Primer crunching 550B

[Hawker]

Tonight I loaded a few hundred rounds in my 550B with new Starline Brass.

As I was seating the primers, I noticed that some of them were flattening out and showing some primer denting.  At the same time, I also felt some resistance and saw some "chattering" of the primer pickup bar. I had about 8-10 primers left in the tube at that point. Needless to say, I took the primer assembly apart, cleaned everything, and reloaded a new tube full of fresh 150's. It seems to be ok now.

Does anyone know what the problem was? The primer looked ok on the cup before seating. Do you think I may have seated them too deep? I do have my shellplate fairly tight and normally seat my primers at .004"

I do like the feel of the Fed's when priming as they give good feedback when seating. The WLP's I had been using previously, were giving no feedback or "feel".

Thanks,

Hawker

[Steve Anderson]

Have you had thisw problem with other, used kinds of brass?

I get the same result with 9mm S and B brass.

Could be the new brass is tight for the primers...out of spec maybe, or just new.

See if the problem goes away with used brass...

SA

[EricW]

This problem has nothing to do with the brass.  Your seating depth isn't the issue either.  For all intensive purposes, the seating depth on the 550 is not adjustable - unless you grind down the seating punch (NOT recommended).

1.  Cratering / Denting - is usually caused by debris (usually powder) in the primer cup.  A toothbrush is invaluable for keeping this clean.  Push the handle forward so the primer punch stands proud, then scrub that puppy down.  Voila!  No more cratering.

2.  Primer bar sticking - is caused by either crud in the primer system, poor bar alignment, or a sticky rod ( the piano wire that pushes the bar out).  The piano wire piece needs to be lubed with grease at the hinge point so it will move properly.  Otherwise, it will gall in the casting and cause all kinds of trouble.  

To align the primer bar, loosen the two bolt holding the primer assembly then re-tighten with the ram resting *down*.  Make sure there isn't any crud left over in the primer bar path.  Keep the area where the primer bar cycles clean and *dry* - lube is verboten.

The primer system really needs to be blown out or taken apart and brushed clean every few thousand rounds or so.  5 minutes of cleaning and pre-flighting your Dillon before starting a loading session saves about an hour of screwing around fixing bad rounds and troubleshooting.  Take it from someone who's been there.  

[Hawker]

Great advice. That's what I did and it seems fine now.

Hawker