Square Deal Spitting Primers...!

[SiG Lady]

The in-the-closet-setup Little Square Deal B is failing-to-prime, spitting beaucoup primers out the back (or is it the bottom) of the press, and wanting a fully-loaded primer tube in order to run at all. In other words, if I keep the tube full or nearly full it'll prime most of the time. If it gets down to nearly half-full, it starts malf-ing with nearly every upstroke. It used to do this occasionally when the primer tube was very, very, very low on primers, but now it's doing it even when the tube is sufficiently full.

Suggestions.......??!!

[spook]

It might be the plastic orifice (the red one for LP) deformed. Do you have a spare one you can install?

[Flexmoney]

When I ran a SDB, I had to periodically "clean up" the plastic piece at the bottom of the primer system. A nail file often worked.

[SiG Lady]

I've put about 6K rds thru it since it arrived. I do happen to have an SDB spare parts kit (quite a little bag full of stuff!)... When I had a primer get stuck sideways deep in the bowels of the thing last week we (my gunsmith just happened to be in the neighborhood at the time) also cleaned off the little white plastic plunger and reversed the leaf spring. This doesn't "feel" quite like the problem right now, though....... but I could be wrong.

spook--

Oh, I think I know what you mean (the tapered fitting at the end of the innermost tube... the one with the key/notch configuration?)..... I'd have to tear down the tube again to see......... If it's what I think it is, no, I don't have a spare.

[Duane Thomas]

What sort of primers are you using? CCIs are famous for having their thickness vary so much they can break the plastic insert and its feed lips. In any event, it sounds to me like the insert/feed lips are screwed up. Call Dillon, 1-800-223-4570, they'll send you a new insert for free and tell you how to replace it. (It's really easy.)

I have to ask: why reverse the leaf spring? I've been using my Square Deals for, oh, 15-plus years and never done that - or seen the need.

[JD45]

The exact same problem recently occurred on my Square Deal. I cleaned everything and it didn't help. I saw that the white plunger under the leaf spring was sticking. Dillon sent new red tips, plunger and all. Still no help. Called again, and Dillon said to double the flat spring(they sent a new one). The doubled-up spring fixed it, and it hasn't malfunctioned in the last 800rds. Oh, I forgot, Dillon also mailed me an entire new primer slide assembly.....I didn't even ask for. This kind of service is why I am sticking with Dillon for good.

[Run n Gun]

If you bought the machine new you should’ve gotten an extra “red thingy” that Spook refers to. I was having similar problems; replaced that and all was well.

Dillon’s online help guides are really very good (www.dillonhelp.com).

Good luck,

Ed

[kimel]

CCI may have been famous once but they don't appear to be so anymore. I have run close to 10K CCI of recent manufacture through my Dillon and have had nary a problem with them munging the primer tube. I have gone through a couple of those tips but that was more due to my fumble fingered hands dropping the tube on the floor or trying to force it into place when it wasn't lined up.

I even sat down one night after seeing a post mentioning this rumor with a micrometer and a tray of primers and measured them. They were all darn close to the same thickness. Did the same thing with a tray of Winchester (all I had around at the time) and they showed no more variance than the CCI.

Yeah, small sample size and all that rot. But I have better things to do than measure primers.

[SiG Lady]

Thanks, guys. I'll have to look into this over the weekend. (I'll print out this thread). Something I noticed that helped a bit late yesterday was pausing just a fraction of a second on the end of the downstroke (perhaps allowing time for the primer to fall into place...?) and I didn't have a miss in 40 rds (which was all I loaded at the time) even when the primer tube was really low on primers. I'll test it again today.

Oh, and the primers are generally Winchesters WLP.

[IPSCDRL]

Clean that primer tube and make sure that the little plastic piece at the bottom of the tube is not smushed. (technical term)

[TBF]

That sounds good to me too. ( above post )

My SDB feeds primers until the buzzer sounds.

Replace the " red thing ", clean the tube.

I have been using powdered mica as lube on priming system parts ( just a very little bit ) dunno if that helps or not, but it seems to be working fine.

Travis F.

[SiG Lady]

This is all making quite logical sense because, thankfully, I've seen it partly dismantled.... Now, when we did dismantle the feed tube the other day we didn't exactly do a micro-cleaning of it or anything... just a removel of a jammed primer, brief inspection of tube (for more sideways primers--there were none--or major fungool therein) blew it out with canned air, and did a wipe-down of the white plastic plunger part (also a technical term) which was only modestly soiled. What MAY need doing before long IS another partial dismantle with a cleaning out and an in-depth peek at "the red thingy" (and place an order for one of 'em) for possible replacement. It's the one "thingy" that doesn't seem to be in the official Spare Parts Kit (which contains just about everything ELSE, though!)

Thanks again!!

[JustJohn]

the little thing has like a key way to it when you put the tube back in turn the tube

you should feel it drop or go down a little when it seats.If you had just pu the primer magizine tube down the hole in the mag sheild housing the yes the primers stsrt to fall out randonly.Remember bend and lift with your legs not your back

[SiG Lady]

I removed the primer feeding tube portion of the press tonight (after the press began failing again) and noted right away that the Magazine Orifice (Part #14003) (your "red thingy") is completely torn apart at the business end of things, so primers were falling cockeyed into the very place where they weren't supposed to be cockeyed, therefore failing to slide neatly into the priming station. End of mystery. It WAS what you thought it was and was also pretty much what my 'smith and I suspected, too. Now would be a good time to clean out the feeder tube as well.

Thanks again for the group diagnosis. This is how we learn.....

I used to work on cars (air-cooled engines and carburetor rebuilds), surely the press couldn't be too difficult, ultimately.

[SiG Lady]

I called Dillon this morning to order both the feeder tube AND the orifice... and, bless their hearts, you were right about Dillon service. They're going to warranty those two parts for me. Ah, relief.... Thanks.