adapting a Dillon 550b case feeder to work on .223

[Quag]

I saw a thread and I cannot find it where someone adapted a 550b case feeder to feed .223, he bought a small rifle case feed plate and a 650 white adapter from a 650 case feeder for .223. I trying to find out if you can do this. His post said the 500b 9mm shell aluminium shell feeder plate worked fine on .223. I also confirmed with Dillon the small rifle case feed plate in the blue basket is interchangable with the small pistol case feed plate.

Is this a plan or am I titling at windmills?

thx

[Steve RA]

Search !!! There is a lot of information and some pictures about how someone on here did it.

[chaosshooter00]

My bad, dead link... try this-

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=58752&hl=dillon+550b+case+feeder#entry687846

Search parameter 550 casefeeder.

Edited April 2, 2014 by chaosshooter00

[Quag]

Thanks guys and I did search I always do first but I could find nothing and I used all the names including 550 casefeeder

[808win]

Came across this YouTube video recently. You might be able to contact him via the comment section.

Edited April 3, 2014 by 808win

[Quag]

thanks for that video he is doing his case prep on the 550b with a case feeder and reloading with a 1050. Whats intersting is he has no comments. It looks like he put the 1050 small rifle white adapter on his 550 case feeder. I can't tell what he did to his shell feed plate. I think thats the key to the whole thing. I did not have much time last night but I dropped some .223 shells into the cam feeder of my 550b set up with 9mm shell feed plate and they seemed to feed through the unmodified 9mm shell feed plate into station #1 without too much trouble.

I still have not found the original thread on Enos I was looking for where the guy that posted said all he did was add a small rifle case feed plate to the case feeder cartidge "bin" up top and a 1050 small rifle case feed adapter white part number 13575 and the end of his feed tube and feed it through the 9mm shell feed plate and did not go through the grinding modifications of the cam and station 1 as described by the poster in the thread above. I'd rather not mess with that stuff. I would note that thread is 2008 vintage, the guy that posted about using the white 1050 small rifle adapter was about 2012 and my case feeder is 2014 and my Dillon 550b is 2013. I wonder if there has been some changes to these products compared to what the 2008 poster was using (see the link that chaosshooter00 posted).

I posted a message on that guys utube channel and a comment, I hope he gets back to me..

[808win]

You probably saw this already. Not the one you're looking for. It's titled "RL550B Auto Casefeeder & 300BLK" but contains some references to .223 Remington.

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=157578

Edited April 3, 2014 by 808win

[Quag]

thanks win808 that not the thread I'm looking for but its better. Good stuff. I'll let you know how it works Im going to order a .223 650 case feed adapter and try that with the 9mm feed plate in the 550. I'll feed the drop tube by hand if that all works I'll order the small rifle case feed plate that used for the 650 case feed bin (Dillon says that will work in the 550 case feeder.)

Edited April 3, 2014 by Quag

[Quag]

I have modified my 550b case feed adapter to feed .223/5.56. I replaced the green 9mm case feed adapter with a white case feed adapter that made for the 650. I also bought the notched small rifle wheel that sits in the bin that is sold for the 650. Other than that I did no modifications to the case feed ram or case feed plate or station 1 locator. It works reasonably well. The only problem I have had was related to primer seating which was related to another issue (which I also solved).

I also should mention my setup its a bit different that others. for rifle I separate my case feed prep from my reloading for a variety of reasons. So set up my 550b set up for station 1 (priming no tool head), station 2 (powder drop), station 3 bullet seating, station 4 crimping. Even with this setup I'm sure the 650 case feeder is a lot faster for .223. I occasionally have hiccups when I load .223, its not as smooth as when I'm loading 9mm.

I do my decapping and resizing using a full length Dillon decapping/resizing die set on a $29 single stage Lee press, I trim using a Little Crow on a drill and swage using a Dillon Swager. This way I do all of the rifle case prep separate from the loading and I do case prep in front of TV. I use a case gage to check cases after resizing for length and width.

Was it worth it rather than buying a 650? I really don't know I don't have a 650. It it took me a long time to get my 500b case feeder to work right (true for pistol or rifle). I'm really stubborn and this whole process took a long time and I almost gave up and threw that 550b case feeder in the trash but that is not really related to using it for .223 that's when I first put it on the 550b and used it for pistol. I suspect the 650 is a lot smoother for .223 than the 550b adapted set up.