Alan Adamson

Well, you're doing better than I... I've provided him the list of the people who contacted me wanting full systems and dies or dies only. He was really good there for a time with communications, but lately nothing. For those that have sent me PM's... I'll keep trying... Hopeful, but not optimistic.... Alan

OMG, just search for 40 major and you'll find all the info that you want... seems lots of us stick with N320. I load it at 4.85gr behind zero 180 JHP in a 5" limited gun. But as I'm sure you know, all barrels, heads, temps, etc will cause performance to vary greatly, so start low, get a chrono and work up... but if you have N320, why change... yeah, there are cheaper, but dang it works good. Alan

I shoot a hybrid, non-AET, just about anything works with it... the AET's don't like lead, and some plated, but jacketed seems to work good... Zero, MG, HAP, etc. I've shot Rainer plated, Berry Plated, Zero jacketed, MG jacketed thru my 2 hybrid non-AET's and they work perfectly. YMMV, Alan

Wow, I do have a spare tool head, but I have never thought to try it I will try that tomorrow. Alan, I will try that as well. I should have some free time tomorrow to experiment a little. It almost looks to me, and this makes no sense.. that it is stopping at the correct spot under the funnel, but the mouth of the brass it tlted out (away from the center of the shell plate) just a small amount. I usually have to push the mouth of the brass toward the center of the shell plate with my finger to get it to line up. Thanks Here's another thot... perhaps the groves in the shell plate are cut at an angle on your shellplate? I had a .223 shell plate that was cut *way* too narrow and it would take force to seat a cartridge in it... ordered a second one and poof, problem fixed... it would be unlikely, but it could happen I suppose. While you have your shellplate out, etc to see if you can adjust the aluminum block that holds it all... see if your ram/aluminum block is level too. Just a few random thots. Alan

Here's the fix... Mine was exactly the same way. Take the shellplate off, and under it there are 2 hex head scews. Loosen them, you don't need to take them out. Loosen them and twist the aluminum block on the ram slight in the directly you need to go. You may have to do this a couple of times. Obviously re-tightening them once you are done. If the primer pushrod is in alignment and the powder funnel isn't, I don't think the items that Dillon is sending will tell you anything, those tools seem to be for aligning the primer assemble to the aluminum block on the ram. Your problem is the entire block needs to pivot slightly. Doing the above fixed mine entirely. Alan

Yep, I totally understand all the above... So let me futher clarify, and I know this dilutes the primary concern. But what is a reasonal round count for a like new vs high round count gun that has been well cared for and not totally abused? How about that? Alan

So, let's assume an Open 9mm Major gun. What is an expected life expectancy for such a gun? Do they run til they fall apart (not talking about dependabliity, more to life expectancy)? What would be considered "like new round count" vs. "high round count"? Mostly just educational for me, but obviously it would be applicable to purchasing a used gun. Thanks in advance, Alan

6 still available in this batch Alan

So, always searching for that incremental improvement... I ordered a 12" x 12" sheet of the .005 PTFE adhesive back film mentioned above. Got it today. I debated whether to stick it to the underside of the shell plate or the top of the plate below the shellplate. In the end, I stuck it to the .40 shellplate that I had in there. Bottom line, it works great and provides that incremental small improvement that make this setup able to crank at will and have no snapping whatsoever... Even the bearing alone, arrangement had an ever so slight amount of snap. In reality, this PTFE film probably just lets me tighten the center bolt a smidge more and compress the ball that much more, but non-the-less it was another small improvement. Now before you go order up some. Here's the rub - the way I did it would be required you to place it on all your shell plates. Not a big deal, but a requirement none the less. Second, this 12" x 12" sheet wasn't cheap... try approx $12 for the sheet. It looks like you need a 3" x 3" square to cover a shellplate bottom, so you can get 16 out of a Sq. Ft. It was simply easier to cutout all the cuts on the shellplate in your hand than it is to work on the top of the ram with an exacto knife. There is a bit of trimming either way and I don't honestly know which would be better, altho on the top of the ram would allow it to be done once instead of each time for the each shellplate that you'd use. To help with costs, if you'd like to try a 3" x 3" square on your favorite shellplate, and it might be interesting to do it on a press that hasn't had the bearing mod done. I'll cut up the rest of the sheet that I have and can offer a square to you for $1.00 plus a postage stamp... So how about you send me an SASE (self addressed Stamped Envelop) and enclose a $1, and I'll send you back a 3" x 3" piece. I've probably got 10 more pieces that I can provide and still save a couple for me... So to the first 10 that reply with an incremental count and send me the SASE, I'll send you a piece to try on your shellplate. If someone would try it first, before the bearing mod and report back that would be helpful as well. So, any takers? reply with a Count - the first starts at 1, and others increment from there and then PM me and I'll provide my mailing address. Hope this isn't a PITA, if more want it, I'm fine with ordering another foot or 2 to satisfy demand... So far, this mod has fixed all my complaints about my 650!...Now if Dillon would include this as an upgrade or standard feature going forward, that would be great, course I can dream right... Just figured I'd share... I'll take mine back apart tomorrow and post pictures of what I did... BTW, final note, I had to raise my seating die by .007" as the shellplate did raise up that much as a result of this addtional material. Buttons still work perfectly and no sign of getting the bolt head too close to the bottom of the toolholder. Thanks, Alan

All. I'm going to have a set of bearing/washers to the good... If someone can't get them from McMaster (out of country, etc)... if you'll cover my costs, I'd be happy to send them to you. I ordered a set for a freind and then found out that he ordered his own set... go figure, wish he'd have told me . Oh, well, they aren't that expensive anyway. I should have them new from MCMASTER this week. Drop me an email to message here. Alan

Don't think so, I ordered and got a polymer 2011 flat mainspring sti housing from shooters connection. Its just to short Alan

Actually, for now I fixed it... I just pinned the grip safety. I also talked to STI, it does appear that there are some *short* main spring housings in existance, they are going to ship me a new one to try. Thanks for the comments. Alan

Ok, so I've got an S_I limited gun that came with a very heavy, arched metal main spring housing... I wanted to replace it with just the polymer flat version. Got the main spring housing from Shooters Connection, took the metal one out and removed the insides, replaced the spring with a 17lb'r and reassembled the housing... Had to counter sink the little pin that holds the mainspring plunger in, but other than that, all is well. So at eyeball, it appears that the 2 housings are the same... But when I try to fit it to the gun and compress the hammer spring ever so slightly to get the magwell, bottom pin to insert, the top of the mainspring housing isn't long enough to keep the bottom tangs on the beavertail from coming out of the gun... Are there differing lengths of beavertails? Or is there some other issue? The large pin hole does not appear elongated, but something is amiss..... Any ideas? I figured this would be a simple mod, but perhaps I was grossly mistaken? Alan

Mine was completely unmodified. Here's what I suggest... leave your spring cut.. but put the bearing on the top as shown. Then finger tighten the bolt till it stops with *light* finger pressure. Then lock the allen screw in the side and try it... it may take just a whisker more or less tight, but that snap should stop. I would expect it would work even better on the clipped version than the full power uncut spring which I have. Alan

I tried 1.150, but my press would vary around +/ .002 and even that much at 1.150 was enough to hang up a round once in a while... the barrel will take up to 1.155, but the magazines won't feed that length reliably I settled on 1.145 and have *zero* feed problems. Alan

So, on my 550, the damn cotter pin, is always a mess and causes the primer catch flap to stick either up or down, both have problems... One causes primers to go everywhere, and other gets in the way of the primer bar - bad news... I figured out that the drilled hole size in the flap and ramp is .059" and so I went to my favorite hardware store - McMaster Carr and found some pins that would be slightly undersized. I actually tried 2 different things, both work. One has a head on it, so you just cut it to length and then I'll tell you what to do on the other (non-head side)... The other is just a roll pin with no head on either side... Again, you just cut it to length, accounting for whatever you will use to retain it and walla - fixed. Below are the Mcmaster Carr part numbers. PartNumber, QTY, Description 98378A304, 1, .001" Precision Perforator Pin, .050" Pin Dia, 3/32" Head Dia, 2-1/2" O’all Length 1263K93, 1, Miniature 316 Stainless Steel Drive Shaft, 3/64" Od, 3" Length Now how to retain the ends that don't have a head. I had some silicone tubing around and small hole punch, so I punched a couple of round disks, took a very small drill in my fingers and poked a hole thru the middle of the silicone disks and pushed them on the ends, leaving just a smidge of play so the pin will float. You could use anything really... just something simple to retain the ends... If you really wanted to, you can buy some small tubing from McMaster as well, and cut little bushings that you'd slide on the end... Just make sure you get the ID smaller than the pin OD such that it's a press to fit. Works great and no more issues with the flapper door... YMMV, Alan

Had one other thot on the below the shellplate friction topic... I found that McMaster Carr has PTFE film... In fact, they have a 12" wide sheet that is adhesive backed and only .005" thick.... while you'd have to cut and or punch holes for the ball detent and the caming lever, you just might get away with something like that... Basically you cut a round piece the outside diameter of the entire shell plate are (a little larger than the shellplate), then you'put it down and then the shellplate, bearing, bolt... Only problem is it will take a beating both in compression and in turn/twist... not sure how well it would last... They also have some with out glue that is .002" thick. Not sure how to stick it. However, what I don't know is if this is even needed... I show no signs of wearing of the shell plate to the aluminum pad beneath it, so I'm thinking the only friction is from the caming lever and ball detent and there simply is no way to minimize those... Anyway, I did so some checking and found the above. YMMV, Alan

ok, so as of today - 6/12/09 here's the tale of the tape. Using this burn rate chart... I'll put powder, number of users, burn rate (smaller numbers will be faster powders) http://www.reloadbench.com/burn.html HS-6, 5, 41 True Blue, 1, 56 - suprised here as I figured this was a favorite from what I'd read via search 3N37, 4, 51 3N38, 1, 58 Silhouette, 8, 42 - another suprise kinda given how *dirty* it is N350, 3, 57 SP2 , 1, no longer on chart (plus 2 others that didn't post that I know use it) - however its not longer available and I have no idea if there is a direct replacement? Interesting the series True Blue - 56 N350 - 57 3N38 - 58 looks like there are 2 speeds of powder that people are happy with , the 41, 42 of HS-6, Silhouette, and the 51, 56, 57, 58 of 3N37, True Blue, N350, 3N38 hmm, I guess I'll have to do some more searching would be nice to know volumetric size of 1gr of each for example. perhaps this would help with case volume limits and particular powders. Course at the end of the day, what works, works ... Alan

Nope, you can't add any form of washer, bearing, etc *under* the shellplate, there are too many things that use the little clearance there is there and I *do* mean little. So best option is the bearing above as I've suggested above. Just wanted to let everyone know. BTW, I maybe had to add .001 back to my seating die to get the oal to average where I was before the change is the only change I made... gotta love a competition seating die for that Alan

ya, it is a small set of parts, but there is no mininum. They also carry the helicoil inserts if you've converted or want to convert to a locked toolholder...both my 550 and my 650 are in the process of being converted and I need to order a few more inserts Alan

Didn't have to change anything... the shellplate bolt doesn't come close to hitting, there is still probably .5" clearance even with the additional washer/bearing. At the moment the only adjustment will be maybe a little reset on all the dies due to taking out the play in the shellplate, but I haven't changed anything on my press yet. I'm going to look at this bearing surface under the shellplate today to see if there is room to do it without messing with the indexing or creating case wobble. We'll see, it may work, it may not and it may not be needed even if it works... Alan

I'll add one other on 9mm brass. I've noticed a *bunch* of brass colored brass, that you'd swear was really brass, when if you take a magnet to it, it's actually steel. I went to harbor freight and got a handheld magnet and run it thru all my brass now when it's being processed. Oh, and the super swager works just fine on mill brass. I made up adapters for .40, etc by finding various other rifle, pistol, etc cases that fit one into the other to make spacers for other calibers to take any play out of the differing dimensions between the various rods that Dillon give you and the pistol cases themselves. Works great. Alan

well, I'll take a look at that tomorrow... I'm sure there are thinner bearings or maybe even a very thin teflon washer to some other slippery type device... Alan I suppose this might work, it's very thin and is PTFE... has a .5 ID and a .688 OD and is .027-.035 thick mcmaster number - 95630A246 there is one other that might also work... it's .5 ID and 1.003 OD and .057 - .067 thick mcmaster number - 95630A248 However, I don't know what the actual clearance (plus a little) might be... I'll try to figure that out tomorrow and when I take my press plate apart I'll add pictures of the actual bearing... you guys just want me to take that apart don't you ... Alan

well, I'll take a look at that tomorrow... I'm sure there are thinner bearings or maybe even a very thin teflon washer to some other slippery type device... Alan

All, I added images above in the original founding post... Hope these help... I really don't want to take the bearing back out, but can if pushed ... it's a SS .032 flat washer made for the task from Timken, and then the flat needle bearing also from Timken, and then another SS .032 flat washer. The ID is .5" and the OD is 15/16". Alan