450 - more than 1 primer releasing at at time, etc

[Seadog123]

I've searched through the forums for an answer to the following and if it's there my search "skills" have failed me.

 

I have a Dillon 450. It was very inexpensive used but is in very good condition. It's basically a 550, without the removable toolhead, but everything is manual: manual primer bar (pull back to capture primer from the tube) manual powder  bar activation, manual advance of shell plate. I love it as I am a beginner loader, only loading 38 Special, and I can pay close attention to the process and learn. I've loaded a couple of thousand rounds so far.

 

I have two primer related issues:

 

1. When I pull the primer bar back to capture a primer, then let it go forward with a primer into position for seating, a second primer sometimes falls out of the primer tube onto the primer bar. Is there something at the end of the primer tube or in some device that releases the primers one by one that I should be looking at?

 

2. Despite my great care in loading the primers in the feed tube the correct way up, when I pull the primer bar back to capture a primer, then let it go forward with a primer, into position for seating, the primer bar occasionally comes forward with the primer upside down. Why might that be happening and is there a fix?

 

Thanks for any help.

[molson]

Seadog ,

 

i never like like these answers, but I must ask.  Have you found and read the owners manual for this press?  Many questions can be answered with a simple read of the manual.

 

To your question.  Do you have the correct primer pickup slide and primer magazine tube for the caliber you are loading installed on the press?  (If I had the manual I could tell you the correct names of the parts ?).

 

Also, from your description of your process, seems like some parts might be missing.  Make a list after reading that manual and call Dillon.  They most likely will hook you up with them at no cost, even if you are not the first owner.

 

Molson

[dillon]

There is a flat, oval-shaped leaf spring on the back of the primer feed. This spring pushes on a tapered pin. This pin function is to prevent the primers from falling out the bottom of the magazine. As the primer slide is pulled rearward, the cup on the end of the primer slide pushes this pin back, so one primer can drop into the cup. As the slide moves forward, the leaf spring pushes this pin back into position, blocking additional primers from falling out.

 Either your pin is missing, or the pin and hole are gummed up enough to cause the pin to stick in the outward position, allowing primers to run out the bottom of the tube.

Measure the dimension from the underside of the primer slide to the top of the primer cup. It should be 1.215-1.220". If your cup is too tall, it can flip the primer as the slide retracts.

 The other possibility is that the set screw that stops the rearward travel of the primer slide is out of adjustment. This adjustment is done visually. Shine a light at the bottom of the primer feed. With no primers in the tube, look down through the empty magazine, and pull the primer slide back. the slide should come back just past center by a couple of thousanths.