So it seems like my options are
A.) Wet tumble with primers then deprime and load in the press
B.) Deprime in the press with a separate toolhead, wet tumble, then load.
C.) Use a hand deprimer, wet tumble, then load.
*Dillon Dilemma!* Advise and suggestions please!
- Thread starter Tactical Zacktical
- Start date
A.) Wet tumble with primers then deprime and load in the press
B.) Deprime in the press with a separate toolhead, wet tumble, then load.
C.) Use a hand deprimer, wet tumble, then load.
hoz53
Gold $$ Contributor
I think you would get tired of that hand deprimer pretty fast. i bet your wrist would be pretty sore after the first few hundred---- Either use a separate press and decaping die or do it in you new dillon. For 9mm unless everyone of your brass lands in the mud you wouldnt have to clean them every firing would you?
I have 2 square deals and I really like them. Have 2 so I don't have to change from small to large primer. (They were a whole lot cheaper when I bought mine)
You're right about rifle calibers. A friend who has now passed away had a 650 and I've used it-worked great. I've never actually used a 550 but I'm sure they are fine. Sure don't know why you want to use that hand primer though.
That 's what I do. It's a small Lee I got somewhere and its mounted on a small board. I can C-clamp it to a barstool and with a waste basket underneath and do it in front on the TV
Why do you want to wet tumble your pistol brass? I used to shoot a lot of Uspsa competition. I considered a vibratory in corn cob, good enough. You don’t get all of your brass back at a match. And if you shoot bigger matches, they are Lost Brass Match. Meaning that you don’t even get to collect your brass after the stage. They keep running shooters as quickly as possible. The crew running the match, gets to collect the brass after shooting is complete.
Buy a decent single stage press for depriming if you want to go that route.... Since you're going to load different calibers in the future the 550 is a good choice... I have one and love it , very versatile....BUT for rifle brass remember you have to lube it and trim it so I use my single stage press to resize my rifle brass , then trim then throw it back in the corn cob to remove the lube etc... I then use the Dillon to finish up...This is mainly for .223 , since large rifle only uses two dies I don't see the advantages of the Dillon over the single stage and still load it on my rock chucker...
I do deprime my brass with the single stage press to keep the crude out of the Dillon but the Dillon is designed to do it... Depriming is nasty and by doing it that way I haven't had to disassemble the Dillon priming system yet in thousands of rounds loaded , I also like to clean the primer pockets... I like the 550 because I can see exactly what's happening when loading , since I am the safety guy I really like that... The caliber conversions are cheaper also... It's pleanty fast for me because I only load what I need , if I am going to shoot 100 I load 100 etc... That way if you run into a problem you don't have to pull 1000... I also wouldn't wet tumble my pistol brass everytime , you can get Walnut media from harbor freight $25 for 25 lbs that will last a long time..
If you wanted to wet tumble really nasty range pick ups the first time to make them pretty that's one thing but to just clean after firing over and over is completely unnecessary and wouldn't be for me at all.. To me it's a giant pita... You seem to really want to add the wet tumbling to the mix and if you do don't forget you need to dry them afterwards and not depriming before wet tumbling wouldn't be the way to go , always deprime before wet tumbling... Before it's over you will just be cleaning pistols brass in a normal vibration tumbler with corn cob or Walnut media , I like Walnut... I would spend my money on a GOOD digital scale for use with the Dillon... It's a real time saver....
Just btw the vibration tumbler Cabela's sells for $79.99 comes with everything ready to go and I have been using one for years with zero problems... It comes with the tumbler , corn cob and the liquid you add for even brighter brass or to renew the media when it gets used up... I toss the used media in the yard and move on...If you decide to get the course cut Walnut media from harbor freight you will have pleanty for a long time...
I do deprime my brass with the single stage press to keep the crude out of the Dillon but the Dillon is designed to do it... Depriming is nasty and by doing it that way I haven't had to disassemble the Dillon priming system yet in thousands of rounds loaded , I also like to clean the primer pockets... I like the 550 because I can see exactly what's happening when loading , since I am the safety guy I really like that... The caliber conversions are cheaper also... It's pleanty fast for me because I only load what I need , if I am going to shoot 100 I load 100 etc... That way if you run into a problem you don't have to pull 1000... I also wouldn't wet tumble my pistol brass everytime , you can get Walnut media from harbor freight $25 for 25 lbs that will last a long time..
If you wanted to wet tumble really nasty range pick ups the first time to make them pretty that's one thing but to just clean after firing over and over is completely unnecessary and wouldn't be for me at all.. To me it's a giant pita... You seem to really want to add the wet tumbling to the mix and if you do don't forget you need to dry them afterwards and not depriming before wet tumbling wouldn't be the way to go , always deprime before wet tumbling... Before it's over you will just be cleaning pistols brass in a normal vibration tumbler with corn cob or Walnut media , I like Walnut... I would spend my money on a GOOD digital scale for use with the Dillon... It's a real time saver....
Just btw the vibration tumbler Cabela's sells for $79.99 comes with everything ready to go and I have been using one for years with zero problems... It comes with the tumbler , corn cob and the liquid you add for even brighter brass or to renew the media when it gets used up... I toss the used media in the yard and move on...If you decide to get the course cut Walnut media from harbor freight you will have pleanty for a long time...
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shoot4fun
Gold $$ Contributor
I too suggest dropping the idea of the FA Hand Depriming tool. Been there and tried that and now it's another lesson learned in what not to buy.
The idea of removing spent primers with a separate toolhead is good advice.
Just a note to say that I would recommend cleaning primer pockets prior to running them on the Dillon. I am currently running a 550 as I like the control to index manually, but when I was running SDB's, I would get a lot of high primers. Probably operator error, but I haven't had that trouble ever on a single stage press, nor on my 550 when loading with clean brass.
I have used the Gun tap brass cleaner from Amazon, along with their pins. It works great.
I have used the Gun tap brass cleaner from Amazon, along with their pins. It works great.
Hoser
Gold $$ Contributor
Get a 1050/1100 and ditch the plan of wet tumbling unless you are doing it to cut down on dust.
Lots of flavors of 9 and 223 have crimped primers. Swaging them out any other way is a huge pain. A 1050/1100 doesent care about crimped primers.
You can also add a bullet feeder and load about 2,500 9mm an hour without breaking a sweat.
Less time at the bench and more time at the range.
Lots of flavors of 9 and 223 have crimped primers. Swaging them out any other way is a huge pain. A 1050/1100 doesent care about crimped primers.
You can also add a bullet feeder and load about 2,500 9mm an hour without breaking a sweat.
Less time at the bench and more time at the range.
powderbrake
Gold $$ Contributor
YES!!!! run clean brass only through your carbide dies and forget about depriming.
Tumble your brass in corn cob with Dillon polish, and run them through the 9mm carbide dies. No lube necessary, they are slick when they come out of the tumbler.
I have loaded hundred of thousands of pistol rounds on progressive presses after tumbling. The size & deprime die will knock any corn cob out of the primer hole, and forget about cleaning primer pockets. Just tumble, then run the 9mm through the Dillon 550 and go shoot your loads.
I recommend a Lee Carbide Factory Crimp die in station 4. I use these on my 9mm and 45 ACP loads. This insures the loads will not have bulges, and a good crimp.
I live in an apartment, and the dust/noise from a dry tumbler isn’t really an option.
Excellent. Why do you dry tumble instead of wet tumble? Thank you!
How many rounds to you anticipate shooting per year of 9mm and .223?
When I was doing action pistol, I shot about 10,000 of pistol and maybe 1,000 of .223. No way I was hand doing anything.
Maybe your ammo count will be much less than that, especially since you're planning to cast your own 9mm bullets.
Quality corn cob is dust-free (Harbor Freight is NOT quality).
Suggest:
- corn cob tumble
- run thru progressive of your choice with a carbide sizer die and your choice of a taper crimp die on the last station--separate bullet seat and crimp (Dillon 650/750/1050, or go red like I did, a Hornady LNL AP)
- shoot them
Don't worry about crud left in primer pockets. Targets are 10 ft to 10 yards for pistol, so not long range silhouette targets (not need extreme accuracy).
When I was doing action pistol, I shot about 10,000 of pistol and maybe 1,000 of .223. No way I was hand doing anything.
Maybe your ammo count will be much less than that, especially since you're planning to cast your own 9mm bullets.
Quality corn cob is dust-free (Harbor Freight is NOT quality).
Suggest:
- corn cob tumble
- run thru progressive of your choice with a carbide sizer die and your choice of a taper crimp die on the last station--separate bullet seat and crimp (Dillon 650/750/1050, or go red like I did, a Hornady LNL AP)
- shoot them
Don't worry about crud left in primer pockets. Targets are 10 ft to 10 yards for pistol, so not long range silhouette targets (not need extreme accuracy).
IMHO, wet tumbling is THE ONLY OPTION. Not just for dust control, it is also faster overall. My reloading large bulk runs is to wet tumble range pickup (even my own) for half an hour with Dawn in hot water. Dry then process. Wet tumble after processing for 2+ hours in Hor water with Dawn and Lemishine. Dry, then load.
As for which press to buy...i recently made a 4000 round batch loaded on a 550. It was NOT fun. Again we processed on a separate toolhead then swaged on a Dillion swager. So two times through the machine, hand placing the bullets, refilling primer tubes...got to be a lot of work...and there were two of us doing it.
As for which press to buy...i recently made a 4000 round batch loaded on a 550. It was NOT fun. Again we processed on a separate toolhead then swaged on a Dillion swager. So two times through the machine, hand placing the bullets, refilling primer tubes...got to be a lot of work...and there were two of us doing it.
rwj
Gold $$ Contributor
Wet tumbling is not a quiet operation!
sqrlgtr
Gold $$ Contributor
I got a harvey deprimer tool awhile back and really like it.I like the fact that I can deprime anywhere.Most of the time I will deprime while watching tv
.As you can see , like almost everything in reloading alot of things are pure personal preference.....You will end up with a box of stuff you have bought that sucks including the newest and latest flavor of the month....
Some people clean primer pockets , some don't...
Some people wet tumble , some don't and hate it...
Some people use vibration tumblers , some don't...
Some people deprime off the press in a separate step , some don't...
Some people like shiny brass , some don't care at all....
This list goes on forever for absolutely everything from dies to brass and what's the best and what's just horrible... What works the best for some don't work the same for others... A look at almost any thread will include these answers... Some people have basically unlimited money , most don't... Find what works for you and meets your needs and stick with it... The only way to figure this out is by trying what you want... That's were that box of crap you have bought comes into play...
Welcome to the world of reloading... The best advice I can give you is to test EVERYTHING... You never master it , you just get better at it.... Like any hobby you can do it and have fun , but it can turn into a monster that eats your lunch and bank account if you're not careful....
Some people clean primer pockets , some don't...
Some people wet tumble , some don't and hate it...
Some people use vibration tumblers , some don't...
Some people deprime off the press in a separate step , some don't...
Some people like shiny brass , some don't care at all....
This list goes on forever for absolutely everything from dies to brass and what's the best and what's just horrible... What works the best for some don't work the same for others... A look at almost any thread will include these answers... Some people have basically unlimited money , most don't... Find what works for you and meets your needs and stick with it... The only way to figure this out is by trying what you want... That's were that box of crap you have bought comes into play...
Welcome to the world of reloading... The best advice I can give you is to test EVERYTHING... You never master it , you just get better at it.... Like any hobby you can do it and have fun , but it can turn into a monster that eats your lunch and bank account if you're not careful....
rwj
Gold $$ Contributor
Great post to this thread! A big reason why I’m a member is to learn what others have tried and recommend. But as @Rsadams said above, the end user has to decide for themselves! No doubt that despite the input of others, we all eventually make decisions that we come to regret. That’s where the “for sale” part of this site comes into play!
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