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Dillon dies - sizing issue-setback


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Hello All,

Not sure where I have been over the years, but I cannot believe I have not found this site earlier!! I have already killed about six hours reading on this site, causing me to miss a few items on my "honey do" list, so thanks for already getting me into trouble!!

I hate for my first post to be a simple question, I have read through countless posts and have not found my answer, so thought I would ask. Anyway, I have been loading for about 20 years, mostly rifle, but a few years ago, I did pick up a 550 and have been loading and shooting about 1k rounds a month for quite a few years. I have always done the "push" test on the edge of my bench to measure or see if there was any set back, which I have yet to see. For whatever reason, after my last batch, I decided to drop the slide release on a few of the rounds. After putting them on the calipers, I am having about a .005 of setback every time I drop the slide release on a round. Havs anyone ever approached Dillion and asked for new dies because of this issue? Everything is set up correctly, my crimp is set to equal the dimensions of a sized case, which is .377at the neck. I am not really concerned with the setback as I really just load and shoot, pressure concerns aren't really a factor as I am loading to an OAL of 1.145 - I would need to reload an unfired round quite a few times before I would see pressure issues, but the thought of having inadequate ammo is kind of making me crazy. So, do you guys recommend talking to dillon, or just getting a U die? Or, any other thought or suggestion?

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What your seeing is normal. There are two impacts that happen when the slide is released. 1; The moment of inertia when the slide impacts the head of the brass as its being stripped from the mag. Like being in a fast car and being pressed into the seat on acceleration but only more violent. 2; The collision of the bullet hitting the feed ramp. Your not going to get away from it.

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I am working this issue right now. I am not happy with the degree of setback either.

I purchased a Lee undersize "U" die and installed that on the second station of my 650, with the decapping guts removed.

This should have the effect of increasing neck tension and minimizing any setback...

Mick

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What your seeing is normal. There are two impacts that happen when the slide is released. 1; The moment of inertia when the slide impacts the head of the brass as its being stripped from the mag. Like being in a fast car and being pressed into the seat on acceleration but only more violent. 2; The collision of the bullet hitting the feed ramp. Your not going to get away from it.

Any degree of setback is not normal. I load with a Udie and I can cycle the same round all day and it won't change at all. I load 9MAJOR and the slightest setback could be bad news.
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I use dies from Dillon, Lee, RCBS, and Hornady on my presses and have measured rounds after chambering them 10 times and I will maybe see .001-.002 on some of them. I dry fire periodically so I tend to check my SD rounds every few weeks and I see zero setback after chambering those rounds 3-4 times. I'd be looking at the sizing die or trying a different bullet if you are seeing setback each time they chamber.

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Same thing happens with factory rounds. In a former job we issued Speer Gold Dots for ammo and M&P .40's for sidearms. We constantly observed short rounds that chambered over and over again.

I believe your loading technique is sound and new dies are not required unless you have the itch to try something new.

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Thanks everyone, I appreciate the feedback. I agree that it is not a good thing and needs to be corrected. I would new upset if I bought new ammo and had setback, I expect my ammo to be of equal quality. I am shooting them out of a g17 &g19, they are long, but do not hit rifling. If I keep loading them, they consistently get shorter at the same rate until they are below spec, the rifling is not the cause. The load is berrys 115 gr rn, mixed brass, but I have not been able to isolate the issue to any one type of brass, hence my thoughts on being a bad sizing die. I don't really see Dillion agreeing with me, but being local, I will be stopping by their shop sometime this week. I will let everyone know what they say.

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Don't waste your time talking to Dillon, they are not going to make a special die just for you. Buy a U Die and the problem is solved. All factory ammunition I have ever had will set back when cycled. When I was an LEO and had to clear the gun daily it didn't take long before the first round was seated below specs and would have to be discarded. This happened to 9mm, .40 and .45 duty issued ammo so it is not uncommon. Buy a U die and your set back problems will be diminished or completely eliminated.

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When I switched to MG bullets I started having issues with setback in Federal, Blazer and a couple others though Winchester which is the bulk of my brass always worked fine. Taking Sarge's advice I purchased a EGW U die and have had zero issues since.

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I'm just wondering....exactly how many times do you plan on cycling that round in a match or practice? Me, 99% of the time, when a bullet goes into a chamber, only a piece of brass comes out...We are talking match ammo here, not carry ammo...its gonna get shot after what, two times max through the chamber? If thats so, then what is all the fuss about?

Edit to add: And if this is not match ammo or plinking ammo, and you are using it for self defense, you are gonna have a heap more trouble than just .005 set back with it. And even then, are you gonna be unloading the gun every single night (or day) and using the same round over and over into the chamber first?

Edited by GrumpyOne
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Undersize sizing dies are ok, but you might want to take the powder drop tube and have it turned down a bit. Between those 2 items any set back will be due to magazine issues allowing the round to nose dive into the feed ramp. They all do a little, but some are worse and can be corrected.

Also note that your first and last round from a Dillon Press will most likely be .005" longer than all of the other rounds. Has to do with the stacking of resistance tolerances. If you want to totally give in to OCD, they sell kits of set screws to eliminate it.

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Thanks everyone. Grumpy, as stated in the post, it's just practice ammo. It will only be loaded and shot. I had just never ran through the process of measuring after cycling a round. It was just an OCD question, the thought of making sub-par ammo isn't in my thought process. So, I wanted to see how/if anyone dealt with similar OCD issues!! Thanks everyone!! I will purchase a U die and see how it turns out!!

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