81 thoughts on “XL650 Loading 45ACP (HD)”

  1. Bought my first progressive a SDB in 45 ACP last weekend. All I can say is why in lords name did I wait so long!!! I have loaded over 1500 rounds of 45 and did the caliber conversion to 9mm last night what a breeze that was. I started out with around 50 rounds of 9mm and plan to finish out 600 more tonight. If your looking for a amazing handgun reloading system the SDB would be a front runner for sure.

    thanks Dillon
    H

  2. by chance have you ever used a 1050 Dillon re-loader? if not would you be willing to try it. The way your vids work out its a little easier to follow than some of the other sources including the company websites. also it seems like an extra expense but Dillon, rcbs and some of the other manufacturers out there make what are called chamber molds (one of your videos shows chamber checking on a 1911) that’s nice but this tool does the same w/o the possibility of a accident. I’m not nit picking but weird things happen i almost got shot one day from a static electricity discharge from a friend holstering his 1911. and one last question that seems stupid but can you use other manufacturers dies with other manufacturers presses b/c i shoot some “odd” cartridges that aren’t offered by Dillon.

    1. Paul, I have a Dillon 2000, the forerunner of the 1050, so if you have questions about it I may be able to help (though not everything is the same). I’m not sure what you’re referring to as “chamber molds”, as I’m not familiar of any way of taking a mold of your chamber other than using Cerrosafe, lead, or some other low-melting point metal and casting it in your weapon’s chamber. If you could provide a link or further details, I may be able to help you. As for mixing brands of presses and dies, that should be no problem for 99% of the dies and presses out there. Most are 7/8″x14 TPI, which is considered an industry standard. There are exceptions, such as very large-bore cartridges like .50 BMG which use 1 1/4″, and some presses like Hornady’s LNL use quick-change bushings to hold the standard dies.

      Hope this helps,
      Bill

  3. I would like to see how a Lee case feeder and collator would fit on a XL650. There is a youtube video on it but it does not show how it was mounted. Thanks for all the info. Great site!

  4. Paul,
    I use a Dillon 650 and love it. I personally would not do the 1050 simply because it comes with only a 1 year warranty. Most folks that have the 1050 it seems, reload commercially. And secondly, even for competitive shooters that may be putting several thousand rounds down range monthly, the 650 can still give you as much volume as you can stand. I just don’t see the 1050 being advantageous over a 650. I have also heard that they are finnicky from time to time.

    1. I load on both a Dillon XL650 and 1050. Here is my two cents of unsolicited opinion. If you are looking at both, trying to decide which one to buy, buy the XL650. No question. I have loaded thousands of rounds on both. The only “advantage” the 1050 has is the swage station for .223 and it is so finicky, it just slows you down. The second finicky thing on the 1050, the primer station. One primer gets funky on you and you have to break down the machine to clear and clean. The XL650 allows you the ability to insert and remove brass at any station, a huge benifit, in my opinion.

      Least not to forget the warranty…… One year vs. LIFETIME…..

      The next thing…..the 1050 is supposed to load 1000-1200 rounds per hour….the XL650 a meager 800-1000 rounds per hour. Here is what I know. I don’t pull the handle on the 1050 any faster than I do on the XL650…..lol. I load on BOTH at a rate of 600-1000 per hour, depending on the caliber, my mood and any hiccups I get on the machine…..

      Did I mention caliber changes on the 1050 are around $500+ each and around $250 on the XL650????

      I am sure the die hard 1050 guys out there will respond back, but this is my personal opinion since I currently load on both. If you have the ability to, just throw in a couple of extra bucks and buy TWO XL650’s in place of ONE 1050!!! Lol. Or just save the money for other things….like firearms and reloading supplies.

  5. I do most of my reloading on a Dillon XL650 with a RCBS bullet feeder, works great and the bullet feeder will feed coated lead bullets, love it.

  6. Guys, I am in the process of moving from a single stage Hornnady to a progressive press. It is coming down to the Hornady Lock-N-Load AP or the Dillion XL650. I have a lot more experience with Hornady, but I am leaning toward the Dillion XL650. Any thought or suggestions would be most appreciated. Thank you in advance

    1. I had the Hornady Lock and Load reloading press and I was very unhappy with it. It did nothing but break down. I was constantly getting replacement parts especially for their priming system. The primers never loaded correctly into the 223 rounds and for that matter the 223 rounds never stood up straight enough to operate the machine and load them. I ended up selling the Hornady reloading machine and purchasing on Ebay the Dillon RL1050 at a great price. I’ve now been using that machine over a year and love it. The other good parts of Dillon is their support team that will help with any issues that may come up if they do.

      Dillon Rocks!!!

      I know I sound like an advertisement but I was so upset with the performance of my Hornady that it was a relief to get a real machine that just let me enjoy reloading without the breakdowns.

    2. The XL650 without a case feeder is a waste of money. For 9mm, the case tubing holds about 20 cases. That’s a lot of time spent loading new cases for just a few pulls of the handle. Manually placing the bullets isn’t that bad or that slow since it’s done with your left hand.

      Unless you plan on investing in both a bullet feeder and case feeder setup, Dillon’s 550B will do everything you want for less money and nearly as fast. Once you get into the automated case and bullet feeds though, the true progressive “power” of the XL650 shows, and it’ll blow the manually indexed 550B out of the water. Without those two accessories, you’ve only complicated the heck out of the machine (incorporating an auto-indexing feature) without nearly no gain in time.

      Read Brain Enos’ forum and buyer’s guides. It’s time very well spent.

  7. I wrote to Alliant regarding where’s the pistol powder. I accused them of holding it back to raise the price of powder and here is their response.

    In your time on the forums, I’m sure you have seen me ‘quoted’ many times already.
    Here is the scoop. No we are not “holding back to raise the price”. That is not the case at all. Nothing could be further from the truth.

    We are running our facilities to full capacity at a 24/7 pace. We are making more powder today than we have at any other time in our history.
    Honestly, we could not make another grain of powder in a days’ time. Unless you can find another hour in the day, this is the way it is.

    The biggest issue taking place or has taken place is that to make ammunition, one of the requirements is powder. That is just a matter of fact, plain and simple. Yes, there has been a huge demand of powder to fulfill the backorders of ammunition that the hoarders, dooms-dayers and Sasquatch/zombie hunters have been sucking up.

    Now all of this being said, we are seeing sign of an improvement.

    The situation is looking better with each passing day.

    If we look at the retail marked we have never really seen these shortage, whether it was for bullets, ammo, primers or powder, go longer than 18 months. We are now approaching that mark.
    We also have three market indicators that lead us to believe there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The first of these is that ammunition supplies in the stores are better today than it was 8-9 months ago. We can now find just about any ammo we want in the stores.

    The second indicator is that primer orders have dropped significantly.

    Finally, gun sales have taken a nose dive in the last two to three months.

    All of this leads many to believe that the supplies of powder should start showing back up on the shelves soon. Just recently, in my local town, I saw several bottles of propellant on the shelves that I had not seen in some time.

    Don’t take what I have said above the wrong way William. I get this question literally dozens of time in the day of answering over 100 emails and phone calls in the day. Yeah, we all get a little punchy with this qustion after a while.

    About all we can do is be patient, it won’t last forever.

    As I said, William, the situation is very close to changing in the near future. I am not the only one who feels this way. Many others in the industry feel the same as I. When is this change going to happen, I don’t know. The crystal ball is still cloudy. But, the light at the end of the tunnel is no turned on and getting brighter.

    Thanks,

    Shoot Straight
    DuaneVB
    CCI/SPEER/ALLIANT POWDER
    2299 Snake River Ave.
    Lewiston, ID

  8. when will you try to put a Lee bullet feeder and either rcbs or hornady bullet collator on a Dillon 650? I saw a guy in Italy do it in 2013, by drilling 1 4mm hole in the platform, using a self-tapping screw, a piece of corner brace, and he was good to go. I think this would be an interesting combination. It would save having to lose a powder check station, as the bullet would still seat at station 4 and crimp at station 5.

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