A few xl650 questions before ordering

Ive been reloading for 6 months or so and finally decided to pull the trigger on a xl650.
It's going to be set up in 9mm first then set it up for .223 later.

I have in my cart the 650 set up for 9mm, a case feeder, and a 4pack of pickup tubes.
Is there anything else I need to get the press up and running?
I will be using my lee dies for now and buy some dillon dies later.

To set up for another caliber I need a conversion kit, tool head with powder dispenser, and case feeder plate , right?

Thanks

I just placed my order for my XL650s. I am saving up now to buy more pickup tubes, a case feeder with several plates, powder checks (one for each caliber), and case gauges. I have one strong mount that my 550 was on and I will need to purchase a second one. I found a guy on ebay who sells a Dillon Strong Mount Clone that I may purchase. I have several of his products that worked out real well on my Dillon Strong Mount so I may just buy his complete Strong Mount Setup.

Good Luck!

Dane

Have you checked out Brian Enos' site? He explains what should be ordered for a new 650xl owner.

If you can swing the extra money get the following:

Strong Mount
Bullet Tray
Tool set and holder
Aluminum roller handle

None of this stuff is absolutely necessary but it sure is nice.

LEE dies should be fine for what you want to do.

jonblack

I would also get a pack of the dillon die rings as they are thinner than the lee ones. I'm not at my machine now but if I remember correctly the dies screw down enough where the thinner lock ring helps.

Also, there are some conversion parts that you will get with the 9mm that the 223 would use the same. May save you about $25.

For change over it's cheapest to buy the quick change kit(+ caliber conversion & feeder plate), that way you get the tool head stand for free basically.

You don't NEED another powder dispenser. I bought several powder bars at $30 each and swap those out instead.

And most of my dies are Lee, I would also recommend the thinner Dillon rings.

Would also recommend an extra priming system. Leave one set up for small, the other for large. This way, instead of the 27 million steps to change the system, you undo three screws and swap the entire assembly as a unit.

i would highly suggest this before anything else:
powder check sensor.
case feeder

optional:
roller handle - best option will save the hand
bullet try - if u really want it
strong mount - if u need it
repair kit - ehh up to u
allen wrench set - again if u want it

My plan is to buy the 650 and case feeder to load 9mm and when I am ready for .223 I'm going to get the roller handle, super swage, and rt1200 with dies for 223 and a die to make 300blk. This game is expensive

Btw I load .223 and 9mm on a ss lee right now.

Eta: Adding lock rings and a powder checkto the list.

I'm planning on ordering from him and have heard good things from most people plus free shipping.
He's gtg right?

Never heard any bad reports about him and lots of good ones.

I have ordered from him a few times and never had a problem with him.
Dillon forgot to put a case gauge in the box with my press and Brian corrected it immediately when I discovered it. So I'd say gtg.

+1 on a powder check sensor. Gives a lot of peice of mind that there is close to a correct charge in the case.

Although I have several powder measures, for any more new calibers I'm just buying another powder die and powder bar.

Also, for the powder check system, you can just buy another powder die to mount the alarm on for the new tool head and get a few extra powder check rods and just move the alarm from tool head to tool head. It's easy.

How much of a pita is swapping out powder bars and do they need to be adjusted every time?

Eta: Another question just hit me, a lot of people are using 650s with case feeders to size .223 which requires lube. I use homemade lanolin lube and it puts a nice coat on everything it touches so what is a good lube to use that won't cover the case feeder and every part of my new press with lube that won't have any stuck cases even when converting to 300blk?

Not a pain in the ass at all. Just loosen one screw. The powder bar will have to be checked of course, but it's usually pretty close - same as if you had a dedicated powder measure.

You need to double-check the charge every time whether you swap out the entire powder system or just the bar. Simple matter of undoing one hex-head bolt, popping out a little square of plastic, sliding the measure out, reverse.

I take a permanent marker and write the powder & grains on the end facing you so you don't have to think which load it's for.

As for lube, I do all my rifle resizing/depriming on my Lee turret press, clean the lube off the cases, resize on my RCBS power trimmer, gauge/inspect each case, THEN feed it into the 650 for the powder/bullet/crimp steps. Couldn't figure out how to work the gauge/trim steps in otherwise.

I check powder levels every 20th case and before each session anyway so that sounds like a good idea to save some cash.
Im planning on a dillon rt1200 trimmer which sizes the case too so it needs lube but I don't want to cover my press in shit.

It's a pretty clean operation trimming on the 650. You hook a vacuum up to a collar that's on the motor to pull all the trimmings away. I also occasionally clean the case feeder and feeding tube with an alcohol soaked cleaning patch to remove any residual case lube. It's not much work at all.

What case lube do you use?

Just ordered my press, the only thing I didnt order was the case feeder. Im going to try my hand at building one and it that fails im going to break down and order the dillon.

I use the homemade lanolin / alcohol combination.

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_6_42/305174_Case_Lube_for_cheap_bastards.html


The regular 91% alcohol works fine for me. I put a few hands full of cases in a 1 gallon zip lock bag. Give the bag a few squirts, shake them up, dump them in the case feeder and get to work!

Thats what I use so I think im set, hopefully I can have the rest of the cool stuff within a few months.
Thanks everybody for the help!

Case collators are very simple , you shouldn't have a problem and there's good step by step info out there. We built on for .45 one afternoon at work using a 5 gal bucket for a body

This thread was my inspiration, too bad the guy is MIA and we couldent get any more updates.

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_6_42/285647_I_dont_even_have_a_press_yet_but_I_got_s_me_a_case_feeder_.html

Didn't even know he was a member , stumbled across his utube a while back and used it to make one , looks like he was on line today

I just went by the last posts in the thread, I think I have enough info from the thread to build one even if its just temporary. $200 is outrageous for a case feeder IMO.

This is True...Or you can do what Enos told me to do. Remove the lock rings from the lee dies, and put them back on upside down. This gives you the extra room you need to set the dies correctly.

I want ahead and bought the die rings.

I just lost all self control and ordered the caliber conversion kit, deluxe tool head and case gauge for .223, a case feeder and plates, a super swage and the rt1200 with the .223 dies/toolhead. The press wont even be here until wednesday

I saw a few people use brake cleaner to remove the case lube off the brass, can anybody give me any reason why not to do this?

Any opinions with the following steps:
Dry tumble to clean brass
Run through the 650 with a decapping die and the rt1200
Clean off case lube with brake cleaner
Swage
Wet tumble
Load

Yeah, brake cleaner is expensive while a 1/4 tablespoon of laundry detergent in a bucket of hot water isn't.

Seriously, put brass in a 1-2 gal bucket. Add hot water. Add 1/4 tbsp of laundry (not dish, it has too many phosphates), mix vigorously. Drain. Rinse. Repeat rinse until no bubbles.

Place brass on a cookie sheet and insert in oven at 250* for 30 minutes. Or, alternately, place in front of a dehumidifier for about 2 hours.

Easiest way to remove sizing lube is to tumble in plain corn cob. Takes 15 to 30 minutes.

I was trying to avoid having to punch the media out of every flashhole and it mixes with my ss media which is a pain to separate. I'm going to try the laundry soap first and if that dosent work I'll just break down and tumble them.

Can anyone give me a reason why rinsing off the cases and then wet tumbling them for a couple hours wouldn't work? It seems like it would but everybody says they use corncob. Maybe I'm over complicating things.

Don't see why it would not work but i've never used that method .One thing you can do to clear media out of the flashhole is use a universal decapping die in station 1.Here is my 223 set up Station1 universal deprime die
Station2 powder charge
Station3 powder check
Station 4 bullet seater
Station 5 crimp

You wont be sorry - the stuff costs some money but it works well.

Tumble off is the easiest. You can get walnut smaller then the holes of your flash hole.

There is corn cob available that is small in size and maybe 1 case in 50 will have a piece stuck in the flashole.

Y'all are awesome! I am going to pick up a bag of that corncob and throw my lee decaping die in station one and quit thinking about it.
Now if it could just be Wednesday already

Copyright © 1996 - 2013 :: AR15.Com LLC :: All Rights Reserved.
Any use of this content without express written consent is prohibited.