A few Dillon problems.

[jdknotts1]

Super Swage 600:

Got a super sawge 600 for xmas to swage .223 brass. Followed diections, and adjusted the rod to give as little swage as needed to insert a primer with ease. It will swage two or three cases with no problem then can't fit a case in to be swaged. When I adjust the rod out farther to allow all the cases to fit in I don't get enough swage. Why would one case fit in and not another? Doesn't seem that OAL would have anything to do with it being the case is supported from the inside. I can't see swaging thousands of rounds using this tool if it finicky like this.

Universal Decapping Die:

Bent the decapping pin during loading operations. Are the decapping pins covered under the Dillon "if anything breaks they replace" warranty?

550:

I've had my 550 for awhile and loaded a few thousand rounds of pistol with very few probelms. Now that I have started reloading .223/5.56, I'm seeing it is very different. I can't seem to get the shellplate adjusted to where it holds the cases straight up and down. This problem is linked to the last prolem. The cases seem to lean while I'm pulling the handle, then the tops are hitting the different dies, causing the powder drop to throw different charges and bending/gouging the necks of the cases. I need to guide the cases up everytime so they don't hit the dies. Is this common? If so, I may just say screw it and reload pistol only. It is a real PITA.

Help to fix this (if fixable) would be GREATLY appreciated.

[The_Vigilante]

Have you called Dillon yet?

[Gabe Athouse]

Sounds like you have the super swage way out of adjustment. Check youtube for a video of one setup correctly. Ive found best results if I seperate brass by maker. Some guys seperate by year as well, I havnt gone that far yet.

[RiggerJJ]

are you trying to swage brass of different headstamps? if so, thats the problem with the swager. do one headstamp at a time and adjust the swager for each. also, there may be brass flashing inside the case near the primer flash hole that the rod is trying to squash that is making the difference.

I doubt if decap pins are under warranty...

can't help you with the 550 problems, sorry...but all I can figure is the shellplate isn't quite aligned with the head???

jj

[Iowa Fox]

Where did your brass come from? Stand them up to see if they are straight before you do anything with them. One day while at the range I picked up several hundred military 30-06 brass someone left laying on the floor mainly just to clean up. The way they were scattered I knew they were fired in an automatic something. A couple years latter I was going to reload some cast and checked to see what I had for military cases and found them. In the process of cleaning them up I noticed several were crooked while standing up. In a single stage press they were so crooked they would not enter the sizing die without being guided by hand.

It sounds like a brass issue and not an equipment problem. Lake city is pretty decent brass, some of the rest is pure junk.

[jdknotts1]

The brass is all the same. All REM FC NT brass I get from work. Primer pockets crimped. I guess I can see there could be some material after the factory drills out the flash hole. But wouldn't this be true to most all brass? Is this a common issue with the super swag 600?

[jmop]

I use almost 100% Lake City surplus for my 223 and I can tell you that from year to year they vary enough to go from not swaging enough to not being able to close the brass in the 600 due to the different thicknesses in base. YMMV

Edited December 26, 2011 by jmop

[Sarge]

Does the brass tilt even without primers? If not it may be that the primers are not seating flush or below?

[Larry D]

Sort the brass and slow down a might on the press.

I've found that if I adjust the shell holder down enough to get the brass "non-wobbly", the brass doesn't always fit into the shell holder properly.

Edited December 27, 2011 by Larry D

[jdknotts1]

The brass tends to tilt both with and without primers. The primers are always seated below flush so I doubt that is a cause. I tightened down the shellplate as much as I can while still being able to turn it with ease. Seems to be a little better.

On the Super Swage, I have about 3k pieces of the same headstamp brass. Wish the design of the Swage allowed a little longer throw on the handle. Seems like the brass is getting stuck on the swaging rod sticking out a tad from the flat metal piece. Got it to where it will swage 80% of the brass as is. Guess I will toss the rest. Almost unlimited supply so if I lose a little, no big deal.

[dillon]

On the shellplate bolt adjustment, push down on the edge of the shellplate between stations 2 and 3. If it feels springy, then the shellplate bolt needs to be a bit tighter. It helps if you grease the underside of the shellplate bolt head, where it rubs the index sprocket.

On the swager, be sure to snug the set screw that locates the spring-loaded block under the head of the case. Over tightening it can tip this block. Snug the jam nut on the back of the backup rod with a case in the swager, and the swage rod in the primer pocket. This helps keep the case in line with the swage rod.If the tip of the swage rod protrudes beyond the end of the stop plate, you can shim the stop plate forward in its slot using a piece of tagboard. Typically the swage rod retracts far enough that the case isn't stuck to it upon full handle retraction.

[njl]

I prepped my first batch of .223 (all WCC) brass today. This was stuff I lubed a couple weeks ago with Dillon lube and had left in a ziplock. At the time, I couldn't continue, because I had a bad shell plate. Today, I was curious if it'd need to be re-lubed, but figured the lube couldn't have gone anywhere, and it resized without any trouble.

I did the size/decap, primer pocket swage with the SS600, and trim on my Lyman power trimmer. I think I had a similar problem with the SS600. Some of the cases just didn't want to go all the way down into the swager. They were hitting the backup plate and had to be wiggled a bit. I think they either weren't fully seating on the locator rod, or were riding up on it a bit while rotating down. I don't recall having this trouble swaging .30 carbine.

I haven't loaded any .223 yet, but I found I had similar problems to the OP when I did some .30 carbine. You have to slow down a bit with rifle compared to pistol...and it's important that the shell plate be as tight as it can be without binding. The station I remember having the most trouble with was the powder drop...making sure the funnel landed inside the case mouth...stopping fast if it didn't.

[jdknotts1]

I figured out the shellplate. Tightened it down enough to allow it to spin, but no wobble. And the banging of the brass in the dies I do believe its the dies. I had RCBS dies for the .223. I bought a dillon taper crimp and universal decapper. It is obvious they have a much larger "funnel" area to allow a bit more variance while the case is ascending. Problem is, I really dont feel like spending the money on a Dillon rifle set now that I've already bought the taper crimp. $145 for two dies and a third I dont need? And they not even competition dies...

The SS600, I think the problem was mentioned here earlier. I swaged a few cases and noticed material covering the inside of the flash hole. I do believe it is burrs left over from the drilling out of the flash hole. I can't figure out why this wouldn't be true on most all cases though. I do not plan on going as far as deburring the flash holes. I only plan on using this brass once. Have a good supply and don't feel like picking any up.

[njl]

I typically adjust shell plate tightness by tightening the shell plate bolt all the way down, then back it off roughly 90* (1 quarter turn).