Dillon 650 detail cleaning and FP-10 ( 3 year review, Long)
After a year and 25k trouble free rounds loaded my Dillon 650 was getting pretty gummed up. A few of the Plastic parts that operate cams had begun to wear a bit and I want to replace all the small springs. Bottom line is the press was just not working as well as it once was.
So I detail stripped the entire machine down to the bare press. Then I carefully cleaned each part with FP-10. I very gently stoned both side of the primer disk to smooth it. I stoned the underside of the Shell plate to remove some burrs and high spots created by debris that had managed to work it way under the plate and score its surface over time.
I replaced all the Non-metal parts with new and replace all the springs. ( parts and springs free from Dillon.
I wiped the excess FP-10 off of everything except the ram which I left wet and reassembled the press.
BUTTER PURE BUTTER! Using the press is like having sex. Every time you crank the handle you can’t believe how good it feels. This press is now three years old and has roughly 75,000 rounds of 45 ACP loaded on it. In those three years all of my problems happened in the first 6 months while I slowly learned how to make the press work well.
I broke a lot of things when was just starting out on this press, but Dillon was great about it. At first my press mounting was not strong enough. This caused most of my teething issues. The priming system and bullet feed system never worked right. The COL varied more than I liked. As soon as I quite screwing around with substandard loading benches and put the press on a strong mount these issues all disappeared.
Dies, use the Dillon Dies. Other companies make great Dies. I really like Redding dies. I still use the Redding Competition Seating bullet seating die. But the folks save your self some heartburn and when you are starting out use the EXCELLENT Dillon dies. They have large tapers at the bottom which really helps operation in the progressive press.
Use your Dillon press for production runs only. Some will disagree here but I think its wise to mount a small cheap, used, stolen, borrowed or other wise acquired single stage
Press on your bench to do you load development. I use a RCBS Rock Chucker I picked up bare at a gun show for 35 dollars. Bought Hornadys Excellent Locking rings for all of my dies so switching dies takes about 30 seconds on the Rock Chucker. Once I have a load I want in quantity I duplicate it on the Dillon and make a bunch fast.
I could careless how my brass looks but I do care how well it loads. Clean brass goes through the press so much better than dirty brass. Lubing 5000 pieces of brass even with Hornady One shot and the milk jug method is a pain. Letting your brass run for a while in the tumblers is not. I have two tumblers. I use walnut in one to clean the brass up. Then I run it through the other tumble with corn cob to polish it up super shinny. I find if I do this it goes through the press almost as well as lubed cases.
This what has worked for me.
After a year and 25k trouble free rounds loaded my Dillon 650 was getting pretty gummed up. A few of the Plastic parts that operate cams had begun to wear a bit and I want to replace all the small springs. Bottom line is the press was just not working as well as it once was.
So I detail stripped the entire machine down to the bare press. Then I carefully cleaned each part with FP-10. I very gently stoned both side of the primer disk to smooth it. I stoned the underside of the Shell plate to remove some burrs and high spots created by debris that had managed to work it way under the plate and score its surface over time.
I replaced all the Non-metal parts with new and replace all the springs. ( parts and springs free from Dillon.
I wiped the excess FP-10 off of everything except the ram which I left wet and reassembled the press.
BUTTER PURE BUTTER! Using the press is like having sex. Every time you crank the handle you can’t believe how good it feels. This press is now three years old and has roughly 75,000 rounds of 45 ACP loaded on it. In those three years all of my problems happened in the first 6 months while I slowly learned how to make the press work well.
I broke a lot of things when was just starting out on this press, but Dillon was great about it. At first my press mounting was not strong enough. This caused most of my teething issues. The priming system and bullet feed system never worked right. The COL varied more than I liked. As soon as I quite screwing around with substandard loading benches and put the press on a strong mount these issues all disappeared.
Dies, use the Dillon Dies. Other companies make great Dies. I really like Redding dies. I still use the Redding Competition Seating bullet seating die. But the folks save your self some heartburn and when you are starting out use the EXCELLENT Dillon dies. They have large tapers at the bottom which really helps operation in the progressive press.
Use your Dillon press for production runs only. Some will disagree here but I think its wise to mount a small cheap, used, stolen, borrowed or other wise acquired single stage
Press on your bench to do you load development. I use a RCBS Rock Chucker I picked up bare at a gun show for 35 dollars. Bought Hornadys Excellent Locking rings for all of my dies so switching dies takes about 30 seconds on the Rock Chucker. Once I have a load I want in quantity I duplicate it on the Dillon and make a bunch fast.
I could careless how my brass looks but I do care how well it loads. Clean brass goes through the press so much better than dirty brass. Lubing 5000 pieces of brass even with Hornady One shot and the milk jug method is a pain. Letting your brass run for a while in the tumblers is not. I have two tumblers. I use walnut in one to clean the brass up. Then I run it through the other tumble with corn cob to polish it up super shinny. I find if I do this it goes through the press almost as well as lubed cases.
This what has worked for me.
