[legion]

Well...I started assembling the 650 press today. I got to the step where you install and adjust the dies and I realized it didn't come with dies. I guess when I ordered it with a 9mm caliber conversion, that didn't actually include any dies. I'm used to all of the Lee stuff coming with everything needed for a caliber. It is a minor annoyance that they don't just raise the price $65 and presume you want dies. So I guess I have to wait a little bit longer to get going.

What I can say after using Lee equipment for 5 years (and spending more time keeping it adjusted than actually reloading) is that it is clearly evident that the Dillon stuff is much better built. There is hardly any plastic--especially in the wear parts that tend to break on the Lee presses. The action of the ram is so smooth as to be surreal. I noticed there is a little extra travel on the downstroke for primer seating, but I'm already used to that on my Lee Pro 1000. In fact, I will probably mark where the ram needs to travel down to on the press frame so that I get some visual confirmation of a firm primer seating. (I did this on my Pro 1000 too.)

The Achilles heal on all of my Lee progressive presses is the priming. My Pro 1000 primes on the downstroke and my Loadmaster primes on the upstroke. Over the years, I have learned to feel when a primer is getting mangled, which usually necessitates an hour of dis-assembly and diagnosis, followed by a trip to my substantial cache of spare parts, and ultimately an on-line order as what broke this time is something that never broke before. My other criticism of Lee is their reliance on thin metal rods to actuate powder drops and bullet feeds. These tend to bend over time, never to be right again. It got so bad with my Loadmaster not dropping powder that I eventually bought a Hornady powder die and measure. The other thing I've learned to feel for with a Lee press is the shell plate not indexing (the Pro 1000 and Loadmaster have very different indexing mechanisms, but they are both reliant on a large number of small parts--some plastic--being aligned just right to work). If I happen to miss that feeling, the next feeling inevitably is a shell being crushed.

I'm sure I'll be happy with the XL 650. It seems that I can also use it for rifle calibers, so I might just go down to one progressive press. (Or get an 1050...)