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Problem with XL650 Station 1


Buckshot Bear

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Been having a problem for quite awhile now with my with XL650 on station 1 (years to be honest).

 

Coming up, the unsized shell sometimes hits the side of the resizing die.  This doesn't happen all the time but it is frequent enough for me to have developed the automatic habit of reaching around with my left hand and guiding the offending shell into the resizing die. I've taken a sharp nail and cleaned out on the shellplate where the rims of the cartridges go and there was a little bit of compressed crap in each one, but the problem is still happening.

 

Any ideas what would cause this to happen now and again but not all the time? It seems like the shells whether 9mm or .38 sometimes seem to be cocked over at the 1 o'clock position. Its not the end of the world if I have to reach around now and again and guide the shell in, but it would be great if I could solve what's causing it.

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A couple of things to check.

 

Remove the center bolt and clean it and the shell plate top and bottom.

Dirt and grease build up under the center will cause the plate to tilt.

Tighten down until plate starts to drag then back bolt out enough to free the shell plate up.

 

While the shell plate is off the machine, clean the casing grooves in the shell plate.

As the machine works, dist, media and grease will get pushed in to the grooves and be compressed in to solid crap in the grooves.

I use a small screw driver blade to scrap out the grooves.

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I have this EXACT same issue, but the thing is I load 2 different 38 rounds, one rifle and one pistol. I have a full tool head set up for each using the exact same shell plate and the rifle head does not do this but the pistol head does, so it's not the shell plate side. I got with dillon thinking it may be a badly milled tool had and they sent me another one,  nope, still does it. I have never been able to figure it out. I've reset the dies a dozen times and it still does the same thing and just like yours,  it's randomly. I've given up on trying to figure it out out and I just deal with it. The rifle one runs like a hot knife through butter, smooth. I've measured everything with a micrometer switched dies, tool head, and everything dillon suggested and nothing has fixed it so if you ever do PLEASE tell me what you did because I haven't been smart enough to figure out the problem. 

 

JEL

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Something similar happening with my xl750… the shell gets stuck on the ramp under the feeding wedge…the little grooved track thats part of the conversion set… happening more often now (4 times in 150 rounds) 

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I had the same occurrence with both XL650s I load on.  Never found the root cause.  Don't care.  Just don't run the press fast enough or hard enough to crush cases.  Don't worry!!  Be Happy!!

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I had the exact same problem with my 650.  In my case, the whole shell plate had worked itself loose.  The plate was actually rocking.  I did exactly Cliff Hanger did and cleaned everything (also re-lubed things) and then reinstalled the shell plate, properly adjusted.  My crushed case problem went away. 

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My 650 does this also but only with 45 acp cases.  Just don't run as fast and do the reach around. 

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Same thing happens with the 550.  I don't use the 1st station anymore and decap and resize on a Rockchucker.  Slower, but it lets me check each case.  The shell plate on the Rockchucker will do the same thing from time to time.  I got into the habit of guiding each case in as the arm is activated.  44-40 cases will crush with the least amount of pressure while 45 Colt can withstand quite a bit of mishandling.

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It happens to me on the 550, but being it manually indexes, might not be the issue.  Sometimes, often enough to be aggravating, I'll load a case into station #1 with just enough force to push the shellplate out of proper indexed position.  If you feed cases by hand, check to see if you're doing the same.  Make sure the platform is tight to the ram.

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I’ve found that every 5K rounds if I pull shellplate, dies, primer system. clean & lube everything I get a more harmonious outcome. Doing 5 things at once is a lot to ask of the machine. If even one station is just a tad off it will affect the whole show. 

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I had the same problem.  A friend told me to back off the slide that inserts the cases  by just a tiny bit.  It solved the problem maybe 90%.  I still have to do the infamous "Dillon Maueuver" with the left hand occasionally.  

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Same on my SDB, just hit with my left thumb. Always just assumed it was me not put the case all the way in once I get running. Happens more on 38's than my 45's

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After adjusting everything many times I finally made a "rim" gauge over 20 years ago.  I just dropped the brass through the gauge and if it did not drop through I put it aside.  It quickly became apparent the brass was at fault.  Crap brass from the range with gouges in the rim or some crap brass manufacturers got mixed in with my regular brass.  The worse is AMERIK.  Lots of European stuff is also out of spec.  Solution, I try to load only Starline or Winchester and toss the other crap.  Also, if you have one of those after market plastic index ball and super light spring kits I would put the steel ball and stiffer spring back in to make sure the shell plate is fully indexed and aligned.

 

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2 hours ago, Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933 said:

It quickly became apparent the brass was at fault.  Crap brass from the range with gouges in the rim or some crap brass manufacturers got mixed in with my regular brass.  The worse is AMERIK.  Lots of European stuff is also out of spec.  Solution, I try to load only Starline or Winchester and toss the other crap.  

 

 

 

 

I had/have that same issue with 38 "Top Brass". It's too large.  I'm also not a big fan of 38 Winchester brass.  Seating primers into 38 Winchester brass takes more effort than others. I had a whole tube of primers go up due to seating a primer into a Winchester 38. It destroyed the priming system. Dillon shipped me a complete new system at no charge.

 

 

 

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I had that once too, the plastic guide wasn't pushing the shell all the way in. Found the spring broken underneath that pushed the slide in.

Had a few springs break over time, it's just wear and tear, replaced the spring and been good ever since. I took the precaution of ordering a whole set of springs for the machine just in case. Was a good move cause others have broken to. Dillon normally send them FOC too.

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I had a similar problem. Ended up being the spring that kicks out the final, finished cartridge. It had a bur on the end and did not fit all the way into the hole, causing it to interfere with the part that pushes the case into station 1.

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17 hours ago, Jackaroo, # 29989 said:

I had that once too, the plastic guide wasn't pushing the shell all the way in. Found the spring broken underneath that pushed the slide in.

Had a few springs break over time, it's just wear and tear, replaced the spring and been good ever since. I took the precaution of ordering a whole set of springs for the machine just in case. Was a good move cause others have broken to. Dillon normally send them FOC too.

I’ve broken that spring a couple of times. Last time was was while I was loading 2022 EOT ammo a week before leaving. I conveniently discovered a Marlin magazine spring works as a replacement. 

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