Cropper

Thanks RDA those helped...

Surgdog, Thanks for the observation. Thats one for the M die not stretching the case after trimming to length.

Thanks for the comments JJ, Wasn’t trying to bad mouth Dillon or its employees, too much, just found it amusing the different responses and level of help I received from the two different calls. First guy was no help and insisted it wasn’t a problem with their equipment but my chosen method of finishing my brass. Second call was much more productive and gave the solution that may prove fruitful. Telling your customer that they simply need to chamfer the case mouth to squeeze a bullet into an undersized neck that was caused by their product sizing it down to much was no help at all. I like Dillon, and their equipment. Customers service is usually above par and so is their tooling. This experience has left me wanting….

Thanks for the advice RDA. Think I will do some experimenting this weekend with a Lee Collet Die with mandrel and possibly pick up the Lyman M die and give it a test spin. Little disapointed in the Dillon Trimmer, though it would save me time but it apears to be creating more work...

They appear to be copper. Deburred with a Lee thimble debur tool. I pulled one of the bullets and its mangled. I also noticed a buildup of copper at the very top of the neck mouth, kind of a bulge. Hornady,168g HPBT. Went and measured some brass that had been through the trimmer I had not loaded yet and the OD is .331” and the ID .301” a difference of .030”, measured the neck wall thickness to verify and they measured .015”. In my experience brass will give somewhat but fitting a .308” bullet into a .301” hole appears to be too much. Perhaps I should buy tougher bullets.

Oh and to the two overly sensitive gentalmen above, the post was created in a form of satire for entertainment purposes. You remember like the Jeffersons and Archie Bunker... sat·ire ˈsaˌtī(ə)r/ noun noun: satire the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues. synonyms: mockery, ridicule, derision, scorn, caricature; More irony, sarcasm "he has become the subject of satire" a play, novel, film, or other work that uses satire. plural noun: satires "a stinging satire on American politics" synonyms: parody, burlesque, caricature, lampoon, skit; More informalspoof, takeoff, sendup "a satire on Canadian politics" a genre of literature characterized by the use of satire. (in Latin literature) a literary miscellany, especially a poem ridiculing prevalent vices or follies.

WIll be trying this very thing this weekend. Just fishing to see if anyone else has tried it and there results.

Caught a post on a M14 Forum about it. Basically it came down to the M die not having support on the outer side of the case wall. Without the proper support and if the expander wasnt alligned correctly the neck would cant slightly. Guy made a pretty good mod to correct it but out of my skill level. M die worth a stab though. Thanks for the input.

Surgdog, looked into the Lyman M die and have read that it may be deterimental to Concentricity / Run-Out. Any truth to that? Affect accuracy at all?

Tom, First I don’t know how you define good customer service but laughing at a customer’s question aint on the list. Second, If you go back and read my post taking off a couple thousands off the trim die was my first though. AND PER DILLON NOT AN OPTION! Third, and the point of my post, have you ever attempted to trim a case and then run it through a normal FL resize die with an expander ball, neck die, Lyman M die as surgdog suggested? Did it in fact pull and stretch the neck out? Did it undo what the trimmer attempted to do? Have you tried trimming first then sizing the neck? I'm attempting to obtain a solution to a very specific problem. If you have an experience that may relate or might help, im all ears. If you want to cover the same ground I have covered and clearly related above, keep it to yourself.

Recently upgraded from a Dillon 650 to a Super 1050 and while I was at it I decided to try out the Dillon RT 1200B since I was in the Christmas Spirit. I’ve been primarily reloading 308, using Military Lake City Headstamped brass which I really like. As I’m happily reloading away I noticed after seating a few bullet that small copper shavings start to appear all over my work bench. WTH? I thought to myself. So I whipped out my trusty caliper and started doing some quick measuring. Much to my surprise the OD on my resized LC brass is down to .331” before seating the bullet and .333” after seating. Dillon’s trimming die is sizing the neck so tight it is actually pealing back the copper jacket of my bullets. So I pick up the phone to Dillon to ask them WTH? Only 8 in the queue today, today is a good day. So Barney Fife answers the phone, and I patiently explain to Barney the situation and describe to him that it’s raining copper on my work bench. Steely eyed Mr. Fife comes to the conclusion that I need to chamfer the inside of case mouth and proceeds to give me a lesson on how to put a round peg in a round hole. I tell him that his solution is but a work around for a poorly designed trim die and proceed to ask him if a custom trim die was a possibility to which I was actually laughed at… So back to the workbench for some pondering…. I immediately suspect the trim die is more so for commercial brass and not the thicker necked LC, but how to work with what I’ve already purchased? How about reaming the inside of the poorly designed Dillon trim die to a workable neck OD say .337” So back on the phone to Dillon to see what this little die is made of and how hard it will be to cut, 13 in the queue this time. I actually get ahold of someone who is trying to help as Barney is most likely explaining to someone else how basic geomitry works. Much to my dismay reaming it is out of the question. Apparently you have to have enough tension on the neck for the trimmer to do its job. Not enough tension and the case will simply spin and chatter against the blade. So the tech puts me through to the top Dillon Die Dr. who suggested sizing after trimming to bring back the OD to the desired size. Disappointment sets in, you’re the top guy, the top dog, the head honcho and this is all you have in your bag of tricks, changing the station setup?. He speaks to defend his position but I’ve already tuned him out. Off the phone now and I sit quietly in my cold, quite shop, staring at the shiny shards of copper twinkling on the bench. Hmmm…. Can it be done??? Perhaps. So my question to you is this, has anyone successfully and accurately neck sizing brass to a desired OD, after running it through the Dillon RT 1200B Vice Grip, without negating the desired trim length? Wont triming a case to a desired length then placed into a bushing type neck die undo all the work the trimmer just did? Wouldn’t the expander ball moving up and out of the case neck as it exits the casing lengthen it? I have ALWAYS sized the neck to the desired OD prior to trimming to length. Seems bassackwards to trim first. Your thought or Barney Fife work around welcome……..

Thanks for all the advise. I'd the problem. Not enough case lube. Add an extra shot or two of the dillon case lube and the OAL is almost exact round after round. Rigger, I was originally intending to use the 75% method on the first resizing die but ran into problems with the trim die not quite picking up the other 25%. How many turns off the shell plate are you back turning your first resizing die to get the 75%? To neck size or not to neck size is the new question. Pros cons??

Recently purchased a Dillon Rapid Trimmer 1200 and getting extremly frustrated on the setup. Been trying to figure this out for the better part of 3 days now, and am no closer to getting it dialed in. Here is my set up on my Dillon 650: Station 1 - Dillon Carbide 308 Full Length Sizing Die. (Turned to the Plate! 1/4 turn back was not getting the shoulder pushed down far enough) Station 2 - G.S. Custom Swager Station 3 - Empty Station 4 - RT-1200 Station 5 - Empty. Problem is i've sized and trimmed close to 200+ Shells and the trim length is all over the place. I'm getting variations in lengths of +/- .012 all day long........ Here is what Ive tried: 1. Using all the same year and headstamp brass. 2. Install roll washer in the main shell plate bolt 3. Install UniqueTek toolhead clamp kit to take the play out. 4. Adjusted the Trim Die to the shell plate, 1/2 turn off the shell plate, 1 full turn off the shell plate. About to send this thing back. Any suggestions?