Information About Dillon Super 1050 loaders

[Rustystud]

I own 1 Super 1050, 1 RL1050, 2 550s, an a 450B. Been loading with Dillon since 1981. Recently I had a customer bring me 2,500 +/- 300WSM cases to load for him. I decided to Set up my Super 1050 to process the brass, then to prime the brass, and load the brass. I bought a 300 WSM shell plate conversion, a 300WSM case trimming die, a Dillon Magnum powder measure bar and a extra large powder die. I also ordered a 300 WSM Redding Microcrometer seating die. The depriming, full length sizing, swaging, and trimming went pretty well. The neck chamfering, and primer pocket reaming was done on a Hornady case prep station. The cases were washed with stainless steel media with Dawn and Lemishine. Then annealed on a Bench Source Annealer. The cases were then vibra shined in walnut media and mineral spirits. They are now ready to be primed and loaded. The priming will be done first then they will have the powder measured, checked, and the bullets seated.
What have I learned. Dillon presses excell with pistol cartridges. The Dillon Super 1050 is suppose to load everything from 32 acp to 300 WSM. When you load 300 WSM on a Super 1050 it takes many loader accessories not used when loading any other cartridges. There are some OEM Dillon parts that are universal to both the RL1050, RL1100, CP2000, and Super 1050. Dillon advertises the Tool heads as universal. That is not the case. The Tool head guide rod on a RL 1050 is 3.5 inches long. When a RL1050 toolhead is used on a Super 1050 and the tool head is at the top of the stroke the Guide Rod is above the frame and only supported by the Tool Head Spring. This allows the Tool Head to torque counter clockwise .250"-.312". This causes havock with the Dillon OEM Primer Shuttle and or a FW Arms PrimeTime Primer assembly. It also causes a poping noise. If your loading pistol ammo this doesn't make much difference because the guide rod and alignment pins are back in place before the cases reach the dies . However if your loading rifle cartridges 308 or longer the decapping pin, swager rod will engage the case before the guide rod and alignment pins align the casehead and shell plate. This means case mouth damage can take place. Dillon makes a Super 1050 Toolhead and it has a longer Guide Rod part number 13554. However Dillon fails to tell you this and it is not in the Super 1050 Manual. Buyers beware if you are buying a Dillon Super 1050 to load rifle ammo. There are aftermarket fixes for this but it is not readily known and Dillon doesn't help you. It is sad because they know they have issues but are not willing to address them. I suggest "On Point Manufacturing", CNC machined tool heads. They have a 4.5" guide rod. On Point is also making a Bronze bushing for use on the Dillon Super 1050s with motor drives. Level 10 Inovations make improved Spring and Bushing Kits that can be a help with manual operation of the Dillon 1050/1100/CP2000/Super 1050. The also offer a Specialty Guide Rod and Bushing Kit for motorized Super 1050s.
Dillon will tell you this not a issues when loading manually. That is BS but loading with an autodrive makes it much worse. Just thought I would prevent others from having a disapointing day reloading rifle Cartridges on a Dillon Super 1050. The good news is that with enough determination and money you can make a Dillon Super 1050 load rifle cartridges.

 

[DRK]

Interesting Mike Dillon got his start taking a Star and making it a Super Star to run 223 to feed his M16. The original Dillon 1000 wasn't much different than a scaled up Star.

I have an 1100 just to feed my Uzi SMG, it is dedicated to 9x19. Ok for pistol rounds, however, I still load all bottleneck rounds one at a time with a Lyman turret & Chargemaster. If I ever get to loading 2500 rds of rifle rds at a crack I might change the 1100 over.

 

[Hoser]

My 1050s and 1100s work fine. Not sure why. I load pistol and rifle calibers on mine.

 

[Rustystud]

Did some experimenting today. Removed my Toolhead Guide rod spring. I used a ON Point CNC 8 station tool head. It has a 5" rear guide rod. They now make a drop in delrin bushing that supports the Guide Rod. With a Mark VII auto drive I hit the "Calibrate Button" and started my press. Ran as smooth as a babbies butt. Ran it from 1000 RPH to 3500 RPH no issues. The other auto drives out there all recomend removing the Toolhead Guide Rod sping. This will cure lots of ills with the Super 1050. By doing away the tool head counter clockwise shift at the top of the stroke. No more bullets dropping of cases to be loaded, no more jams with the primer shuttle system, now the FW Arms Prime Time works like it is suppose to.

 

[Rustystud]

Found out that Redding Competition Seater dies for cartridges 308 and longer will not work on a Dillon Super 1050. If you want a Micrometer Die get the standard seating die with a Micrometer Stem. The Skirt on the Precision Competition Seater die hangs up with longer bullets.

 

[drop_point]

Did I read this correctly, you annealed AFTER FL sizing?

 

[rox]

Found out that Redding Competition Seater dies for cartridges 308 and longer will not work on a Dillon Super 1050. If you want a Micrometer Die get the standard seating die with a Micrometer Stem. The Skirt on the Precision Competition Seater die hangs up with longer bullets.

or cut the sleeve down flush with the mouth of the die, if you want sliding-sleeve function and micrometer adjustment.

 

[Rustystud]

Yes, I anneal after full length sizing and trimming. I do this after wet washing my brass with Dawn and Lemishine. This dries my brass inside an out. I then polish my brass in walnut hull media and Mineral Spirits. My brass then is ready to load no lube necessary to prime, drop powder, and seat and taper crimp my brass. It is read for gauging and packaging.

 

[Rustystud]

The most important part of loading/reloading is brass prep and loader die set up.

 

[drop_point]

Yes, I anneal after full length sizing and trimming. I do this after wet washing my brass with Dawn and Lemishine. This dries my brass inside an out. I then polish my brass in walnut hull media and Mineral Spirits. My brass then is ready to load no lube necessary to prime, drop powder, and seat and taper crimp my brass. It is read for gauging and packaging.

Annealing AFTER sizing negates the advantage of annealing.

 

[kiwijohn]

While a 1050 super is a great machine , if it cant handle micro adjust dies just seat them long and take another step on a conventional Press?

 

[Hoser]

I have been using 1050s for 25+ years. I currently have three 1100s on my bench and one have a Mk7 autodrive attached.

I have zero issues using micro adjust dies on them. I dont load any calibers taller than 308 on my 1100s.

 

[RegionRat]

I haven't had trouble doing rifle cases on the 1050 using their parts and traditional dies. Anything that extends beyond the envelope of a traditional style rifle die is something I would discuss with them first or expect to risk on my own.

Whenever I designed production equipment, I had to account for the volume sweep and the movement of relative parts to make sure things don't move into each other and crash. If I turned that equipment over to others for operation, then it was their responsibility to stay inside my tooling envelope or things would crash.

Dillon presses have their limits in terms of how far they retract before parts begin to rotate, so they can tell you their limits and then it is up to you to select parts short enough to clear. It is either do the homework, or stick with their recommendations for a given caliber.

Dillon can speak for themselves, but if we think about it they can't be expected to cover for any and all aftermarket parts can they? What they can tell you, is their length limits.

I would circle back and get more specific with the caliber discussion and they will be able to tell you how long dies or pins can stick out before things go bad.