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Posted: 4/8/2009 10:45:16 AM EDT
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Gentlemen, (and ladies?)....I beseech thee for thy wisdom:
I have about 6000 1x fired Lake City military brass with crimped primers. I am currently using a single stage press, and bought a Dillon Super Swager to handle the crimps. I've been thinking about picking up a progressive press with auto-indexing (Hornady LNL AP or Dillon 650). However, I don't want to have to run them all through a single step to deprime, then remove to swage by hand, then re-insert to continue. I know that the Dillon 1050 has a built-in swager, but I'd rather not pay $1600 for a press. Is there any way to set up a swager with either the Hornady LNL progressive or the Dillon 650? Thank thee, oh wise and powerful Arfcom. Humbly, CmdrTaco |
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You might be asking for too much...........
Yes, it's 2009. But, I can remember when the first Dillon progressive machine came out. Dillion's press even back then was about $300. While other manufacturers only offered a single station or turret press for the home gamers. The only other decent progressive was the Star and it was expensive (and not counting the elec powered big $ machines). We've come a long way. But, not that far. The Dillon 1050 seems to be about what you're looking for. But, yes...............the price is the deal breaker. Aloha, Mark PS........Dillon has made a ton of money with his products. I'm sure that IF you could make a machine (at a good price) with all the bells and whistles (including a swage station) you could make a ton of money too. Then, how about adding a trim station to your new machine? |
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Quoted:
I think that RCBS makes a swager that will fit in a single stage press. Is it impossible to add something like this to either the Hornady LNL or Dillon 650? My guess is that you have never used the RCBS swage parts. I have (w/ my Rock Chucker and RCBS Jr.)........IMHO, it's a PIA. But.........look at the RCBS design closely. That cup that knocks the case off of the sawge spud is not going to work with a Dillon progressive machine. Aloha, Mark |
IMO- RESIZE, THEN USE A DILLON SUPER SWAGGER 600 TO REAM THE POCKETS(300-400/HOUR ISN'T FAST ENOUGH FOR YOU? ROME WASN'T BUILT IN A DAY YOU KNOW!) , USE A RCBS TRIM MATE TO CLEAN THE PRIMER POCKETS, LASTLY TRIM, CHAMFER AND DEBUR. FOR TRIMMING CONSIDER A GRACIE POWER TRIMMER OR BETTER YET A GIROUD POWER TRIMMER(STILL WAITING FOR MINE). FINALLY COMPLETE THE CARTRIDGE ON YOUR PROGRESSIVE PRESS- PRIME-POWDER-SEAT-CRIMP. CASE PREPARATION ON RIFLE CARTRIDGES IS 75% OF THE WORK. BY THE WAY THE HORNADY LNL AP IS GREAT SO DON'T LIMIT YOURSELF TO A DILLON. 
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Quoted:
You might be asking for too much........... Yes, it's 2009. But, I can remember when the first Dillon progressive machine came out. Dillion's press even back then was about $300. While other manufacturers only offered a single station or turret press for the home gamers. The only other decent progressive was the Star and it was expensive (and not counting the elec powered big $ machines). We've come a long way. But, not that far. The Dillon 1050 seems to be about what you're looking for. But, yes...............the price is the deal breaker. Aloha, Mark PS........Dillon has made a ton of money with his products. I'm sure that IF you could make a machine (at a good price) with all the bells and whistles (including a swage station) you could make a ton of money too. Then, how about adding a trim station to your new machine? At what point do you just say F**K it and buy a commercial fully automated machine? -Masta |
| I just had a guy give me a few lc brass and they were once fired. I used my rockchucker to size them and a dillion tool to do the primer pockets. After sizing and swagging them most all of them passed a check guage for the length, they were right on the money. No resizing required. The dillion swagging took time but was worth it. Too many people have said the rcbs and other swagging tools do not hold up. I talked to some good ol boys last week and they do not do any thing but shove the primer in after sizing. I stay on the other side of town now from them. I am waiting to hear a ER hospital report on some one shooting someone by accident. |
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I use the rcbs swager tool and I do about 3-500 per hour. Keep in mind you only do this once and after that it is done forever. You have 6000 rounds so if you do them one time it is done. At least you have all lake city so the web thickness issue should be the same. The rcbs tool costs about 25 bucks so is really economical. I have done several thousand with mine and have had no trouble.
Troy |
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Quoted:
I use the rcbs swager tool and I do about 3-500 per hour. Keep in mind you only do this once and after that it is done forever. You have 6000 rounds so if you do them one time it is done. At least you have all lake city so the web thickness issue should be the same. The rcbs tool costs about 25 bucks so is really economical. I have done several thousand with mine and have had no trouble. Troy If you can do that many in an hr, you must have arms like a gorilla and the speed of a cheetah. Realistically, 150 an hr and that's pushing it. Having to slam the case off the spud also can tear up a bench, if not built strong, you can also beat holes in your wall if the bench is not mounted to the wall. I used one for many years before I got a Dillon, worth every dollar. 'Borg |
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Like I said in the OP, I've got a Dillon Super Swager. I was only interested in getting the RCBS if it would work with a progressive.
What I'd like to do is set something up just to process large amounts of brass. I'm not sure at this point if I'm going to load all of them myself, or maybe sell some off. Therefore, all I need to do is: Deprime Swage Full Length Size Trim (maybe chamfer) No powder drop or bullet seating at this time. |
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damn reading this makes me feel like a fool for doing it with a hand reamer...good ol Hornady hand tool and lots of finger cramps! But i manage to remove the crimps from 2000 cases...and it took me a week!!!
But half the fun of reloading is hiding from the women ..so the longer it takes the better! If i got it done in an hour i would then be made to do real house work.... 
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Quoted:
Like I said in the OP, I've got a Dillon Super Swager. I was only interested in getting the RCBS if it would work with a progressive. <snip> It will NOT work with a progressive. Swaging, other than on a 1050 press, MUST be done as a separate step. I have and love the Super Swage 600. YMMV |
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HA!!!!
Welcome to the party. I just finished loading 4000 LC "once fired" machine gun brass cases on my 650 and super swager. It was literally a three MONTH process. First, we tumbled, sized and trimmed all the brass on the 650––I would still be trimming cases if not for the Dillon trimmer on the toolhead. (Size in station 1, trim in station 4). Then swaged it all (got my wife to do it at the same time we were sizing/trimming)–– 
Then had to tumble it all again to break the sharp edge off the neck and remove the case lube. Then loaded it all. (neck sizing die in station 1 to size neck and remove any media stuck in the flash hole).. Of course, I took a lot of time off between steps, and was in the process of learning to use the 650 at the time––that's why it took so long. You will probably average about 300 rounds per hour once you get used to the Dillon and have it set up properly. Also, do yourself a favor and buy a CASE GAUGE. Buy either the Dillon, or the RCBS precision mic, to make absolutely sure that your resizing die is taking the should back to factory specs, especially if you are using machine gun brass. Do NOT assume that your resizing die is setting the shoulder back enough. I had to grind my Dillon resizing die about .010" to get it size to spec. |
| I have used my 1050 to swage thousands of pieces of brass and have had no issues. One option for getting a 1050 a little cheaper than retail would be to use the microsoft live.com discount through ebay. Here is a link that explains it: http://www.cashbackr.com/ |
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