The Holly Grail of Breakage and its Game Over for the Session...

[Nimitz]

Not exactly a breakage story but I somehow managed to get a 22 case perfectly positioned over the decamping pin and on the downstroke the pin speared the 22 case dead center and right onto the pin shaft .. It fit perfectly .... Don't know how many rds I loaded before I noticed the 22 case. It was only when the pin got pushed up and I took the die off to get at the pin and saw the 22 case skewered onto the decamping pin shaft ....

[Paul-the new guy]

Had my first primer less belling last night. Oops! I literally realized it as it was dropping the powder too. DOH!

Luckily its pretty damn easy to remove the shell plate and clean'er up.

I don't bother cleaning it up, I just keep right on loading. It doesn't hurt a thing.

Me either. Although, the first time I tried to vacuum up the spilled powder after finishing reloading I found that the brass station locator pins are mightily attracted to the vacuum nozzle. Luckily I was able to pour them out of the very long vacuum hose after having shut it down in the nick of time.

Did the same thing, but did not react in time and spent the next 20 minutes sifting through lords knows what in my shop vac

I thought I was the only one who had done that... It took me a minute to realize what had just gotten sucked up byt the vac... I have a vac hose hooked to my bench that I use for my trimmer so the only thing I had to dig through was brass shavings...

[crasher]

According to the data sheet from Digi-Key, the (Chicom Cherry Brand) microswitch on the Dillon case feeder is only good for 6,000 cycles (as I read it).

While I only use that particular XL650 to decap military 5.56, I can tell you that the switch tends to give up at about 120K, and manages to cause the 20 amp GFCI to pop about every 3rd round down the tube passed the paddle.

Damned if I can understand how it can trip a 20 amp GFCI, but I replaced 2 GFCIs before I realized it was the case feeder switch that was doing it. I took one switch apart and it's mostly clean inside, no soot and arcing tracks, and the motor will run fine if I take the switch out of the circuit.

I wear a lot of Station-1 Locator units out. I wish there was some replacement made out of brass or stainless that didn't scar so easily. I get a divot on the far right just from brass dropping onto it from the feeder.

The plastic Station-1 Insert mechanism wears out pretty regularly and wobbles which causes brass to hang up in the locator which scars the aluminum when you crash the brass into the bottom of the die because it didn't feed that last 1/8 inch into the shell plate, if it hasn't hung up and crashed into the bottom of the drop tube first. I grease my rails every 200 to 250 rounds (I have a counter) but the plastic unit only lasts me about 30K to 40K at best, and it's getting pretty wobbly about 75% of the way through that number. I break the springs more often than that.

Yes, I pay Dillon a lot of money for parts I break and stockpile as well as shipping, because I know it's not a warranty issue. And I have to say that they never send me the wrong stuff or make me wait too long on stock. But I would appreciate it if they'd come up with a Dillon sticker for my tool boxes already.

I just wish I knew how you guys keep that blue paint so nice and clean. I spend a lot of time wiping grease smudges from mine.

Edited March 20, 2013 by crasher

[Mastiff]

Crasher, I decided to re-visit this thread tonight. I read your post twice. I wish you would post a few images of the station 1 feeder issues you've pointed out. In my book, anyone who does a failure analysis on the case feeder micro switch is the real deal reloader.

Dog

[kevin c]

Ever sieve 8# of Universal Clays because the locking clamp of the powder measure came off and fell into the funnel you were using to dump the powder back into the keg?

The clamp was easy, though it did take dumping most of the keg through the sieve to find it. Worse was the bloody hex headed screw for it that separated from the clamp while in the keg - it fell through the sieve. A magnet did not help. I had to go through most of the powder bit by bit to find it.

Sure, it happened after a session so it didn't hold up loading. But it sure as anything held up my chance to relax afterwards.

[jmorris]

Reloading presses are like women, nothing good ever comes out of trying to force them.

[Mastiff]

Kevin, I understand your pain, however, your incident fails to meet the criteria of the "holy grail" because your session was already over. Anything having to do with powder, except getting a nice exact clean charge into your case is a hassle. It doesn't matter, you can't buy powder right now anyway, unless you pay double for it.

I have stripped the body tightening the clamp, and that error costs $12 and 4 days waiting for the part. I insisted on paying dillon for the part, I got lazy and didn't move the fail safe assembly out of the way. My allen wrench came at the screw at a slight angle and that was all she wrote. With Dillon parts I've learned two things: 1. Never over tighten, and 2. Make sure your tool is straight.

[congewe]

Ok here is my story.

Just started loading with a XL650 setup for 5.56/.223.

I'm setup to load in two stages. Case prep first. #1 station resize, #3 station trim, #5 station Lyman Neck Expander M Die 22 Cal.

I was having problems with the processed cases extracting when finished. I also noticed if I gave the handle a pop at the top of the stroke the cases would extract and fall into the cartridge bin. Didn't seem right but was working. Well tell the ring indexer broke.

After a post I was informed the ejector wire needs a little bending to work properly.

No problem. Dillon sent replacement parts along with a tool to align the platform.

While waiting for the parts I setup to load some .50 Beowulf. Was not going to load much so manual indexing didn't bother me.

After recieving replacement parts I was ready to reinstall.

Directions called for dropping alignment tool down the powder measure die. So thats what I did before installing the platform. Not good.

.50 Beowulf uses a large powder measure die. Tool dropped right through causing the ring indexer to flip off the main shaft and onto the floor. of course the pawl spring was no longer in the ring indexer. Then I cried. Looked for what seemed like a hour but could not find.

Have another one on the way from Dillon.

[Mastiff]

Congewe, spring losses bring sadness when lost during a maintenance or repair. Springs have a mysterious quality to them, they become elusive - just when you need them most. With spring losses, the reloading area, like my garage for example, becomes the "Bermuda Triangle". They never appear again. Your tears are well justified. And everyone here has to have lost a spring at one time or another. I bought one of them Dillon utility or storage boxes for a couple bucks. By buying an authentic Dillon OEM box, everything looks nice. Then I buy a bunch of different springs and I buy duplicates. The motto to your story is to never let a spring prevent you from pulling the handle.

Dog

[Mastiff]

7 years with 550, haven't even broken a de capping pin.

Because its Friday night again, I've decided to revive the thread and start with your contribution. Sorry, you may be the best reloader known to mankind, but I'm throwing up the BS flag on the no breakage on the decap pin. Unless of course you never or rarely use your machine. Or the other possibility is you've only reloaded new brass the last 7 years.

Dog

[aug1911]

Mastiff, I guess I fall under the BS flag as well, I have been loading on my 550 since 1996 and I have never broken a decap pin either. I use Dillon, RCBS, Lee, Hornaday, and Lyman dies, and I load 38s, 45acp,44mag,38/357,45 colt,and 9mm,at minimum of a 1000 rnds per session. I'm sure it will happen at some point but not as of yet!

[blind bat]

Berdan primed brass is the work of satan.

[Mastiff]

Mastiff, I guess I fall under the BS flag as well, I have been loading on my 550 since 1996 and I have never broken a decap pin either. I use Dillon, RCBS, Lee, Hornaday, and Lyman dies, and I load 38s, 45acp,44mag,38/357,45 colt,and 9mm,at minimum of a 1000 rnds per session. I'm sure it will happen at some point but not as of yet!

Ok, I'll drop the BS flag on you because you were humble enough to admit that it could happen in the future. By the way, bent pins are also considered broken pins. One thing about your list of calibers you reload. I don't see .223 on your reloading list.

Dog

[Mastiff]

Berdan primed brass is the work of satan.

Blind bat you're being too kind. I think you need to have chat with aug1911.

Dog

[Mastiff]

Aug1911, I see that's your first post, welcome aboard. I'm new around here too. I think of all the other forums I've read can be a bit harsh. This one is the most forgiving and friendliest of all. Everyone here is always willing to step up and help you with a question or problem you're having. Reloading is a serious hobby and being safe is our number one priority. But sometimes I think we need to take a few minutes to lighten up and share some of our mistakes. We can all stand to learn something.

Dog

[aug1911]

Agreed Mastiff, this is one of the best forums of all. There is alot of knowlage and friendly folks here and they are willing to share and be helpful toward others.

I don't load the .223,it's not a cal. that appeals to me, there's nothing wrong with it. I only load handgun calibers on my 550 and load all my rile calibers on a single stage.

Edited April 6, 2013 by aug1911

[SD1]

i loaded so many 40/10mm i wore out A&B collets on Hornady Bullet feeder die...

does that count

[Mastiff]

i loaded so many 40/10mm i wore out A&B collets on Hornady Bullet feeder die...

does that count

Not really, it's good that you are working the equipment.. Sounds like normal wear and tear, even though I know nothing about the collets on Hornady feeder dies. You'll have to come up with another breakage incident to qualify, sorry.

Dog

[bajadudes]

Funny I just bought 10 decapping pins from Brian. it's weird, after years of loading on the 1050, 2 weeks ago I bent 2 pins in a row. Honestly I really never had anything major happen. I use 100 psi compressed air to blow loose powder and debris, handle down and toolhead fully down or the little pins go flying. I do that about every 1K rounds or when it gets bothersome. crushed a fair share of primers...stuff like that. I did try to resize 10 loaded rounds and found that I also resized the speer gold dot bullets so that they just slipped right down into the case. I have seen Chris Tilleys wife blow up an entire tube of primers. Needles to say she doesnt run the press anymore for him..LOL.

I have also sucked up the pins in a vacuum, hence the compressed air I now use.

All in all the dillon is rock solid as long as you take care of it and keep it clean.

[freakshow10mm]

Had a full stack of primers detonate while loading on the 1050 and shoot the plastic rod out of the primer magazine and hit the ceiling. First time it took out the overhead light and I had glass shards raining down on me. Then I moved the bench in the house with no light over it. Happened again and now the ceiling tile supports a hole and some spray from the primer fragments when it lit off a second time.

[Ssanders224]

Well, just sat down to reload some .40 on my SDB, and five rounds in the shell plate bolt snapped when I pushed forward to seat a primer!

I seriously hope I can get a new bolt quickly, and that I can get the rest of the old bolt out of the ram... This sucks.

[dirty whiteboy]

SQ Deal: Broken, several decapping pins,several shell plate bolts, cracked main frame, broken handle, broke side arms thingys. I break everything, I should be a product tester.

[scythefwd]

Sizing a 5.56 case and forgot to lube the batch. Stuck it solid and ripped the head off when I tried to bring the arm back up. Was able to unscrew the decapping pin (RCBS) and fit a brass rod through the hole. Screwed the die upside down into my single stage and used the ram to push the now destroyed case out of the die.

Now that right there is genious. I under lubed a .308 and got it stuck in a lee die.. so stuck the rim ripped off, and the freaking decapping pin removed itself. I just took a hammer and beat the back of the pin out.. taking the case with it. Mushroomed the hell out of that decapping pin, a little bit of grinding, some time in the vice straightening it again, and all is well, for now.

[M-Bear]

Being a bad reloader I was trying to get my 223 reloaded of Friday for a match on Saturday.

So of course I broke the only decaping pin I had. I couldn't get a replacement that fast si in desperation I went shoping for a new sizing die and the local stores were out of lee 223 dies.

I was staring ay my press wondering what to do. my eyes happened on my 357 tool head. The 357 die looked big enough to hold a 223 case. It is wide enough so that it wouldn't size the case. I wondered if it would work as a deprimng station. So I grabbed a 223 case and gave it a try. Looked good so I put it into station 1 in a tool head and moved the 223 sizing die to number 2. It meant another trip through the press for all the brass but it worked.

[Mastiff]

Being a bad reloader I was trying to get my 223 reloaded of Friday for a match on Saturday.

So of course I broke the only decaping pin I had. I couldn't get a replacement that fast si in desperation I went shoping for a new sizing die and the local stores were out of lee 223 dies.

I was staring ay my press wondering what to do. my eyes happened on my 357 tool head. The 357 die looked big enough to hold a 223 case. It is wide enough so that it wouldn't size the case. I wondered if it would work as a deprimng station. So I grabbed a 223 case and gave it a try. Looked good so I put it into station 1 in a tool head and moved the 223 sizing die to number 2. It meant another trip through the press for all the brass but it worked.

Things tend to break when they are the most needed. A broken decap pin is hardly catastrophic. However, the fact that it broke when you needed it the most qualifies your story for this thread. You should be proud of your creativity. Consider yourself living proof of the old adage "necessity is the mother of invention".

Dog