Stuck in C Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 I finally had time to reload a bunch of 9mm on the SDB; I'm behind in my reloading and thought I might have to resort to throwing rocks at the next match. After about 25 rounds loaded I went to raise the handle (lower the ram) and there was a distinct "tink" sound-the ram went down alright but the shellplate and cases stayed up with the brass stuck in the dies. Turns out the shellplate bolt broke cleanly in half. I had to tap the shellplate and brass out of the dies from above with a hardwood dowel. Luckily I was able to get the broken bottom half of the bolt out of the threads without any damage to them. The metal where the bolt broke looks grainy and crystallized. I'll call Dillon first thing in the morning for a new bolt-hopefully one made out of real steel this time. How big a rock do you need to make minor? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingman Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 hmm, I would say a good 2" diameter rock would make it easily Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AWLAZS Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 How fast can you throw? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuck in C Posted April 28, 2008 Author Share Posted April 28, 2008 New shellplate bolt and some other spare parts are on the way. Great service as usual. Go Blue! I scrounged enough 0.40 S&W to shoot limited the next match so the rock collecting is on hold for now. SDB users might want to keep a spare shellplate bolt on hand (there isn't one in the spare parts kit Dillon sells; maybe there should be as it's a high stress part). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsaxdog Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 C is for all the "new age" white note players, like Yanni or John Tesh....i shouldn't have said players.....Getz liked D flat, so did Basie..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UW Mitch Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 I broke my shell plate bolt once. It was frustrating, but they sent me two - one to fix and one for next time (hopefully no next time, but it's always nice to have a spare). I'm always amazed by Dillon's willingness to just put stuff in the mail to support my old SDB. ~Mitch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiG Lady Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 Happened to me once, too. Whatta shock. I thought, "How'n holy hell do I get THIS thing outa there?!?!" Well, the diameter of the shaft and hole is about the same as a standard pencil eraser, so I took a short pencil, stuck the eraser down the hole, applied pressure and made like unscrewing a screw. Broken end came right on out. Dillon sent one in about 48 hours, too. I now keep a spare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Thomas Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 Stuck in C, Do you use case lube? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HighVelocity Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 Never broke a shell plate bolt but after seeing folks talk about how common it is, I'll be ordering a couple tomorrow morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TM262 Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 It happened to me a few weeks back. Dillon was awesome as usual and sent a new out the next day. Those guys and gals are great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gm iprod Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 Duane Thomas Posted Today, 01:06 PM Stuck in C, Do you use case lube? As usual Mr Thomas has struck at the heart of the matter. I have a SDB that has loaded an unknown number of rounds since 1993, this machine is mounted on a board for portability and is used at my gunshop for demo's and as a loaner for those less fortunate (I am going to be sorry for saying this I know) I have NEVER broken one yet. I do however keep one handy as I know lots of people that have broken the bolt. I have always used cleaned and lubed brass and if someone uses this machine they get the message about case lube. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Thomas Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 As usual Mr Thomas has struck at the heart of the matter. Aw, shucks. <Stubs toe of sneaker into dirt> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuck in C Posted April 29, 2008 Author Share Posted April 29, 2008 I use case lube on .40 S&W, but not on 9mm or .45. There is does not seem to be much resistance when sizing these. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gm iprod Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 (edited) I use case lube on everything, even the flashy TiN inserts for the Redding Competition dies. No advantage in not doing it. We ran a test using 100 once fired ex Police 9mm Speer cases some time ago and a big scale tied to the handle of a SDB. Fifty were cleaned, 50 were not. We then lubed 1/2 of each batch. Therefore we landed up with 25 each of the following. Uncleaned - unlubed Uncleaned - lubed Cleaned - unlubed Cleaned - Lubed Can't remember the actual weights but Unclean and unlubed, very heavy. Cleaned and Lubed very light by comparison, rang my freind who helped and as far as he can recall the difference on the sizing die only was somewhere around 80-85% less effort. With all four stations going it worked out at 70-75% less effort. Lubrication is very important, ask any engine. Proper lubrication that is. Edited April 29, 2008 by gm iprod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D. Manley Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 Happened to me once, too. Whatta shock. I thought, "How'n holy hell do I get THIS thing outa there?!?!" Well, the diameter of the shaft and hole is about the same as a standard pencil eraser, so I took a short pencil, stuck the eraser down the hole, applied pressure and made like unscrewing a screw. Broken end came right on out.Dillon sent one in about 48 hours, too. I now keep a spare. Now THAT'S something I'm gonna' remember...and, I think I'll be getting a spare to have on hand too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Thomas Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 A diaper pin works as well, though perhaps not as elegantly as the short pencil turned backwards. Gonna have to remember that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuck in C Posted April 30, 2008 Author Share Posted April 30, 2008 Now I suppose everyone is calling Dillon about getting a spare shellplate bolt. The power of this forum. I hope I don't get in trouble with Dillon... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D. Manley Posted May 4, 2008 Share Posted May 4, 2008 Now I suppose everyone is calling Dillon about getting a spare shellplate bolt. The power of this forum. I hope I don't get in trouble with Dillon... Well whaddaya know...Dillon's safe on my end. Dug around in my "spares" drawer and found a new shellplate bolt in with a bunch of other odds & ends I got from the original owner. I'm a strong believer in "One-Shot" lube so I hope I never have to try digging one of the little buggers out with a pencil eraser, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spray_N_Prey Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 yeah when mine broke I called Dillon and they said that I should case lube, takes lots of the stress off of the process. Also they said they made the bolt to break like that so it's easy to get out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toolguy Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 A diaper pin works as well, though perhaps not as elegantly as the short pencil turned backwards. Gonna have to remember that one. Hopefully your diaper didn't fall off while you were using the pin out of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiG Lady Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 I can't quite visualize how you'd use a diaper pin to do this repair. Have they invented slightly more hi-tech diaper pins lately or something...? Not an item I've kept up with, you see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TM262 Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 I have broken one on each of my SDBs in the last year. Both presses were used whrn I bought them, so I have no idea how many rounds had been loaded on them. I keep two spare bolts now. Dillon gave me great service as usual when I explained what happened. I believe this is a common issue if you load regularly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D. Manley Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 Re-reading this thread reminded me of the number of post both here and other forums about the "sticky brass" problems. Seems logical to me that this would over-stress the shellplate (bolt) much more than the other functions that occur on the downstroke where the shellplate is supported by the ram. Whether this is true, I have no idea but its at least a reason to take a little care to make sure the brass isn't sticking in the powder die/case-flaring stage. Lots of threads on prevention of this and all of them probably work. Of the 4 caliber conversions I have, the .40 caliber was the toughest to get working smoothly...I actually worried about breaking the bolt pulling it off the expander when I first set it up. I prefer not to have lube inside the case so thoroughly polishing (for the 3rd time) and a little dry lube on the expander section seems to have done it for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin c Posted October 25, 2008 Share Posted October 25, 2008 I've broken three in about 180K rounds, all of which were generously dosed with One Shot. Do the other Dillons do the same, or is this something about the unique geometry of the SDB? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toolguy Posted October 25, 2008 Share Posted October 25, 2008 I've loaded for about 10 years on 2 550s and never had a shellplate bolt break. I would replace that bolt with a socket head cap screw with a bushing at the top for the shellplate to turn on. That would probably never break. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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