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For the first-timers: First ten rounds ever reloaded (and shot just pe


ChemistShooter

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Again, this is not a question, just an ongoing report from a first-time reloader that hopefully other first-time reloaders will benefit from.

After about eight weeks of reloader-manual reading, YouTube trolling, and enos-forum browsing, and cautious, step-by-step-while-asking-the-enos-forumites die-configuration, I finally reached the stage where I was ready to load and shoot my first rounds.

I had one minor kerfluffle. I wanted to set the powder-charging screw on the powder bar to zero, then carefully back it out a little at a time until I got the powder weight I wanted.

But I was now dealing with explosives. Step One: EYE AND EAR PROTECTION ON.

After watching the Dillon video as carefully as I could, I got it exactly backward and had the powder-screw full open and dumped powder all over the shell plate. Since I was dealing with gunpowder, I stopped dead and called Dillon. I was straightened out in about ten minutes. Although taking the 550B completely apart and vacuuming up all the loose powder took another twenty.

For the record: The powder die has to be BACKED ALL THE WAY OUT to set the powder charge to the minimum possible. Screwing it in increases powder weight. Screwing it out decreases powder weight.

(To Dillon: I love your customer service but man, you guys GOT to work on that video. A lot of the camera angles are bad and the explanations are just not detailed enough.)

I set the powder weight I wanted, 3.9 grains of Titegroup. Now I had to test it for reproduciblity.

Now here I did something analytical-chemist. I have a little dinky Hornady powder balance. (No florescents anywhere close or excessive vibration.) I tared the balance with the shell case and that way all I saw was the powder weight.

"Tare the balance" means I put the empty shell case on the balance and punched the "ZERO" button. Now I could adjust weight VERY quickly. Drop powder into case. Put tared case on balance. Wait thirty seconds for balance to stabilize. (Normal balance behavior for very small weight changes. Adjust screw as needed. Dump powder back into hopper. Tare case again (Powder clinging to case wall. My experience with this indicates retained powder reaches around 0.1 grain when the interior case wall saturates.) Repeat until you have the desired weight.

I have seen practically everybody put the powder in the shell and then pour it onto the balance pan. Bad method, people. Fine powder is clingy. When you pour it out, some of it is going to be left behind sticking in the case. Your resulting weight estimates will be a touch low.

My final weights were 3.9, 3.9, 3.9, 3.9, 4.0, 3.8. (It's possible stroke technique may be affecting powder weight. We'll see.)

Now on to loading primers.

It appears the RL550B has a slight primer system design problem. Here is the video from the guy who found and fixed the problem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI7HpdHvlco

Here is the forum link where the solution to the problem can be found: http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=210141&hl=

Again, this is something the Dillon video isn't too clear on, but I got this one right and got the primers in the tube like they were supposed to be without blowing myself up.

Now that I finally had everything set up, I made ten rounds. VERY slowly, checking the primer for proper seating, checking the powder in the shell each time, starting to build a routine. I still had problems. Three of my rounds didn't have a primer in them. This was because the little paper-clip-looking spring wasn't close enough. I took the faulty rounds apart with the bullet puller, put the powder back in the hopper and it all worked better the second.

I didn't recycle the bullets. I put new bullets in. I don't know If I could've re-used the old bullets or not.

When I had all ten bullets made, I checked the OAL. 1.151 within tolerance, exactly like I had set it last night. Primers all looking good and recessed a tiny bit into their pockets like they ought to be.

So, finally, off to the range with my reloaded bullets.

Shot 100 rounds of Blazer factory stock first, which has been my normal practice up till now.

I then put up a fresh target, loaded ONE round into the magazine, racked the slide and sighted up on the ten ring twenty feet away.

I have to say I wasn't really worried. I have received so much useful input from you guys here and Dillon I wasn't particularly concerned.

Bang, went the gun and a nice hole appeared in the ten ring, and the slide locked back nice and easy.

I repeated one-round-at-a-time for five straight rounds. Not the slightest problem. Damn, it was SMOOTHER than the Blazer. It's difficult to explain, but the bang felt smoother.I wasn't really expecting that,

I loaded three rounds in the mag, couldn't quite bring myself to do five. Bang, bang, bang, right in the ten ring, again REALLY friggin' smooth. Did the last two one at a time, still not the slightest problem.

Life is good. (Yeah, I've watched hickok45.) I must admit I was slightly pumped after I fired the last round. Everything had worked.

One thing I forgot to do and couldn't have done anyway. I forgot to inspect the brass for signs of overpressure. There was so much brass on the ground I couldn't have found the right cases anyway. I'm pretty certain that's not happening because 3.9 gr TiteGroup is a minimum load, but it pays to be thorough.

I am going to make a couple hundred rounds tonight (still going slow, you bet) and shoot them tomorrow.

Quality control: Check powder weight every fifty rounds. Create Excel reloading record logbook and record relevant data. Tag reloaded rounds with logbook entry number, (So much of this reloading thing is like the way I have to work.) caliber, and date of manufacture.

Maintenance: Pour powder back into container and seal. Clean hopper with 95% alcohol. Clean primer tubes with 95% alcohol. Disassemble shell plate. Vacuum up any loose powder and primer cups. Wipe with 95% ethanol. Rinse die interiors with paper towel soaked with 95% ethanol. (Although my brass is absolutely squeaky clean.) A clean 550B is a happy 550B.

For the record: 3.9 gr Titegroup, 115 gr Hornady FMJ, 1.151 OAL, 9mm. Don't have a chronograph so don't know what PF was.

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Congratulations on a good outcome with those first rounds. I applaud your care and diligence in getting started. I'm trying to adopt a similar approach to the switch from a Lee turret press to a Dillon 650. Just ready now to get the powder bar set for the .40 load I want to try out. Looks like I'll have the first rounds ready to chrono over the weekend, if it isn't too cold.

I guess you know you really ought to get a chronograph. You're probably good with rounds at the low end of the pressure range, but always good to know what you're getting.

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DO NOT STOP THE PRESS TO CHECK THE CHARGE WEIGHT EVERY 50 ROUNDS. I can't stress this enough. This is where squibs and double charges are made. Check your charge weight before you start a session, then leave it alone. Trust your press.

Another thing, don't do the charge weight thing in the case anymore either. Throw 10 charges, putting each one into the pan that comes with your scale, then divide by 10 to get the charge weight. The amount of powder that will stick inside of a case is so small as to not be measurable even on the powder scales.

And I'm going to mention this now, as I have no doubt you will come across it very soon. DON'T TRY TO DETERMINE A SQUIB BY WEIGHING A COMPLETED ROUND. It can't be done. Even with brass from the same manufacturer, the weight of each case can vary by more than the weight of the powder charge inside. If you think you've made a squib, you have two options....pull all the bullets and see, or shoot them, one at a time.

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I have seen practically everybody put the powder in the shell and then pour it onto the balance pan. Bad method, people. Fine powder is clingy. When you pour it out, some of it is going to be left behind sticking in the case. Your resulting weight estimates will be a touch low.

Just a note for those of us still using a beam scale, as I do, there is no zero button to push...So dumping the powder from the case, into the pan, is the best way to check your powder charge....It only takes a second to peak inside the case and see if all the powder came out. And for the past 40 years, it always has. :)

Bob

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I'm not gonna lie, in slightly more than the time it took me to read that, a couple weeks ago I was able to unbox a 550, set it up, adjusted dies and powder drop, loaded ten rounds and shot for function, loaded ten more, chronoed, and then loaded 50 more and had a cup of coffee. OK, I lied a little, but not much.

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Chemist, there you go again with those science terms, reproduciblity. Even though my undergraduate degree was mechanical engineering, with minors in chemistry, physics and math, shooter don't talk like that. Rather, say it loads the same each time. Here's the deal, setup your loader to get accuracy and cycle in your gun, then, don't mess with your load. You sound like you are working on a PhD thesis on casual internal ballistics observations instead of gripn and ripn. The whole point to reloading is shooting. Hold your gun like this, observe the number of cases in the air, and check your powder weights the way Grump and others have said because even the same head stamp cases can have different weights. Your'e not running a lab scale or writing a report, get to the shooting part!

image37140.jpg

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Can't say I've ever heard of someone loading with earpro before :P. But yes, always wear eyepro.

Another thing, don't do the charge weight thing in the case anymore either. Throw 10 charges, putting each one into the pan that comes with your scale, then divide by 10 to get the charge weight.

What's wrong with using the tare function and weighing charges inside the case? I can see not doing it if your scale only measures to .1 grains, but the scale I'm using is accurate to .02 grains. Weighing charges inside cases and taking an average seems to work well for me.

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This thread cracks me up! A newb telling 20,000 forum members they are doing it wrong. Wiping tubes and dies down with whatever every time you're finished. Wow. Almost sounds fake...

It's really not rocket science. Sure, you have to be careful but the OP is way overthinking the whole process.

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Can't say I've ever heard of someone loading with earpro before :P. But yes, always wear eyepro.

Another thing, don't do the charge weight thing in the case anymore either. Throw 10 charges, putting each one into the pan that comes with your scale, then divide by 10 to get the charge weight.

What's wrong with using the tare function and weighing charges inside the case? I can see not doing it if your scale only measures to .1 grains, but the scale I'm using is accurate to .02 grains. Weighing charges inside cases and taking an average seems to work well for me.
What's wrong with this? All cases weigh differently. It takes way too damn long. But most importantly stutter stepping the press is the best way I know of to get erratic drops. The drops will be much more consistant if they are pulled from the plate at a somewhat normal operating speed.

Assuming a progressive press is being used.

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Can't say I've ever heard of someone loading with earpro before :P. But yes, always wear eyepro.

Another thing, don't do the charge weight thing in the case anymore either. Throw 10 charges, putting each one into the pan that comes with your scale, then divide by 10 to get the charge weight.

What's wrong with using the tare function and weighing charges inside the case? I can see not doing it if your scale only measures to .1 grains, but the scale I'm using is accurate to .02 grains. Weighing charges inside cases and taking an average seems to work well for me.
What's wrong with this? All cases weigh differently. It takes way too damn long. But most importantly stutter stepping the press is the best way I know of to get erratic drops. The drops will be much more consistant if they are pulled from the plate at a somewhat normal operating speed.

Assuming a progressive press is being used.

Got it. Makes sense for a progressive, unfortunately I'm using a turret right now :(. Seems easier for me to just weigh the first few charges in the cases at the start of each loading session. And of course I re-zero the scale with each case.

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Grumpy, I developed a mantra about two rounds in.

"Downstroke"

"Seat!"

"CHECK POWDER!"

"Rotate"

"Bullet"

"Brass"

I was literally chanting that over and over the whole time. I had a light set up on the press and had a seat dead over the charging die. It got checked every time.

Advice noted.

It's not the not checking the powder that causes squibs...it's the removing and checking the weight.

I understand you wanting to get this right (and keep all all of your fingers in the process, along with making good ammo), but you are over complicating a pretty simple process. Yes, you have to pay attention to what you are doing, but trust the press to do what it was designed to do....that's why you bought it, right?

One more bit of advice, I would remove the earpro...I like to hear my press operate, so that I can hear when something is not right with it. The eyepro is a must-have though.

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I can't believe I actually slept thru all this discussion last night. :yawn:

I don't see a question, so I won't offer an answer ... :ph34r:

I don't know where to start - I don't empty my powder hopper or

sterilize my reloader after each reloading session. Powder, in

an open space, is NOT an explosive. Primers aren't all that

dangerous.

Did I miss the part about The Plunk Test?

No chrono???

Too much detail where it's NOT necessary, and too little detail

where it IS necessary.

Chemist, welcome to the Forum, and thanks for trying to educate our

newbies - hope you get a chance to enjoy the process more as it

becomes more familiar to you.

Stay safe - make sure there IS powder in Every Case. :cheers:

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Don't vacuum spilled gunpowder.

Static charges and brushes in the motor can ignite it. Just use a brush and sweep it up. Maybe a little compressed air.

Black powder is explosive, smokeless powder burns with vigor.

Congratulations on getting started with rolling your own ammo. It's really gratifying to find the your own ammo produces groups half the size of factory ammo.

I never saved any money reloading, just get to shoot more.

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Okay, 248 rounds made, two rejects. One because a different manufacturer (CBC) snuck in somehow and got stuck on the powder die.

The other was a Blazer that went "CHUNK!" on the seating stroke and felt really rocky. I pulled the case, finished the plate, and inspected the brass. The primer wasn't in far enough, apparently because the pocket wasn't right somehow.

Question: How do you get rid of high primers? I vaguely recall reading something about flooding with mineral oil somewhere.

I also discovered I had managed to make two rounds with spent primers. Apparently the primer doesn't always go through that little hole. Insufficient downstroke? I have learned to inspect that hole when I put the brass in it.

Another question: Can I re-use the bullets? Or throw them away?

I also had a case go "CHUNK!" on the seating stroke because a spent primer had been thrown into it while it was in the bullet tray. I got to do something to make the spent primers go into the little cup and nowhere else.

I case-gauged all my rounds and they started sticking. For a minute I thought I had a bad problem, but it was the gunk Hornady put on the bullets to prevent corrosion building up in the gauge. I thought, well, if it's sticking in the case gauge, what's going to happen in my chamber? So I wound up cleaning them all with rubbing alcohol. The rounds are all looking nice and pretty and ready for the range now.

So noted about the vacuum cleaning. It was just a sprinkling of powder. I"m probably gonna wind up shooting at least a little more.

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Grumpy, I developed a mantra about two rounds in.

"Downstroke"

"Seat!"

"CHECK POWDER!"

"Rotate"

"Bullet"

"Brass"

I was literally chanting that over and over the whole time. I had a light set up on the press and had a seat dead over the charging die. It got checked every time.

Advice noted.

It's not the not checking the powder that causes squibs...it's the removing and checking the weight.

I understand you wanting to get this right (and keep all all of your fingers in the process, along with making good ammo), but you are over complicating a pretty simple process. Yes, you have to pay attention to what you are doing, but trust the press to do what it was designed to do....that's why you bought it, right?

One more bit of advice, I would remove the earpro...I like to hear my press operate, so that I can hear when something is not right with it. The eyepro is a must-have though.

Yeah, based on my experience last night, you really do have to be able to hear it. So earpro off.

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This thread cracks me up! A newb telling 20,000 forum members they are doing it wrong. Wiping tubes and dies down with whatever every time you're finished. Wow. Almost sounds fake...

It's really not rocket science. Sure, you have to be careful but the OP is way overthinking the whole process.

This reloading thing is a lot like my real job. I'm basically doing it like I do things at work. A clean, well-maintained machine is a SAFE machine. You take care of it---it'll take care of you.

(And thank you for your service, First Sergeant.)

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Primers aren't all that dangerous.

Only because you live in Florida where the humidity never drops below 75%RH. Primers are subject to static electricity ignition when the humidity drops to 25%RH and less. It the desert it's not uncommon to get down to 10%RH. The greatest danger is when you drop the primers from the pickup tube into the primer magazine on the press. If you don't lower your static potential by touching the press first, your risk setting them all off when you pull the hitch pin and the first primer touches the press. It's also a good idea to ground the press to earth ground, but be sure to check it a volt-ohm meter, don't assume the face plate screw on an outlet is grounded. There was a recent event in Phoenix where a shooter had his press in the garage, and the humidity was extremely low. He pulled the pin and blew the entire tube. Took several stitches to his fingers. And our of our local USPSA shooters blew his trigger finger off at the first joint while picking up primers on the flip tray with the pickup tube. He had just taken of a fleece jacket and had a pretty good static charge on him.

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High primers, try to seat them deeper (mineral oil or other oils are used to kill primers). With just a high primer, I would try to re-seat them just a bit.

The piece of brass with the high primer/pocket not right could have been a crimped primer pocket.

The rounds with spent primers...most likely they were de-primed, and the primer was pulled back into the case when the pin snapped back up...do a search on here about beveling the tip of the de-priming pin.

Re-use the bullets if they are not deformed.

Replace the kotter pin in the primer chute drop with finish nail bent to fit. May have to drill out the holes. Some place a small magnet on the bottom of the chute to add weight get a positive action on the chute.

Tumble your completed rounds (in a dry media tumbler of course) for about 10 minutes to remove the gunk.

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Chemist, you can continue with your reloading research project, but you are not going to invent reloading, or discover anything new. I have been running an old 550 since they first came out more than 35 years ago and have never cleaned anything on the press, just lubed the ram occasionally. We are only trying to help, but it is clear you don't have a good understanding of reloading by the problems you continue to experience. I usually recommend that newbie re-loaders hook up with an experienced competitive shooter ,who has the same press and help them set it up, as it's much more difficult to do on your own. Again, only trying to help, so let me address your latest. If you lived nearby any of us guys, we would be glad to come over and take you thru steps and save you allot of confusion and worry and rework.

248 rounds loaded, 2 rejects. CBC brass is just as good as any other brass, if it stuck on the powder bell, the case itself was probably too long, it only take about .005" or so. Typical once fired 9mm's run about .745" However it should have still cycled thru the press. Brass to look out for is Freedom Munitions, IMT, and AmmoLoad, they all use a stepped case and it can separate in reloads leaving a dead gun.

The 550 seats the primer on the upstroke, so most likely you didn't push it thru enough. You didn't mention where you brass came from, your own brass once fired, or range pickup, or what your brass cleaning process was, wet tumbling, dry tumbling, or ultrasonic, but it is very rare for a case to be deformed at the primer pocket. Now military crimped brass will not seat a primer unless the crimp is removed by a swager. Blazer is really nice brass but unless you presort brass you need to inspect each case in the event it came from a major open 9 and has bulges or rings, or the primer is flat and twice its normal size.

A drop of oil will eventually kill the primer, but I just pitch the occasional one into the recycles.

Never heard of spent primers being re-seated on a 550, the punched primers go down the chute, or if the chute pin is messed up they to break the anvil from the cup. Maybe some other 550 guys have seen this. You can hear them pop out. The 1050 can suck the primer back, especially on the .223Rem and you have to taper the de-capping pin. It would seem like you picked up spent primers in the tube. I fill the catch tray with mineral oil about 1/3 up to minimize primer dust, which has some residual lead from the lead styphnate primer.

You can reuse bullets, you will need a puller, and in the time it takes to remove one, you can load 5.

Again, never heard of a dead primer ending up in a case from the bullet tray? That station is the furthest away from the de-capping die.

Never heard of full metal jackets having a coating on them either. I typically run Montana Golds and they are spotlessly clean. Plain lead and molly coated lead can have residues.

image37165.jpg

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Chemist, you can continue with your reloading research project, but you are not going to invent reloading, or discover anything new. I have been running an old 550 since they first came out more than 35 years ago and have never cleaned anything on the press, just lubed the ram occasionally. We are only trying to help, but it is clear you don't have a good understanding of reloading by the problems you continue to experience. I usually recommend that newbie re-loaders hook up with an experienced competitive shooter ,who has the same press and help them set it up, as it's much more difficult to do on your own. Again, only trying to help, so let me address your latest. If you lived nearby any of us guys, we would be glad to come over and take you thru steps and save you allot of confusion and worry and rework.

248 rounds loaded, 2 rejects. CBC brass is just as good as any other brass, if it stuck on the powder bell, the case itself was probably too long, it only take about .005" or so. Typical once fired 9mm's run about .745" However it should have still cycled thru the press. Brass to look out for is Freedom Munitions, IMT, and AmmoLoad, they all use a stepped case and it can separate in reloads leaving a dead gun.

The 550 seats the primer on the upstroke, so most likely you didn't push it thru enough. You didn't mention where you brass came from, your own brass once fired, or range pickup, or what your brass cleaning process was, wet tumbling, dry tumbling, or ultrasonic, but it is very rare for a case to be deformed at the primer pocket. Now military crimped brass will not seat a primer unless the crimp is removed by a swager. Blazer is really nice brass but unless you presort brass you need to inspect each case in the event it came from a major open 9 and has bulges or rings, or the primer is flat and twice its normal size.

A drop of oil will eventually kill the primer, but I just pitch the occasional one into the recycles.

Never heard of spent primers being re-seated on a 550, the punched primers go down the chute, or if the chute pin is messed up they to break the anvil from the cup. Maybe some other 550 guys have seen this. You can hear them pop out. The 1050 can suck the primer back, especially on the .223Rem and you have to taper the de-capping pin. It would seem like you picked up spent primers in the tube. I fill the catch tray with mineral oil about 1/3 up to minimize primer dust, which has some residual lead from the lead styphnate primer.

You can reuse bullets, you will need a puller, and in the time it takes to remove one, you can load 5.

Again, never heard of a dead primer ending up in a case from the bullet tray? That station is the furthest away from the de-capping die.

Never heard of full metal jackets having a coating on them either. I typically run Montana Golds and they are spotlessly clean. Plain lead and molly coated lead can have residues.

image37165.jpg

Hey 9x45....lighten up.
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Grump, just trying to help. But honestly, some of these issues I have never heard of. And truly I would never want to see anyone KaBoom their gun or blow up a tube of primers. I know a guy who KaBoomed a G21 with factory Aguila ammo, and it left two frags in his sinuses that could not be operated on.

Major Open 9mm brass on the left, mil crimp on the right. Throw that brass away, and give the mil crimp to your buddies who have a 1050 (built in swager)

image37183.jpg

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