German Sniper Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 I have a few single stage presses for my bolt guns but was given a Dillon 550 for my birthday last year. While I like the Dillon and have been setting it up for my semi auto .223, I realized that the powder charge is not always exactly consistent. I did a test run of about 25 cases and saw that the charge can vary +-.5 grains per throw with most being in the +-.2 range and was wondering how much that variance would effect accuracy at 50m-200m? I am not trying to drive tacks, but I want to be on the 'shoot-n-see' target everytime. Would this make a significant difference, or at the 50-200 range, would the powder variance be acceptable? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkeeler Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 (edited) I have a few single stage presses for my bolt guns but was given a Dillon 550 for my birthday last year. While I like the Dillon and have been setting it up for my semi auto .223, I realized that the powder charge is not always exactly consistent. I did a test run of about 25 cases and saw that the charge can vary +-.5 grains per throw with most being in the +-.2 range and was wondering how much that variance would effect accuracy at 50m-200m? I am not trying to drive tacks, but I want to be on the 'shoot-n-see' target everytime. Would this make a significant difference, or at the 50-200 range, would the powder variance be acceptable? Thanks Dont know if this works for reloading rifle rounds or not but check this out. http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=59595 Look at post#5 from Dillon. BK Edited July 24, 2008 by bkeeler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigpops Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 Let me "pass it on" as this product was reccommended to me . As a matter of fact I received and installed mine last night. I set the powder bar for 5.3 grains. I ran 2 sets of ten throws that all read 53 grains after I made some intitial adjustments. I am not being paid by them...just a happy customer. Check out the micrometer powder bar on this site - http://www.uniquetek.com/site/696296/page/45029 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
High Lord Gomer Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 GS...are you using the large or small powder bar? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertdog Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 What powder? This is the most common issue, Dillon powder measures do NOT like certain powder types, like Varget works great in .223 but not in Dillon powder measure. Will affect your fps, extreme spread etc. you will get variances on impact high or low due to this as range increases. Top loads are single digit extreme spread on fps between loads. Call Dillon and discuss what powder you are using and they can give you recommendations, I use AA2520 on mine just fine, Varget and others I have to use on separate powder measure... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
German Sniper Posted July 24, 2008 Author Share Posted July 24, 2008 What powder? This is the most common issue, Dillon powder measures do NOT like certain powder types, like Varget works great in .223 but not in Dillon powder measure. Will affect your fps, extreme spread etc. you will get variances on impact high or low due to this as range increases. Top loads are single digit extreme spread on fps between loads. Call Dillon and discuss what powder you are using and they can give you recommendations, I use AA2520 on mine just fine, Varget and others I have to use on separate powder measure... The powder is N135 - it's fairly short cut but from what is being said here, I'm not sure if that is short enough. I'm really used to single stage presses and charging each case with the exact same amount of powder, so any variances to me make me feel like something is amiss. Realistically, what kind of charge variance can be expected from the 550 using ball/optimal sized powder? I learned that the hard way when I tried to use IMR4064 when I was originally gifted the Dillon Press with a set for my 8mm Mauser. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
German Sniper Posted July 24, 2008 Author Share Posted July 24, 2008 What powder? This is the most common issue, Dillon powder measures do NOT like certain powder types, like Varget works great in .223 but not in Dillon powder measure. Will affect your fps, extreme spread etc. you will get variances on impact high or low due to this as range increases. Top loads are single digit extreme spread on fps between loads. Call Dillon and discuss what powder you are using and they can give you recommendations, I use AA2520 on mine just fine, Varget and others I have to use on separate powder measure... The powder is N135 - it's fairly short cut but from what is being said here, I'm not sure if that is short enough. I'm really used to single stage presses and charging each case with the exact same amount of powder, so any variances to me make me feel like something is amiss. Realistically, what kind of charge variance can be expected from the 550 using ball/optimal sized powder? I learned that the hard way when I tried to use IMR4064 when I was originally gifted the Dillon Press with a set for my 8mm Mauser. Update: I found I have about a half a pound of AA2520 in my cabinet and tried that. 10 charges and the largest variance was .1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertdog Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 Excellent, AA powders meter nice +\- .1gr, works great on heavier bullets for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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