Primer seating depth on XL750

[d3ydx3]

Bought my first Dillon, an XL750, a few months ago and set it up to load 9mm. So far everything has been great, except for one annoying and persistent issue. Every 100 rounds or so, I'll have a handful with high primers that I just end up correct with my Lee turret. Most of the time it is S&B and other brass with tight primer pockets, but sometimes it is Winchester, Federal, or Blazer. I typically use Winchester small pistol primers, which I know have some issues with primer shape, but the problem also happens with CCI primers. 

 

I've adjusted the shell plate to make sure it is tight and has very little to no movement at the priming station, but that hasn't fixed it. I've also changed from the ergonomic Dillon handle to the standard ball handle, which didn't help, and went back to the ergonomic handle. I try to make sure my handle pulls are deliberate and smooth, while focusing on the push stroke when  primer seating.

 

I'm not too familiar with the Dillon presses having only owned an XL750. It seems the XL650 has someway to adjust the primer seating depth, but the XL750 doesn't?

 

One thing that I haven't ruled out or fiddled with is the primer assembly. I have confirmed that is the small pistol one after hearing that Dillon shipped some presses for 9mm with the large primer seater vs the small one. The screw that holds the spring seems tight, which I know can cause issues when it is loose. I've also heard the primer assembles can be out of spec sometimes. 

 

Any other XL750 owners with tips or suggestions?

[Furrly]

39 minutes ago, pealandco said:

Bought my first Dillon, an XL750, a few months ago and set it up to load 9mm. So far everything has been great, except for one annoying and persistent issue. Every 100 rounds or so, I'll have a handful with high primers that I just end up correct with my Lee turret. Most of the time it is S&B and other brass with tight primer pockets, but sometimes it is Winchester, Federal, or Blazer. I typically use Winchester small pistol primers, which I know have some issues with primer shape, but the problem also happens with CCI primers. 

 

I've adjusted the shell plate to make sure it is tight and has very little to no movement at the priming station, but that hasn't fixed it. I've also changed from the ergonomic Dillon handle to the standard ball handle, which didn't help, and went back to the ergonomic handle. I try to make sure my handle pulls are deliberate and smooth, while focusing on the push stroke when  primer seating.

 

I'm not too familiar with the Dillon presses having only owned an XL750. It seems the XL650 has someway to adjust the primer seating depth, but the XL750 doesn't?

 

One thing that I haven't ruled out or fiddled with is the primer assembly. I have confirmed that is the small pistol one after hearing that Dillon shipped some presses for 9mm with the large primer seater vs the small one. The screw that holds the spring seems tight, which I know can cause issues when it is loose. I've also heard the primer assembles can be out of spec sometimes. 

 

Any other XL750 owners with tips or suggestions?

Call Dillion.. BTW the 650 has no primer depth adjustments.. GL 

[HesedTech]

20 hours ago, pealandco said:

It seems the XL650 has someway to adjust the primer seating depth, but the XL750 doesn't?

 

As the other poster wrote, the 650 doesn't have formal adjustment for primer depth. However, there are work arounds posted here on BEF the most common is a shim under the hardened steel stop the primer punch pushes against. I have also seen some here slightly re-machine/modify the shoulder on the primer punch to allow for a deeper "push." 

 

As far as different depths between head stamps, that is a function of getting to know the "feel" of the primer as it is inserted. 

 

I will admit one of the reasons I switched to a 1050 was the adjustment for primer seating depth. 

 

Do a search of the forum for what others did to solve your problem.

 

Oh one more thing, be very careful seating primer on completed cartridges. Not a recommended thing to do at all. If the unconfined cartridge goes bang it will send a bunch of shrapnel in all directions.

Edited January 5, 2021 by HesedTech

[d3ydx3]

20 minutes ago, HesedTech said:

 

As the other poster wrote, the 650 doesn't have formal adjustment for primer depth. However, there are work arounds posted here on BEF the most common is a shim under the hardened steel stop the primer punch pushes against. I have also seen some here slightly re-machine/modify the shoulder on the primer punch to allow for a deeper "push." 

 

As far as different depths between head stamps, that is a function of getting to know the "feel" of the primer as it is inserted. 

 

I will admit one of the reasons I switched to a 1050 was the adjustment for primer seating depth. 

 

Do a search of the forum for what others did to solve your problem.

 

Oh one more thing, be very careful seating primer on completed cartridges. Not a recommended thing to do at all. If the unconfined cartridge goes bang it will send a bunch of shrapnel in all directions.

 

Haven't found much for fixing it on the XL750, which is why I did the post. And yes, I did find where people are doing the shim for the XL650, which apparently isn't applicable to the XL750's priming system. Going to give Dillon a call soon, and see what they say. Also interested to see if I have the issue w/ 40 once I get the conversion kit & dies in for that. 

[d3ydx3]

Turns out it was all me and having an inconsistent pull and push of the handle. I've been using an MBF powder funnel and wet tumbled brass. Everyone says to use case lube, but I've been ignoring that advice. Decided to try some tonight and it is amazing how much more smoothly the press runs w/ case lube. Zero high or flipped primers out of the rounds that I loaded tonight. I'm assuming that I was pulling the handle hard to get the case unstuck from the powder funnel then slowing down my stroke, which affected the primer seating and caused some primers to flip or not seat well.

Edited January 24, 2021 by pealandco

[d3ydx3]

Alright, so I think that I finally figured out my high primer issue. Using case lube helped to smooth up the action and minimize the jerking that I had with cases sticking on the powder funnel. That eliminated the flipped primers. Still had some high primers, but the real fix was... removing the aftermarket locator pins that I had on stations 3 and 4. I've pretty much had them installed since Day 1 to minimize some powder spillage issues and to stabilize the case when seating a bullet. Didn't put two and two together that they might be putting tension against the shell plate or doing something else weird with it. As I said in the original post, I would occasionally have some indexing issues, where a case would bump into the side of the shell plate when feeding and I had to back off the handle and feed it again. I figured that was occasionally causing the primer punch to be slightly off center.

 

Now that I've taken the aftermarket locator buttons off and loaded a hundred 9mm rounds this morning - zero high or flipped primers!

Edited February 1, 2021 by pealandco

[MaX_1]

Is this the solution for the  750XL primer seating adjustment? 

 

https://usa-shop.armanov.com/products/index-bearing-cam-block-spring-loaded-for-dillon-xl750

[ddc]

7 hours ago, MaX_1 said:

Is this the solution for the  750XL primer seating adjustment? 

 

https://usa-shop.armanov.com/products/index-bearing-cam-block-spring-loaded-for-dillon-xl750

 

Interesting. Not familiar with the 750 but it looks promising. I wish they had something like that for the 650.

[Edwards30]

I am just now getting through my first 1k rounds loaded on my xl750 and never had issues with high primers with my 550 before but did have them in the beginning on my 750. 
 

While chasing a powder spilling issue I ordered a kit on eBay that added a thrust bearing between the shell plate and the bolt. This has made the feel much better when feeling if I properly seated a primer or not. The bolt is able to be much tighter which removes any flexing/wiggle. I think the kit was $15. 

[Nc1911]

18 hours ago, MaX_1 said:

Is this the solution for the  750XL primer seating adjustment? 

 

https://usa-shop.armanov.com/products/index-bearing-cam-block-spring-loaded-for-dillon-xl750

Well it surely won’t fix the high primer problem, I don’t recall seating primers too far or crushing one. Seems like a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.

Edited May 9, 2022 by Nc1911
Addition

[ddc]

2 hours ago, Nc1911 said:

Well it surely won’t fix the high primer problem, I don’t recall seating primers too far or crushing one. Seems like a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.

 

Why do you say that? It seems that is exactly what the product is designed to do. 

 

As for a "...problem that doesn't exist..." that is the whole point of this thread. Some people have issues with the primer depth on 650/750 systems.

 

What am I missing?

[Nc1911]

I don’t see how this could be a solution for the high primer issue the OP described in his post.

I do understand that it can limit the depth of the primers and give a more consistent seating depth, but his problem sounded like not being seated deep enough.

   Maybe I’m the one not understanding the problem!

[ddc]

1 hour ago, Nc1911 said:

I don’t see how this could be a solution for the high primer issue the OP described in his post.

I do understand that it can limit the depth of the primers and give a more consistent seating depth, but his problem sounded like not being seated deep enough.

   Maybe I’m the one not understanding the problem!

 

I'm not familiar with the Armanov product at all. It is brand new to me.

And as I stated earlier I am not familiar with the 750 at all except for where it has commonality with the 650.

 

All I know about it's capability to deal with primers not being seated deeply enough is the following blurb from their product page:

 

"If primer does not explode when hit by firing pin then most common reason is that primer is not seated deep enough. This problem is quite common in new XL750 since orginal primer punch spring is a little to long and primers are not seated deep enough."

 

To me that implies that you can adjust the seating depth including seating them deeper.

But that's just my interpretation and basically it's advertising so until someone tries it out in the real world who knows.

 

Of course if that is true it begs the question: "Why not just trim the primer punch spring?"

 

Heck, in this game we are always messing around with springs for one reason or another, eh?

 

 

Edited May 9, 2022 by ddc
typo

[Edwards30]

On 1/4/2021 at 4:44 PM, pealandco said:

Bought my first Dillon, an XL750, a few months ago and set it up to load 9mm. So far everything has been great, except for one annoying and persistent issue. Every 100 rounds or so, I'll have a handful with high primers that I just end up correct with my Lee turret. Most of the time it is S&B and other brass with tight primer pockets, but sometimes it is Winchester, Federal, or Blazer. I typically use Winchester small pistol primers, which I know have some issues with primer shape, but the problem also happens with CCI primers. 

 

I've adjusted the shell plate to make sure it is tight and has very little to no movement at the priming station, but that hasn't fixed it. I've also changed from the ergonomic Dillon handle to the standard ball handle, which didn't help, and went back to the ergonomic handle. I try to make sure my handle pulls are deliberate and smooth, while focusing on the push stroke when  primer seating.

 

I'm not too familiar with the Dillon presses having only owned an XL750. It seems the XL650 has someway to adjust the primer seating depth, but the XL750 doesn't?

 

One thing that I haven't ruled out or fiddled with is the primer assembly. I have confirmed that is the small pistol one after hearing that Dillon shipped some presses for 9mm with the large primer seater vs the small one. The screw that holds the spring seems tight, which I know can cause issues when it is loose. I've also heard the primer assembles can be out of spec sometimes. 

 

Any other XL750 owners with tips or suggestions?

Check out page 59 of the manual and measure your primer bar accordingly. https://dilloncdn.com/manuals/dillon-xl750-manual-english.pdf
 

It appears it can be adjusted just like my old 550 where you loosen a screw on the side. 
 

Edit: just noticed this post is over a year old. Oops. 

Edited May 9, 2022 by Edwards30

[Nc1911]

There is a good video on the Dillon web page under the video support section for the xl750 on how to adjust the seating pin and primer cup without using a caliper. A bit tight to get the Allen wrench in to tighten the set screw but works great, no measuring.

I am  running two 750s  on small pistol primers and the other large pistol.

For some reason, the small pistol primers are more difficult to seat especially using CCI primers. With Federal, I have never had a problem, but now we load whatever we can get our hands on!

https://www.dillonprecision.com/xl750-product-videos.html

Edited May 9, 2022 by Nc1911
Addition

[Lightj75]

The problem with the 750 priming system is that the primer seating punch has a channel that the set screw on the slide bar goes into. The punch being a mass produced part is obviously not gonna be perfect and when we are talking about depths from .000-.010 there is bound to be issues. 

 

My fix:

1. loosen the set screw on the side of the primer slide bar

2. Make sure the set screw is at the bottom of the channel in the primer ram so that the ram is as high as possible. 

3. Tighten the crap out of the set screw and hope the ram doesn't slide back down.

4. Check to make sure the ram isn't way too high and make sure it is centered in the shell plate  

 

I've thought about making a shim to go underneath the ram but I haven't had any issues since adjusting mine. I still sometimes have issues with harder primers like srp or tula but with regular cci 500 or federal spp there is usually no issues. 

 

Sorry for the grammatical errors I'm running late this morning.

[d3ydx3]

OP here - I've got a Mark 7 now that is automated, so most of my priming issues have gone away, but I still have the 750 for small loading sessions and calibers that I don't care about on the Mark7. I just purchased the Armanov XL750 index cam block based on the post here. Recently bought some Ginex primers that are slightly taller than what we have in the States, and they were difficult to seat in Starline 38sc brass. Installed the Armanov index block today, and it fixes a lot of issues. Completely takes the slop out of the shell plate rotation, and the adjustable primer depth is helpful. You're still mechanically disadvantaged with the 650/750 priming system, but it does allow you to put whatever necessary force is needed to seat the primer to the desired depth. The Armanov index cam block has an adjustable primer depth screw that basically allows the press to bottom out on the priming assembly when fully screwed in, whereas the Dillon index cam block puts a hard stop on how far the press can go. In some cases, the issues that folks have with priming and getting their target priming depth isn't tied to how consistent the upstroke is or putting more force into it - it is literally because the Dillon cam block is preventing the punch from going deeper.

 

10/10 on the Armanov index cam block.

Edited May 12, 2022 by pealandco