Sticky primer slide on 550

[milanuk]

Hello all,

I finally 'cured' my 550 of its sticky primer problem after fighting it for a while (year plus), and thought I'd share the trick w/ those who might also need it.

What was happening: primer slide sticking back, hesitating, then snapping forward. This resulted in primers flipping and landing upside down or sideways, or just launching out of the primer cup entirely. I tried everything suggested to me, ranging from lubing the slide w/ dry graphite, cleaning and polishing every surface of the primer slide itself, checking the op rod wire, the rollers, replacing the tip of the primer feed tube, etc. Nothing seemed to make much difference. A couple emails back and forth with Dillon tech support covering all the above resulted in a simple response - "Send it in". While very generous and no doubt they would have got it fixed faster, I couldn't bring myself to send it in for such an intermittent problem - some times it would go days without a hiccup, and then suddenly stick almost every time. So, I limped by, riding the handle up very slowly so the inevitable 'snap' forward wasn't enough to cause too many problems... other than an abysmally slow production rate.

In my most recent bout of troubleshooting, I ran the problem by the folks in the Reloading forum over on Sniper's Hide. Again, we covered all the bases listed above. I had determined that the slide stuck just *after* it cleared the primer tube, and did it no matter whether it was under spring pressure or not, and regardless of whether the primer housing was tightened down or not. Then one fellow mentioned checking for 'ripples' on the housing. I cleaned the inside of the housing thoroughly (again), and sure enough, with the freshly cleaned and polished surface I could just see two 'ripples' where over-tightening the mounting bolts had bulged the aluminum housing (which is fairly thin right there). A few minutes w/ a small 4" mill file to knock off the high spots (I didn't want to take it down to perfectly flat - that would entail taking off more metal than I was comfortable with - apparently it wasn't that flat to begin with) and suddenly my primer slide works perfectly! Oh happy days!

At any rate, I thought I'd share this little 'fix' as I don't see it in any of the various help documents for primer feed troubles on a 550... maybe I haven't found 'em all.

HTH,

Monte

[sammons10]

I've noticed that the used primer chute rubs against the slide and has worn a grove on the right side. When I called Dillon they said to dress it with a file, if that doesn't work send it back and they would replace it. I have two 550's one is set up for small primers and the other is set up for large so I had an extra large one to swap out while I waited for the replacement.

[BayouSlide]

I had the same primer slide hang-up/snap loose problem on my 550B and a new primer slide bearing plate from Dillon fixed it for me.

Curtis

[maineshootah]

Hello all,

I finally 'cured' my 550 of its sticky primer problem after fighting it for a while (year plus), and thought I'd share the trick w/ those who might also need it.

What was happening: primer slide sticking back, hesitating, then snapping forward. This resulted in primers flipping and landing upside down or sideways, or just launching out of the primer cup entirely. I tried everything suggested to me, ranging from lubing the slide w/ dry graphite, cleaning and polishing every surface of the primer slide itself, checking the op rod wire, the rollers, replacing the tip of the primer feed tube, etc. Nothing seemed to make much difference. A couple emails back and forth with Dillon tech support covering all the above resulted in a simple response - "Send it in". While very generous and no doubt they would have got it fixed faster, I couldn't bring myself to send it in for such an intermittent problem - some times it would go days without a hiccup, and then suddenly stick almost every time. So, I limped by, riding the handle up very slowly so the inevitable 'snap' forward wasn't enough to cause too many problems... other than an abysmally slow production rate.

In my most recent bout of troubleshooting, I ran the problem by the folks in the Reloading forum over on Sniper's Hide. Again, we covered all the bases listed above. I had determined that the slide stuck just *after* it cleared the primer tube, and did it no matter whether it was under spring pressure or not, and regardless of whether the primer housing was tightened down or not. Then one fellow mentioned checking for 'ripples' on the housing. I cleaned the inside of the housing thoroughly (again), and sure enough, with the freshly cleaned and polished surface I could just see two 'ripples' where over-tightening the mounting bolts had bulged the aluminum housing (which is fairly thin right there). A few minutes w/ a small 4" mill file to knock off the high spots (I didn't want to take it down to perfectly flat - that would entail taking off more metal than I was comfortable with - apparently it wasn't that flat to begin with) and suddenly my primer slide works perfectly! Oh happy days!

At any rate, I thought I'd share this little 'fix' as I don't see it in any of the various help documents for primer feed troubles on a 550... maybe I haven't found 'em all.

HTH,

Monte

Thanks for the post.. mine does this every "once in a while" as well.

Edited September 6, 2008 by maineshootah

[Bronson7]

Those ripples are a common problem . The real reason for the ripples is not so much over-tightening but insufficient edge distance (which is practically non existent). Those ripples can also be found on new units where, I believe, due to not enough edge distance, the metal is being bowed outward during the drilling/threading operation. IMO, it's a design problem that may or may not affect the slides operation. It's crazy for Dillon not to expect over-tightening, when they use allen screws to hold the housing on. I would think that knurled thumb screws would be the way go.

PS Take everything I've said with a grain of salt because I hate the 550's primer feed system with a purple passion.

Bronson7

[larry cazes]

PS Take everything I've said with a grain of salt because I hate the 550's primer feed system with a purple passion.

Bronson7

Your not alone.