RT1200 Questions

[ark_fireman]

I'm interested in purchasing a Dillon trimmer but have a question about how my setup should be. I've envisioned my toolheads as follows...

Processing TH will have my size die at station 1, trimmer at 3 then I can cycle thru the machine, tumble to remove lube, swage if applicable the run thru loading head with decap die to remove media in flash hole then continue in normal fashion. My question is there any adjustability in the trim die or do you HAVE to size with it? I tend to use FB bullets and i'm not to sure about the lack of a expander in the process. Thanks in advance for your replies!

[Kahai808]

what reloader are you using? 1050?

[D.Hayden]

>>

My question is there any adjustability in the trim die or do you HAVE to size with it?

<<

No, you don't have to, some people do size with a normal full length sizing die in Station 1, and just trim with the trimmer

[ark_fireman]

what reloader are you using? 1050?

I have a 650.. Thank you for your responces

Edited August 20, 2013 by ark_fireman

[benos]

Here's a thread on the RT 1200 with some good info.

[roxfo]

I'm interested in purchasing a Dillon trimmer but have a question about how my setup should be. I've envisioned my toolheads as follows...

Processing TH will have my size die at station 1, trimmer at 3 then I can cycle thru the machine, tumble to remove lube, swage if applicable the run thru loading head with decap die to remove media in flash hole then continue in normal fashion. My question is there any adjustability in the trim die or do you HAVE to size with it? I tend to use FB bullets and i'm not to sure about the lack of a expander in the process. Thanks in advance for your replies!

The trimmer alone makes my 1050 worth having. I load 308 for Palma and 300m shooting, so the following may or may not be relevant to your situation.

The neck of the Dillon 308 trim die is very tight when compared to the bushing I would choose for a Redding Neck or FL die. You can back off the trim die (within reason) to avoid moving the shoulder, and to limit the sizing of the body, but you can't avoid passing the case neck through that very tight die neck. Common advice is to avoid reducing the neck diameter by more than 0.005" or so in a single step. The Dillon die is so tight that I would need 2 neck reduction steps before the trim die in order to comply with the 0.005" guidance. I've ordered trim dies from CH4D that have more conventional dimensions and only require one preliminary neck-down step. The die has to grip the case a little to stop it from spinning, so I don't think you could open-up the neck and avoid sizing altogether. As a minimum some neck sizing is required.

A tiny bit of flare with an 'M' die negates the need to chamfer, and helps to give a very positive bullet alignment. The trimmer cut is very clean, so no deburr is required.

[Shadowrider]

When I first started with mine I was setup just like you suggest except that I was using a Hornady FL size die in the loading head that I backed off to not size. My thinking was to just expand the neck and clear the flash hole as that's all that is really necessary. What I found was that the hornady die was pulling the shoulder back out a bit since there was no lube (I tumble again to remove it after trimming). A Dillon FL die with its carbide expander ball fixed this. It runs smooth like butter on ice. There is adjustability in the trimmer die. You can partially size the body and just kiss the shoulder and then fully size in your loading head if you want, but you'll still need lube if you go that route. Or you can partially FL size and finish it off with the trimmer die in your processing head. The main thing being that the trimmer die does need to size a bit of it to keep the case from spinning like mentioned before. It's a pretty versatile setup with several methods available.

Edit: I also run it on a 650

Edited August 20, 2013 by Shadowrider

[Coleman]

You can put a case mouth expander in station 5 to open up the case a bit for flat base bullets.

[ark_fireman]

Thats got me headed in the right direction.. I certainly appreciate it fellas!