550 Sizing Station Spring Adjustment

[epj]

I have a fairly new 550. At this point I guess I have loaded around 3-4000 rounds of .45 ACP on it. Recently, I have been having trouble with the case in the #1 position being held in by the spring. The spring seems to want to catch on the rim rather than the groove above the rim and tilt the case just enough that it doesn't want to start in the sizing die. It doesn't do it every time but it is getting frequent enough to become a real annoyance. Any suggestions? BTW, I'm not trying to load at warp speed. I do a fairly deliberate 300 rounds per hour or so, and rarely load more than 100 at a time, so it ain't an operator fatigue issue!

[HSMITH]

Loosen the lock screw for the spring, push it into an empty case, tighten it down. Load a few rounds, is it cocking the case one way or the other? If so move it a LITTLE one way other the other. It should BARELY contact the case, and it should only hold the case if it tries to get out of position.

[epj]

Loosen the lock screw for the spring, push it into an empty case, tighten it down. Load a few rounds, is it cocking the case one way or the other? If so move it a LITTLE one way other the other. It should BARELY contact the case, and it should only hold the case if it tries to get out of position.

I just got done tinkering with it. I had adjusted it as you suggested and it seemed to work pretty good. Finally found the directions in the manual. It says the spring should just not touch the case when it's all the way in the shell holder. I backed it off a couple of thousandths and it seems to do fine now. it was apparently too tight, but I started having the problem before I tightened it in an effort to resolve. oh, well, I'll try to load a few rounds tomorrow and see how it works. in ant event, I apparently had it too tight.