XL650 Tips and Tricks

[racerba]

When I finish my loading session and run out of primers, I usually size and deprime a couple of extra pieces of brass and put them under my strong mount. I use these when I have a misfeed from the case feeder and the shellplate had advanced. There is a primer ready to use with no brass to put it in. I take one of the pre-sized and deprimed brass from under the press and place it in the primer station, correct my feed problem and keep reloading.

What I do when I have a primer waiting is to lift the primer advancing arm during the down stroke. That way, the primer does not advance.

[buddy_fuentes]

Any ideas for getting rid of the spent primers going everywhere except in the catch cup??? It's annoying as hell.

I live in an apartment and occasionally I find a spent "escaped" primer in the hallway...

Neighbors re probably wondering what the heck I'm doing. :-)

 

I use a very small binder clip (like a paper clip) to keep the primer dish from moving. Once the primer dish is put in the proper place I place the clip on the side and it doesn't move from there. ALL spent primers go into the dish.

I also use a small binder clip on the end of the primer chute. I clip it on and move the wire arms out of the way and it catches all of the primers that come down the chute.

Buddy

[CSEMARTIN]

I tore down my 650 to do my periodic cleaning, and I noticed one of the dies was loose.

I'm going to try this:

[Tom S.]

I tore down my 650 to do my periodic cleaning, and I noticed one of the dies was loose.

I'm going to try this:

Wouldn't these be better:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ODRJRU

Edited January 17, 2009 by Tom S.

[lynn jones]

just use loctite.

[unclebob]

I use a deep well socket to tighten down the lock rings instead of a wrench. Have not had one come loose since I have been using the socket.

Put a piece of vinyl tubing ½” inside diameter about 5/8” inches long over the end of the primer chute or ski ramp. No more primers going everywhere.

[CSEMARTIN]

just use loctite.

Lynn, I actually thought about using blue loctite--seriously. Since my 650 is for my 45 only, I don't ever plan on changing the dies. Have you used loctite yourself? (I wasn't sure if you were kidding) Do you put the loctite on the whole die or just the portion of the threads that come into contact with the nut?

I use a deep well socket.....Have not had one come loose

I use a deep well socket too. It still came loose.

[MemphisMechanic]

When I finish my loading session and run out of primers, I usually size and deprime a couple of extra pieces of brass and put them under my strong mount. I use these when I have a misfeed from the case feeder and the shellplate had advanced. There is a primer ready to use with no brass to put it in. I take one of the pre-sized and deprimed brass from under the press and place it in the primer station, correct my feed problem and keep reloading.

It's just a little thing, but saves me having to collect the good primers from the "ski ramp" primer collector and recycle them.

fwiw

dj

Yet another wonderfully obvious tip I'm stealing. Keep 'em coming.

[lynn jones]

just use loctite.

Lynn, I actually thought about using blue loctite--seriously. Since my 650 is for my 45 only, I don't ever plan on changing the dies. Have you used loctite yourself? (I wasn't sure if you were kidding) Do you put the loctite on the whole die or just the portion of the threads that come into contact with the nut?

I use a deep well socket.....Have not had one come loose

I use a deep well socket too. It still came loose.

i just loctite the last few threads. no problems. the big threads make it easy to get loose if you want to change a die out.

lynn

[Suwannee Tim]

Here is my solution to the spent primers flying all over the room: Get a 300 Win Mag case, others will certainly work, 300 short mags maybe, poke out the primer and drill out the case head with a 13/32 drill, chamfer the heck out of the hole with a case mouth reamer. Remove the primer catcher cup and bracket. Open up the slot in the bracket with a file until the extractor groove of the 300 Mag can be pushed into the slot. With the case so installed, reinstall the bracket using 8-32 X 1/4 screws or longer screws with washers. You can now press a piece of 3/8 or 7/16 or maybe 1/2 ID hose on the 300 Mag case. I have been having a lot of problems with primer drawback. I set the hose to drop the primer in a coffee can which goes "ding" when the primer hits it. When it does not go "ding" I know the primer did not fall free and I am having a drawback issue.

[Rauls]

I just got my 650 up and running (thank you again Dillon and Brian Enos!!) and realized that using a wrench of any type on the powder measure was more a hassle than I had realized. I read about the trick for fashioning knobs from wood, but I really haven't the time to dink around and wanted something NOW. Why not just use a 7/16" socket. I don't know about you, but I have several different tool sets (Craftsman, Snap On and even some Asian junk) including the sockets, so coming up with a spare was no problem. If you don't wish to dedicate your 7/16" U.S. standard, use an 11 mm metric socket in it's place. Much easier to turn that bolt head and it doesn't clutter up your work area. I like the feel too. BTW, thanks to ALL the GREAT contributors here for all the OUTSTANDING tips and tricks. Many have helped to make my introduction to my 650 much easier. Take care all...............Rauls

[lynn jones]

for the last year it would seem, my case feeder wouldn't put the case exactly where it needed to be for the sizing die to size it. i thought it was the delievery system. it turns out that the shell plate was not tightened down enough. man am i glad to get the 650 back up and running correctly.

lynn

[Gelaendewolf]

I just got my 650 up and running (thank you again Dillon and Brian Enos!!) and realized that using a wrench of any type on the powder measure was more a hassle than I had realized. I read about the trick for fashioning knobs from wood, but I really haven't the time to dink around and wanted something NOW. Why not just use a 7/16" socket. I don't know about you, but I have several different tool sets (Craftsman, Snap On and even some Asian junk) including the sockets, so coming up with a spare was no problem. If you don't wish to dedicate your 7/16" U.S. standard, use an 11 mm metric socket in it's place. Much easier to turn that bolt head and it doesn't clutter up your work area. I like the feel too. BTW, thanks to ALL the GREAT contributors here for all the OUTSTANDING tips and tricks. Many have helped to make my introduction to my 650 much easier. Take care all...............Rauls

Hi Rauls,

according to your powder-measure-problem: just have a look at eGun - they offer several types of machine-made knobs that fits over the original measure-screw and solve (fummling) adjusting-problems; I tried them and all of them worked well..)

Wolfgang

[Larry White]

Home depot has knobs that snap over the bolt head, they are in the hardware section in the same bins as the bolts. About 50 cents, work well. For the primer draw back problem, round off the end of the decap pin.---------Larry

[falconpilot]

https://www.m2tactical.com/c-172-reloading.aspx

This will fix the problem of shell's running into the bottom the the dies - espically on station #1...

Jim

[s.reese65]

as far as spilling powder from cases as it indexes, I just rest my left ring finger on the shell plate as I am holding the next bullet to place on the case as it is indexing, kind of to add resistance, no more clays discs lying around after reloading.

[n2ipsc]

just use loctite.

222/purple (low-strength) works great...

[s.reese65]

Usually after a reloading session and always just prior to a reloading session (session being 1000 at a time, I get tired after that, or if I am only going to reload an amount less for somebody) I go over all the nuts and bolts to make sure things are tight, so far knock on my block head no issues yet, but I don't go at it like two teenagers first time either, if it takes me an hour and a half or two hours to load a 1000 on my 650 that's ok to me.

Probably need to slow down anyway so I can enjoy those last few primers being loaded, may be awhile before I get re-stocked.

[DJPoLo]

I did some repairs/maintenance on all my presses the other night and finally added the spent primer upgrade that so many (read: shred) have evangelized about here.

Wow! What a fool I've been for waiting so long!

No more painful spent primers digging into my bare feet when I reload.

Thanks, y'all!!

-Chet

Edited May 4, 2009 by DJPoLo

[CSEMARTIN]

https://www.m2tactical.com/c-172-reloading.aspx

This will fix the problem of shell's running into the bottom the the dies - espically on station #1...

Jim

Is there any other benefit of the NJK Custom 650 Toolhead?

[vonfatman]

This is probably going to look kinda weird...but since I don't seem to grab the correct a Allen wrench or box-end...

I decided I would actually write the tool size on the press at the appropriate points. I just used a Sharpie and marked the press as well as my quick-changes.

It's worked well for me.

I also chose to "solve" the ski-jump problem with a pretty simple fix...the end of finger out of a latex/nitrile glove.

For those who have modified their press to eliminate the spent-primer under foot problem...a suggestion, you may wish to remove/cut off the forward (closest to you) part of the frame used to hold the spent primer cup...this creates MUCH easier access to the primer punch area (best seen in pic #1)

Edited July 4, 2009 by vonfatman

[Pezco]

Anyone have a fix for the shells bunching up in the opening of the case feeder causing the shell plate to stop?

[vernbo]

Anyone have a fix for the shells bunching up in the opening of the case feeder causing the shell plate to stop?

You need to remove any movement with the case feeder as the press is cycled .

Make the bench more sturdy or heavier or attach the casefeeder to a wall with some kind

of bracing .

[Tard]

https://www.m2tactical.com/c-172-reloading.aspx

This will fix the problem of shell's running into the bottom the the dies - espically on station #1...

Jim

Is there any other benefit of the NJK Custom 650 Toolhead?

I don't know, but I did order one of these: the machined, clamped toolhead for my 650.

http://www.uniquetek.com/site/696296/product/T1333

It should be here soon. I am experimenting with increasing the precision of my 650.

The OAL variations I'm getting are fine for practice pistol ammo but my SDB did a lot better I think because the toolhead was screwed-down and there was a lot less play in the system.

If this helps, to me it is $35 well-spent, since the Dillon cast and pinned ones are $25 anyway.

[Tard]

I got my pinned, precision toolhead in and set it up for .45ACP

It's no harder to setup than the Dillon and might take a whopping 45 seconds longer to install.

Seems very precise and locks-down really nicely.

http://www.uniquetek.com/site/696296/product/T1333

Ran 100, measured the OAL against OAL with the same dies run on the same press with the Dillon toolhead.

Results were surprising. The Uniquetek toolhead produced only a very slightly tighter OAL tolerance.

Certainly not enough to replace your Dillon toolheads.

Since I had already fixed my problem of the shell not lining up with the sizing die in Station 1, I don't need the precision for that (and my other calibers never had the problem).

Dillon toolhead:

Mean: 1.1991

Range: 0.012 (difference between longest and shortest OAL)

Min: 1.193

Max: 1.205

Standard Deviation: 0.0027

Uniquetek toolhead:

Mean: 1.1976

Range: 0.010 (difference between longest and shortest OAL)

Min: 1.193

Max: 1.203

Standard Deviation: 0.0022