I find myself in a position where I have to load some match quality .308 ammunition--500 rounds--by this Saturday. 

My question for you all--and all comments are welcome...

Is it possible for me to load match-quality, accurate and consistent ammunition on my Dillon 650?

Here is the component information:  RL15 powder, Lake City Match cases (once fired), 175 grain MatchKings and CCI #34 primers.

What say you all?  For the record, these cartridges will be fired from a bolt gun, at ranges from 100 to 1000 yards.

If you do happen to find a recipe that works, please share.  I'd like to eventually load .308 one of these days.

If that's the only part you're concerned about, isn't it easy to throw a dozen charges or so and weigh them all?

Well, here are the results:

First, a bit of background.  I managed to get a spot in some law enforcement training, and my Department ordered ammunition for me--a case of 168 grain GM Match. 

By course time, it still had not arrived.  Thus, I raided the cookie jar--my carefully hoarded stash of 500 Lake City match cases, once fired, trimmed, chamfered and deburred in advance. (Insert sob here...!)

I did not have time to even get to the range for some load testing--after consulting a bunch of references, I settled on 42.0 of RL 15, and the CCI #34 primer.  I loaded those 500 rounds in two days.  I learned to LISTEN and pause at the top of each stroke; you can actually hear the powder charge dropping.  If you did NOT hear that prolonged "swish", nothing happened, and it was a reason to check closely.  I took care to use the same operating speed and pressure on the handle.  I did cheat a little, though--I set the OAL of the cartridge to 2.900, instead of 2.820, to get the ogive closer to the lands.

After the classroom part of the school, we headed out to the range for out first day of live fire.  My worries about long range were groundless--we only shot out to 150 yards.  However, our target area was about the size of a nickel.

I was concerned when I first loaded up and shot for group, worrying about the consistency of the rounds.  I was very pleased to average (throughout the course) .75 MOA for a 3 round group. 

An added bonus....

On the second day, I asked the other shooters if they wanted their brass.  There were a total of 8 of us, and the other seven said, "No".  Not a reloader in the bunch!

Brass rat....Post!

I came home with about 1000 once fired Federal cases. 

Good to hear of your success.  Make sure you let us know when you start going out to 500 yards and stuff.  If you end up with a good .308 recipe, please share.

Several years ago Precision Shooting magazine had an article on loading match ammo with a progressive press.  They author used a Dillon 550 to load ammo for NRA match rifle and found it shot just as good as the ammo loaded on his single stage.  He was a master class shooter in high power so I think he would be able to tell if there was a significant difference.  He did the testing with several hundred rounds of ammo and found it worked well.  Just have to take care with the prep.  What I did when I was shooting service rifle alot was I resized on a single stage press and then trimmed the cases.  I then tumbled the brass again to get the lube off.  I had my Dillon 550 set up with a universal decapping pin in the first stage to remove any tumbling media from the flash hole and the rest of the press like normal.  Loaded my prepped brass on the progressive quick and easy.

http://www.uniquetek.com/site/696296/product/T1278 
To see a baffle for Dillon powder measures.  Some guys make their own.

Also the Dillon users seem to like the MDR after market adjustment dial for Dillon powder measures.
http://www.mrdial.com/index.html

Some guys go out of their way to run a wire from their press to a ground to prevent static cling.