I have owned a 650XL for several years and loaded quite a few .223, 222 Rem Mag, and .204 Ruger, plus pistol rounds. Last week some friends and I were preparing for a Prairie Dog hunt and loading .204 and .223. Used BLC-2 for some of the .204 and all was well. Tried 4198 and 4895 for both .204 and .223 and got erratic powder flow. Got so frustrated we just used the 650 to size and prime. Used my Harrell powder measure and a RCBS single stage to seat the bullets. Bummer.
I have the proper powder funnel for both calibers. I checked and double checked everything I could think of but the problem persisted. Maybe in my old age I was overlooking something. Frustrating because one of these friends and I loaded .204 and .223 two years ago when we were getting ready for a dog shoot and we turned out hundreds of loads with little or no issues that he or I could recall.
Any suggestions, questions or insight will be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Jim S.
I recently bought a 750, but based on my original purchase, you should call the folks at Dillon. They are/were very helpful.
I tried calling them the day we were having the problem. Recorded message said I would be cut off if I waited over 15 minutes for them to pick up. I could leave my number for them to call me, but I didn't. Should have. I'll try them again with an email and see what they can offer.
Just thought someone else may have had the problem and might have a quick fix.
Sometimes the sliding powder bar can get coated with powder dust and maybe some other substance. I'd take it apart and clean it really good. You can then hold it in one hand and actuate it with the other hand and see what's going on with those particular powders. The mechanism surrounding the powder measure can sometimes work loose or be out of adjustment too. Good luck with it!
Thank you for your post. I forgot I had posted and just remembered. I'll take it apart and see what I find.
As others have said clean everything. On my 550, I will tape a dryer sheet to the powder hopper to cut down on any static electricity build up that can cause hang ups. I use mostly stick powders.
Here’s a list of what I did to improve / enhance the powder feeding performance you can try
1) Did you polish the metal bottom of the powder measure ?
2) Did you use a dryer sheet on the plastic to remove the static cling?
3) You can ream out each individual power funnel (part of the cartridge kit, and polish the inside of it to eliminate powder bridging)
Other than that it’s making sure you adjust the height of the powder measure so the shell lifts it enough to throw the powder bar all the way.
If you don’t know what I MEAN by ream out.... we use a low angle reamer to change the slope of the and funnel in the powder funnel die to eliminate the bottle neck like shoulder in the die so that the powder has less potential to bridge when dumped...
Here’s a picture of polishing the bottom of the powder dispenser
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u319/Hoodoo14/IMG_0192.jpgHere’s a picture of a reamer used to Change the powder funnel die. (Go down the page 2/3rds of the way)
https://www.ar15.com/forums/armory/Most_accurate_223_Powder_for_AR15_/42-382410/
sako706: dose the word "software" mean something different in Indiana than it means in the rest of the world???
I load mainly handgun on my 550. I have cheap Wal-Mart aquarium bubblers zip tied to the hopper of each powder measure to vibrate them.
I would do all the cleaning and modifications listed above, and also add the bubbler. Only run the bubbler when loading. I have a power box with a switched duplex outlet that I plug in my bubbler as well as my goose neck lamp to. When I stop loading for any reason I flip the switch to off. Turn it back on when you start loading again.
Bob R
that little white plastic insert will sometimes "pop out" of my 650 powder charge bar which fouls things up. that seems to be a weak spot in the powder charging system design.
like others have said, cleaning the heck out of it helps too. after a bunch of rounds that powder bar can get buildup on it.