1050 Shell Plate

[slavex]

My 9mm shell plate on my 1050 cracked around one of the case positions recently. I phoned Dillon to replace it and it's almost $100 to get it, including shipping. Now I understand the 1050 doesn't have the lifetime warranty like the other presses, and for wear parts I can understand this, but for something like a crack in a case plate I disagree. Nothing abnormal was done, at least as far as I can tell, as the plate rotated and a loaded round kicked out, I heard a pop, and saw a piece of metal jump. from there I saw looked closer and saw the cracked case position. It still works, but sometimes cases do hang up and have to get a little finger nudge to move them in.

anyone got an old used 9mm shell plate they aren't using anymore and want to sell for cheap?

[zhunter]

PM sent

[dillon]

Respectfully, I must disagree. The only reason a shellplate breaks as you described is if either the swage rod is adjusted too far up, and/or the swage backup die is set down too far. If the cutout in the shellplate is pushed up, then the swage rod is putting excessive pressure on the bottom of the case, and the backup die isn't down far enough to hold the case down against the upward pressure. Likewise, if the cutout in the shellplate is bulged downward, then the swage backup die is applying excessive downward pressure, and the primer pocket swage isn't stopping the downward pressure on the case.

Either way this is an adjustment problem, not a defect in materials or workmanship.

[slavex]

Dillon- I'd agree with you if any of those things caused this. No changes have been made to the press (before or after this occurence), and it still functions fine. the "pop" sound when it cracked was on the kicking out of the loaded round. Everything else is fine, no other positions have had this happen to them. So as far as I can tell it's not from the swaging tool or any other tools on the press. Unless that particular spot encountered something I don't know about, I don't understand how it could have broken like it did. I'll keep using it as is I guess.

[dillon]

Did you find any cases with primers not fully seated? A "ringer", an occurance where the end of the primer is pushed off without removing the sides of the primer cup can cause this, as can a Berdan primed case. Is the shellpalte cracked on the top or the bottom?

[slavex]

I checked all the rounds that were in the ammo bin when this occured, no high primers or weirdly seated ones. The crack is in the top of the shell plate right around where the case is held, a piece of the shell plate just chipped off. I can't figure out why, unless something dented it somehow. Maybe something got in between the die and the shellplate at the resizing station? But then why would it make a poping noise at the last station when the loaded round was ejected? I am planning on doing a tear down this week when I hit days off, I'll try and take a photo.

I should note that while it does function fine most of the time, if there is a hangup at the case feeder it's on this position, something grabs the case funny or something, I guess a small bur as a result of the crack?

Edited June 30, 2007 by slavex