• Watch Out for Scammers!

    We've now added a color code for all accounts. Orange accounts are new members, Blue are full members, and Green are Supporters. If you get a message about a sale from an orange account, make sure you pay attention before sending any money!

Dillon 550-650 upgrades

Gary Smith

Private
Full Member
Minuteman
Mar 11, 2005
70
0
74
Whitewood S.D.
I am researching and considering purchasing the CNC machined toolhead by Whidden Gunworks combined with
the Uniquetek toolhead clamp kit that puts everything in exact alignment, the toolhead has two floating stations.
This overhaul of the Dillon supposedly elevates the precision capabilities to greater levels.
It is all very interesting and I am a reloading/gunsmithing technophile, and would be very interested in hearing
from anyone who has already taken the plunge and elevated the Dillon performance beyond handgun reloading.
Like many I go to great lengths to produce the highest possible quality rifle ammunition but have measured too
much runout on unmodified Dillon to consider it for anything other than plinking/training ammo.
John Whidden, who is a US Palma Team member claims to load his 1,000 yd ammunition on one of these upgraded
machines utilizing his floating toolheads.
I have one of his micrometer seaters and I am very impressed with it.
 
I have Whidden tool heads for my 223 and 308 gas gun loads. They did reduce runout somewhat but the biggest culprit was the expander ball being dragged through the neck after it was sized. I was using Dillon dies and isolated the runout problem to the expander. For my 308 loads, I switched to a Redding Type S die without the expander which seemed to significantly reduced the runout. Also installed a competition seating die. Run a number of number of pieces of brass through the charging station with the powder you plan on using to check throw consistently. I was experiencing too much charge variation and switched to a Hornady case activated powder measure which improved the situation. For my 223 I just use the standard Dillon Die set and it works fine and found that XBR 8208 meters consistently. Some folks size there brass on a single stage press then complete the process on the Dillon. This somewhat defeats the purpose of using a progressive but will produce less runout.

Best advice is just to experiment to find out what yields the best results. Good luck.
 
With the stock toolhead and Reading comp. neck sizers and seaters I was getting about %75 in the .002-.003 bullet run out range.
Switched to the Whidden floating tool head and ended up getting nothing under .005.

It seems that if you have floating dies and the floating tool head, more is not better.
Resetting everthing back to the stock tool head brought bullet run outs to an acceptable level again.
I didn't try the clamp kit however.
 
I use my 650 for .223, .308 and .260. I have nothing but wonderful things to say about it.

I use the clamp kits and highly recommend them. I put forward pressure on toolheads when I tighten the clamps. In my mind I'm doing the same thing there as I do with my optic mounts. Does it matter ? Probably not but it satisfies my OCD.

I've used both the floating and non floating toolheads. Personally I don't see much difference in the performance.

I have received a toolhead that appeared to be cut off center from Uniquetek. They replaced it for me, no questions other than "oh, how did you find that" and it was mostly two reloaders chewing the fat.

I'm a big fan of body dies (small base in gas guns as appropriate) and lee collet dies.

I imagine you're going to be doing two passes for each cartridge. I size in one, drop powder from the chargemaster and seat a bullet in the other.


Completely unrelated, but a buddy of mine found a guy that makes a priming upgrade for the 650 that removes the crimp in .mil brass. It's absolutely worth the money.
You have the primer catch upgrade, right ?
 
...but a buddy of mine found a guy that makes a priming upgrade for the 650 that removes the crimp in .mil brass. It's absolutely worth the money.
You have the primer catch upgrade, right ?

Contact info, please.

I load all my precision ammo on my 650, and I am not using any trick aftermarket parts or toolheads, yet I maintain concentricity of .002" MAX. Most all of the cartridges measure .001" or less.

I see no reason to spend the money on the aftermarket parts.
 
These is the feedback I was looking for. I tumble, deprime on rockchucker, double case resize on another press,
uniform pockets, trim on Giraud that also chamfers inside and slight bevel outside, been priming w/ bench mount
RCBS tool, then in load block to Harrels for powder, then to a Redding 7 station die holder where there are a RCBS
NM seater with the bullet window, and a Redding micrometer seater, a old Bonanza w/ many machinist modified
seating stem plugs for different profile bullets, a Sinclair expanding mandrel, Redding type S neck sizer, Redding
taper crimp die, and a Lee collet crimp die.
It is all rather maddening at times, very precise but slow. Not as slow as a single station press but slow.
I really wanted the Dillon to drop powder, seat and crimp but it seems like I should stay with my current set-up and
keep the Dillon for pistol.
And you think you have OCD.
 
I load pretty much all of my rifle loads on a 550. I also have a 650, but save that for high-volume pistol ammo and blasting-grade .223. For the 3 calibers I shoot in competition, I use the pinned Whidden tool heads with floating sizer and seater. This goes a long way to reducing runout, but only if the toolhead is pinned. The reason is that the toolhead is under opposing stresses from the cartridges in station #1 and #3. As an experiment, try measuring the runout on a round loaded with all stations full versus a round loaded when no other rounds are on the press - you will see a measurable difference. The pinned toolhead eliminates the slight and varying twisting of the toolhead under stress, and lets the rounds self-align in the floating die.

I do not use the expander in the sizing dies, but run cases through an expander mandrel after cleaning and before doing other prep, to remove dents, etc. I also do not use the Dillon powder measure with the 550. In my testing, it's good for +/- .10 grain for a total variation of just over .2 grain. Not horrible, but it starts to show up at distance. I use a funnel die and load each charge over the top at stage 2. Not quite as fast as full-progressive, but still plenty fast. I shoot a good number of Palma and 1000 yard matches and have been fairly successful with these methods.

The guy above that is getting less than .002" runout from a stock 650 is definitely an exception to the rule, I have never seen a Dillon press that would do that without modifications. My 550 will do that with the mods described above, but not even close without them.