Have a square deal for my pistol rounds and am now getting into rifle. Im pretty happy with the dillon brand but am not sure which one. I plan on reloading .223/308/300win mag. I would like the 650 for the 223/556 for auto indexing/quicker but not so sure with the longer cartridges for other calibers. Do they bounce around alot with 650 ?  Anyone have any experience with both and can compare? Thnx

I have had both, and if I was using this strictly for rifle, I would take the 550 over the 650. I prefer shell plate of the 550 over the floating shell plate the 650 offers. Just my humble opinion...

For rifle ammo, the 550 will put out better quality ammo.

The 650 will put out ammo faster.

I've owned both, 70K+ on my 550 and almost 100K on my 650 and the shellplate system on both is the same design, just the 550 has 4 holes and the 650 has 5.  There isn't a bit of difference past the fact that the 550 is manually advanced and the 650 is automatically advanced.
       








Absolutely not true.  The systems are identical as far as quality of ammo is concerned.  They both use the same 'floating toolhead' design and the same shellplate design.  With properly adjusted dies, both will produce high quality ammo.





I prefer the 650 because I wanted the casefeeder for all my calibers and the 550B will only do straight wall pistol calibers because of the added linkage design.






 
 
 
 

I switched from a 550 to a 650 (was reloading .357, .40, .45, .223, and .30-06) because I was occasionally having problems with powder bridging and not noticing it, I switched primarily to gain the powder check die, although the case feed and higher production rate are welcome.  The main disadvantage is that the auto indexing makes it more complicated for some operations, primarily when doing initial setup or if the primer feed or case feed don't function properly.  Brian Enos suggests that you look at how many rounds you plan to reload between caliber switches, if it's only a few hundred, he recommends the 550, as caliber conversions are less complicated and cheaper.

I suggest you revisit both shell plates before saying they are the exact same design...

The 650 has grooves in the shell plate that hold the rim of the cartridges above the face of the ram,  while the shell plate of the 550 places the case head flat against the face of the ram.

I find I have slightly greater variation of COL with the 650 than I did with the 550. Probably small enough to not make any difference in the end, but its there... I also find that cases can 'rock' or have more play in the 650 shell plate, some times causing alignment issues with cases entering the mouth of the die... more an annoyance than anything, but I don't remember having this happen with my 550...

Maybe I needed to give an example of high quality ammo.  High quality as in sub MOA out to and past 1,000 yards.  I load all my long range ammo on a 550, even my 338 Lapua ammo.  I do not use the Dillon measure for stuff like that.

The shell plate designs of the 550 and 650 are very different.  While the 650 is an excellent press, the design of the shell plate does not lend itself to 100% dead balls on consistent ammo.  I know more than one shooter that ditched his 650 for a 550 when it come to precision rifle ammo.

My 550s load many different calibers, not just straight wall pistol calibers.  I must be doing it wrong.

I have a 550, I like it but wish I had gotten the 650 so I would have the option to add a bulletfeeder and case feeder in the future

You'll find something to like about both of them honestly.

I plan on making a bunch of 223. More precision/slower for 308/300. I am used to the square deal and like the progressive but dont want a headache if the larger cases bounce around too much. I dont plan right now anyway on getting case feeder but like the option in future. Im afraid that 550 is all i probably need but would hate to one day find out i should of got the 650. Right now its 50/50.

I have both along with a single stage and a Lee Classic Turret.

My 650 is used to load 9mm and deprime,swage and trim 5.56 brass.i use the GS Custom swaging system and shell plate.

I load 5.56,45 acp, .38/.357 and 10mm/40 on the 550.

If I had to choose one press it would be the 550. I find the 650 to be a bit harder to keep running, and I've already had to replace parts in the priming system albeit after I loaded 12k of 9mm over a 4 day weekend. I have yet to replace any part on the 550 save for the plastic thing that is on the end of the primer tube. That is after loading over 50k of 9mm and  around 15k of .223, plus a couple of thousand 38 specials, 45 acp, and 40 S&W.

How about sell the Square Deal and replace it with a 650 w/casefeeder.

I have pretty much all the dies for pistol and everything set. I cant see selling. Im just getting into rifle reloading and trying to get the best press for what i need.

Some questions i have are: on the 650- when its all set up can u crank and go with the large cases lining up all the time or does it need alot of fine tuning. I plan on using it more for 556 but will load 308/300 winmag as well.

On the 550 after u get the hang of forwarding it yourself, can you crank em pretty fast? Can somebody give me idea how manu per hour (realistically) i know what they say at dillon. For 556.

Thnx

My 650 is about twice as fast exactly as my 550.

I have never had it jiggle enough to knock out powder.

I only load 45, 223, and 308 on my 650, but swapping calibers is about the same amount of work as on the 550.

Conversions for a 650 are about 2x the price as a 550.

If you want a case feeder then the 650 is the only choice.

I have a 550 that I use primarily for 223.  I have a few friends that have 650's, and have seen them in action.  Knowing what I know now, if I had to do it all over again I would still get the 550 for my rifle.  Mostly because I can either crank out the practice rounds or use each station as a single stage and take my time with precision.  

With that in mind, I don't know that I could give you an accurate account of how "fast" you can crank them out.  Using Win748 or TAC, I set the powder measure and start cranking.  Using a larger powder like 8208XBR, I throw each charge a little short and trickle up.  If I am taking that kind of time, it takes me a while to load 50 precision rounds.  If I am using a good metering powder and not loading for competition, I can load 50 rounds in a couple of minutes.  (I am going by 50 because my ammo boxes hold 50 and my primer tube only holds 100, so I use every 50 to empty my tray and do some QA checks.)

Also, I don't have the patience to case prep hundreds of rounds.  After the first 200 or 300 cases, I have lost several hours and am sore, bored, and tired.  Then I turn around to crank out some rounds and the cases are gone in a flash.

I still want to buy a 650 or two, mostly for pistol. None of the case prep is needed like rifle, and with the powder check station you can crank them out with confidence.

After watching a few examples of the 650- im quite impressed with the speed w/feeder- dillon seems to throw charge pretty accurate as i have seen with SD. If i do a more precision round and have it all set- would the 650 be overkill or if i get seperate toolheads and powder measure would i be set?  Im leaning a lil toward 650 w/casefeeder but 300/308 would be slower with no casefeeder. Im thinking maybe single stage for them but wanted a do-all press. Can i get consistent rounds for precision with 650 or do i have to reconsider?  Thnx for all replies.

what is your definition of precision ? reason I ask is I post about not being happy with how a new barrel shot and it sounded like a lot of people would've been happy with it

The shellplate design is slightly different, however, when both are adjusted correctly, the slight run-out due to tilt is the same.   I have a Dillon trimmer and used it on both my 550 and 650 and the OAL variation within a run was the same (very slight).  Your issue with run-out (tilt) in the shellplate is due to a too lose shellplate adjustment, not the design of the shellplate.  
That said, the OAL differences in trimming, and any OAL difference in finished ammo is a combination of the run-out variation of both the shellplate and the 'floating' design of the toolhead which is the same design in both the 550 and 650. However, in my experience, I've found that the OAL variation in loaded ammo is mostly attributed to the variation of the ojive of the bullet, not the tolerance in shellplate wobble and toolhead float.
       








Neither the 550 nor the 650 will produce, "... 100% dead balls on consistent ammo." and neither will any progressive press.  Adjusted correctly, both presses produce excellent ammo, however, both are progressive designs and if one wants a locked down, nothing moves setup for the last bit of extreme accuracy, a progressive press isn't a good choice, no matter what brand or model one selects.





That said, I shoot relatively long range for my 66 yr old eyes (450-500 yds) with both my AR15 and my son's Savage model 10. I don't have the ability to shoot longer range than that anymore.  Precision handloads show their accuracy at that distance and any mistakes and/or variations also show up too. My 650 produces well below sub MOA ammo at that range just like my 550 did.  How do I know?  My targets of choice are medium sized apples rather than steel targets.  They average 3" in diameter and therefore, at that range are well below sub MOA targets.  Off the benches I've built, my son and I have a great time shooting them and they are a blast to hit, literally.
Also, for the record, I load 6 straight walled pistol and 6 necked rifle calibers with my 650.  All my shooting is at long range as I consider anything under 300yds with a scoped rifle to be too easy.  Even my iron sighted rifles and my pistol caliber leverguns are used at ranges over 200yds.  I shoot all my pistols (none have optics) at 'long' ranges out to 100yds except for my custom G20L which I shoot out to 200yds based on the performance of the hot 10mm ammo I load for it.  
Why all long range?  I was taught to shoot over 50 years ago at long range because it highlights mistakes in form and technique and I was pressed to always, "Aim small, miss small."






 
 
 
 

I guess we are going to have to agree to disagree.  And I will continue to load all my Long Range (I was shooting out past 1700 yards last week) Precision rifle ammo on a 550.  If I thought I could get better quality ammo out of a single stage press I would be using it.

The next time you bump into David Tubb, who holds a buttload of long range championships and other world records, ask him what press he reloads on...

I have both the 550 and the 650,  hands down the 650  is far superior over the 550..Dont look back and just order the 650, you wont regret that purchase.  I have loaded close to 100000 rounds on my 550 and the biggest gripe I have is the priming system.  Granted it is worn and needs some TLC but the priming system on the 650 has been designed to eliminate all of the priming issues the 550 will incur over time. The self indexing is great along with the shell feeder and a bullet feeder.  The cost to switch calibers is spendy on the 650 but well worth the expense.  You wont regret purchasing the 650.

I have both

The 650 is better for large batches ....like 1000 rounds
It can produce very accurate ammo

Its also amazing at processing brass with the 1200 trimmer

The 550b is excellent for makimg smaller batches of different calibers, or working up different loads