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My Dillon powder die sucks. Alternatives?


DonovanM

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It doesn't drop powder OR bell consistently. My moly bullets end up getting shaved down during seating and my powder drop is pretty much a range of .2gr.

I'm loading 9mm. Is there a better option for a 650? I have a free station I can use only to bell...

Thanks.

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Yup, you can get a separate bell die, and just use an open powder die with a lee funnel. Then you can trickle charge each individual cartridge with a balance beam scale to the side and dump it thru the funnel on the up stroke. I do it with my rifle rounds. Its slow, but you won't get better precision.

You should be able to run just fine with your existing setup if you just lower your powder thru die a quater to half turn to open the mouth bell. Some powders meter better than others. I run AA#2 for my 9mm thru my RL 550, and it always meters less than .1 grain accuracy.

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Yup, you can get a separate bell die, and just use an open powder die with a lee funnel. Then you can trickle charge each individual cartridge with a balance beam scale to the side and dump it thru the funnel on the up stroke. I do it with my rifle rounds. Its slow, but you won't get better precision.

You should be able to run just fine with your existing setup if you just lower your powder thru die a quater to half turn to open the mouth bell. Some powders meter better than others. I run AA#2 for my 9mm thru my RL 550, and it always meters less than .1 grain accuracy.

That sounds like total overkill... I am just looking for a powder die that throws pretty consistently. +/- .2gr is a bit much for me.

What powder are you using? Set it a little deeper to get the best amount of bell on 99% of your cases. Some will get too much (it really doesn't matter) but 99% will get enough. My dillon powder measure is very accurate

WSF. It did the same thing with N320. I've futzed with the depth before, guess I'll just keep futzing with it... sigh.

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It doesn't drop powder OR bell consistently. My moly bullets end up getting shaved down during seating and my powder drop is pretty much a range of .2gr.

I'm loading 9mm. Is there a better option for a 650? I have a free station I can use only to bell...

Thanks.

That is interesting. I haven't had this problem with any pistol powder.

I suggest squaring the bottom of the funnel and demurring the inside. Then adjust it down to flare the cases. I have done this with my 45 ACP funnel to smooth machine operation.

You could also send it back to Dillon for a replacement.

Hope you get it sorted out.

- John

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Molys have bigger diameter than jacketed, if you set your 650 for jacketed it will shave the moly. You have to adjust the bell and seating for a moly head.

What powder are you using? What i have noticed is to keep the handle at the down stroke a few more seconds longer, this gives the funnel time to completely fill the casing, this prevents spillage too. Dont rush it, i load for quality not quantity. I used to blame the machine for not perfomrning when it was me that was not doing the part right. Take a break, rethink and do it over again. You are there just be patient.

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That's interesting I am running a 550 using wsf and it meters perfectly

Florida NFA trusts

Mine works perfectly with WSF too. The stem in the 9mm die is necessarily short because of the inside case taper in 9mm. I know you've been working on die adjustment, but it really sounds like you need to work with is some more. Failing that, a Lyman M die could be used to flare the case mouth at one station, then you could use your original powder die in the next station, adjusted so that you get full travel in your powder measure slide. 9mm cases seem to need a bit more flaring than straightwall cases. You are making sure you get full travel of the powder measure slide, aren't you? If your powder measure gets sticky, it can affect your measures accuracy. Also, as your powder settles in the measure during use, you can see an increase in powder charge weight of up to a tenth or so, until the powder settles fully in the hopper.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So I tweaked some things and loaded a bunch of ammo with it staying pretty constant at 4.2gr across 10 throws. Came out to be 41.9gr.

I thought cool, well that's settled.

Came out today to do some loading, weighed my first three powder charges... 4.5-4.6gr.

Futzed with it more, made a whole ton of primed cases to have laying around, and finally made around 500rds at ~4.3gr. Just got sick of messing with it. Gah!

This is really annoying.

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You can futz with it until the cows come home. The reality is that .2 grains isn't going to make any difference in the game we shoot. If you want benchrest accuracy spend a couple hundred bucks and buy a Harrell's powder measure and you'll get the drops you want.

Pat

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...my powder die was bridging with Solo 1000.

What is "bridging"?

Bridging is a situation where stick powders fall in such a way that the build a "bridge" across the cartridge mouth and little to no powder makes it into the cartridge. It usually makes a mess by overflowing all over the plase when the powder die is raised.

Pat

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