650 Primer Alignment Issues

[kmc]

One of my 650s seems to get into a funk every so often where primer alignment is close but not exact. I feel a bit of crunch as I seat the primer and sometimes the primer is sideways but more often than not, the primer is kind of "smeared" in the pocket. The primer is usually intact and in the primer pocket but with a high portion where the edge of the primer wouldn't fit in the pocket. This doesn't happen often but when it does, I seem to have a string of them. I don't know if its me working the press too aggressively, if something is slightly out of adjustment, or if there is something worn that could be a contributing factor. Fortunately, I've just had it crunch and not go bang. This press has seen a lot of rounds (though fewer than my other) and I'm loading .40 if that makes a difference. I have not called to talk with Dillon...yet. Any thoughts?

[Smithcity]

Is this brass with primer crimps that need to be swaged? It could also be a dirty press, when did you clean it last? Could also be index alignment, is the shell plate centered over the primer insert position? Index the press 10-20 times with no cases, if the shell plate doesn't index correctly for case alignment over primer insertion, you need to make some adjustments. 

[kmc]

The brass doesn't require swaging...I can push the damaged primer out and seat a new one, no problem. Is it dirty---well, probably last good cleaning was 3000 round ago. It could be cleaner but its not filthy. Usually the press indexes fine. For example, yesterday I loaded 800 rounds and had 10 where the primer "crunched" and was damaged in some way. I'm wondering if something is starting to wear or weaken which allows this to happen occasionally.

[Furrly]

I would call Dillion First then go from there...

[Sarge]

1 hour ago, kmc said:

The brass doesn't require swaging...I can push the damaged primer out and seat a new one, no problem. Is it dirty---well, probably last good cleaning was 3000 round ago. It could be cleaner but its not filthy. Usually the press indexes fine. For example, yesterday I loaded 800 rounds and had 10 where the primer "crunched" and was damaged in some way. I'm wondering if something is starting to wear or weaken which allows this to happen occasionally.

Just sayin' sounds like a brass issue to me. If the press were out of whack it would happen much more often. There are a lot of crimped primer pockets floating around out there. It's not just a 9mm thing anymore. Next time one goes crunch pull it out and deprime it. Pretty easy to tell at a glance. There is also just a bunch of crappy brass out there too. S&B and Herter's have really tight pockets and often balk at taking primers. Every time one goes crunch you could also set them aside and see if they are same headstamp.

[Balakay]

I was having similar problems for about 1000 rounds just before the ring indexer broke.  

After changing it (requires an alignment tool that is free from Dillon) and a deep cleaning problem solved.

 

I would pull the platform, clean and lube everything  and re-align the platform with the above-mentioned tool

[kmc]

27 minutes ago, Sarge said:

Just sayin' sounds like a brass issue to me. If the press were out of whack it would happen much more often. There are a lot of crimped primer pockets floating around out there. It's not just a 9mm thing anymore. Next time one goes crunch pull it out and deprime it. Pretty easy to tell at a glance. There is also just a bunch of crappy brass out there too. S&B and Herter's have really tight pockets and often balk at taking primers. Every time one goes crunch you could also set them aside and see if they are same headstamp.

Good ideas. This is mixed brass and in the ones yesterday, they were mixed headstamps. All were easily run through again without issue after punching out the damaged primer. It may just be bad brass. Going forward, I'm going to keep a much closer eye on it.

[Smithcity]

I run mixed head stamp brass all the time, dont have this problem often.  Is your primer seater screwed in place all the way? There is also an allen head screw on the bottom of it that can come loose. I've had the primer sweater back out on me over high round counts.

[kmc]

I spoke with Dillon and based on what I learned there and here, made several adjustments. My primer seater was not exactly in the middle of the brass opening, so I adjusted that a bit. Also, I learned that my stage 2 locator (spring-loaded bar) was a bit tight--it was tight against the brass rather than the recommended 0.010" gap (actually Dillon told me .004 - .010). Finally, I tightened down the shell plate...just a scosche as my dad would have said. This should help it stop at the proper index point if I'm loading more quickly. I'm sure they'd also recommend I go back to the factory spring and SS ball under the plate instead of the aftermarket ball and cut spring I'm using. Not yet though. I ran about 150 rounds through it quickly and it seemed smoother than before. I'll have to give it a bigger workout over the next week or two to see if I fixed the issue.

[ddc]

On 9/4/2018 at 11:43 AM, Balakay said:

I was having similar problems for about 1000 rounds just before the ring indexer broke.  

After changing it (requires an alignment tool that is free from Dillon) and a deep cleaning problem solved.

 

I would pull the platform, clean and lube everything  and re-align the platform with the above-mentioned tool

 

This is exactly what happened to me. Replaced the indexer, used the alignment tool, rock and roll...