On my 650 the Dillon sizing die hits the edge of my 38 S brass

[slidelock1]

I have gone through the instruction/assembly manual for my 650 and adjusted everything that I can on this machine, and yet, on about 50% of my cases ( both new and used) I have to pull the tip of the case slightly to fit into the sizing die on the downstroke. This issue only occurs when loading the 38 S; my unit runs perfectly when loading 9mm or .45acp. Any ideas what I can do?

[HiCapMag]

The exact same thing happens to me, but only with my 45 ACP die....standing by for some good input!

[vernbo]

we talked about that before here.

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?...c=79693&hl=

[RiggerJJ]

I've got a 650 toolhead that I swear the #1 station is slightly off index from the shellplate... the other toolhead I have doesn't have the problem.

jj

[chickenfried]

I was having similar trouble turned out to be something not mentioned in previous threads on this topic. The case feed arm was rubbing either the chute/bin mount or the spent primer cup bracket (sorry too lazy to go downstairs for a look to jog my memory). The binding caused the case to sometimes be misaligned in station 1.

Edited July 7, 2009 by chickenfried

[Pezco]

Slidelock,

I had the same issue with my 650 and SC brass. I adjusted the ramp back so it doesn't push the brass too far forward. This might seem counter intuitive, but the logic is the brass feed ram was pushing & tilting the top of the brass forward and when I went to pull the handle (releasing the tension on the ram) the bottom of the SC brass was not snug up against the shell plate causing the station 1 die to hit the brass.

Try it, you'll like it!

[Tard]

I had this with my new 650 as well, only with .45ACP (the .38 and .40 were perfect).

I was half-bubble out of level right-to-left and fixing that improved it.

Took apart station 1 sizing die and re-set it to the same instructions (with the press UP and a shell in the die) to improve alignment and it got better again. Also, I had spilled powder under the shellplate and cleaned that out really well. Warning, a vacuum will suck your detent ball, spring and pawl.

Finally I installed the needle bearing mod to eliminate the shellplate click and it now seems to work 100%.

Personally, after looking at my press and reading all this stuff, I think the method of attaching the toolhead to the press with pins lacks precision, resulting in OAL variances much higher than my SDB and of course my RCBS singlestage press.

The test would have been to swap toolheads between .45 and say .38 to see if the problem followed the toolhead or the dies but I'm busy cranking out ammo.

I ordered the precision machined and clamped instead of pinned toohead to see if that improves precision.

If it does, I'll get that for any new calibers. Will post this week to say what effect if any it had.

Steve

[slidelock1]

I want to thank you guys for your input and advice. What I have discovered so far in trying to solve this problem is that my toolhead was slightly out of alignment and by shimming the near side (with some flattened steel brads) thereby twisting the toolhead so that the far side is "in" a little farther the sizing die now aligns itself a little better over the brass. By doing this, I have significantly improved the cycling so that a much small percentage of the brass now gets caught on the edge of the sizing die. I will try once more messing with the ram moving it in and out to see if I can fine tune this thing a little more. Again, thanks for all the good ideas!

[Tard]

OK, considering that, I suggest you loosen and re-seat your sizing die (station 1) with the ram up and a shell in it, keeping a close eye on not cocking the die one way or another as you tighten it. I ran these exact same tests, came up with the same results, I could make it work by holding the toolhead in a certain way but the problem was (I think) an overall error stackup issue. I re-did my die three times and each time it was slightly better. The dies are sorta loose in their threads and you must run the die down straight into the toolhead.

Maybe it's something else, too, I don't know, I'm learning along with you.

[bwit]

I had the same problem. First I tried moving [setting] the sizing die as in the instructions. This had little to do with anything as there is far greater movement elsewhere affecting the cartridge. I had to keep tipping the top of the case into sizing the die 30 - 40% of the time [at about 2-3 o'clock from where you stand]. What a pain and S L O W. I noticed that if you slightly push the operating handle left or right as it strokes that that action puts the whole Platform in a different place relative to the dies. Check to see if you are doing this and making the problem worse. I found a couple of problems. First I marked the hole in the shellplate that gave me the most trouble. I found out that 75% of the time it was one particular hole that did not feed into the die. This meant that every fifth cartridge case, at least, needed a push. So I measured all the shellplate holes, checked for flat surface, etc. Nothing wrong that I can find but it's the same hole, mostly. I call Dillon and after checking a few other things, they say that once in a while the shell plate isn't machined properly. I send it back [yup they want it back] and the new one solves MOST of the problem. The other thing I found is that when the Ring Indexer returns as the ram raises, it snaps a little, even though I am not going particularly fast with the ram. When this happens it moves the sizing die cartridge out of the shellplate slightly, causing an occasional jam. This problem increases when I use new brass as I assume it is more slippery and since I shoot 38 super I use new brass occasionally. My bench is level but I haven't checked the shellplate. I was thinking that perhaps shimming the 650 up slightly on the right side may help this -- I hope.

[gm iprod]

I noticed that if you slightly push the operating handle left or right as it strokes that that action puts the whole Platform in a different place relative to the dies. Check to see if you are doing this and making the problem worse.

Roller Handle fixes this.

Make sure the shellplate is completely clean in the grooves of the shell slot. Check the case slider and see if there are any burrs on it.

[fastshooter03]

Hey guys,

I was having this problem and did a full inspection of all my shellplates and dieheads from Dillon and found that at best the alignment between the shellplate and the diehead allows for no outward movement of the brass in station one in order to line up right with the sizing die.

That was with the best diehead(that allowed the die to move out the furthest) with the sizing die pushed outward before being tightened as described in the manual.

The problem is that station 1 on the diehead just doesn't allow enough tolerance for the brass to not be perfectly in position on the shellplate and still go into the sizing die without tilting or not going at all.

The shellplates were all very well in tolerance but the dieheads varied a lot.

Some people may have other problems that can cause this issue but 99.5% of all my stoppages are gone now from moving the die location outward on station 1.

The latest thing I've learned with the 650 is to leave the primer assembly loose enough to self-align on the cases.

Nick

[slidelock1]

Thanks for all the input. I think I have largely solved this problem on my reloader. The brass is now feeding much more smoothly into the sizing die with only an occasional hang-up. What I did was to tweak the toolhead so that the sizing die is better centered over the shell plate. Then I reseated the sizing die, per Tard's suggestion. And finally, I messed with the ram for quite a while until it was adjusted so that it just placed the brass into the shell plate with minimal wiggle (per Pezco). Previously to doing any of these things and FTW, I took half a coil off the ball detent spring underneath the shell plate. My next step will be to purchase and install the bearing assembly (described elsewhere in this forum) on the shell plate. In the end I don't think this annoying problem will be completely eliminated but, rather, reduced to the point of being only an occasional issue. And, I don't think, given the price of this reloader, and the many variables that the reloader inflicts this machine, that one could fairly expect any more from it.

[bwit]

I ended up shimming the right side of the 650 3/16" to help keep the cartridge in the shellholder. This helps with the snap of the ring indexer moving the cartridge out of position. It actually has not solved the problem though, it's just better as some days it is still an issue. I did get a new assembly that helped much, not sure what you call it but the entire black part that pushes the cartridge into the shellplate and a new spring that is inside it. The old spring was very weak and I think that was a major problem.These machines are tempramental. I can change nothing and some days it runs like all is perfect and others gives me lots of problems. Some of it has to be how you work it, speed, pushing a little left or right on the operating arm without realizing it and ???????