boatdoc173

great perspective. really highlights what is important. Brian s grip technique( see above post by @shred) combined with your helpful insight seems to cover what is needed to get it right thanks-to you and @shred

it depends on the gun being used. Sigs and Czs(and other combat style guns) seem to shoot best using the #2 sight picture bullseye guns tend to use the #1 sight picture

I can call most shots . they are somewhere near where I aimed due to a hand reconstruction, my shooting is " accurate enough" these days. tend to pull some shots left ("normal hand--support hand" 1" or so and some pull down and right.(trying to grip too tightly with the injured shooting hand) it is due to inconsistent grip pressures. my hands are not reliable and it is hard to reproduce just the right grip with every shot. it is what it is. good luck to those working on this skill. it sure adds some fun to shooting paper. great thread. a lot of good info here

I am HUGE CZC fan. Stuart and the gang in that shop are very talented indeed. Cannot seem to get enough of their toys the --SD is my current favorite. The TS2 is not shabby either. I have been using a C O A L of 1.140" using round nose 9mm 124grFMJ bullets over 4.0gr of titegroup--make s me smile all day enjoy yours OP.

very interesting build and a great write up. I think your build came out great they should review your review for ways to improve what they offer including adding the proper hex wrench for disassembly I have had issues with their site--viewing pics, options--how did you come to your specs? did the site work for you? was there another way? congrats on the new toy

different point of view here:newer reloaders who had to buy supplies when available,regardless of price,certainly were not hoarding(hoarders).You are not a reloader if you just have an empty press and no supplies Only those who could buy when stock was high an d prices were low were spared the gouging that started in 2020

ballistic expansion is SUPPOSED to be producing primers. they have been saying that for one 1 year though

I see zero difference between the problem op rod and the new one dillon was kind enough to send. the new one works perfectly though so something is amiss withthe other one

thank you for the info. I checked the screws--no issue. thanks again for the response and help the really odd part here is that the other brand new op rod supplied by the good folks @ Dillon works perfectly on both loaders. I need to inspect the rods and see why one works and the other does not. tech requested that I do this too. I will email tech once I get time to inspect the op rods. I can post a reply here as well for general knowledge

I prefer the plink test. I have one fussy gun. It requires a C O A L of 1.142" or less. I had to plink test many dummies to get that gun to feed right.

just a brief history: for over 2 years, my 550c loaders had defective primer slide op rods. Since I only had the new loaders to compare to, I did not realize that the amount of torque of the primer slide(which I was experiencing) during operation was not a normal thing. Eventually, the torque caused the primer tower retention bolt holes to distort. This really slowed me down as I had to constantly adjust bolt tension to keep the primer slide properly aligned and primers dropping. Dillon, did replace the towers and the op rods for me. I am very grateful for that. I can now see how the primer slide is supposed to work. huge difference. MY RL 550c for 45 acp(LP) works perfectly. 1 or 2/100 primers failed to drop. might be just a primer brand( winchester) . MY 9mm ( spp) set up,however, would not drop 1 primer without me pulling back the slide a bit. nothing else seems out of the ordinary. I borrowed the op rod from the othe r loader and all the primers now drop as they should. I did contact dillon support. was sent video links but the videos do not address my issue( the op rod bracket height is correct . I do not find anything else wrong. any ideas why one op rod works and another will not? could it be a lack of consistency during manufacture? I know enough now to NOT bend an op rod. not sure what the fix might be . thanks in advance for any help provided

I am with @GrumpyOne. My 550c from dillon is exactly what I need. I can control each stage of the process. If anything comes up,I can move the shellplate to be able to correct something. BIG PLUS is dillons customer service, self help videos and of course their lifetime warranty. I am not a mechanical wizard and did not have anyone to assist my reloading journey. I learned a lot from my mistakes and from our fellow members . I had a couple of deformed parts that made my reloading slow. Dillon (and our forum members) helped me diagnose a couple of issues and dillon replaced the parts needed to get my loaders working properly. now that my presses are working as they should, I can make 3-400 rounds/session. making 15,000 can be done with reasonable investment of time. I decided to buy one press for lpp 45 acp and one for 9mm loading. some folks just change out their tool heads and have one for each caliber. That also requires changing the primer parts for spp vs lpp as needed. options are there for the taking. good luck

I would do the following 1. take down and clean the primer assembly--be sure to clean the debris off the rim of the cup-- check for obstructions, debris.. that might hinder your priming system and 2. get a spent primer and c=double check that the primer cup assembly is seating it as primers should be on your machine( put a spent primer on a hard surface, cover it with t he primer cup,loosen the retaining screw below the cup, press the primer cup assemble onto a hard surface --all the way down =correct seating depth). tighten the retaining screw and retry you priming of cases BTW-- what kind of primers are those? they look strange finish wise

Interesting George 16. looking at the 1100 diagram, I see you are right. wondering how that RL prevents the spewing the OP is experiencing? it is not obvious looking at the diagram of the machine

I have a 550c. there is a pin shaped plastic 'rod" that is placed below the tip of the primer magazine. as the primer slide moves back to load a primer, the primer cup pushes the primer stop pin out of the way then one primer falls into the cup and as the slid e moves forward the pin stops the primers from just falling out.

do you have a primer stop pin in place?

https://www.amazon.com/Brass-Catcher-Pistol-Matte-Black/dp/B095RQ11PX/ref=sr_1_16?keywords=brass+catchers&qid=1670599223&sr=8-16

happiness isa properly functioningloader and far less frustration 250-300 rounds/hour is in sight. primers loading and priming. frustration melted away dillon is replacing the op rod and primer tower ( which was damaged due to the primer slide torque for so many months). makes me glad I went with dillon. their warranty is priceless

U die it is then--thanks@sarge and @hogrider

thanks for the replies. the lee udie might be a simple fix to this. @Sarge--did that work? no setbacks?

next problem encountered just today-- I bought some 9mm 124 gr on sale( NEW not seconds) from a company that is new to me. the bullet shape and size appeared to be exactly what I wa s using from another company( use d for years without issue). I am getting set back into the cases with the new bullets. measured them vs my usual bullets. my usual measure 0.355" at the base. the new ones--- 0.354.5" just a bit smaller than my usual. Tried deceasing my case expansion to almost zero..still setting back. recalibrated the coal from 1.135" to 1.142" and verifie d that they fit into my trouble child by plinking them.. still setting back is there any hope that thes e 0.354.5" bullets can be used? wonder how they sell them as 9mm is they are NOT 0.355" ? happy thanksgiving to all. and thanks for any tips provided

interesting update. while waiting to speak to dillon, it dawned on me that I could swap out the primer assembly--sans slide--with my other 55oc that I use for LP 45 acp. did just that, perfect op rod, primer assembly i ncluding tower all meshed well and I produced 1000 rounds without any hang ups due to my machine. I will monitor this and discuss the issue with dillon. Now I believe that I need a primer tower as it appears the bolt holes must not be snug enough on the " damaged" primer tower. just enough slack must be present to allow the primer slide to not be properly aligned as it should be. maybe some enjoyable reloading of 9mm is in my future;)

your bring up a good point @ddc. a new op rod for the primer slide sure made my priming issues better. I am haunted by todays incident. I am wondering if the length of time I used the reloader with a ba d op rod( which wa s o ver torquing the primer slide and required constantly needing to remove, reinstall and properly tighten the primer section and the primer tower bolts) has left the primer tower bolt holes damaged. I need to get dillon to review the primer tower and the bolt holes. as we all know, these bolts determine the proper functioning of the priming section( alignment of the slide is key). even though I secure the bolts by locking the threads which has eliminated most of my priming issues, something is amiss still.

@ddc. wish I had a buddy who could have helped day 1. seems that the op rod was out of spec and I did not know it. so the primer towers screws loosened and tightened due to the excess torque of reloading and priming . LOTS of issues due to that. finally realized that the op rod was a culprit and the new one works FAR better than the first. had a few r eally great sessions of reloading without priming issues until today. not sure why the primers did not drop. On ce I cleaned and reassembled the primer station, all was well and I was able to reload without issue for the last 150 rounds. all is good , until it is not. There were no spent primers or other debris that would block the primer sklide froma llowing a primer to drop. Not much to clean when I strip down the primer section. it seems to be an alignment issu e. when a primer doe s not drop, I can pull the handle moving the slide into position to accept a primer and give it a wiggle to drop a primer. so odd!! with the new guide rod, I have a smooth primer slide with very very little torque seen. YES it made a huge difference. NO ONE discussed the op rod as a potential issue until recently.( and I did mention excessive torque when seeking help). live and learn

those who want to know why I load slower than others and hesitate to move up from a 550c. here is what my reloading session was like today: started out loading 1 round every 10-12 seconds for the first 150 rounds,THEN the primers( ginex which usually work fine in my press although can be a bit tight sometimes in some cases) stopped dropping with every pull. . stopped reloading. found a couple of loos eprimers near the primer slide but not in it. took the primer section down, cleaned it and reinstalled the retaining screws "just right" reloading again @ 10-12 seconds/ round. couple of primers did not seat deep enough, put thos e rounds aside for hand priming. continue d to reload until...the undersized depriming pin pulle d out in a case. had to get the pin out of the case and put in back in place. reloading starts again. 400 rou nds in 90 minutes+ 20 minutes of down times with disruptions. I have had very, very few trouble free and smooth reloading session sin almost 3 years due to days like this. The primer section of this press is a constant problem to me. when it works right--all is well and I can enjoy reloading. Most of the time, I spend part of my session cleaning, reinstalling the primer section as alignment and primer drops are off. imaging if I had a 750 or 1100 with auto indexing( not the ability to just rotate the shell plate a sI need to in order to clean things when they go wrong. I am exhausted happy thanksgiving to all