MarkG

Youngeyes - Nope - the primer tube doesn't retain them at the bottom. If you pull the primer tube with primers in it, they will flow freely out the bottom, and you'll be stepping on them or vaccuming them up for a long time. Trust me on this. Jaeone - yep - I've been working up loads in small batches to test. Once I find sweet spot loads for 9 and 45 I bet this becomes much less of a problem as you suggest, because I can load in larger batches, load until I run out, or fill with as many as I need. I'm just getting started reloading on the Dillon, so figuring this out as I go along. Wasn't an issue with the single stage press and hand primer. Great hobby because there is an endless supply of little things to diddle with, like primers, and your favorite load, and your favorite bullet, and on, and on, and on.....

Hello all, This may be a trivial item, but it nagged at me so I thought I would post this as a suggestion. I switch back and forth between loading 9mm and 45acp, meaning I have to switch primers between small and large. I never seem to be able to stage it so I use exactly the number of primers I need, so when switching calibers I had extra in the tube that had to be cleared. Finally fashioned a small box that is slightly narrower than the primer bar (0.4"), the height of the primer plunger on the bar, and just long enough to slide in between the plunger and the frame. If I set this in place and push it into the frame, it disengages the primer keeper and the remaining primers dump into my little box. I sometimes have to wiggle it a little to get them to fall, or make a couple of passes to get them all if there are a lot in there, but it works to clear them. Live primers go into a baby food jar labeled for size to be used when I switch back. Little box was made out of thin cardboard and tape, and has worked so far. If there is a better way of doing it, feel free to suggest. Plan A is to load until I run out of primers then change calibers. If Plan A doesn't work out, my little box serves as a plan B. Maybe Dillon or someone else could manufacture something like this out of light plastic for the press? Would be a helpful little item. Hopefully this helps. Take care.

Thanks for all the input guys. Good stuff. Last night I was bored, so I sized and deprimed about 300 rnds of brass, then chacked them with the case gage. Out of 300 about 15 were bulged and wouldn't fully seat (close, but no cigar). Then took the barrel out of the XD9 and checked those 15, and found that two of them would fully seat in the barrel. This extra step (sizing/depriming and gaging) doubles the time for loading, so I think my plan will be to load, gage all after loading (I HATE ftf at the range), set aside those that are bulged to take apart and probably discard. Oh, and I ordered an EGW/Lee U die for sizing, which may improve those numbers. Off topic, I'm using RCBS dies, which seat and taper crimp in one die. Reading and valuable advice from Brian Enos (thanks for all help Brian) says this should be done in two steps. Thinking about ordering the Dillon taper crimp die for stage 4, and using the RCBS for bullet seating only. +1 or unnecessary?? Cheers

Thanks for the replies! Awesome stuff.. PKT1106 - I'm using a Dillon Case Gage. Haven't tried a barrel check yet. I've got the powder container with about 1/2 lb of powder in it. If I can leave it in there, because its the only powder I use for both 9 and 45, then I'll dump the rest of the 1 lb can in. More would probably help get more consistent powder throws. Torogi - Great suggestion on manually dropping powder to check it. I'll give it a try. I'm using a mix of brass - some once fired, and some range, so not much control over what I've got there.

Hello all - just got a Dillon RL550b, and set it up to load 9mm last night for the first time. Loaded about 30 rounds just to check things out. Through that process I had a few questions I am hoping you can help with. A few details that may come into play - RCBS dies, Remington 124 gr FMJ bullets, Win231 powder, 1.150 OAL. 1. I loaded 30 rounds of 9 mm, but when I checked the reloads in the Dillon case gage I found that 6 of them would not fit. Near the bottom of the case its swollen slightly, and binds in the gage. I checked the resizing die and its seated all the way down to the base plate. The csae swell is almost imperceptible, but just enough to bind. My question is, is it possible to determine this before loading, so as not to have to take the bullets apart? The only thing I could come up with was resizing and depriming all of the cases, but not putting in new primers, and checking cases in the gage before proceeding through the process. This way I can weed out the bad cases before completing the loading process. Any thoughts? 2. Do you leave powder in the powder cylinder (how long?), or remove it after each loading session? The powder cylinder doesn't appear easy to empty. 3. What's the best way, and recommended frequency for checking powder charge? When I set it up I had just one case in place and charged it about 10 times over and over to confirm that right charge. Once you get rolling though, you have to be real careful about keeping things in sequence. About the best I could come up with was when I am ready to check powder charge, I just don't load a new case in stage 1, and use the last case to check the charge. This way I can remove and check the charge, and reinsert it in stage 2 if all is well, insert a new case in stage 1, and keep rolling. 4. What kind of variation in powder charge is normal. I am loading 4.2 gr, and noticed that there might be a variation of 0.1 - 0.2 at times (using a Brian Enos digital scale - the $75 one). From prior loading I found my XD9 doesn't cycle completely at 4.1, so went up to 4.2, but if there is a 0.2 possible variation I may want to go up to 4.3 or 4.4 to prevent cycling problems. Last thing - I learned how NOT to change the primer tube. If it doesn't go all the way down to where its supposed to go, you pour primers in the top, and they pretty much run uncontrollably out the bottom. Picking up 100 primers is NOT fun. Learning moment - when changing primer tubes make sure you see the little plastic tip just above the spring loaded retainer, or you'll be picking up primers forever! THanks for any and all input. I enjoy loading and shooting, and look forward to loading with more confidence. Best to all..