Wildkow

January 25, 2010

Mineral spirits the same as paint thinner? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/unsure.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="unsure.gif" />

Sorta, from another site I found with Google. . .

Although the terms are often used synonomously, there is a slight difference between "paint thinner" (a very general term) and mineral spirits. Mineral Spirits are often times referred to as odorless, clean or pure and, generally speaking, are a cleaner, more refined version of paint thinner.
While an inexpensive paint thinner may be OK for cleaning tools, paint manufacturers will always recommend their product be thinned (if necessary) with 100% pure Mineral Spirits or a unique blend of solvents of their own manufacture.

In the late 70's and early 80's, when the pricing of all petro-chemical products was extremely volatile, some manufacturers & distributors decided to offer less expensive, utility grade paint thinners that were made of either reclaimed or poorly refined solvents. These products may feel more oily than mineral spirits and have a much stronger odor to them. Again, while these products were OK for clean-up, the consumer had no idea what contaminants may be introduced to a gallon of paint if this were used to thin with...Thus the manufacturers now calling for 100% pure Mineral Spirits....

Mineral Spirits is a relatively weak and slow drying solvent distilled (obviously) from petroleum. 100% pure Mineral Spirits means that all traces of Mineral Oil have been distilled from the solvent (or actually, the solvent from the oil)...

Odorless (which almost all MIneral Spirits are today) means that harsher, stronger and more aromatic solvents - such as Benzene (not to be confused with Benzine), Toluol (or Toluene) & Xylol (or Xylene), have been chemically extracted from the solvent leaving only the mild, slow drying form of thinner today.

Be careful when using Lacquer Thinners (again, a very general term)...Theoretically, they should dissolve foam brushes. While the blend of solvents that form lacquer thinners (generally a blend of toluene, acetone and alcohol), may be of greater strength and dry faster than mineral spirits, these solvents can do strange things to your gray matter both through inhalation and absorbtion through the skin. Also, because of it's strength, never use lacquer thinner to thin any product that recommends only Paint thinner, Mineral Spirits or Naptha - the effect on the resin's ability to perform will be greatly diminished.?

Either should do just fine mix about 3 parts NuFinish to 1 part MS/PT or thereabouts if IIRC. They look really good as shown above and they are slickery than regular boolits may even feed better in your semi-auto.

Wildkow

December 6, 2009

Thanks Alan
Other than the ring indexer cam and tension what other ways are there to adjust the position of the shellplate? I ask because mine seems to index to far (i.e. the primer seater rod is closer to the right edge of the shellplate. If I could I would just move the cam back towards the front (is that right?) so that it wouldn't index the plate as far but I have it moved as far back as possible. All your help in this regard is very much appreciated. I'll be calling Dillon on Monday, but if you have a quick reply so's that I can load this weekend that would be great!

Wildkow

*if* with the shellplate set such that the ball is fully in the hole on the underside, and the primer plunger is still off alignment, there is only one option, that is get the timing/alignment tool from Dillon and re-set it. I know of no other way to fix that problem. On my 650, the enitre head needed to be turned to allow the powder funnel to align with the case, but the primer to shellplate was perfect. And obviously, the bearing made all the difference in keeping the powder in the cases ...

Alan

Thanks Alan it's defintley something other than the shellplate now that I have the bearing and the xylon coated shellplate installed. At times it seems to be the primer ram catches on something and other times maybe its just me. As a white guy I have little rhythm so I'll have to work on getting a smooth cadence going with less jerk in it. Which reminds me of a saying "Slow is smooth and smooth is fast" or something like that but in all likelyhood it probably just means replacing the "jerk" pulling the handle. :roflol: Since I'm sorta new at this I'm going back through all my brass and checking for a military crimp and other problems with the primer pocket, and my other handloading methods etc. etc.

Wildkow

December 6, 2009

I just bought a used/brand new Dillon 650 with a case feeder and multiple caliber setups. This was purchased by a guy brand new in 1994. He never set it up and loaded any rounds on it. It was unpacked and I don't have the original box. There is some "aging" from lack of use. Would I be smart to send it to Dillon to get refurbished? I got a good price and the extra $$ to do this wouldn't hurt the pocketbook or the deal I got.
Does Dillon refurbish case feeders too? I know they have been modified a little since that time.

Thanks

Yep, sending it in is the way to go. I did with mine and it only cost $53.00 and came back looking pretty much new!

December 6, 2009

Thanks Alan

Other than the ring indexer cam and tension what other ways are there to adjust the position of the shellplate? I ask because mine seems to index to far (i.e. the primer seater rod is closer to the right edge of the shellplate. If I could I would just move the cam back towards the front (is that right?) so that it wouldn't index the plate as far but I have it moved as far back as possible. All your help in this regard is very much appreciated. :bow: I'll be calling Dillon on Monday, but if you have a quick reply so's that I can load this weekend that would be great!

Wildkow

December 5, 2009

Okay, got my shellplate back from the powder coating place and was charged only $10.00 for them to apply xylon coating. It's like teflon but can't be used in high heat environments. With Alan's washer and pin bearing fix each time I pull the handle it takes very little effort and is smooth like butter! In fact so smooth that the first time I pulled the handle three rounds spun out into the round bin! :rolleyes: The only problem is that there is still a little snap and a tiny bit of spillage occasionally. Since it doesn't happen every time could this be from a misaligned shellplate? I think that maybe the primers are catching and then snapping into the primer pocket. I know about the ring index cam but it seems I have run out of adjustment to get the plate to align just right so if anyone has a link/method of adjusting/aligning the shellplate please let me know.

After reading Alan's post above I'll go out tomorrow and adjust it as he suggests. But over all it really is as smooth as butter and there is A LOT less powder spillage when loading 9mm than there was before. The only problem I ran into with the coating process is that the indexing holes on the shellplate are plugged with a plastic insert that the powder coating guys didn't catch until they were partially melted because the coating process requires the plate be heated to around 300-400 degrees. The plugs look like part of the metal shellplate but they aren't! So if you intend to do this don't forget to remove them. I think I'll call Dillon and ask if they are really needed? BTW, what would happen if a bevel or a slight radius was put on those index holes so instead of snapping into place the bearing rolled into index hole?

Wildkow

December 1, 2009

I'm taking my shellplate's down to the powder coating place tomorrow morning and having xylon applied. He has a minimum charge of $30.00 but for that minimum he'll do three shellplates. He also thinks the process will be about .001" think. Can anyone see a problem with this idea?

Thanks Wildkow

p.s. BTW he'll do Teflon but that's a $150.00 minimum. He didn't think it was necessary since Teflon is usually used for high heat enviroments.

August 12, 2009

OK just got off the phone and RCBS told me that this call comes in many times from concerned reloaders. But there is nothing wrong with the military crimp remover bit. What reloaders are seeing is an optical illusion and if they still have concerns stop the case prep process and load a few rounds to check if the primer seats properly.

Soooooo . . .

I seated 3 primer's . . .

I know what your thinking, "way to deep" but I can assure you that what you are looking at is indeed an optical illusion. Those primers are only a curlyhair away from being flush with the bottom of the case. Additionally the round on the right was reamed with the "Primer Pocket Uniformer" bit only. If you look closely you can see some of the crimp still remains. I did not notice any additional effort needed to seat this primer. Can I continue to remove crimp's with this tool only?

After this I Mic'd the MCR ("Military Crimp Remover" bit) at 1.002", loosened the set key and tried to reset the cutting part of the bit, (it's just a case neck deburring tool) to a shallower depth. What a PIA! :angry2: After multiple tries I discovered that it would not cut worth a damn and left a substantial portion of the crimp behind no matter what depth I set it at even though I pushed it all the way in! It never cut to the same depth as before. I'm speculating here but I suspect they cut the carrier piece to an exact depth and then press the “Neck Deburring Tool” in under a substantial amount of pressure, before tightening the set key. Here are the photo's . . .

You can see on several of the rounds that I can't even remove all traces of the crimp!

It seems my only recourse is to load up some rounds and go shooting.

"I know you have chores for me baby but home defense and your safety come first around here. See you later this afternoon." :rolleyes:

Wildkow

p.s. BTW RCBS seems to be a pretty good company I purchased the FlashHole deburring tool for my 9mm and I was told to use the .35 cal 'case pilot stop' but it doesn't fit. I got it from MidwayUSA but RCBS didn't hesitate to send me out another one. Sweet!

August 11, 2009

OK, finally got my press, XL650, and some components and now some questions. BTW, thanks ahead of time for your time and attention to this matter. First thing is I found some military brass with crimped primer's. So I purchased the RCBS case prepreation power center and the RCBS military crimp remover as seen below.

My questions are . . .

1) Does the RCBS Military Crimp Remover seem to be doing it's job or did it remove too much brass around the crimp?

Before crimp removal . . .

After crimp removal . . .

2) Are these case's below safe to use?

Wildkow

July 31, 2009

Just found out Wideners has 85 cases of 5000 CCI SR and 100 cases of 5000 CCI SP. The only kicker is you have to have a Type 6 Ammunitions Manufacturing license. Which I do happen to have, but what would I do with all those primers? If I could find .380 brass I'd start loading some of that, but I just don't see a market in 9mm and .40. All you people load your own ammo already.

If you can resell them buy them up and resell them to your family, friends and forum members here. I bought my first press a XL 650 back in April and still haven't loaded one round with it yet. Gave up Golf because I can't afford both hobbies but shooting and reloading is just as frustrating. BTW if you are a commercial reloaded it would be good PR for your company. I may reload but not all of my friends do and I'd be happy to put a good word in for you.

Wildkow

July 5, 2009

Maybe some common sense rules are called for . . . have at it. For the time being here are mine.

1) If they are Federal Primers or other softies, don't do it, if you don't know, don't do it. (anyone know which ones?)

2) The tumbler has to be boxed in with something hard and thick enough to stop a multiple round discharge.

3) Eye protection anytime you enter the room where live rounds are being tumbled.

4) No one else allowed into the room until the rounds have been emptied from the tumbler.

5) Remote off switch that can shut the tumbler off before entering the room where the tumbler is located. Always shut off the tumbler before entering the room.

6) Restrict the number of live rounds by a factor of 4, i.e., if your max capacity is 100 divide that number by 4 and put no more than 25 in the tumbler.

7) Limit it even more for heavier rifle rounds especially those with sharper noses.

8) Limit the amount of time in the tumbler to that which makes the round safe to fire. Even for the dirtiest round probably no more than an hour.

9) No open flames or smoking and a fire extinguisher at hand.

10) Pre-Dial 9-1 on your phone.

Six down four to go, kept it up Ladies and Gentlemen! This is how gobbernment should operate, next we'll start in on the 20-30,000 gun laws out there, eh?

Wildkow

p.s. Keep yer hands off # 3 and #10 though them's two is sacrosanct, or something like that.

July 5, 2009

You honestly did all that?

Well it was my first time but I did dial 9-1 and slept in a Holiday Inn Express. <_<

Wildkow

July 5, 2009

I feel like I may have stirred the pot with my very first post! LOL! I have done a lot more reading on this and there are multiple stories leading me to believe that this issue isn't as rare as I first believed.