Well, wife confirmed the Dillon trimmer came in the mail today!!! Man...just like an earlier thread about calling in sick for work....I feel like going home 'sick' right now.

But, alas...must wait until after work, until after dinner with the wife, might even have to wait till tomorrow (nah....I'll just stay up late )

So I searched for Dillon/LNL/Hornady and came up with nothing on this board (why can't I check the search archived button)?

So I ask.....Those using the RT1500 and the LNL setup. I understand my most efficient setup would be Lee decapper in station 1, then trim (station 3?) then my hornady size die turned up so not to resize but only to draw the neck expander through it. (station 5 I presume.)

1. which stations work best for this setup?

2. Any tips on the Dillon 223 die and the trimmer for getting it setup with least amount of issues?

3. I have one of the larger shop vacs that has the larger 3-4 inch diameter hose, looks like from what I see in pictures the connector piece that vacuums up the shavings is rather small for like the handheld shop vacs. Anyone have this issue and how / what do you do to connect to it? (yes duct tape fixes everything, but I'd rather go with good connections)


Thanks for any insights shared to help me in this next step of learning.

You will save your self a lot of grief if you Size and decap in station 1, Trim in station 3 and then what ever.



What you want to come out of the Trimmer die, is a perfectly sized and trimmed piece of brass.  Since you want to use the trimmer die to size the brass, you may end up with variances in OAL that you can't control unless you have shot all of the brass out of a bolt gun.  



And as far as duct tape goes, I've used it for 5 years on my Dillon 1200.

Just curious, has anyone used the dillon then converted to the Giraud?

Which did you prefer after using both and why?

I've not done a Giraurd. Running Dillon trimmer but seen enough Giraurd posts to know better than compare the two. If I had one and wanted to try the other I could make each task specific. Dillon for practice ammunition and Giraurd for performance handloads.


dc.

Is that mostly because of the inner and outter bevels that the giraud performs that the dillon does not?

3. I have one of the larger shop vacs that has the larger 3-4 inch diameter hose, looks like from what I see in pictures the connector piece that vacuums up the shavings is rather small for like the handheld shop vacs. Anyone have this issue and how / what do you do to connect to it? (yes duct tape fixes everything, but I'd rather go with good connections)


Any hardware store has pvc reducers for the task.

I have the 1200 at home and my XL650 should be delivered today.  I've still got a few months before I'll be able to come home and set it up though  I also plan on ordering a giraud before too long.  I plan on using the 1200 for 5.56 brass prep and the giraud for most of my other calibers.  The 1200 should be faster for large amounts of loading, but I believe the giraud will be a little more precise for my match rounds.  I would also have to order a second 1200 for 6.8 use  I've decided to just get the giraud set up for 6.8, .308, .50 and probably any other calibers I would do in small batches.
 

Dillon trimmer will leave an angle inside case mouth, not as smooth or nice as Giraurd.

Think of comparing both in context of reloading and handloading.

I have an RT-1200 that is old, probably one of the prototypes... It is very consistent and there is no handling of individual cases. I decap, size, and trim about 25 cases per minute in a 650 on station 3. Station 5 has a neck sizer to help burnish the case mouth, and I tumble the brass afterwards in ceramic media.

I burned up a Shop-vac and think it was from too much restriction so I drilled 3 1/4 inch holes in the plastic vacuum adapter, opposite from the hose connection.

I think i'm feeling the difference now, when you go to seat post dillon trim it's not as smooth, almost like it's shoving the bullet down into the neck, vs. when you've beveled the edges (like the giraud will do) then its very smooth on the upstroke seating. I imagine the difference between shove and slide is probably some accuracy.