Dillon 550 for precision rifle loads help

[Dave Zander]

So i have a 550. I have a lee decapper, Wilson sizer with bushing, century expander. Loading for 6.5mm Creedmoor.
These are in a dillon tool head. I raise the ram with cartridges on the shell plate ,then synch up the locking nuts with cases in dies.
The tool head has some play in it ,up and down and a little side play. There are several companies making tool heads that are supposed to be more precise. First I anneal, tumble, then run thru the dillon 3 die setup.
Then I trim and chamfer. Prime with a Lee hand prime tool, charge with a V3 Autothrow/FX120I and seat in a Rockchucker.
Any recommendations?

 

[BigBlueandGoldie]

I'd be interested to hear how other people are processing on the 550. I've been considering it (already have the 550), but I just can't see it being much faster than a single stage.

 

[Dave Zander]

In a single stage rockchucker I'm handling the brass 3 times vs 1 in the Dillon.

 

[Bc'z]

Move decapper to rockchucker
1 size and prime
2 mandrel
3 powder drop with funnel for weighed charges
4 seat

 

[Paul Hilgedick]

What are you loading this ammo for? Sounds to me like you are trying to get benchrest quality ammo. Back in the 90's I loaded a fair bit of rifle ammo on a 450. Used standard RCBS dies, Dillon powder measure, and ball powder. If I did my part most days I could shoot less than 3/8" groups with a stock Ruger 77 in 223.

 

[LVLAaron]

Dont worry too much about the up and down play in the tool head. Just adjust your dies. The head will only go so far up, and it will go that far every time you raise the press. So the slop doesn't matter much.

Why not prime on the 550?

 

[BigBlueandGoldie]

I've only ever done 9mm on my Dillon, but I can say the primer catch fails to catch a lot of primers. I also don't like how much crush I get on the 9mm primers. Perhaps the consistency would be better on my rifle brass as I uniform the pockets.

 

[mongo chicago]

I replaced my Rockchucker DECADES ago with a 550 and never looked back. Use it for everything. My thousand yard loads I use it as a single stage. For my 500 yard loads and handgun loads I use it as a progressive. Couldn't be happier.

 

[Dave Zander]

I'm shooting steel plates from 235 yards out to 1000 yards. At 1000 smallest plate is 4"x6". There are larger plates also , I don't shoot the 4"x6" at 1000 as there are larger plates at each yardage but as i progress will try to get to the smallest ones. Can shoot prone or off a bench , shooters choice. I've done both. Ya I thought about priming on the 550 just don't get the feel of the hand priming tool.

 

[F Class John]

@Scott Harris has the best white paper on the subject. UPDATED: Dillon 550 Reloading Whitepaper
Don't listen to any naysayers, there's more guys loading GREAT precision ammo on a Dillon than most realize.

Here's a couple videos I've done on the subject plus now I use a 750 instead of the 550 so I included that too.

 

[BigBlueandGoldie]

If I'm understanding Scott's process properly, it sounds like on his non-virgin and 2nd firing after annealed brass, he's running the brass through the sizing die and the mandrel a 2nd time (the 1st being prior to trimming on the Giraud)?

 

[Kimber.204]

@F Class John I was just going to post links to your videos then the page updated and I see you beat me to it!

Plenty of great F Class and High Power shooters load their ammo on Dillons.
When your process is refined and your load is solid you will have to be a very good rifleman to be able to outshoot your ammo that you loaded on a Dillon.

 

[Erud]

Here’s what I do:

1. deprime brass on Dillon 650 with case feeder
2. Tumble in white rice
3. Anneal
4. Spray cases with Hornady One Shot lube
5. Load on Dillon 550:
- Size and prime at station 1 - sizer has expander removed
- Dump powder charge at station 2 - charge is thrown off the press and dumped into case using funnel die
- Seat bullet at station 3

This is for all rifle ammo that I shoot, and I load about 100/hour (Size, prime, powder, seat) this way. I do use the Whidden CNC floating die tool heads, and the UniqueTek clamp kit.

 

[JimSC]

tool head slop does not matter. Your sizing die works as a extruder, once the case is fully inserted into the die it is a in a state of interference fit. When the ram is fully raised you would have to bend the case at the web for it to misalign. For a case to be inserted into the die without damage there has to be lateral float in either the die or the shellholder.

When seating the bullet will follow the course of least resistance. In other words straight down the case neck. It requires a lot of lateral force to force the bullet to not follow the case neck. Just ask anyone who has used a Hornady concentricity tool to eliminate run out.

I use a Lee 4 hole turret for all of my loading, it is the most convenient press I own. I have each cartridge I load for mounted on a separate turret head and operate it as a progressive for my pistols and single stage for my precision rifle.

 

[Erud]

tool head slop does not matter. Your sizing die works as a extruder, once the case is fully inserted it is a in a state of interference fit. When seating the bullet will follow the course of least resistance. In other words straight down the case neck. It requires a lot of lateral force to force the bullet to not follow the case neck. Just ask anyone who has used a Hornady concentricity tool to eliminate run out. I use a Lee 4 hole turret for all of my loading. I have each cartridge I load for mounted on a separate turret head and operate it as a progressive for my pistols and single stage for my precision rifle.

The only issue with this is that with a floating tool head and non-floating dies, the sizer and seater are under different amounts of tension every time you advance the press and pull the handle. Tiny variations in case lengths, neck tension, bullet length, etc result in different stress on opposite corners of the tool head, which then results in the tool head not being perfectly (or at least repeatably) square to the shell plate, which causes your ammo to not be as straight as it could be. Better solution is to lock the tool head in place, and float the sizer and seater. This lets cases self-center independently at each of those stations without the twisting.

I’m not 100% convinced that minor variances in concentricity have much effect on target, but they’re easy enough to eliminate by doing this, and the cost is pretty minimal.

 

[DirtySteve]

I use my Dillon in the normal way it was intended. I stop and remove the case before seating the bullet and weight the charge, trickling it up to the weight I want.then seat the bullet and continue on in the manner.

I use it this way during all testing.

 

[DirtySteve]

Jofer USA makes nice tool heads and stands the the Dillon.

Jofer USA

Top Quality Parts

www.joferusa.com

 

[Hoser]

The biggest change I make with mine is Whidden Floating Die Toolheads.

After coming home from the range brass is tumbled clean and annealed.

Station one deprime/resize and prime. I can get a really good feel for seating and still have some pretty good oomph.

Station two is where I throw powder that has been dispensed from a Prometheus or an Auto-trickler.

Station three seats the bullet.

Station four is for a Redding body die if it is going through a gas gun.

I do this for almost all calibers from 17 Mach IV to 338 Lapua.

 

[JimSC]

The only issue with this is that with a floating tool head and non-floating dies, the sizer and seater are under different amounts of tension every time you advance the press and pull the handle. Tiny variations in case lengths, neck tension, bullet length, etc result in different stress on opposite corners of the tool head, which then results in the tool head not being perfectly (or at least repeatably) square to the shell plate, which causes your ammo to not be as straight as it could be. Better solution is to lock the tool head in place, and float the sizer and seater. This lets cases self-center independently at each of those stations without the twisting.

I’m not 100% convinced that minor variances in concentricity have much effect on target, but they’re easy enough to eliminate by doing this, and the cost is pretty minimal.

you don't seem to understand, when the case is inserted in the die it is in a interference fit from the web to the mouth. The only portion of the case that is not under the interference fit from the die is the small amount of web that is visible between the bottom of the die to the case head and you would have to be applying a large amount of perpendicular force to bend the case head off square. The brass at the web is considerably thicker than the brass on the body of the case. The case rim would be the first area to be damaged since the brass is thinner there than in the head or web

Case holders are designed to float on all three axis for a reason. To allow the case to align itself to the die

 

[Erud]

you don't seem to understand, when the case is inserted in the die it is in a interference fit from the web to the mouth. The only portion of the case that is not under the interference fit from the die is the small amount of web that is visible between the bottom of the die to the case head and you would have to be applying a large amount of perpendicular force to bend the case head off square. The brass at the web is considerably thicker than the brass on the body of the case. The case rim would be the first area to be damaged since the brass is thinner there than in the head or web

Case holders are designed to float on all three axis for a reason. To allow the case to align itself to the die

Whatever you say, but the difference in runout between loading on a floating toolhead with locked dies vs. locked toolhead with floating dies is really easy to measure with a concentricity gauge. Do it whichever way you like best.