650 Dillon primer problems and warning

Terry Schultz

NES Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2019
Messages
91
Likes
40
Location
North Tonawanda, NY
Feedback: 0 / 0 / 0
I just got off the phone with technical assistance people at Dillon. I had a problem with my 650 in that a lot of the primers were trying to go in sideways and the arm that advances the primer wheel would not always go back to the point where it could engage in the hole to advance the primer wheel. He is sending me a new arm and spring for the primer assembly. But he also asked me what kind of primers I am using and when I told him Federals he adamantly told me not to use them in my 650 as they were too sensitive. Has anyone had a problem using Federals in there 650? I still have a case of 5000 left and would like to use them up, besides they work well in my Uberti Gunfighters.
 
What kind of brass are you using? If you are using brass that has crimped primers (like military brass for example), you might have to swage the primer pocket so the new primer will not get crushed or turn sideways.

With the crimped primers the pocket is a little too small to seat the primers reliably, from my experience.

I have a Dillon 650 and also have the Dillon super swage 600, works great.
 
My 650 is fed a steady diet of CCI's exclusively.

I assume you're using the correct combination of small / large primer and the correct corresponding seater or whatever the thing you screw into the bottom priming assembly that actually pushes the primer into place? That backed out a bit on me once and I had a series of proud or upside-down primers.
 
Been using federal primers for 20 years on a Dillon 550, never had one go off, occasionally one gets crushed. I wear safety glasses just in case.
 
The primer set up for the 650 has been a bugaboo for me .mainly in getting the primer cup out to exchange it. There's no room to get a standard wrench on the flats so I had to use pliers and ended up mangling the flats. Ended up buying a 2nd 650 to solve the problem.
 
I also have two 650’s. One has large pistol primer set up for 45acp, 45LC blanks and 44-40. The other is set up with small pistol primer parts that I use for 38, 380 blanks and 32.
 
I had this issue constantly and I managed to fix it.

The primers would go in tube correctly it seemed to be the last part where the primers dropped in to the disc.

I ended up putting a minute chamfer of the disc, it was so slight it is barely visible, just a kiss with the drill bit in a drill press.

This for me fixed the issue, it helps the primers enter the disc and slide into place.

harry
 
<knock on wood> I use Federals for my revolver loads on my 650 and haven't had any problems. However, I personally know 2 people who have blown up their primer assemblies using federal primers on their 650's.

A thorough disassembly and cleaning of the primer assembly usually fixes any issues with the disk not advancing properly.
 
I switched to Federal primers in my 550 when loading 9MM after changing springs in my Glock. Solved my issues with light primer strikes.

Federal primers are no doubt "softer" than any other brand...but that doesn't mean they go off when you look at them wrong ;-)

Never had one pop....thousands of rounds loaded. Use em up and then switch brands if you still feel funny about them.
 
Been using federal primers for 20 years on a Dillon 550, never had one go off, occasionally one gets crushed. I wear safety glasses just in case.

The 550 priming mechanism feeds one primer at a time. The 650 has a disk that holds several primers. When one goes off it sets off a chain reaction that ignites the primers in the disk and then sets off the ones in the tube.

The 1050 uses a setup closer to the 550. I do know one person personally who managed to blow up his 1050 primer assembly using Federals.
 
The 550 priming mechanism feeds one primer at a time. The 650 has a disk that holds several primers. When one goes off it sets off a chain reaction that ignites the primers in the disk and then sets off the ones in the tube.

The 1050 uses a setup closer to the 550. I do know one person personally who managed to blow up his 1050 primer assembly using Federals.

I had one pop on my 650 and it did not affect the rest of the primers in the disk or the tube. Since the case is empty and being seated from below the explosive force goes straight up and away from the rest of the primers. Though I have heard of this happening to others, thankfully it didn't happen to me.
 
In a 650, when one primer goes off, they all go off. I know because I've done it and destroyed the florescent light above the bench. As to the original question, I don't use Federal primers but have experienced those same problems with other brands.
 
Usually when someone blows up a 650 it's with Federal primers , I only use Win and CCI in my 650s and 550s .
 
I was at a Cowboy action shoot today and had 20+ Federal primers not go off (using Uberti 44-40 revolvers and an 1873 Uberti carbine). I posted the worst score I ever had doing Cowboy Action. I grabbed another box I had brought with me and they all went off but I ran out of ammo and had to forfeit 1 ½ stages. When I got home I disassembled all of the ones (50) in the box and all had powder and the primers looked fine. I tried to fire a few and most would not go off. I have never had this happen before. But you can be sure I will be on the phone with Federal on Monday.
 
I have a 650. I had a problem with the arm that indexes the primer plate not returning all the way, and thus not advancing it. Which is what the original poster is describing. I took it apart, cleaned it, greased it lightly and REPLACED THE SPRING. Problem solved. I also marked the edge of the disk with a sharpie, so I can see if it's advancing. That way I don't end up seating bullets into cases that have powder and no primers in them.
 
The guy that taught me to reload used CCI's, so I used CCI's. IIRC, they are a bit firmer. But it's been many moons since I reloaded, so. . . .

I do recall reading that there was one brand of primer that Dillon didn't recommend. Maybe it was Federal.
 
I have a 650. I had a problem with the arm that indexes the primer plate not returning all the way, and thus not advancing it. Which is what the original poster is describing. I took it apart, cleaned it, greased it lightly and REPLACED THE SPRING. Problem solved. I also marked the edge of the disk with a sharpie, so I can see if it's advancing. That way I don't end up seating bullets into cases that have powder and no primers in them.

Can't you tell by feel on a 650 when priming a case? If there's no primer in there, it should feel wholly different from when one is loaded under the ram...

-Mike
 
As a 550 user, I would love to know.

That's what I was thinking, I owned a 550 and the only time you can't really feel primer seating was when seating primers in really soft/loose pockets. (like for example, rem .45 ACP brass, you can barely feel the primer go in)... otherwise you always "knew" when a primer was going in.

-Mike
 
Can't you tell by feel on a 650 when priming a case? If there's no primer in there, it should feel wholly different from when one is loaded under the ram...
-Mike

Most of the time it is possible to tell. But sometimes I have to remove the casing because I could not tell if a primer was seated in it.
 
Can't you tell by feel on a 650 when priming a case? If there's no primer in there, it should feel wholly different from when one is loaded under the ram...

-Mike

Yes. But the 650 was my first press, (wife bought it for me as a present), and there was a learning curve. At this point, having loaded probably 30 or 40 thousand rounds, I can feel the difference in the stroke when there's no primer - in the beginning I couldn't - and there was no one to point it out to me.

It's the same way that if I screw up and drop a .380 case in, the de-priming stroke feels much different. Now I know - a year ago I didn't.
 
Back
Top Bottom