Hello,
Long time lurker, first time poster. I have a customer at the shop where I work who is having trouble setting up the XL 650. I have not used any Dillon press, so I couldn't help, but I'm hoping someone here can. He said the linkage that operates the powder drop will not function. Is there any pitfall in the setup that would cause this, any mistake that is easy to make but difficult to see? He says the unit "looks" like it is put together correctly.

Any advice before I just tell him to call Dillon would be appreciated. Thanks.

Welcome to the forum. Rules are to join in a be polite and not post anything you'd be embarrassed to have to explain to an eight-year-old (we have some young readers).

I don't have a 650, but I have the Square Deal and 550B, and have used someone else's 1050, and the Dillon measures are the same on all their units, AFAIK. The only exception is for the presence or absence of the coil spring I mention below, which is not on the 1050 measure. I don't know whether it is on the 650 measure, but that won't affect setup.

The Dillon measures are slide bar measures. The case neck expander (where expansion is called for) is actually a combination steel powder drop tube and operating rod for the measure's charge bar. It pushes up to positively slide the charge bar cavity out from under the powder hopper and over the drop tube to dispense powder into the case. In the original Dillon design, the charge bar was returned to position to pick up the next charge only by a long wrap-around coil spring. That tended to fail to completely return the bar when powder dust got packed in the charge bar channel, causing partial or missing charges. So, they added a linkage rod that is pulled down at the end of the press's down stroke to force the charge bar to slide back into place and pick up a charge.

The linkage rod is threaded on the bottom end, and the threads are used to allow a nut and washer to adjust tension on a compression spring slipped onto the rod above them. That spring is what the lowering press ram actually pushes down on via a little extension that has a guide hole in it for the rod. The spring is then what actually pushes the rod down. Since dispensing the powder is inflexibly linked through the expander/drop tube/op-rod, they must use the spring to avoid a jamming conflict between the two charge bar moving actions (forward and back). The only adjustments are to position the measure on its threaded die adapter so the linkage rod drops straight down through the guide hole on the ram, and then to adjust the spring tension for positive return of the powder bar. The linkage rod has a bent tip on top and attaches to the measure through a hole in the charge bar return cam and is held there with a clip.

The charge bar is adjusted for powder charge by turning a hex screw on the end. There is an aftermarket micrometer adjuster available for it, too.

The linkage rod has a bent tip on top and attaches to the measure through a hole in the charge bar return cam and is held there with a clip.

There is no clip on mine?, the end of the rod is "S" shaped and if it is installed in the "bell crank" from the wrong side it will not operate properly!!!!, the short end of the rod MUST! be in the hole NOT the slot, I speak from experience.

Dillon offers an instruction manuel video for $5.95 and I've always found them to be very helpful when I called for technical assistance.

Thanks for the info - I'll pass it along to the gentleman and see if it helps him out.

There is no clip on mine?, the end of the rod is "S" shaped and if it is installed in the "bell crank" from the wrong side it will not operate properly!!!!, the short end of the rod MUST! be in the hole NOT the slot, I speak from experience.

My Dillons are about 18 and 12 years old respectively, so the design may have changed since I got them. On mine that rod comes up, jogs over at about 45° to get behind the bell crank (charge bar operating cam) goes up and then back part way at 90° to pass through the bell crank hole. When inserting it into the bell crank hole, you first slip the end of a steel clip over the bell crank hole such that the clip's own holes align with the hole in the bell crank on either side. After the rod goes through both the holes in the clip and the one in the crank, the clip rotates down to capture the vertical portion of the rod in its spring fingers. That not only captures the rod, it also forces that short horizontal portion in the bell crank hole to ride in one position. It can't slide in or out that spring clip being removed. If your's doesn't have that clip, what captures it to keep it from slipping in and out of the hole?

what captures it to keep it from slipping in and out of the hole?

This is what the new ones look like, if the rod is in the bellcrank from the wrong side it'll slide over and the tail of the rod will not let the bellcrank operate, btdt!