The Slow Part

[JD45]

I load 45ACP on a Dillon Square Deal B. This is the only progressive press that I've used. I wonder if I'm being too picky sitting the bullet on the belled case mouth. I let a little tilt slide, but this part still slows reloading way down. If the 1050 had a bullet feeder, I'd sell some guns and buy one. Inserting the case is the easy part for me. How picky are ya'll about bullet seating?

[old shooter]

JD,

I guess that I am not very picky at all. If the bullet will enter the seating die, that is all that I ask. I think that the walls of the die will start the alignment, and the bullet seating stem will center the bullet as much as needs be. I think that the only real concern in this step is not do damage the base of a lead bullet.

Mike

[kevin c]

When I load cast lead 40's on my SDB, even if the bases are bevelled, I find that if the bullet tilts too much, on pulled bullets the base is often scored in two spots, approx. 180 degrees apart. This happens much less if I have enough (but not too much) bell, and can get the bullet sitting up straight in the case before seating. The flare looks symmetric to me, so that I don't think that my die is out of true.

From what I have read, a messed up bullet base will alter accuracy much more than a messed up bullet tip, but I honestly haven't seen too many horrible flyers with my lead practice loads (none, at least, that I would blame on the ammo)

Even with careful placement, you should be able to load 500 rds/hr on a SDB, if your primer tubes are prefilled, or if you have an autoprimer. That's enough for me, for the amount of shooting I do. (loading is sort of a Zen thing for me, anyway).

[Gun Geek]

JD:

Try holding the bullet on the case mouth until just before it touches the die. You can go pretty fast, and you don't have to worry about balancing the bullet.. You might even try riding the bullet/case all teh way into the mouth of the die - just be careful, the bass can slice you open when force of the press is behind it.

Also, if you don't have them already, get a set of Dillon dies. They have a wide belled opening on the seater die which makes alignment less critical. The seater and a steel insert are held in by a pin, so you can remove them from press and clean them up without disturbing the setting.

[dajarrel]

JD,

I load .40 and .45 in both lead and jacketed on a 550B and have found that the Dillon bullet seating die is very forgiving. I mean if you just get it close, the die will align the bullet as it seats it. The beveled cone at the entrance of the die does the trick just like Gun Geek said. Occasionally, I will crunch one, but that is due to operator error, not the dies or the bullets.

and BTW, don't be afraid to have your powder die bevel the mouth of the case sufficiently. Open it up until you feel comfortable that the bullet will sit reliably on it.

Just my ramblings

Dennis

[eric nielsen]

The SDB is all I've used since 1992. The posts here are correct, the seating dies will do most of the straightening out of things for you.

I adjust the depth of belling (station 2 - powder drop) so that whatever bullet I'm using can sorta just be plopped onto the case, within 10-15degrees of "straight" and so that the base of the bullet will STICK there and not flop around. It's just enough belling to not scrape the bullet jacket, and then another 1/8th of a turn or so deeper than that.

That's all you need to do. This adjustment is something I've done maybe twice in the last 3 or 4 years - it's no biggie.

With some experience, you'll get the hang of moving the press up gently but quickly until it *feels* like the bullet is going in right at station3 and the new case is going in right at station1. You'll learn the difference in feel and sound between the two, and be able to back out and fix whatever is wrong: the bullet toppled over or the new case isn't all the way in the shell plate.

"Gently but quickly" means that you didn't damage any components when these little hiccups occur.

[JD45]

Thanks to all. I will continue to dream for the day that Dillon invents a great bullet-feeder. Just imagine, pour in 20 pounds of bullets and never look back!

[EricW]

The seating die will do the straightening for you unless the bullet is *really* canted. If you're within 5-10 degrees of vertical, you should be fine.

[wide45]

The Dillon seating die would seat truncated cone, or flat nose SWC type bullet's off center for me. I switched to a RCBS die, with a stem for round nose bullets. It gets them straight every time. Simply place the bullet on the case.

[Flexmoney]

Dillon makes a different insert. I believe one works for SWC and the other works for round-nose?

[eric nielsen]

Yes. 2 kinds of insert on Dillons.

What you'll often find is: if you already have the right OAL for one brand of bullet, leave the setting & you will have really close to the right OAL for another brand. Because it's not the TIP of the bullet that hits the feedramp, it's somewhere on the side of the bullet. JHP's from different brands are often different shapes.

Your mileage may vary but worked for me many times.

[wide45]

I tried both sides of the Dillon insert, (.40S&W). Niether worked very well. I'm using a RCBS .40S&W die with a round nose stem from a .357MAG die.

[dillon]

A couple of things to be aware of when seating bullets;first, few cases, especially after a few firings, are consistant in length all the way around a case. If you run a very minimal flare, you may see unequal flaring. This is an indicator of variations in case length. I suggest you flare a case mouth to be about .010" larger than the sized, unflared case measures. This ensures both that the powder measure if fully and consistantly activated, and that you will have enough flare despite any minor variations in case length.