it with no problems over the 650. I load most of my prctice and local ammo in super on the 1050, but when it is time to load for a major match, I go back to the 550 as I can control the rate of everything and watch all the steps carefully. My production is lower but it is premium ammo tha I know will work 100%. I load 9mm/38sc/38super/40/45 and 44mag on my 550 and just bought a conversion to load 223. It is hands down the most versitile loder on the market. I do have a extra tool hed for my 1050 but for what it cost to convert it over I may never do it unless I need to produce large amounts of 223, or 40.

[MagicTH]

Doesn't the 650 also have an extra station on the toolhead for the powder check system? Seems like that would be valuable.

[benos]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. And especially to JThompson and Chris - real good stuff there.

On the off topic queries - I was told by Dillon that the 550's Casefeeder will never work with rifle cartridges. And it's quite a pita to move it out of the way to load rifle, so I never recommend it along with a 550 initially if you even know what a rifle cartridge is.

And yes, the 650 does have an extra station for the Powder Check System, although I would never recommend buying a 650 just so you can have the Powder Check System (if you'd really be better off with a 550).

Thanks again,

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[mobocracy]

Going way, way, way off topic, does Dillon ever have any plans to re-design the 550 and 650 presses?

I can see where they could sell a manual indexing press without a case feeder and an autoindexing press with a casefeeder that was pretty much the same press, minus the indexing adjustment and the casefeeder. I would think for Dillon there would be colossal advantages in parts, manufacturing and support to have the presses be essentially the same.

I'd also think that a clever design may allow the "higher-end" functions to be added individually to the lower-end press for those that wanted, say, a 550 with casefeed. A re-design would also allow them to "tune up" aspects of the design that seem clunky (650 priming) or limiting (casefeed on 550).

[benos]

Going way, way, way off topic, does Dillon ever have any plans to re-design the 550 and 650 presses?

I can see where they could sell a manual indexing press without a case feeder and an autoindexing press with a casefeeder that was pretty much the same press, minus the indexing adjustment and the casefeeder. I would think for Dillon there would be colossal advantages in parts, manufacturing and support to have the presses be essentially the same.

I'd also think that a clever design may allow the "higher-end" functions to be added individually to the lower-end press for those that wanted, say, a 550 with casefeed. A re-design would also allow them to "tune up" aspects of the design that seem clunky (650 priming) or limiting (casefeed on 550).

That's good input - but I haven't heard anything at all on anything like that.

be