mobocracy

Usually its very smooth, with the only real resistance being some slight downstroke resistance when sizing larger cases and the slightly perceptable resistence encountered when seating a primer. I noticed it less with yellow brass 9mm than I did with yellow 40s, but it is really bothersome with nickel 9s and .40s. Since I have a good supply of .40s right now I really should (item 87 on my "really should..." list) call Starline and possibly send my .40 powder die in and see if it makes a difference. I wonder if the relatively short 9mm and .40 cases require a sharper shoulder on the expander, thus causing it to go too deep, compounded by the stiffer nature of nickel cases.

I don't load 9mm or 40S&W much, but I've noticed in both calibers that the powder funnel is sticking in cases, making removal very stiff. I haven't checked, but I'm pretty sure those calibers use a different powder funnel and I know for sure it's a different physical funnel as I buy and segregate my conversion kits by caliber even though there are some parts overlap. This isn't a problem I've had with any of the other calibers I've loaded (10mm, .44 Spl & Mag, .41 Mag, .45 Colt, .32 Auto, .45 Auto). I've tried lubing the cases (even though I use Dillon or Redding carbide dies), and even a dash of case lube on the powder funnel itself without any improvement. It's worse with nickel cases but is noticable with yellow brass as well. Strangely enough, I did run into this FAQ entry on Starline's web site. Burrs aren't an issue for me. Has anyone else seen this? It's annoying enough -- clunky press operation, spilled powder, etc -- that I am tempted to take up Starline on their offer.

For me, it's only really been a nuisance overall and typically only with size dies that aren't radiused. The worst is .32 ACP, but that caliber is so puny its annoying to load for many reasons. Even Redding won't make a custom radiused mouth die for it. Fortunately I only feel compelled to shoot my Seecamp about 250 rounds per year. The other culprit are .50AE, but much less so, and those are really large cases with unradiused mouth dies (steel are the only option due to the taper) and since its an unsupported caliber there's some question as to whether the shellplate is perfect, etc. But its far less of a problem than .32 ACP and I've had that happen with most other calibers I load (.44 Spl/Mag, .41 Mag, 10mm, .45 ACP) but at a much lower rate, maybe 5 out of a 1000, enough to just consider it acceptable mechanical error. I'm not sure its ever been a problem with .223 rifle, but I use Dillon's carbide die and the tapered neck makes it kind of "self-centering".

Right, I would never do it for high volumes -- but my goal is for say, loading for a new bullet and determining the optimum charge for a half-dozen different charge weights and maybe 10-12 rounds per charge. Enough rounds to get a sense of which works better and which doesn't. Even if I narrow it down to a couple of charges it will be a big help, then I can do 50 of each using the usual methods. There's no way that BSing around with the Dillon measure can be faster for 10 rounds, especially when you consider with an automatic dispenser I can change charge weights with the press fully loaded with brass, primers, etc.

I love my 650, but even with a Uniquetek micrometer powder measure it's super tedious to do load development -- eg, loading 100 rounds with 10 different powder charges. I find myself generally just picking a value in the middle and using that (albeit with sound load data, not some-weird-numbers-I-read-on-the-web). I'd like to do this with a little more precision and am tempted by the "automagic" powder dispensers (RCBS Chargemaster and the Lyman one) where you can enter your desired charge weight and it trickles into an attached scale. This way I can use my 650 for sizing, priming, seating and crimping my test rounds but add in a half-manual step for precise powder charging. Once I find a load that shoots the best, I can use the Dillon powder measure for mass production. Anyone have any experience with them? The RCBS seems to be the best reviewed on Midway with the Lyman a close second. I'm only interested in a lazy-man's tool -- punch in charge amount and push go. I know there are manual powder tricklers, but that doesn't seem like what I want.

First off, I fully support your customization effort, even if its not a problem I'm having. I had a custom powder funnel made for loading an "unsupported" caliber (.50AE) on my 650. Secondly, I think your problem may not necessarily be due to the misalignment of the shellplate and die mouths. I've had this problem before and unrelated, I had my case insert slide & cam break. Dillon sent the entire assembly, including the slide spring and I noticed the original spring (in a year old press) was totally compressed relative to a new one. Once I replaced the assembly with the new spring, it happened a lot less. It still happens from time to time on some calibers, the least with Dillon size dies that have radiused mouths. Keep up the good work, it'll be interesting to see how well your custom part works.

Brian- I recently ran another 200 rounds of .50AE through my 650 with casfeeder. I have changed calibers 3 times in between my last .50AE session, so I had to re-assemble the .50AE setup as any other caliber conversion. It ran perfectly, with no casefeed problems. The cases used were once/twice fired Starline yellow brass, so they were probably as blown out as one could reasonably expect and they still presented no problem stacking on the rebated rims. I had two cases not get put all the way into station 1 and kind of ding against the size die, but I've had this happen with supported calibers and I think its more an issue of the RCBS dies I'm using not having very radiused mouths. I did have a machinist make a custom powder funnel -- same OAL as the .44 Mag powder funnel, but the other dimensions are consistent with the .50AE powder funnel from the 550 .50AE/650 .500S&W conversion kit. This also worked well and allowed me to screw the powder die to approximately the same position used with the .44 Mag; with the Dillon .50AE funnel, the powder die had to be screwed down so far it nearly touched the shellplate and barely flared the case mouth. I showed mine to my Dillon dealer, John Walton @ the Gunstop in Minnetonka, MN, and the next time I was in he told me Dillon changed this part for the .500 S&W conversion as the .50AE funnel was causing problems for .500 S&W reloaders. This report may be a tad premature (200 rounds vs. 1000), but it'll take me a while to shoot 1000 rounds of .50AE and I figured that it was pretty valid anyway since I used a batch of fired .50AE cases and the conversion parts were put back on a second time. I see no reason why this wouldn't be a normally supported conversion, especially if the powder die for the .500S&W has been redesigned.

When I bought mine, my dealer (John Walton, Gunstop in Minneapolis) said "I sell them all, but you have to decide if you want to buy the Dillon now or later, because everyone ultimately does." I'm on my second (first was a SDB, current is XL650) and never regret any of it, well, except for the 650 spent primer catcher. I even sold my SDB on Ebay for about 70% or so of the new value and all the die sets I had went real fast, too.

Speer reloading manual #13 on pp 54-55 specifically discounts primer reading as evidence of anything. They have a photo showing 3 cases, including one loaded 20% over pressure, that show identical primers. I'd just stick to published loads unless you have the lab equipment to measure pressure or really good disability insurance.

I finally got a chance to test mine, and at least with my used brass, a mixture of Starline and Remington, both nickel plated, I was able to easily size cases using the U die without any lube. I would normally use One-Shot. This die doesn't look like it has the wide radiused mouth the Redding Pro-Series die I had been using, and I did have one case just barely snag on sizing but I think that will probably prove manageable with a reasonable, consistent loading pace.

I bent the decap pin on my Dillon carbide .223 dies. I had it screwed too far down, thinking that the little hole that the primers dropped down into went forever. As it turns out, it doesn't.

I've left powder in the powder measure for a couple of months at a time, although usually adding and using up some of it on a weekly basis at least. I do keep my press covered with a dark cover (an old crib sheet!) which keeps out UV light. Other than UV exposure, I'm not really sure how a powder could be damaged by storage for six months in the plastic measure versus the plastic bottle; the seal isn't that much more airtight on the bottle. Outside of six months, humidity might be a problem though. But even then, people shoot vintage milsurp ammo thats 50-60 years old and not always stored well, so maybe you could get away with storing it indefinitely. I think the biggest risk is the risk of misremembering what powder you had and making a kaboom with ammo that's misloaded.

From the You-learn-something-every-day department: I started to post a completely different comment, but after reviewing the manual, I realized I've been misadjusting this part all along! I've been using screw #7 (from the primer system diagram) all along, and have always been kind of disappointed with the adjustment options (gee, I wonder why). When loading .223 I found that the "correct" adjustment of #7 was so loose that I had to put a couple of washers on it to maintain the tension I wanted without #7 backing out completely. Although I have found that a little contact between the locater tab and the case isn't bad a thing and I haven't had any priming problems in the calibers I've loaded (.32ACP/10mm/45 Colt/44 Mag/Spl/41 Mag/50AE/223), except for the odd flipped primer, but I'm pretty sure this happens when loading tubes not in the priming process. At least now I can re-adjust knowing WTF I'm doing is right! The next thing you know, I'll find out you're not supposed to look down that hole when you pull the trigger...

Thanks. I generally lube everything, including pistol cases used with carbide dies, simply because it makes the press operation much smoother. I'll give it a run solo and see how it works. I didn't really want to have to pre-size either solo on my pot metal single stage or in a station 1 and 2 combo on my 650 with powder on 3.

I'm going to use an EGW undersize die on my more used 10mm cases. I've seen some here using it after a standard sizing die; is that actually necessary, or can the undersize die be used in place of the standard size die? I would think that with a carbide die and just .001 undersize it wouldn't be out of line to use it alone.