MustangGreg66 Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 So I have an interesting issue with the powder measure on my Dillion 550. I have a couple diffrent powder assemblies setup for diffrent powders. One has an aftermarket ebay knerled and numbered powder adjustment drum on it instead of the standard hex bolt and it works fine, but I noticed it would change adjustment with use since the new powder assembly clanks into place every stroke. I used a little bit of tape once adjusted to tape the drum to the powder bar and that pretty much stops it from rotating when I'm loading. Now I'm loading with another powder assembly and it has the standard dillion hex nut for the powder adjustment and I noticed that it too wants to rotate when I'm loading. Not good. I tried using the same tape method, but with the adjustment bolt being a lot smaller, it doesn't hold well. I find that I'm loading maybe 20rds and then going back and moving the adjustment bolt back into place a few degrees. Maybe I'm being a little anal about wanting it to remain exactly where I adjusted it too, but I don't want to ignore it and then end up with a diffrent powder charge than intended. This is happening with a 9mm minor load so being spot on isn't as critical, but still. I don't want it moving around on me. I did notice that the wave washer between the bolt and the powder bar has some rust on it. Any chance it just has lost some of it's sprinnyness? Anybody have this problem and come up with a good fix to keep their powder bar from changing adjustment while loading? I've seen the powder micrometers and I don't really want to spend that much to fix this since I've pretty much settled on a load and will stick with it on this powder measure. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skydiver Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 (edited) If I remember correctly, for the stock Dillon powder bar, there is a correct direction for that washer to go in. I just don't recall which way the bow is supposed to go. I would call Dillon and check that first, and then while you have them on the phone ask them for advice on how to deal with the drifting. Even the Uniquetek powder micrometers drift. Like you, I also put some tape on my powder micrometer measure to keep it from drifting. BTW, even when I affixed the double charge lockout mechanism to get rid of the clanking, I was still seeing drifting. So I don't think it was the clanking that was causing the change. It's more likely the friction inside changing the direction. For a short term fix, you can go to the hardware store and get one of those small plastic knobs that fit over the nut. Then you can put tape around the bar and the knob. The knob should provide more leverage to keep the nut from turning. Edited September 30, 2011 by Skydiver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dillon Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 Be sure the flat washer is against the end of the bar, and the bowed washer curves towards the flat washer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MustangGreg66 Posted September 30, 2011 Author Share Posted September 30, 2011 Be sure the flat washer is against the end of the bar, and the bowed washer curves towards the flat washer. hmm, I think I have it backwards it memory serves. Bar, flat part of curved washer, then adjuster bolt... not sure if there's another flat washer in there or not, I'll have to go look, probably is. There's some tension on the bolt, but not enough to keep it from walking. skydiver - the hardware store has small plastic knobs that fit over the nut huh? Never thought to look there, I always figured it'd be a specialty part. I'll have to look if adjusting the washers doesn't help here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MustangGreg66 Posted September 30, 2011 Author Share Posted September 30, 2011 Be sure the flat washer is against the end of the bar, and the bowed washer curves towards the flat washer. hmm, I think I have it backwards it memory serves. Bar, flat part of curved washer, then adjuster bolt... not sure if there's another flat washer in there or not, I'll have to go look, probably is. There's some tension on the bolt, but not enough to keep it from walking. skydiver - the hardware store has small plastic knobs that fit over the nut huh? Never thought to look there, I always figured it'd be a specialty part. I'll have to look if adjusting the washers doesn't help here. Well I was wrong, it is setup the correct way... maybe I can get a thicker washer to use as a spacer to put more tension on the screw... we'll see Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alvarez Kelly Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 I've got a few of those plastic knobs if you want to go that route. PM me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 I have never had any drifting on my 550. Whatever is causing it it's not normal at all. Call Dillon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herky Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 I have never had any drifting on my 550. Whatever is causing it it's not normal at all. Call Dillon. +1 I have six complete powder systems, old style with dual springs, and have never had any drifting on any one of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 Is the bolt really turning? Or is your scale drifting? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GSWEAR Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 Is the bolt really turning? +1 It sounds like you already have but I would verify it is turning. I have several Dillon powder measures and when I get them set I never have to touch them again except to change the charge whether it's 50 or 5000 rounds. Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MustangGreg66 Posted October 1, 2011 Author Share Posted October 1, 2011 Oh it's turning. I had it set so that the hex head was level with the top of the powder bar. After 20-50 rounds it's turned so that the point of the bolt is facing up and not the flat side. I'm not sure if it just wanted to settle in and would stop turning from there or not... I didn't want to keep loading if it kept turning. I should have measured the powder it was throwing at that point, but I didn't. I just turned it back to level and started loading more... I'll have to call Dillion about it when I get a chance on Monday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Religious Shooter Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 I have the same problem. Mine looses adjustment. Right now I'm using Lee measures with fixed discs. No way will it lose adjustment. Please let me know what Dillon suggests. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougCarden Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 When you get enough miles on the powder bar it can turn a little bit, usually .02grains. It is a pain. I put some blue loctite on the the threads and get it where I want it. That takes care of it for me, and you can still turn it if you need to for perfect adjustment. It is not the best arrangement if you change powder charges all the time though.... Good luck, DougC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Religious Shooter Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 I was going to do the blue loctite thing on my next batch of loading .223. Before I switched to the Lee measures I had a swing of .5 grains with my Dillon. It took my .223 load over the edge. I still have several hundred rounds that are over the edge for my current barrels. Next couple of batches I resorted to reweighing the charge and reseting the measure every 100 rounds. That was a pain. The Lee measures haven't been all that bad. Only real problem with is the hopper is like 1/3 the size of the Dillon (OK for pistol but somewhat of a pain with rifle) and I found it to bleed when the powder used was on the fine side. No problems with leaking when using S1000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Youngeyes Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 I have to vote with the it ain't normal group. Lee at Unique Tek once told me to put a small spring inside the powder slide. Put it over the bolt, between the outer housing and the inner cup to put some pressure on the adjustment bolt. He said it would stabilize the throw. I've not had any troubles with or without the spring. I would hold on using any loctite on areas that are supposed to remain adjustable. YMMV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Religious Shooter Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 Blue loctite is weak loctite. It's made to be taken on and off on a regular basis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g56 Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 I have never had any drifting on my 550. Whatever is causing it it's not normal at all. Call Dillon. Same here, never any drift...ever. I've got 5 total with 3 different generations in my Dillon powder measures, and none of them has ever drifted. My oldest powder measure is an original 550 pre B model that has been converted to a safety arm, it has (at minimum) well over 50,000 rounds loaded on it, and it has never drifted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gm iprod Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 As the powder bar gets older I find they drift, especially if you are changing from one laod to anotehr a lot. Which I do. So, get another bar from Dillon, not too expensive, and replace it. I have an powder measure that is on it's last legs. 150K rounds through it. Replaced the small pistol bar twice, the tube once, the body collar twice, went from old activator arm to new style, still run the springs, other than that it is the same powder measure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 So, get another bar from Dillon, not too expensive, and replace it. Free most likely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmorris Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 Another one for the not normal vote. I have a different powder bar for every load I use as I have found it quicker to back off the one bolt and swap bars than adjusting and weighing. Some of my bars have been set on the same load for more than 10 years and have never moved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MustangGreg66 Posted October 3, 2011 Author Share Posted October 3, 2011 Ok, so I called Dillion this morning. Wonderful people to deal with. I've never called them before and first thing I noticed was the 1800 number on their website 1-800-223-45-70 hahaha, awesome. Anyway, I talked with a guy there and we talked through what's going on and what we thought it was. He thought it was just a worn out curved washer. I tend to agree. My washer has some surface rust on it so maybe it's a little weak and not putting enough tension on it. I can't turn the adjustment nut by hand, but almost. So he's going to send me a few of those little waved washers and we'll see if that fixes it. I hope so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98sr20ve Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 One advantage to the Nut is it's not going to move unless you use a wrench to move it. So yeah, something is wrong. It's not as easy to adjust as a dial. Pros and cons to both setups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MustangGreg66 Posted October 13, 2011 Author Share Posted October 13, 2011 I got the wavy washers in the mail last week and finally had time to put them in. There's definitly more tension with the new washer. It was even difficult to get the powder bar back together. I think the flat washer that sits between it and the powder bar is bent too. This definitly helped a lot. I've been doing some load testing and it's been holding up so far, but I'm changing powder charge every 10rds. Once I get my load dialed in I'll load up a few hundred and mark and watch it close and see if it moves. It's definitly harder to adjust now. If you have a problem with yours walking, I would call Dillion and ask for some of the wavy washers AND the flat backing washer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Undrpsi Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 (edited) I have the same problem. Mine looses adjustment. Right now I'm using Lee measures with fixed discs. No way will it lose adjustment. Please let me know what Dillon suggests. Thanks. FYI...EVERY powder measure I have had will be high for the first couple of throws if you let it set for a while...I have learned to cycle a primed cartridge through the powder die 4 or 5 times and dump it right back. Or if you fill up the Powder Tube from empty-ish back to full it will drift high a little for a couple of throws too but a couple of cycle/dumps and it's fine. My 550 is only a week old. Loading 9mm with the standard powder die and knob it would throw 5.1-5.2 grains forever. When I put my next quick change kit on it I replaced the knob with a large blue one (that is already mounted on a stainless shaft from Ebay). Loading .45 and I have noticed it drifts a little as I cycle the rounds. I will get it running 6.1 and it will slowly creep up to 6.5 (which is still safe luckily). I'll have to take all the brass out and cycle a primed cartridge 2 or 3 times...and it will start throwing 6.1 again. Again, this is a brandy new quick change kit. I never ran it with the stock knob/shaft. I am probably going to pull it tonight and put the OEM shaft/nut back in and see what that does. Oh..and the knob/nut does NOT move when this happens..so I don't know if the 'tape trick' will work. I have noticed that my 550 likes the smaller calibers...ran 700 rounds of 9mm on Dillon dies flawlessly. I used 3 dummy bullets to set everything and it just kept spitting them out. Cycles easily with no primer problems. .45 seems to be another story. I am using Lee carbide dies (I have a used Dillon set coming)...but I don't think it's the dies. The LARGE primers seem to work but I find I am checking them more due to different sounds and feel when the primers seat. ??? I may just be paranoid....I use to use Lee presses. I have another quick change kit that I was going to use for .40 (Dillon dies)....I might set it with the used Dillon .45ACP dies that are coming and stock knob/shaft and see how that works....It may be that fancy big blue knob that I got from Ebay is junk ?!?!?. Undrpsi Edited October 13, 2011 by Undrpsi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Youngeyes Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 A differant knob would not account for erratic powder throws. Try giving the new powder measure, for the 45, a good polish and cleaning on the inside. You may have some powder sticking issues. Also people here have used dryer anti static sheets to wipe down the measure to reduce powder cling (and give it that springtime fresh aroma). Also, some 45acp brass have tighter pockets than others so you may get some differences in feel on primer insertion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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