550 powder mess with .223 Rem.?!

[jayjay1]

Hello everybody,

I began to reload the 223 on my 550 and had several times a big powder mess.

This happens obviously, when the cases are not aligned properly with the powder funnel.

So I tried back and forth with raising and lowering the shell plate, to get the brass stand up straight, but it didn´t help.

Oh, and yes, I´m loading rifle calibers in two steps, first step is case prep, then second step starting with seating the primer on station 1 and filling with powder on station 2.

(No neck expanding of course.)

Where am I doing it wrong?

[redial]

If you're loading extruded powders, the powder's bridging inside the powder funnel. For every dumped mess, I'll bet you have a loaded round (or two) with incomplete powder charges.

The cure seems to be to ream the funnel's interior to a smooth cone shape, rather than the abrupt, "stepped" contour it comes with. I did mine with four or five different sized drill bits and a round file to clean it up.

Others have attached various vibrating gizmos to their 550s to shake the powder into the case, but I'll let them explain how they did it.

The other issue is sizing lube on the case tends to attract kernels of powder which then stick to the case shoulder or the interior of the powder funnel, creating a gap between case and funnel. Powder spills through the gap, missing the case mouth. This is why I resize, then tumble the lube off before bringing cases to the Dillon. They should be DRY.

Mark

Edited June 6, 2015 by redial

[jayjay1]

Ok, easiest answer first.

After step 1 (decapping, resizing, trimming) all cases get tumbled again, so they are dry.

Drill and file away the step on the downisde of the funnel will be harder to do so.

Did you round the shoulder of the funnel too?

Wouldn´t this cause to some leaking?

I will take a closer look to the funnel now.

(Vibrating, oh man...)

This makes me thinking about filling the powder with my Lee powder measurer.....

Edited June 6, 2015 by jayjay1

[Alan550]

Another possibility is that you're going too fast. If you're used to loading pistol (straight wall cases) you need to hesitate at the top of the ram stroke to allow time for the powder to drop into a rifle case as opposed to the pistol rounds which drop the powder quickly. It takes a bit for the larger powder amount to drop into that small case mouth.

Alan~^~

[Youngeyes]

This^^^ You have to hold the handle down for a count of 3 then raise. Also, check that you have the funnel in the right way. I ran it upside down and made a real mess.

[jayjay1]

The funnel upside down?

Holy Cow!

The rifle funnels are different to pistol funnel, right?

No expander, more the negativ of the case neck, with those dang step where my cases seems to hang sometimes.

I do wait for roundabout 3 seconds, that´s not the thingy, the cases don´t go flush into the funnel.

[Steve RA]

Check the tension on the nut that holds the shell plate down. If not adjusted properly the shell plate can tip slightly and this will tip the case slightly, making it miss the mouth of the die.

[Youngeyes]

Check that you're using the correct shellplate and buttons.

[redial]

Sorry if I wasn't clear - the TOP of the funnel gets reamed, not the bottom where the cartridge contacts it.

And yes, you may be creating your own gap by going too fast!

Mark

[jayjay1]

All right guys,

disassembled the shell plate and checked everything.

The spring of the ball under the plate seemed to be a bit weak, so I checked my spare parts and found a new spring which was about 1/4" longer than the old one.

With the new spring, the shell plate has more tension and the cases are standing more upright.

Did some reloading and it was easier.

Had sometimes to adjust the cases a bit upright by hand, but had no powder mess at all.

Will see how it works further on.

Thanks for your input and help!