9mm Major Dillon Dies

[jschroep]

Do I need to get the EGW U die if I'm wanting to help prevent setback in 9mm major?

 

Or do the Dillion dies do a good job of preventing setback?

 

If I do get the EGW is it a direct replacement for the Dillon die or does that take up another spot?

[Rnlinebacker]

Do I need to get the EGW U die if I'm wanting to help prevent setback in 9mm major?
 
Or do the Dillion dies do a good job of preventing setback?
 
If I do get the EGW is it a direct replacement for the Dillon die or does that take up another spot?

Lee factory crimp die. It's a short die and will give you a very good crimp. EGW U die is for resizing and is made by Lee. I run Lee dies exclusively and they are just fine

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[jschroep]

I'll be getting a 750XL tho. So do I need the EGW or are the Dillons crimp dies as good as anything

Edited April 3, 2020 by jschroep

[OptimiStick]

EGW and Lee U-Dies are the same thing. Lee makes them for EGW. They're cheap, and I recommend the U-Die too. For crimp , either will work. The crimp isn't doing anything for set-back, its the neck tension from your sizing die. One advantage to the Lee crimp die is it has an adjustment knob for crimp depth vs Dillon is just screwing the die up or down.

[iflyskyhigh]

Get the Lee dies. I had Dillon and sold them all. I use Lee U (same as EGW) dies for all pistol calibers on my 650. Lee FCD comes with the 4 die Lee sets. You can order them off AMAZON. If you want the Lee U die it must be purchased separate.


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[36873687]

Lee U die an Lee factory crimp u be golden any head stamp brass

[OptimiStick]

Yeah. I will say when I went to Lee U-Die and Lee FCD , I went from 2-3 per 100 that didn't case-gauge fully, to like 1 out of 3 or 400. Not sure if it was one or both dies that made the difference,  since i changed both dies at the same time, but i definitely notice the difference. I don't like how Lee does their decapping pin very much, but small annoyance to get the other benefits.

[jschroep]

The threads on those are the same as the Dillon right?

[OptimiStick]

Yeah. Pretty much  they are all 7/8-14". Might be the only thing the reloading industry can agree on. Except the Square Deal...I think it uses a different die. But most everything else from everybody else is 7/8"

[jsykes]

I'll preface this by saying I'm fairly new to reloading and there are many people on here far more experienced than I am.

 

That said though, I've been loading 9 major with factory Dillon dies on my 550 for a couple thousand rounds now and I've had no issue.   I chamber check every round with a hundo gauge and I've only had a few rounds not pass.  The few that have not passed also chambered fine in my 2011 and I still shot them.

 

I also tested setback by taking a handful of rounds and continually rack them into the chamber and eject them and do it over and over again.  At least 5 or 6 times per round.  I measured each round with calipers after each chambering and only after about the 3rd or 4th chambering did I see any change and it was only on the level of a thousandth or two.  Nothing I'd worry about.  You can actually see in each case where the bullet stops in the case due to the bulge of the bullet expanding the case.  Don't see how I could get any more case tension than that.

 

So take that for what its worth, coming from an admitted reloading newbie.  But they Dillon dies have been working just fine on my end.

Edited April 4, 2020 by jsykes

[AHI]

Dillon sizer die actually sizes the case smaller than the LEE/EGW die.

What the LEW/EGW does is it sizes closer to the rim.I pre process 9 major

brass. On tool head #1 there is a universal decap die and a LEE under size die.

On the load tool head there is a Dillon size die.This greatly smooths out the press

minimizing powder spillage. If I had to choose one it would be the Dillon.

[zombywoof]

I'm running a 650 with the Dillon size die. No problems in 9 major.

[zzt]

I use Hornady dies for everything and have no problems.  I do use a Mr. Bulletfeeder expander/funnel and a Lee factory Carbide Crimp die.

 

Originally bought fully processed brass for 9mm major.  It had been primer pocket swaged and roll sized.  I found that I could not push a roll sized case into the Hornady sizing die, no matter how hard I pressed.   The the Hornady is sizing it very slightly more than roll sized.  The MBF funnel is a two step expander.  The upper expander band is just over bullet size to accept a bullet and keep in vertical.  I seat the bullet with the Hornady die set no to crimp.  I can remove the round at this stage and test for set back by pushing it against the table.  I get none.  The Lee FCD then crimps and resizes the top of the case while doing so.  I get a perfect rounds and 100% drop into and out of my Shockbottle case gauge.  The only potential disadvantage of the Lee FCD is it is set for .355" diameter bullets.  If you use lead or poly coated bullets sized to .356", the FCD will swage the portion of the bullet inside the case to .355"  That could potentially affect accuracy.  I can't tell the difference in my minor loads.  I use JHPs exclusively in my major loads.

[Hi-Power Jack]

15 hours ago, jschroep said:

Do I need the EGW U die if I want to  prevent setback in 9mm major?

 

It's kind of tough to setback a 9mm Major, since there is

so much powder in the case.  

 

You might set it back a little, but it's not dangerous.     

[zzt]

14 minutes ago, Hi-Power Jack said:

You might set it back a little, but it's not dangerous.   

 

Jack, I use SW Major Pistol powder.  10.2gr fills the case up pretty high, but the powder is very compressible.  A forum member asked me to do a test for him.  I loaded 10.2gr (my normal load), then seated the bullet to 1.126" OAL and did not crimp.  Three months later it still had not grown.  I load to 1.160", but don't get any set back.  Set back to 1.126" might be disastrous.

 

[iflyskyhigh]

 
Jack, I use SW Major Pistol powder.  10.2gr fills the case up pretty high, but the powder is very compressible.  A forum member asked me to do a test for him.  I loaded 10.2gr (my normal load), then seated the bullet to 1.126" OAL and did not crimp.  Three months later it still had not grown.  I load to 1.160", but don't get any set back.  Set back to 1.126" might be disastrous.
 

No it won’t.

I load 7.8grs silhouette to 1.155” for my Glock 17 major. I needed to shorten some to 1.130” to try out Taylor Tactical’s 170MM mag extension. I had my son do it for me, and the seating die came loose during the process and some of them ended up 1.100” or shorter.

It made almost zero difference. The super short rounds registered 10FPS difference or less.

I’m not alone in this finding. There have been several others on here who have basically found the same to be true with different powders, loads, and guns.

Do a little experiment yourself. I think the results will surprise you.

[zzt]

3 hours ago, iflyskyhigh said:

Do a little experiment yourself. I think the results will surprise you.

 

No thanks.  I inadvertently did do that experiment twice.  I was shooting 147gr @ 985fps JHPs in my PCC.  One round did not feed properly and the bullet got set back a little.  I shot it anyway and had complete case head separation.  Another round did not feed smoothly but did chamber.  The case wall blew out.  I realize the PCC chamber is not fully supported, but I'm not about to try that in a $6k Open gun.

[jubi351]

The only potential disadvantage of the Lee FCD is it is set for .355" diameter bullets.  If you use lead or poly coated bullets sized to .356", the FCD will swage the portion of the bullet inside the case to .355"  That could potentially affect accuracy. 

This was my experience. I was struggling with accuracy when using the FCD but all rounds passed the Hundo. I swapped to a Hornady taper crimp die and while I can see the slight bulge from the .356 bullet it still passes the gauge and my grouping tightened up 100%. YRMV


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[OptimiStick]

I use almost only .coated 356 and FCD does not swage any of my bullets. I don't crimp much - but I have no accuracy issues.

[Hi-Power Jack]

3 hours ago, zzt said:

 

  147gr @ 985fps JHPs in my PCC.  One bullet got set back a little.  I shot it anyway and had complete case head separation. 

  Another round did not feed smoothly but did chamber.  The case wall blew out.   

 

But, those were not 9mm Major loads - probably a pretty fast powder ?

 

With a lot of air space in the case from a low dose of powder ?

Edited April 4, 2020 by Hi-Power Jack

[zzt]

1 minute ago, Hi-Power Jack said:

But, those were not 9mm Major loads - probably a pretty fast powder ?

 

I doubt it Jack, but maybe.  They were near max factory loads, so I have no idea what powder they were loaded with, or how full the case was.  If it helps they were PRVI Partizan 147 JHP @ 985.

[iflyskyhigh]

 
I doubt it Jack, but maybe.  They were near max factory loads, so I have no idea what powder they were loaded with, or how full the case was.  If it helps they were PRVI Partizan 147 JHP @ 985.

Correlation does not equal causation.

Not saying your wrong. Just a lot of factors.


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[Hiroshi]

I'll be getting a 750XL tho. So do I need the EGW or are the Dillons crimp dies as good as anything

I use EGW U-Die and Lee Seating and Crimp dies on my RL 550C..

[mq105]

OP - I recommend that you start with the Dillon dies, assuming you already have them. Many reloaders, myself included, have loaded 10s of thousands of 9mm major rounds with Dillon dies with excellent results. The same can be said of Lee U-dies.

Reloaders can be finicky and particular about, well, everything. That's not a bad thing. Try what you have in the gun(s) you are shooting. If you then want to make a change you have a basis for comparison.

I tried the U-die and noticed no difference in ammo performance. I tried the FCD, and had a bit of trouble while using it with coated bullets. No issues with JHP. So, your particulars matter a lot: Barrel/chamber, ammo components, etc.

Edited April 15, 2020 by mq105

[SeattleDude]

OP - Everyone have their own best recipe to make best possible ammo.

 

When reloading 9 Major one particular issue I want to avoid 100% is bullet setback. I use mixed head stamp brass.

 

The only die that I personalty found (i didnt try every die out there) that really makes sure that your case is slightly undersized and sizes closest to the rim is Lee U-Die / EGW Die.

 

I do not use Lee FCD die. I think this die is a band aid to bad reloading practices and will wreck havoc with accuracy on coated bullets and it could possibly resize them post seating. 

I do not Crimp the bullet in 9mm. You DONT want to crimp it. I use Redding Taper Crmp die (Dillon die works great too) to just remove the bell after bullet is seated.