Tried to post this on forum @ Dillon website but it is not allowing new posts for some reason.

Reloading .223 Rem in my RL550B and it is occasionally crushing the necks/rims of the cases when cycled in station #2 (powder drop station)...

I double-checked everything, and even cleaned out the die/funnel assembly with compressed air. Every thing seems A-OK...what is causing this??

Picture below is one of the tamer ones...sometimes it looks as if a bite is being taken out of it.

Note: Cases have been tumbled, lubed and get sized in station #1.

Thanks,

R

It appears to me that the rim of the neck is being ground down the whole circumferance. Did you actually check the overall length of the case? If its within tolerances then you have the die adjusted down too far and its crushing the rim.

I woiuld go0 back and check all of your dies for proper adjustment. Try somewhere between minumum and maximum. Let us know what happens, bu8t don't forget to check your overall length.

Checked all OALs with Dillon Case Gauge...all good.


The die doesn't crush every rim, only once in a while. Plus, other than providing mouth flare, what is the die at station 2 supposed to do?

I'm guessing your case guage is a go-no go -guage. Their fine but you really need to use a caliper and trim all cases back to "Trim to length". If you do that you will likely cure your problem.

You could also have some cases that have been shot more then others. When this happens the shoulders get case hardened and although you resize them the built in spring back from hardened shoulders will not give you uniform lengthes over all your cases. Some being longer then others.

You have to either anneal these hardened cases or throw them away.

The "powder funnel" in station two doesn't flare the mouths of bottle neck rifle cases, it only serves as the powder funnel and it operates the powder measure.
I would suspect a bur or something in the funnel and I would measure the cases with a caliper.

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Yeah, that was my thought...something in the funnel. A visual inspection turned up negative, and I went crazy cleaning it and blowing it out w compressed air.

Wierd, huh?


.

What powder bar are you using? You shoud be using the large one not the small one.

Roger that...using large powder bar.


One theory is mil spec brass vs. commercial, etc



.

It looks to me like it's getting snagged on something as it's going up...maybe some kind of alignment issue?

Funny you mentioned that...the cases seem 'wobbly' some times in the shell plate. You have me thinking now!

I would look at your shell plate you may have gunk on it were the case ring goes
or the ring on the case???
when I do my 375win a long straight wall case with a big rim on some case the rim is a little mess up and the case won't sit square in the shell plate and catch on the powder funnel and don't start into the sizing die well
auto loader bottle neck should do better but I think that were it starts off wrong

I'll take a look at that next time I tool up for .223. Thats a great thought.


Thanks!


.

Was the brass military or civilian?

Jim

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I resize using small base dies on a Rock Chucker, hand prime with a Sinclair tool, then I use the Dillon 550 for station 2, drop powder, station 3 seat bullets (I am a service rifle bullseye shooter and load about 3000 short range 77 gr Sierra MK rounds a year, mostly LC brass.

Would crush case neck, and figured out that there is enough looseness in the Dillon press shellplate that most cases can be slightly cocked off center, so I merely touch the case as it goes up into the #2 station.

Second is to make sure you have the powder funnel/drop tube adjusted on the station.

Those two actions should take care of the problem

Good food for thought.



Thanks!

I would suspect the sizing die at station 1. Check to see that the shellplate is snug, and that the little paperclip thingy is properly adjusted. Looks to me like it's not getting a straight shot into the die.

Good luck!

RSWMB,

It also looks to me like the case mouth (that is normally what the distal end of the neck is called to keep it distinct from the case rim at the other end) ran into the edge of the funnel/drop tube/operating rod rather than letting it enter the neck. That would be due to the case tipping on its way up to that tube. If these cases are being or have been fired in a self-loader, look for rims that have been bent outward by the extractor. You can find this by lining the cases up on a table top and sighting down them. If some of the mouths don't line up, they are tilting due to the bent rim problem.

Things that can help:

Pull the shell plate off and clean it and the press ram platform and reinstall the plate, paying particular attention to the last paragraph on page 7 of the instructions. Try to tighten the plate so as to minimize wobble and play as Scattershot suggested. It may help to burnish the bottom of the plate with some graphite or to apply a dry Teflon lube.

The brass buttons that keep the cases from flying out of the shell holder have to be sized to accommodate a maximum diameter case head and rim. Most cases are not maximum, though, and you can usually put a layer of tape around the head of the button on the #2 station to cut down slop and help center the cases more consistently. I actually turned several spare buttons that are oversized in half thousandth steps, but if you don't have a lathe, Dillon makes a .32 ACP conversion, so they have at least on button bigger than the one for the .223. You could get one and turn it down with a flat file while spinng the button in a drill until it just removes the slop in the orignial. You don't want it to squeeze, but only slight clearance could help.

Finally, just go slow until the drop tube is in the case mouth. Speed kills, here. You want to find where in the handle stroke the drop tube starts into the case mouth and get in the habit of pulling the handle so you slow down at that spot and can feel a faulty start and reverse the handle slightly and wiggle the case into position. Once the tube starts into the mouth, the rest of the stroke can be as fast as normal. The extra caution will only cost you about a second per round, so you'll not give up much of the 550's speed.

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