Dillon .40 cal dies(set of 3) & or GRX, U dies?

[calishootr]

Markaveli, you are gonna have to run the GR-X die on a separate press or toolhead forthe 550b, the 550b will only handle 4 stations at a time, with a 3 die set plus the powder measure, its basically full, so do the 'de-glocking' of brass on another cheaper single stage press, I shoot 38 super in a number of open guns, and that brass over a number of firings gets the 'glock buldge per say, I bought a case roller from case pro, and sit in front ofthe TV with that as a separate station, roll the cases straight, then off tothe 550b where i load em, the GR-X with its lil bottle attachment, i dont think would even hope to fit on a 550b toolhead, maybe as a separate operation, then swap toolheads to load the now de-glocked rounds, if it was me??? id break out my old lee single stage collecting dust in the garage, and run em thru that, then off to the 550b

[Torogi]

that is why i run u-die, it deprimes and 'de-glock' in just one die/stage.

[GForceLizard]

Markaveli, you are gonna have to run the GR-X die on a separate press or toolhead forthe 550b, the 550b will only handle 4 stations at a time, with a 3 die set plus the powder measure, its basically full, so do the 'de-glocking' of brass on another cheaper single stage press, I shoot 38 super in a number of open guns, and that brass over a number of firings gets the 'glock buldge per say, I bought a case roller from case pro, and sit in front ofthe TV with that as a separate station, roll the cases straight, then off tothe 550b where i load em, the GR-X with its lil bottle attachment, i dont think would even hope to fit on a 550b toolhead, maybe as a separate operation, then swap toolheads to load the now de-glocked rounds, if it was me??? id break out my old lee single stage collecting dust in the garage, and run em thru that, then off to the 550b

If this post didn't make it clear the GR-X is a totally separate process. You need a cheap Lee single stage press to push the 40SW brass through the die and into a catch bottle. Then take the pile of brass and load it on your Dillon progressive press.

Edited June 22, 2010 by GForceLizard

[Bob DuBois]

I'm a fan of the U die also, loading on my 550. U die station one, Dillon powder through station two, Varies on what I have to set depth on station three, Lee factory crimp or Dillon taper crimp on station four in 9,40,45 and super 38.

That U die lets Glocked brass run through my STI 40's. Makes the whole process a lot easier. Be sure and lube cases.

The U die is not expensive, needs to be set so I doesn't hit the shell plate or it will break the carbide insert. It just works.

[GrumpyOne]

You will receive a million different suggestions about what it is that you "need to get" but you will soon find out that, what works for one person doesn't work for another.

I have a G-Rx and, for me, it just provides "peace of mind". I have a couple of guns that will digest any reloaded .40 ammo that I feed it yet, my wife's M&P40, is quite finicky about "bulged brass". Since I don't want her mad-dogging me because she happened to find that 0.000001% case that will fail to chamber during a Classifier run, I go through the trouble of, not only running all of my brass through the G-Rx, but also chamber checking all of her ammo.

In your case, would start with a set of Dillon dies and later, if a problem arises, I would worry about adding hardware to my reloading table.

More (and varying) opinions to follow...

+10 If the Dillon dies work, then you are golden. More than likely, they will since you are gonna be feeding Glocked brass to a Glock, and the bulge really isn't that bad anymore. It was only bad on some of the 1st and 2nd gen guns.

[MARKAVELI]

G-RX, U-DIE; U-DIE,G-RX LEE'S SINGLE STAGE, UHGGG! IF I HAD HAIR I WOULD HAVE PULLED IT OUT RIGHT ABOUT NOW!! @SOTO U WAS NOT PLAYING WHEN YOU SAID DIFFERENT IDEAS... IM GONNA ORDER THE G-RX AND BOTTLE ADAPTER AND PICK UP A SINGLE PRESS, AND THE DILLON .40CAL DIES. SOUNDS LIKE EXTRA WORK I GOTTA DO IN "THE LAB" BUT IT SEEMS WELL WORTH IT! PLUSS IT WILL SLOW ME DOWN AS I FEEL THE NEED TO RELOAD EVERY CHANCE I GET! PLUS I WONNA LOAD QUALITY RELOADS THAT THE MAYOR OF CHICAGO WOULD BE PROUD TO SHOOT! lol.... @ GRUMPY, MY LOADS FOR MY .44 MAG,DE (LOADED 500 RNDS)WORK GREAT THANKS FOR THE RECIPIES!

[MARKAVELI]

Markaveli, you are gonna have to run the GR-X die on a separate press or toolhead forthe 550b, the 550b will only handle 4 stations at a time, with a 3 die set plus the powder measure, its basically full, so do the 'de-glocking' of brass on another cheaper single stage press, I shoot 38 super in a number of open guns, and that brass over a number of firings gets the 'glock buldge per say, I bought a case roller from case pro, and sit in front ofthe TV with that as a separate station, roll the cases straight, then off tothe 550b where i load em, the GR-X with its lil bottle attachment, i dont think would even hope to fit on a 550b toolhead, maybe as a separate operation, then swap toolheads to load the now de-glocked rounds, if it was me??? id break out my old lee single stage collecting dust in the garage, and run em thru that, then off to the 550b

CALI HOW DARE YOU NEGLECT THAT SINGLE STAGE! YOU SHOULD WIPE DOWN THAT LEE SINGLE STAGE AND SELL IT TO ME! LET ME GIVE IT A HAPPY HOME! LOL.....

[GrumpyOne]

G-RX, U-DIE; U-DIE,G-RX LEE'S SINGLE STAGE, UHGGG! IF I HAD HAIR I WOULD HAVE PULLED IT OUT RIGHT ABOUT NOW!! @SOTO U WAS NOT PLAYING WHEN YOU SAID DIFFERENT IDEAS... IM GONNA ORDER THE G-RX AND BOTTLE ADAPTER AND PICK UP A SINGLE PRESS, AND THE DILLON .40CAL DIES. SOUNDS LIKE EXTRA WORK I GOTTA DO IN "THE LAB" BUT IT SEEMS WELL WORTH IT! PLUSS IT WILL SLOW ME DOWN AS I FEEL THE NEED TO RELOAD EVERY CHANCE I GET! PLUS I WONNA LOAD QUALITY RELOADS THAT THE MAYOR OF CHICAGO WOULD BE PROUD TO SHOOT! lol.... @ GRUMPY, MY LOADS FOR MY .44 MAG,DE (LOADED 500 RNDS)WORK GREAT THANKS FOR THE RECIPIES!

Marki, I have loaded upwards of 20,000 rounds of 40 S&W for my Springfield P9 Factory comps, and for my XDM, all using just Dillon dies. I've never had a failure to feed caused by a bulged case. The only problem I've ever had was when I first started reloading and I was crimping them too much. My .02, I would just go with the Dillon dies until you get a match barrel for that Glock, and even then I'd give the Dillon a go and see if they work for the match barrel. Save you some money (if you don't buy the GRX or U die, won't have to buy the Lee press), and a butt load of time in reloading. Why spend extra time and money for something you don't even know that is gonna be a problem? Sounds alot like the US government to me!

[MARKAVELI]

G-RX, U-DIE; U-DIE,G-RX LEE'S SINGLE STAGE, UHGGG! IF I HAD HAIR I WOULD HAVE PULLED IT OUT RIGHT ABOUT NOW!! @SOTO U WAS NOT PLAYING WHEN YOU SAID DIFFERENT IDEAS... IM GONNA ORDER THE G-RX AND BOTTLE ADAPTER AND PICK UP A SINGLE PRESS, AND THE DILLON .40CAL DIES. SOUNDS LIKE EXTRA WORK I GOTTA DO IN "THE LAB" BUT IT SEEMS WELL WORTH IT! PLUSS IT WILL SLOW ME DOWN AS I FEEL THE NEED TO RELOAD EVERY CHANCE I GET! PLUS I WONNA LOAD QUALITY RELOADS THAT THE MAYOR OF CHICAGO WOULD BE PROUD TO SHOOT! lol.... @ GRUMPY, MY LOADS FOR MY .44 MAG,DE (LOADED 500 RNDS)WORK GREAT THANKS FOR THE RECIPIES!

Marki, I have loaded upwards of 20,000 rounds of 40 S&W for my Springfield P9 Factory comps, and for my XDM, all using just Dillon dies. I've never had a failure to feed caused by a bulged case. The only problem I've ever had was when I first started reloading and I was crimping them too much. My .02, I would just go with the Dillon dies until you get a match barrel for that Glock, and even then I'd give the Dillon a go and see if they work for the match barrel. Save you some money (if you don't buy the GRX or U die, won't have to buy the Lee press), and a butt load of time in reloading. Why spend extra time and money for something you don't even know that is gonna be a problem? Sounds alot like the US government to me!

Good point Grump, if I just get the dies I would have money to pick up some supplies. and if the problem comes around i'll pick up on theGRX AND LEES SINGLE stage. I cant wate to order em! thank you all for the info! Thanks Grump for being my Personal/Financial advisor! it did kinda sound Political! lol....

[MARKAVELI]

Oh ya I dont know how to do the "Smily Face beer mugg cheerz" thing but if I did you would see it on this post! lol CHEERZ!!

[Glockman1000]

I'd like to share my experience with loading .40 for my G24. Me and a friend were doing this since the mid 90's for our Glock .40's. This mainly deals with .40 case prep prior to loading. I went to the range today and found a couple hundred once fired nickel brass with the tell tale striker mark and bulge, so I guess the timing was right when I saw this post tonight.

First off I rinse off the cases and let them dry out in the sun. I then break out my homemade case ram for my Rock Chucker press.

This ram was made out of a stainless 1/2 bolt and turned on a lathe to suit our needs.

I use a Lee 4 die set that I got ages ago, but I did not use the Lee FCD since it has a tendency to resize the bullet and the loaded heads would be able to be moved by tugging on them. I removed the taper adjustment out of the Lee FCD along with the taper sleeve. I turned this into my case sizing die.

I lube the cases with Dillon case lube and adjust the FCD into my Rock Chucker. If you have a Dillon sizing die you can also remove the decapping assmebly and use it instead. You only need to screw it in about a third of the way. If you go to low the ram of the press will get caught way before you can apply the full force of the ram at the bottom of the stroke. I place a case over the homemade ram (casehead facing up) and run the case through. Fine tune the die to where it takes minimal effort to run the cases through. You won't see the first case until your ram the the third one in. On the next stroke the case rise will rise up high enough to grab and you can dump it into a pan for the processed cases. When you get to the last case, lower the die by 4-5 turns, stroke, repeat, unscrew the die and the last case should be clear of the sizing ring.

FYI, Lee also makes these kits for the .40 if you do not have access to someone with a lathe. You could purchase both the Lee Press and the kit to give you a brass sizing solution. Here is the link. I use this on my little table while I'm watching TV as I have been doing this for so long I can feel where everything is at. I can watch and get brass processed at the same time. I use this little bench when I'm sizing rifle brass and when swaging military brass primer pockets with a Dillon super swager with an automatic system I use on it....but that's for another thread.

We were also using this mod for .45 and .38 Super rimless (Supercomp and Matt Mclearn's early rimless brass). Most of the guys in our club would borrow my little sizing table and process their brass. Sometimes it would change hands and I'd have to call 3 or 4 different guys to find out where my setup went.

[MARKAVELI]

I'd like to share my experience with loading .40 for my G24. Me and a friend were doing this since the mid 90's for our Glock .40's. This mainly deals with .40 case prep prior to loading. I went to the range today and found a couple hundred once fired nickel brass with the tell tale striker mark and bulge, so I guess the timing was right when I saw this post tonight.

First off I rinse off the cases and let them dry out in the sun. I then break out my homemade case ram for my Rock Chucker press.

This ram was made out of a stainless 1/2 bolt and turned on a lathe to suit our needs.

I use a Lee 4 die set that I got ages ago, but I did not use the Lee FCD since it has a tendency to resize the bullet and the loaded heads would be able to be moved by tugging on them. I removed the taper adjustment out of the Lee FCD along with the taper sleeve. I turned this into my case sizing die.

I lube the cases with Dillon case lube and adjust the FCD into my Rock Chucker. If you have a Dillon sizing die you can also remove the decapping assmebly and use it instead. You only need to screw it in about a third of the way. If you go to low the ram of the press will get caught way before you can apply the full force of the ram at the bottom of the stroke. I place a case over the homemade ram (casehead facing up) and run the case through. Fine tune the die to where it takes minimal effort to run the cases through. You won't see the first case until your ram the the third one in. On the next stroke the case rise will rise up high enough to grab and you can dump it into a pan for the processed cases. When you get to the last case, lower the die by 4-5 turns, stroke, repeat, unscrew the die and the last case should be clear of the sizing ring.

FYI, Lee also makes these kits for the .40 if you do not have access to someone with a lathe. You could purchase both the Lee Press and the kit to give you a brass sizing solution. Here is the link. I use this on my little table while I'm watching TV as I have been doing this for so long I can feel where everything is at. I can watch and get brass processed at the same time. I use this little bench when I'm sizing rifle brass and when swaging military brass primer pockets with a Dillon super swager with an automatic system I use on it....but that's for another thread.

We were also using this mod for .45 and .38 Super rimless (Supercomp and Matt Mclearn's early rimless brass). Most of the guys in our club would borrow my little sizing table and process their brass. Sometimes it would change hands and I'd have to call 3 or 4 different guys to find out where my setup went.

You better get a Patton number for this! Sounds like a good idea, but to much work no? How did you get the threading off? And not sure if I was to make this I would make it properly! And still sound like I would need a separate single stage pressand at the moment I don't got the space .

[Cy Soto]

You better get a Patton number for this!

Lee Precision already beat him to the punch: http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi-data/instruct/1855.pdf and yes, you still need a Single Stage press.

[Glockman1000]

Necessity is the mother of invention. We did this back in '95, if it helps other shooters, well we should spread the knowledge. Anyway, even if we tried to patent it, most likely it would just be the ram for the brass since you can also use a Dillon .40 size die and just remove the decapping assembly and just use the die body for the job. Besides that, the case ram was turned to slide into a RC press. If we were to try and patent it we would have only been able use it for the RCBS. We would had to have bought the popular single stages presses at the time and make them for each brand of shellplate.

If in regard to the threads you mean the die itself, I meant to take a pic of the Lee FCD with the stem and sleeve removed, once those are removed the die is hollow enough for a case to slide up through the die body. The threads on the inside of the die never seemed to be an issue when we would size the brass. Once it was high enough to grab with our fingers, we just tossed it into a pan.

When I started shooting again, about two months ago. I heard from one of the guys that Lee came out with the Bulge Buster kit awhile ago. I did include this in my earlier post. Funny that this was mentioned because I got the idea from looking a Lee cast bullet sizing kit. The idea of the ram was basically from the ram in the kit. 5 minutes later I was talking to my buddy with the lathe and decided we would try making a modified ram. I still have the Lee bullet sizing kit LOL! just hardly ever use it now.

This thread was also the first time I've heard of the GR-X die. I guess the fundamentals are pretty much the same I would think, with the exception that I place the brass with the case head facing up on the ram. If I am wrong in that regard, please correct me.

It looks like you have to start case into the die by guiding it with your fingers with the GR-X and Bulge Buster kit. With the way the ram I have is designed, just drop a case over it and stroke. I don't have to focus on guiding the case up. The ram has a clearance for the primer pocket so it doesn't get crushed and the head is radiused and rounded to self center the brass when it goes into the die. Total investment for the bolt for the ram was like $2. The labor from my shooting buddy with a lathe, he just wanted to see if it would work so just his curiosity to try something and experiment.

IIRC, back in '96-97 there was an article in Front Sight (not sure if it was that magazine though)that other people were doing the same thing with their .40 brass since Case-Pros were kind of out of some people's budget at the time.

I don't think this is too much work, well for me that is because I normally do this in the kitchen where I can watch some tv, I guess I developed a feel for where everything was at and could go non stop just taking short breaks in between. The nickel brass I picked up the other day took me about 30 mins. to process. Gonna set those aside for my Open Glock .40 project.

On another note, in my opinion, a single stage press would be a utilitarian tool for you. I've done the following with mine:

Size .40 & sometimes .45. Size rifle brass, size bullets, and even swage primer pockets with the RCBS Primer pocket swage kit. If space is an issue, you could always clamp it to a table and then when your done, just unclamp and put it away until you need it again.

Hope this helps!

Edited July 7, 2010 by Glockman1000

[MARKAVELI]

Necessity is the mother of invention. We did this back in '95, if it helps other shooters, well we should spread the knowledge. Anyway, even if we tried to patent it, most likely it would just be the ram for the brass since you can also use a Dillon .40 size die and just remove the decapping assembly and just use the die body for the job. Besides that, the case ram was turned to slide into a RC press. If we were to try and patent it we would have only been able use it for the RCBS. We would had to have bought the popular single stages presses at the time and make them for each brand of shellplate.

If in regard to the threads you mean the die itself, I meant to take a pic of the Lee FCD with the stem and sleeve removed, once those are removed the die is hollow enough for a case to slide up through the die body. The threads on the inside of the die never seemed to be an issue when we would size the brass. Once it was high enough to grab with our fingers, we just tossed it into a pan.

When I started shooting again, about two months ago. I heard from one of the guys that Lee came out with the Bulge Buster kit awhile ago. I did include this in my earlier post. Funny that this was mentioned because I got the idea from looking a Lee cast bullet sizing kit. The idea of the ram was basically from the ram in the kit. 5 minutes later I was talking to my buddy with the lathe and decided we would try making a modified ram. I still have the Lee bullet sizing kit LOL! just hardly ever use it now.

This thread was also the first time I've heard of the GR-X die. I guess the fundamentals are pretty much the same I would think, with the exception that I place the brass with the case head facing up on the ram. If I am wrong in that regard, please correct me.

It looks like you have to start case into the die by guiding it with your fingers with the GR-X and Bulge Buster kit. With the way the ram I have is designed, just drop a case over it and stroke. I don't have to focus on guiding the case up. The ram has a clearance for the primer pocket so it doesn't get crushed and the head is radiused and rounded to self center the brass when it goes into the die. Total investment for the bolt for the ram was like $2. The labor from my shooting buddy with a lathe, he just wanted to see if it would work so just his curiosity to try something and experiment.

IIRC, back in '96-97 there was an article in Front Sight (not sure if it was that magazine though)that other people were doing the same thing with their .40 brass since Case-Pros were kind of out of some people's budget at the time.

I don't think this is too much work, well for me that is because I normally do this in the kitchen where I can watch some tv, I guess I developed a feel for where everything was at and could go non stop just taking short breaks in between. The nickel brass I picked up the other day took me about 30 mins. to process. Gonna set those aside for my Open Glock .40 project.

On another note, in my opinion, a single stage press would be a utilitarian tool for you. I've done the following with mine:

Size .40 & sometimes .45. Size rifle brass, size bullets, and even swage primer pockets with the RCBS Primer pocket swage kit. If space is an issue, you could always clamp it to a table and then when your done, just unclamp and put it away until you need it again.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for the 411 Glockman1K, I was misunderstanding you about you using a bolt! You where using a lee die as a ram gotcha. So say I was to use my Dillon Dies (.40) for re sizing, -the decaping pin my shellplate will hold my brass in place to keep from getting jammed or stuck in my resizing die? And from what it sounds like you Resize nickel too, would I damage my die if I resized for nickle brass? And @ the range I came across some brass what I most likely think is wolf brass nickle is ok to reload and wolf brass is a no go right? Ya you are right how the GR-X die works. As for me having no space I will later get a single if needed until I wanna save money for my grocery needs(reloading components) till I got this caliber perfected then on to my next cal!

[GrumpyOne]

I'd like to share my experience with loading .40 for my G24. Me and a friend were doing this since the mid 90's for our Glock .40's. This mainly deals with .40 case prep prior to loading. I went to the range today and found a couple hundred once fired nickel brass with the tell tale striker mark and bulge, so I guess the timing was right when I saw this post tonight.

First off I rinse off the cases and let them dry out in the sun. I then break out my homemade case ram for my Rock Chucker press.

This ram was made out of a stainless 1/2 bolt and turned on a lathe to suit our needs.

I use a Lee 4 die set that I got ages ago, but I did not use the Lee FCD since it has a tendency to resize the bullet and the loaded heads would be able to be moved by tugging on them. I removed the taper adjustment out of the Lee FCD along with the taper sleeve. I turned this into my case sizing die.

I lube the cases with Dillon case lube and adjust the FCD into my Rock Chucker. If you have a Dillon sizing die you can also remove the decapping assmebly and use it instead. You only need to screw it in about a third of the way. If you go to low the ram of the press will get caught way before you can apply the full force of the ram at the bottom of the stroke. I place a case over the homemade ram (casehead facing up) and run the case through. Fine tune the die to where it takes minimal effort to run the cases through. You won't see the first case until your ram the the third one in. On the next stroke the case rise will rise up high enough to grab and you can dump it into a pan for the processed cases. When you get to the last case, lower the die by 4-5 turns, stroke, repeat, unscrew the die and the last case should be clear of the sizing ring.

FYI, Lee also makes these kits for the .40 if you do not have access to someone with a lathe. You could purchase both the Lee Press and the kit to give you a brass sizing solution. Here is the link. I use this on my little table while I'm watching TV as I have been doing this for so long I can feel where everything is at. I can watch and get brass processed at the same time. I use this little bench when I'm sizing rifle brass and when swaging military brass primer pockets with a Dillon super swager with an automatic system I use on it....but that's for another thread.

We were also using this mod for .45 and .38 Super rimless (Supercomp and Matt Mclearn's early rimless brass). Most of the guys in our club would borrow my little sizing table and process their brass. Sometimes it would change hands and I'd have to call 3 or 4 different guys to find out where my setup went.

That is awesome! If my Dillon dies didn't already do what I needed them to do as far my guns go, I would be making one of those!

[GrumpyOne]

Thanks for the 411 Glockman1K, I was misunderstanding you about you using a bolt! You where using a lee die as a ram gotcha. So say I was to use my Dillon Dies (.40) for re sizing, -the decaping pin my shellplate will hold my brass in place to keep from getting jammed or stuck in my resizing die? And from what it sounds like you Resize nickel too, would I damage my die if I resized for nickle brass? And @ the range I came across some brass what I most likely think is wolf brass nickle is ok to reload and wolf brass is a no go right? Ya you are right how the GR-X die works. As for me having no space I will later get a single if needed until I wanna save money for my grocery needs(reloading components) till I got this caliber perfected then on to my next cal!

Nickle brass is no more damaging than regular brass, in fact, quite possibly the other way round. Nickle is generally smoother when you are reloading it, but it tends to split at the case mouth quite a bit sooner than regular brass, so you won't get as many reloads out of it (but, it sure is shiny and pretty! ).

IMO, I would stay away from any "brass" marked as Wolf. Much of their "brass" isn't even brass, it's steel, painted and laquered. Even if it looks like brass, I would stick a magnet to it before even thiinking of reloading it, as S&B has been known to electro plate steel cases to make them look like brass (I'd also stay away from S&B!).