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Posted: 12/9/2008 3:55:22 PM EDT
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I've had a Dillon 550b for several years now reloading 45ACP. I just started reloading rifle catridges ala Obama. I'd like to use my 550 for 223 but have a few questions. They have carbide dies but surely you must lube each case? And what about trimming? My thoughts were to resize and trim on my single turret then run them through the 550. How consistant is the powder measure for the rifle loads? Does Dillon have a crimp die. I'd like to use it for my bulk ammo and us the old turret a step at a time for my Matchkings. Thanks in advance for any advice.
Jared |
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Most of your questions are answered on the Dillon website.
You need to lube rifle cases even with their carbide dies. I don't know why you would need the carbide dies for a home realoader though. Their standard dies work just fine. You need to trim rifle cases no matter whose reloader you use. Consistency of powder drop depends on the powder. My experiences with the 550b is that it is 'consistent enough'. If you need hyper accuracy then you probably need to individually weigh each charge. Dillon 3 die sets include a resizer, seater, and crimper. Good luck. |
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Here is my process Rifle Reloading Procedure: |
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For my 550, I also do the 2-step process. I have a body die which also does the decapping and a Lee Collet for the neck. Lube with Lee lube as it is faster than Imperial. Set up with the body die in 1 and the Collet in 3 for a balanced feel. Then they are trimmed, if needed (much less with this setup) and primer pockets cleaned.
Then priming, powder and bullet seating. No crimping unless it is blasting/tracer ammo. Yes, even a stuffy guy like I needs to have some fun. Selected range brass with starting loads. |
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Don't waste your money on carbide dies in 223, they are not needed.
Get the standard Dillon 223 dies, they work great. Either way the cases need lube on them to size. Loading process, Tumble clean, lube, size, delube, trim if needed, debur, remove crimp if needed. Optional, clean primer pockets. We call this process brass prep. Then back to 550 to finish loading. |
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I started with a 550B and switched to a XL 650 w/casefeeder and Dillon trimmer, however, the steps below were the ones I used on my 550B. I check my brass twice during the brass prep process (after initial cleaning and then again after cleaning the lube off) and then again after I've completed reloading the rounds just to make sure I've caught any bad brass and/or rounds.
Brass Prep (using your case prep toolhead setup): 1. Inspect Brass 2. Tumble / Clean Brass - Lizard Litter Walnut & Turtle Wax car polish - 1 hr max 3. Lube Brass - Dillon Spray Lube not One-Shot 4. Install Case Prep Toolhead in 550 - confirm adjustments •Dillon Decapper / Resizer die in #1 - I resize and decap at this stage •Dillon Trimmer in #3 - I have the die set to just touch the case but trim at the proper length only if necessary. 5. Insert cases in station #1 as normal to Decap / Resize and Trim (if necessary). Advance the shellplate as normal adding new cases until all brass is processed. 6. Tumble / Clean Brass - Lizard Litter Walnut - 10 minutes max 7. Inspect brass again and Dillon Case Gauge - Lot samples: 10% of total. If question, then gauge every case. 8. Swage - only if needed 9. Store prep'd brass for reloading in future * Note that I neither chamfer nor de-burr the case neck nor clean the primer pockets. - I don't do Bullseye shooting and so far have never needed to clean my primer pockets and, - the Dillon Super Swage does a great job at both removing the crimp and swaging a uniform primer pocket and, - the Dillon trimmer leaves a smooth, bur free edge and, - I use boat tailed bullets so chamfering for my purposes is unnecessary. Reloading (using your reloading toolhead setup): 1. Install Reloading Toolhead in 550, fill powder measure, primer feed, and bullet bin - confirm adjustments •Lee Universal Decapper die in #1 - to remove any media in flash hole •Dillon Powder die in #2 •Dillon Bullet Seater in #3 •Dillon FCD in #4 2. Insert cases in station #1 and perform reloading steps as normal, add bullets, and complete cartridges as normal. 3. Inspect finished rounds 4. Box and label Go to range and make empty brass to start cycle once again |
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my steps are as follows
throw brass in tumbler ( just long enough to get the worst of the grud off) i have a seperate tool head with another resize die in the first station and dillion's case trimmer in the bulleting seating station. take a lubed case size and deprime in station one. once the case is at the trimmer, it gets trimmed and sized to length. throw cases back into tumbler to get the goo off. when it's time to reload. i swap tool heads and relaod. the resize/decap die is backed out far enough not to get the cases stuck, but i have the decap pin tuned in so it knocks out any media stuck in the flash hole. |
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Sir, just a few comments regarding some of the responses already posted. Like many of the others I do all bottle neck rifle brass prep apart from the Dillon RL550B on a single stage press.
If your resizing die includes a depriming rod with an expander ball when you lube the brass you need to ensure some lube gets inside the case neck to facilitate the passage of the expander ball. While perhaps not the fastest method avaliable I disagree that any of the spray lubes are better or faster than lubing with Imperial resizing wax. When I lube with imperial the application step is part of the step that inserts the brass case into the press shell holder. How anyone can consider an entirely seperate step to lube the cases as being better or faster escapes me. Anyway as you pick up the brass rub your lubed fingers across the body of the case and neck as you insert it into the shell holder. If you use a Dillon trimmer you'll have to deprime it in another step, use of a depriming die in stage one of the 550 tool head followed by resizing and trimming on stage two is a common means of accomplishing this. However if you have a different trimmer like a Giraud you can trim all brass after you have resized and deprimed it in a single step. Some will tell you that you only need to trim the brass that exceeds 1.76". While this is true I trim all brass to 1.758" to ensure that each piece of brass is as identical to another as I can possible make it. If you are using military brass you'll also need to remove the primer crimp before you can reprime. I recommend use of the Dillon Super Swager for the purpose. After resizing, depriming, trimming, and swaging I tumble all brass in corn cob media to remove the lube. I've found this works adequately to ensure the lube inside the case neck also is removed. Finally I reprime all bress with a Sinclair hand priming tool. Although some might consider it expensive it's the best hand priming tool on the market that I know of. When I'm actually ready to reload the brass I start with an expander mandrel located in stage one of the Dillon 550 followed by my Redding 3BR powder measure in stage two. The Dillon powder measure simply is not accurate enough for extruded powders. Dillon mentions this in the Blue Press and recommends other powders but for purposes of my match ammo I use VV N540 which does not meter well in the Dillon powder measure. If you want to use a powder measure besides the Dillon you'll have to buy an RL 450 powder die and adapter, Dillon Part Nos. F93-20308 and F93-20029 respectively. I've found that crimping the loaded ammo in the final stage of loading is unnecessary if you have properly expanded the case neck ID to be .003" less than the bullet OD. That's why I use an expander mandrel in the first stage of the Dillon press. HTH, 7zero1. |
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Quoted:
7zero1 is a high precision reloader and his steps are biased that way. No problem with that, but many of us want reasonable accuracy while limiting as many steps as possible. My process yields very good results in my 1:9 RRA chrome lined barrels. Even with 61 yr old eyes, my 55grn .223 ammo made with surplus Mil powder (WC 844) is sub MOA using only the steps I outlined above. That's good enough for me. YMMV
Sir, just a few comments regarding some of the responses already posted. Like many of the others I do all bottle neck rifle brass prep apart from the Dillon RL550B on a single stage press. If your resizing die includes a depriming rod with an expander ball when you lube the brass you need to ensure some lube gets inside the case neck to facilitate the passage of the expander ball. (Not if you use a die with a carbide expander ball like the Dillon set. I've resized over 18,000 .223 cases without any lube inside the neck with no squeaking or other issues) While perhaps not the fastest method available I disagree that any of the spray lubes are better or faster than lubing with Imperial resizing wax. When I lube with imperial the application step is part of the step that inserts the brass case into the press shell holder. How anyone can consider an entirely separate step to lube the cases as being better or faster escapes me. Anyway as you pick up the brass rub your lubed fingers across the body of the case and neck as you insert it into the shell holder. If you use a Dillon trimmer you'll have to deprime it in another step, use of a depriming die in stage one of the 550 tool head followed by resizing and trimming on stage two is a common means of accomplishing this. (Nope, the trimmer will not fit in station #2, but rather it goes in station #3) However if you have a different trimmer like a Giraud you can trim all brass after you have resized and deprimed it in a single step. Some will tell you that you only need to trim the brass that exceeds 1.76". While this is true I trim all brass to 1.758" to ensure that each piece of brass is as identical to another as I can possible make it. (If you have your decapping / resizing die in station #1 and Dillon trimmer in station #3 of a separate toolhead, you apply case lube and run it through both. Once set, the Dillon trimmer will trim all brass longer than it's set length and I, like you, trim mine shorter [1.755"] so that all cases are the same.) If you are using military brass you'll also need to remove the primer crimp before you can reprime. I recommend use of the Dillon Super Swager for the purpose. After resizing, depriming, trimming, and swaging I tumble all brass in corn cob media to remove the lube. I've found this works adequately to ensure the lube inside the case neck also is removed. Finally I reprime all bress with a Sinclair hand priming tool. Although some might consider it expensive it's the best hand priming tool on the market that I know of. When I'm actually ready to reload the brass I start with an expander mandrel located in stage one of the Dillon 550 followed by my Redding 3BR powder measure in stage two. The Dillon powder measure simply is not accurate enough for extruded powders. Dillon mentions this in the Blue Press and recommends other powders but for purposes of my match ammo I use VV N540 which does not meter well in the Dillon powder measure. If you want to use a powder measure besides the Dillon you'll have to buy an RL 450 powder die and adapter, Dillon Part Nos. F93-20308 and F93-20029 respectively. I've found that crimping the loaded ammo in the final stage of loading is unnecessary if you have properly expanded the case neck ID to be .003" less than the bullet OD. That's why I use an expander mandrel in the first stage of the Dillon press. HTH, 7zero1. |
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I do my .308 as a 2-stage process on my 550
1. tumble clean for a couple of hours 2. Lube using DCL 3. Size/Deprime on a Dillon die (only die in toolhead) 4. Clean flash holes 5. Trim each and every case (manual rotary trimmer, poor people have poor ways) 6. Chamfer inside/outside of mouth 7. Store in plastic containers w/times fire # When I do reload them they are ready to go, I have another toolhead with a universal decapper in station #1 and then the rest of the toolhead has the powder die, seater and taper crimp die, I have the regular flavor rifle dies Dillon told me that the carbide were not necessary unless I was a commercial reloader. You will get mixed reviews on the powder drops I for one had some trouble but after some tweaking I am able to get better drops with little variance and as far as the crimp goes that's up to to some do and some don't I choose to kiss crimp everything |
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