Dillon 1050 - Cases not engaging shell plate

[RickT]

I've got my 1050/Mark 7 combo running well in 9mm.  Per previous threads I'm using a Mr. BF PTX because I've tried every other combination of expander/PTX/... and only with Mr. BF can I avoid tipping bullets.  There is a slight bump as the PTX disengages from the case, much less so with the Dillon case lube. 

 

My one remaining issue is the occasional tipped case, one that doesn't engage with the shell plate, tips over and most often breaks the decapping pin in the next station if I'm not fast enough.  This might happen every 200 rounds or so running at bothe 1500 and 1800 rounds/hour.  I've adjusted the FFB shell plate to ensure a smooth transition from the shuttle to the shell plate, but otherwise I'm somewhat at my wits end.  It's possible the vibration is causing some cases to jump a bit , but the bump from the PTX is prior to the case engaging the shell plate.  Until I get this problem resolved I'll have to load with the remote stop switch in my right hand, eyes fixed on the case shuttle.

 

Here's what I'm considering.  First, just give the stock shell plate a try.  The opening for the case may be a bit larger (might help).  Second, polish the interface between the case ram and the bottom of the shuttle assembly.  I'm open to any and all suggestions.  (BTW, I do have a Delrin ball the shell plate needle bearing. 

[haiedras]

Not an upside down case, but a case that the shuttle doesn't feed fully into the shell plate, and it flips when the shellplate indexes forward?

[Bummy425]

I run mine with the stock plate. I was having the same problem occasionally. It turned out being the case shuttle not being quick enough into position. I followed someone else's advice and replaced the spring in the shuttle assembly with a cut down recoil spring. That and a thorough cleaning of the shuttle assembly and I was back in business. Plus don't use grease on the shuttle....oil works much better, grease was holding in dirt.

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[RickT]

No, not an upside down case.

 

I had tried the recoil spring, but that was prior to tweaking the shell plate height.  And, I was myself wondering about grease since I sensed that the shuttle was being a bit sluggish.  I'm assuming the purpose of the grease is to keep the lube from migrating, but I have some RemOil dry lubricant that I use on my wife's rifle that I might try.  It's interesting because I was able this am early to run 200-300 before the first occurrence.  

 

BTW, prior to my tweaking the shell plate height I would have cases actually jam.  That issue appears to have been eliminated.  Running a press is like playing Whack-a-Mole.

 

[Brassaholic13]

Check the shuttle.  Make sure the very end is not bent outwards.  Check to make sure it's square.

[RickT]

I removed all grease from the case shuttle assembly and applied dry lube.  Also re-installed a cut-down 8 lb. recoil spring.  Ran 200+ cases through the press with no issues at 2100 rounds/hour, a higher rate than my usual 1800.  Didn't have any issues which is a good sign.  We'll see what happens when my next set of decapping pins arrives, but things might be looking up.  I did inspect the shuttle and it looked ok.

[Bummy425]

I removed all grease from the case shuttle assembly and applied dry lube.  Also re-installed a cut-down 8 lb. recoil spring.  Ran 200+ cases through the press with no issues at 2100 rounds/hour, a higher rate than my usual 1800.  Didn't have any issues which is a good sign.  We'll see what happens when my next set of decapping pins arrives, but things might be looking up.  I did inspect the shuttle and it looked ok.

[emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]

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[Clint007]

I had this issue also with my Mark 7 running 9mm at high speed. With mixed head stamps the shellplate height adjustment won’t be perfect for all cases. Did you keep the tipped cases to see if they are consistently one or a few headstamps?  I found that most tips were the same headstamp, but I didn’t mic the rim height etc to explain that. I ran the shuttle back and forth by hand with a variety of cases until I found the sweet spot where it didn’t “hang” (click, etc, revealing the height mismatch) going in either direction. Then I measured this shell plate position with a feeler gauge to be able to reproduce that position later.  

 

I have have found the FFB shellplate less temperamental but I still needed to go thru this process to find the sweet spot of shellplate height.

[Clint007]

On 12/31/2017 at 3:21 PM, RickT said:

I've got my 1050/Mark 7 combo running well in 9mm.  Per previous threads I'm using a Mr. BF PTX because I've tried every other combination of expander/PTX/... and only with Mr. BF can I avoid tipping bullets.  There is a slight bump as the PTX disengages from the case, much less so with the Dillon case lube. 

 

My one remaining issue is the occasional tipped case, one that doesn't engage with the shell plate, tips over and most often breaks the decapping pin in the next station if I'm not fast enough.  This might happen every 200 rounds or so running at bothe 1500 and 1800 rounds/hour.  I've adjusted the FFB shell plate to ensure a smooth transition from the shuttle to the shell plate, but otherwise I'm somewhat at my wits end.  It's possible the vibration is causing some cases to jump a bit , but the bump from the PTX is prior to the case engaging the shell plate.  Until I get this problem resolved I'll have to load with the remote stop switch in my right hand, eyes fixed on the case shuttle.

 

Here's what I'm considering.  First, just give the stock shell plate a try.  The opening for the case may be a bit larger (might help).  Second, polish the interface between the case ram and the bottom of the shuttle assembly.  I'm open to any and all suggestions.  (BTW, I do have a Delrin ball the shell plate needle bearing. 

 

On that “bump”....on super clean brass it’s worse. Powder funnel sticking to clean brass. Tried bunch of stuff. Didn’t like the Dillon lube - sticky. I use hornady one shot now as it leaves no residue. If you load 9 you can pour ready cases into a bin with .40 factory ammo trays, the 9 will mostly fall in mouth up, then quick spray with the hornady (to get some inside the Case mouth) that greatly relieves the stick.  I do this and spray the outside also and agitate....lube then is inside and out....makes press much smoother overall with less residue. The Dillon lube was gumming things up after 5-10k. 

 

C

[slavex]

I gave up on the FFB shellplate and went back to the stock shellplate for that exact reason. Nothing I could do would stop the cases from not feeding into the shellplate properly. Lucky for me I still have my tweaked zip ties in place to catch upside down cases (had an issue with that ages ago due to the wrong clutch assembly on the case feeder shellplate), so any cases that bounced out didn't continue on and cause havoc with the decapping die. But a lot times I'd get a torque problem as they'd have fed part way into the shellplate and then the press would jam while trying to index. With the Dillon plate reinstalled I have zero issues. 

[RickT]

I had been using the Hornady case lube for 10's of thousands of rounds, but never got it to work well with the Mr. BF PTX.  I don't particularly like the film left by the Dillon lube, but it did improve the PTX situation considerably. So...

1. I'll run 200-300 rounds through in my current configuration and see what happens. (FFB Shell Plate, strong shuttle spring, Dillon Lube)

2. If step one works I'll give the One Shot a 100 round try, but I'm not hopeful.

3. If test 1 is a "fail" I'll try the stock Dillon shell plate a try

4. If 1, 2, and 3 fail I'll change 115gr bullet profiles which would allow me to ditch the MBF PTX thereby reducing vibration.

 

I'm also going to mix some DIY lanolin lube which I can make more dilute than the Dillon lube.

 

Thanks to the good folks on this board I've narrowed the possibilities down to something tractable.  We'll see what happens.

 

 

[Clint007]

K good luck. Hornady didn’t work for me til I pointedly sprayed it into Case mouth.

 

C

[slavex]

the bump of the powder funnel sticking in the case mouth doesn't bother me at all. But cases not feeding into the shellplate is a nightmare when it keeps happening over and over and over again. 

I'm burning up so old Dillon lube right now as my cases are all getting washed after processing, but when I loaded unprocessed brass it was always with Hornady One Shot, soo much nicer to load with, and I didn't need to tumble the loaded rounds after unless I was bored. 

[tmz]

On 12/31/2017 at 5:21 PM, RickT said:

I've got my 1050/Mark 7 combo running well in 9mm.  Per previous threads I'm using a Mr. BF PTX because I've tried every other combination of expander/PTX/... and only with Mr. BF can I avoid tipping bullets.  There is a slight bump as the PTX disengages from the case, much less so with the Dillon case lube. 

 Are things still working out on the suggestions ?  Sorry could not type all that information maybe if it is you could relate to others. Hope it’s working out. 

[Want2BS8ed]

RickT, what kind of bullets are you loading? Would it be possible to bell the cases a little less?

I too had problems initially with my FBB - my first experience with the owners bedside manner. The natural inclination is to crank the plate down as Dillon instructs, but the FBB needs a little float. Just a little - to much and you will have similar problems.

You really need a feeler gauge to set the plate in FBB's recommended range. I will set the gauge in the last station where rounds eject and tighten everything down good and snug while the gauge is in place. The last thing I do is pull the feeler gauge out.

I have 20k+ rounds of 9mm through the MarkVII now and use several other FBB plates on a manual 1050 (all with the stock shuttle springs) and have had maybe 2-3 failures since? Just a non-issue now.

M


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[Steve RA]

You can just add alcohol to the Dillon lube to dilute it.

[RickT]

I load both Acme 115gr and Bayou 124Gr RN.  I've gotten things running quite a bit better and feel like I'm almost out of the woods.

Shaved 0.055" off the back-up die, reinstalled the Dillon powder funnel (which allows me to go back to Hornady One-Shot), standard case shuttle spring and came. with the following results.

 

Acme 115gr - I find the setup for this bullet to be pretty exasperating, but at least the Bullet Sensor catches the tip overs.  I ran 1000 or so with the FFB shell plate.  I find the 0.015" clearance on the FFB is a bit too much for smooth case transition to the shell plate, but even after adjustment I can still have the occasional issue with the shuttle.  There is also a slight jiggle as the shell plate settles into position and if I could eliminate this the Acme bullets would process much better.

 

Bayou 124gr RN - These are much easier to dial in and since they are taller than the Acmes the bullet sensor catches absolutely every crooked bullet.  I did go back to the Dillon shell plate and it appears that case transition to the shell plate is a bit smoother than with the FFB.  However, there is probably a bit more "jiggle" as the shell plate settles into position; not really an issue with the Bayou bullets however.  I think I'm using the Delrin detent ball, but the kit I bought came with a softer variety that is said to be smoother; easy enough to give that a try.

 

Next Steps:  I'm going to try the Acme bullets with the stock shell plate.  I should also take a few thousands more off the backup die

[tmz]

I have been running a simple wire tie across from the bullet drop station to the seating station all the way to the crimp station.  Have been doing this on both my 1050s for quite some time, helps stabilize the shellplate along with bullet tip over coming to the seating die.  Here’s a pic of what I mean. 

[slavex]

I wrap the zip tie around each station with a second piece of zip tie in pinched in against the frame so that it's even tighter between the shellplate and zip tie. I tried doing it like you show in the pic, but I like being able to remove cases at the seating station.

[tmz]

6 hours ago, slavex said:

I wrap the zip tie around each station with a second piece of zip tie in pinched in against the frame so that it's even tighter between the shellplate and zip tie. I tried doing it like you show in the pic, but I like being able to remove cases at the seating station.

 If you just leave the  wire tie  on for a few days it forms in that shape slides on and off very easy seems to work extremely well, at least for me.

[slavex]

with the extra pieces I put in behind the wrapped tie it's a PITA to put back as you have to fiddle with those pieces to get them back in. But your solution is great if you don't want to remove cases

[MikieM]

The FFB shell plate, as good as it is, may have tolerances that are a little too tight for an automated machine. The OEM shell plate may be the way to go, and should solve the case tipping problem.

Also, Level 10 Innovations has an Enhanced Cam and Case Feed Roller for the 1050. They say it will correct the mishaps caused by motor driven presses.

[IntenseImage]

The FFB shell plate, as good as it is, may have tolerances that are a little too tight for an automated machine. The OEM shell plate may be the way to go, and should solve the case tipping problem.
Also, Level 10 Innovations has an Enhanced Cam and Case Feed Roller for the 1050. They say it will correct the mishaps caused by motor driven presses.

The FFB is honestly better for driven presses.

The cam and roller are the same profile as the newer Dillon piece so no improvement there ... It's just thicker

For brass jumping the plate, put a piece of blue painters tape inside the U of the shuttle to give the brass just a little less room to jump around. Helped mine quite a bit

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[RickT]

I ran through 1300 rounds this morning.  All the cases fed without issue,  I had two cases hang on station one where the button didn't push the case back into the shell plate.  Other than that I've got to fine tune the case flare for our 124gr Bayou RN.  I may take another 0.010" off the bottom of the swage station backup rod.

 

While I'm currently using the stock shell plate, I'll go back to the FFB.  I think the sticky nature of the Dillon case lube was contributing to my case insertion issues.  The Dillon lube is no longer needed since I've returned to the Dillon powder funnel.

 

Regarding the occasional tipping bullet  the heavier FFB should help; I notice a small vibration as the case moves from the bullet feeder station to the seater station.  This is just enough to  work a small percentage of bullets free from what is otherwise a very firm pocket formed by the swaging and powder stations.

[helocat]

Sorry to resurrect the this older thread, but having the same issues with my AmmoBot driven D1050. 

Case jumps the stock shell plate, falls over = Jam + bent decapping pin.   I almost went though my whole batch of Squarial Daddy pins for the Lee Universal.  I was even bending them back to the point they finally broke.  200 cases to jam.  Nuked like 7 pins. 

 

I am just processing brass, de-capping, sizing thats it.  Running 1500 RPH. 

 

The case shuttle is just not putting the brass in the shell plate reliably.  Will try the blue painters tape but what am I missing?  I have to stand there with the STOP switch in my hand like I am playing Jeopardy and eyeballing that brass to tip.   Look away for a second and wham there goes another one. 

Edited October 9, 2019 by helocat