Years ago I was in the same boat, asking about reloading precision rifle on a Dillon 650, below is the process I’ve decided on….. for now. I’m always looking for ways to be more efficient with this process. Could this process be shortened some, probably, but I’ll include text below for each step explaining why I’ve settled on this setup. It seems like a lot but really it’s quite fast.
Feel free to substitute your own ideas etc., and we can all learn something.
I did purchase 1 of the John Whidden Dillon 650 Floating Tool Heads, but then I decided to modify my own tool heads to float the dies so I never used the Whidden tool head (It’s for sale if anyone wants it). To modify your own tool heads you’ll need to go to your local hardware store and pick up some of those little roll pins, I think I got the 1/16” diameter pins. You will also need a drill and bit which is slightly larger than the pin diameter. I found the Hornady Die Lock Rings to work the best for me. I can make a separate write up if needed explaining more about the process if needed.
Someone above mentioned using the case feeder on the 650, hell ya use it, makes this so much faster! I couldn’t imagine not using it.
Also someone above mentioned using a bullet feeder. I have the Mr. Bullet Feeder for the 650 and use it for .223 and 9mm. I’ve thought about using it for the 6.5 Creedmoor but then decided NOT to use the bullet feeder because I didn’t want to take a chance of damaging any of the bullet points, I shoot Sierra 142 Match Kings, they are not plastic tipped. If I was shooting a plastic tipped bullet then yes I might use the bullet feeder, because it would speed things up just a tad, but then we add case flaring and flair removal into the mix.... The more I think about it, nope not going to go down that rabbit hole with precision rifle on the 650, it's so easy to just manually place a bullet.
Notes:
(a) I’ve assigned “LINE numbers” to each line / possible step where something can happen, also makes this easier for me to reference text about a step.
(b) This process requires three tool heads; each tool head on the 650 has 5 positions. So tool head 1 position 1 would be TH1-1, position 2 is TH1-2, etc.
-------- Start process --------
Starting with a fired case.
LINE 1: Dry tumble (10 min).
LINE 2: Media Separator
LINE 3: TH1-1 – Universal Decap
LINE 4: TH1-2 – none
LINE 5: TH1-3 - none
LINE 6: TH1-4 - none
LINE 7: TH1-5 - none
LINE 8: Anneal the brass
LINE 9: Lube the brass
LINE 10: TH2-1 Full Length resize with bushing.
LINE 11: TH2-2
LINE 12: TH2-3
LINE 13: TH2-4
LINE 14: TH2-5
LINE 15: Trim the brass
LINE 16: Debir / Chamfer
LINE 17: Dry Tumble (1 hour)
LINE 18: Media Separator
LINE 19: TH3-1 – Universal Decap Die
LINE 20: TH3-2 – Expand with mandrel & seat primer.
LINE 21: TH3-3 – Powder charge case.
LINE 22: TH3-4 – Seat Bullet
LINE 23: TH3-5 - none
Finished round…..
-------- End Process --------
Descriptions for each line:
Line 1: We have dirty cases to start with, so off to a quick 10 minute tumble in walnut media in the Dillon CV-2001 tumbler to knock off any crud. (Side bar: If you are looking for a tumbler this Dillon CV-2001 is the mac daddy when it comes to tumblers. Monster case capacity and very powerful vibration, this tumbler really cleans cases fast!)
Line 2: We must separate the cases from the media. When we tumble the cases in the media separator there is a chance that the case mouths will get dented / dinged up in the tumbling process, we will address this later with tool head 3. (Side bar: We are going to need a large media separator to handle all of the cases and walnut, the Dillon CM-2000 handles this perfectly).
Line 3: In tool head 1 position 1, Redding Universal Decap Die - The Lapua 6.5 Creedmoor cases I use have small rifle primers, the Redding universal decap die is designed to handle these small flash holes. Load up the case feeder and goto town… In my case, decaping 200 cases shouldn’t take you more than 10 minutes tops. (The reason I decap is sometimes the primers crater, thus preventing the cases to sit flush for the next step, annealing. They need to sit flush on the case heads).
Lines 4 -7: nothing installed in the tool head 1 positions 2 – 5.
Line 8: I anneal the brass using a Benchsource Annealing Machine. Don’t forget your templiaq fuild for setting up the machine.
Line 9: Lube the brass – self-explanatory.
Line 10: Now on the 650, I load up tool head 2, position 1 with a Redding Type S Full Length Bushing Die. Install your bushing of choice to set the desired neck tension, also setup the die to bump the shoulder if you want. I bump my shoulders .001”. For the bushing size, I use a bushing that yields .002” neck tension, meaning .002” smaller than the outside neck diameter of a loaded round. Load up the case feeder and resize them all...
Lines 11 - 14: nothing installed in the tool head 2 positions 2 – 5.
Line 15: At this point we have lubed and sized cases, we need to trim. Run the cases through your favorite trimmer. Personally I use a “Trim-It 2” which trims, chamfers, and debirs all in one step.
Line 16: Debir and chamfer if your trimmer doesn’t do that in the previous step. I skip this step because the Trim-It 2 in the previous step takes care of this.
Line 17: I throw the cases back into the tumbler with walnut for 1 hour to tumble off the case lube and clean any metal bits / pieces from the trimming process.
Line 18: We must separate the cases from the media. When we tumble the cases in the media separator there is a chance that the case mouths will get dented / dinged up in the tumbling process, we will address this later with tool head 3.
Line 19: Load up tool head 3, position 1 with a Redding universal decapping die –I use this to make sure the flash holes are not plugged with tumbling media or debris. Load the cases up in the case feeder.
Line 20: Tool Head 3 position 2 - I install a Sinclair Mandrel & Die. This mandrel is .001” larger then the bushing size. Meaning we are going to expand the neck .001”, this gives us a finished neck tension of .001”. Remember when I said the case necks might get dinged up in the media separator (lines 2 & 18), this mandrel straightens out any dings. Here we also use the priming system on the Dillon 650, seat a primer.
Line 21: Drop powder into the case. I use a Dillon powder die with funnel. Raise the 650’s ram, grab a test tube, flick off the tube cap with my thumb into a box, dump the powder in the powder die, and replace the tube into the rack.
Background info: To weigh the powder I use an RCBS Charge master, but I’ve found it isn’t accurate enough for my liking to get really low ES and SD numbers on the chronograph. I also use a Redding beam scale I had Scott Parker tune up; holy crap is that scale accurate, and a Little Dandy two speed electric powder trickler.
Also I weight my powder inside the house in the cool A/C, not out in the hot ass garage, so I need to have a place to store the weighed powder charges, because the cases will be in the case feeder... Glass test tubes with caps and a tube rack are your friends.
For me to weight 200 charges with the charge master, trickle up, and then dump into the test tube and install the cap, it takes aprox 2.5 to 3.0 hours’ time. I have ordered an Auto Throw / Auto Trickler V3 setup, but that won’t be here until closer to the end of the month. The Auto Throw setup should cut the powder weighing time down to about 45 minutes, and be just or more accurate than I am now.
Line 22: Tool Head 3 position 4: I installed a Redding competition seater die with the appropriate seating stem for your bullet profile. Manually I grab a bullet from the 650 bullet tray and place it onto the case mouth, then pull down on the 650 handle.
Line 23: TH3-5 – none
Finished case! Yea!
Now to give you an idea on how long it takes me to assemble my 200 rounds starting at the point of Tool Head 3 (Lines 19 – 23) is………….. 35 minutes! Remember the cases have already been prepped / sized, powder weighted, etc…. Just 35 minutes to expand the necks, seat primers, drop powder, seat bullets.
Now you are wondering about bullet run out etc. Since I floated the dies, when I measure the run out it’s .001” or less. I’ll take it!
This past weekend I thought I would eliminate a step in the above process, that step was “trimming” since I have the Dillon RT-1500 trimmer. I ordered the Dillon 6.5 Creedmoor trim die and did some testing this past weekend. I’ve decided to return the Dillon trim die, because it resizes the case just a little too much for my liking. It’s to bad because I would have liked to trim on the press, but I would still have to chamfer / debir. For now I’ll stick with the Trim-It 2.
Have fun guys! Hope this helps someone!
All the best,
Jeff