Recently purchased a new Dillon 550C mostly for my handgun rounds but liked the features so much I bought the parts for it and tried reloading my .243 rifle rounds. I thought all was going well till I got to the end of a 30 round loadout. The last three rounds got shorter in length by almost .005! Turns out that if you don't have a piece of brass in there to be "resized" then the press is not under load. At first I though this is no big deal I'll just run some empty brass through to finish up but then I discovered about 6 primers not seated flush. That is where I draw the line with the rifle rounds and I don't dare to try to push a primer deeper on a loaded round! Looks like for rifle I'm going back to my single stage press.
Found issue reloading rifle on Dillon 550C
- Thread starter Lefty Trigger
- Start date
rwj
Gold $$ Contributor
When loading rifle rounds, I convert my progressive press to a single stage by removing the shell plate indexing pawl. This permits controlling length and shoulder bump variation to about .0015”
Dusty Stevens
Shiner
get a custom toolhead
Jay Christopherson
Not An Admin
A Dillon 550 will produce as precise ammo as anything , properly setup and used.
PatMiles
Silver $$ Contributor
Couple of good articles on making a 550 a much better progressive press for precision reloading.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mmk8tv8yrk7vii7/12.23.15-Dillon-Prometheus-Article.pdf?dl=0
http://www.65guys.com/precision-from-a-progressive-reloader/
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mmk8tv8yrk7vii7/12.23.15-Dillon-Prometheus-Article.pdf?dl=0
http://www.65guys.com/precision-from-a-progressive-reloader/
I agree with Jay. It’s been proven plenty of times. Try this. Use a hand primer to prime the brass instead of using the press. Also size your cases in a separate step prior to loading them. I don’t size while seating bullets at the same time.
rwj
Gold $$ Contributor
+1 on fixing the shell plate! Results I’m sure vary, but this produced the largest variation reduction for me.
I load all my service rifle ammo on a 550, even my 600 yd loads. Shot good enough to make HM and Leg out.
Try doing your loading in two operations. The first one is case prep where I strictly size and trim with the Dillon trimmer then run an expander ball through the case to knock out the internal burr. It should be noted that on a cases first trim there will be a large burr that will require manual deburring but on every other load it is much smaller and tumbling knocks it off .
Next is stainless pin tumbling to knock off the case lube.
Last I put in my loading toolhead. First station is priming only, no die, next is powder , next is bullet seating, last is a light pass through a Lee fcd.
Try doing your loading in two operations. The first one is case prep where I strictly size and trim with the Dillon trimmer then run an expander ball through the case to knock out the internal burr. It should be noted that on a cases first trim there will be a large burr that will require manual deburring but on every other load it is much smaller and tumbling knocks it off .
Next is stainless pin tumbling to knock off the case lube.
Last I put in my loading toolhead. First station is priming only, no die, next is powder , next is bullet seating, last is a light pass through a Lee fcd.
If you follow the Dropbox article that Scott Harris wrote you will have all of the information you need. He took a lot of time to do a very in depth write up and it works! I use a Dillon 550 to load All of my ammo for F-open. Now I will tell you that I use a 21st century hand primer instead of the press myself. Other than that I pretty much follow his process that is laid out in the article. One additional thing that I did do is after getting my whidden floating tool head I free floated station 4. It comes out of the box with stations 1 and 3 floated. I seat bullets in station 4 so that’s why it had to be free floating.
I do the same thing, except I only load my short line ammo on the Dillon. All case sizing is done on the single stage press ahead of time and then the Dillon 550 is used to prime, throw powder and seat bullets.
I installed a primer track plate gadget that I found on EBay and it's worked wonders on my priming system, which has always been finicky since I they "upgraded" me to new powder bars a couple years ago.
(no affiliation with this seller)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dillon-550...082951&hash=item35fbe2ae5c:g:3C0AAOSwv0tVQX3I
Ledd Slinger
Silver $$ Contributor
Doesn't this pretty much completely defeat the purpose and convenience of having a Dillon press?
I've never used a Dillon, but am curious about this issue because I have been considering one. Will be following along...
Ledd Slinger,
Some folks break the process down a little more than is necessary, in my opinion. My process is to deprime fired brass, then clean, chamfer, and anneal, in that order. After that, it's on the the 550 for the rest. Size and prime at station #1, powder charge (not using the dillon powder measure) at station #2, seat bullet at station #3. 100 rounds of absolute top-quality ammo per hour is no problem with this process. I load all of my ammo this way, and don't shoot anything less than 600 yards very often. I've managed some decent scores with ammo produced on a Dillon.
Some folks break the process down a little more than is necessary, in my opinion. My process is to deprime fired brass, then clean, chamfer, and anneal, in that order. After that, it's on the the 550 for the rest. Size and prime at station #1, powder charge (not using the dillon powder measure) at station #2, seat bullet at station #3. 100 rounds of absolute top-quality ammo per hour is no problem with this process. I load all of my ammo this way, and don't shoot anything less than 600 yards very often. I've managed some decent scores with ammo produced on a Dillon.
rwj
Gold $$ Contributor
Exactly!
I’m not sure if I understand what you are saying here. Brass is only sized at 1 station on the press, typically (always?) that would be station #1. The case head is supported firmly against the shellplate platform as it is being sized, and that part does not move, except for up and down with the ram. The shellplate itself does not affect the case as it is being sized, it just pulls it back out when it’s done, and rotates it to the next station for the other functions being performed; powder, bullet seating, etc.
If the fl die contacts the shell plate, the shell plate acts as a stop.
Normal deck heigth is .125"
If the areas marked in red , are different thickness , you get 4 different shoulder bumps. If the die was set using the thinnest station , of the shell plate..
Bottle neck type cartridges only.
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