What did you do in the reloading room recently?

andrew1220 said:
Thanks guys. It doesn't seem like it does much but maybe its just my eyesight. They shoot just fine so it's probably not an issue lol.
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Are you using it on a progressive by chance? It does have to travel a bit after the shell plate makes contact with the bottom of the die. I figured this out with a 223 FCD that didn't seem to crimp. I put it in my single stage and it crimped as expected.
 
jpm said:
Are you using it on a progressive by chance? It does have to travel a bit after the shell plate makes contact with the bottom of the die. I figured this out with a 223 FCD that didn't seem to crimp. I put it in my single stage and it crimped as expected.
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I am. I screwed it in far enough that there’s a fair amount of resistance when “crimping” but I don’t want to screw it in any further and risk damaging the press/dies.
 
mark2215 said:
I have an 8# jug of alliant and an 8# jug of winchester. Send me the STL once it's ready and I'll print out a spout to try on these jugs.
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Went with a two part rotating lid - no issues with timing the threads and no need for supports when printing.
Will post STLs when I'm not on my phone
IMG_20210122_165727288.jpg
 
andrew1220 said:
Started loading some 30 Carbine tonight. Hadn’t loaded that caliber in over 5 years.
What’s everyone using to crimp? I had a lee FCD but it literally does nothing to remove the flare/bell on the case - started to wonder if its defective. Then I realized the Lee seating die allows to seat and crimp which seemed to work okay. Better if all cases are uniform in length.

Just cracked open my last container of W296. I could use another pound or 2. Really want to save the 2400 for 357 mag only.
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I use the FCD works well for me.
 
Mudflap621 said:
Got my inline mount today and although I planned on mounting to the roll top desk it’s a little too high for my liking there so opted to keep it on my other table for now. Mounted it’s perfect height to stand and reload. I couldn’t justify spending the $50 for the Dillon bullet tray so was looking around found an old plastic screw box I modified for the time being. That until Pastera cooks up a nice bullet tray to go with those powder funnels! Also decided to mount the mec as seen as it’ll be used for early load development and odd jobs. It’s a lot smaller package. I’m sure I’ll move them again in a week or so 😂
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How dare you bolt that ghetto piece of tupperware on to that Dillon ;-)

Actually, that is a pretty good idea. Paint it blue and you can start selling them for $29.95...
 
EddieZoom said:
How dare you bolt that ghetto piece of tupperware on to that Dillon ;-)

Actually, that is a pretty good idea. Paint it blue and you can start selling them for $29.95...
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Don’t hate the playa...any reason why not to have magnets near press? I had this lil magnetic tray and it’s convenient for placing pins and tools.

Seeing as I’ve only got one 9mm toolhead I re-set dies to a previous load to mess around with some more coated projos. I also honed the bottom of 9mm shellplate like I did the 223.
 

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In the last two days I've loaded 400 new Starline 44spl brass with 240gr Powerbond hollow points and 215gr lead semi wadcutters over Accurate #5.
Also, 150 pcs of .44 Magnum with the same 240gr Powerbond bullets.
Waiting to get my 30 carbine brass back from a friend who is wet tumbling it for me then it will be loaded with some 110gr soft point bullets for hunting ammo and the rest will be 110gr FMJ.

Today, is .40 SW day.
 
Mudflap621 said:
Mhmm...I like shiny things
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Did you polish the press side?
the plate does not actually ride on anything it sits on the detent ball correct?
I know it only adds to production cost but would a shell plate with the same radius groove where the ball travels increase stability if the plate?

what is dillons response to any of you that have contacted Dillon for this problem.
Could a second detent ball be installed, is there enough real-estate under there.

its funny that a press design thats been around for so long has these little quirks that the manufacture just sort of gives a “eh, good enough”
I figure a simple “feather board” would be enough to hold the shell plate with just enough tension to stop the “snap”

I tried to bevel the detent on my lee shell plate to stop the snap. It kinda worked.
I think the crisp edge on the detent hole locks it in place much better
 
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Uzi2 said:
In the last two days I've loaded 400 new Starline 44spl brass with 240gr Powerbond hollow points and 215gr lead semi wadcutters over Accurate #5.
Also, 150 pcs of .44 Magnum with the same 240gr Powerbond bullets.
Waiting to get my 30 carbine brass back from a friend who is wet tumbling it for me then it will be loaded with some 110gr soft point bullets for hunting ammo and the rest will be 110gr FMJ.

Today, is .40 SW day.
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Niice! I need more 30 carbine brass to finish off the bullets I have.
 
mac1911 said:
Did you polish the press side?
the plate does not actually ride on anything it sits on the detent ball correct?
I know it only adds to production cost but would a shell plate with the same radius groove where the ball travels increase stability if the plate?

what is dillons response to any of you that have contacted Dillon for this problem.
Could a second detent ball be installed, is there enough real-estate under there.

its funny that a press design thats been around for so long has these little quirks that the manufacture just sort of gives a “eh, good enough”
I figure a simple “feather board” would be enough to hold the shell plate with just enough tension to stop the “snap”

I tried to bevel the detent on my lee shell plate to stop the snap. It kinda worked.
I think the crisp edge on the detent hole locks it in place much better
Click to expand...
Didn’t polish the press side. The shellplate does have a detent ball with a spring under it. When adjusting the shellplate, the tighter I get the hold down bolt the less play I get in the shellplate. Before polishing I’d get to a point where it would spin smooth than grab in a few small spots so therefore I’d back it out and could feel a little up down play in shellplate. I should have took pics mid-polish as it showed the small imperfections in the bottom of the shellplate.

I can definately say that I can now run shellplate down tighter and I cannot feel any vertical movement and it feels smoother for sure.

Real world impact... I dunno, but I’m thinking it’ll be a benefit in the priming stage.

I’ve spent quite a fair amount of time recently reading about long range guys (snipershide,longerangehunting) and their use of the 550 and this has been brought up multiple times by them so figured what the hell I’ll try it. I’ve also seen this article referenced and recommended multiple times some other tips and tweets.
 

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Mudflap621 said:
Didn’t polish the press side. The shellplate does have a detent ball with a spring under it. When adjusting the shellplate, the tighter I get the hold down bolt the less play I get in the shellplate. Before polishing I’d get to a point where it would spin smooth than grab in a few small spots so therefore I’d back it out and could feel a little up down play in shellplate. I should have took pics mid-polish as it showed the small imperfections in the bottom of the shellplate.

I can definately say that I can now run shellplate down tighter and I cannot feel any vertical movement and it feels smoother for sure.

Real world impact... I dunno, but I’m thinking it’ll be a benefit in the priming stage.

I’ve spent quite a fair amount of time recently reading about long range guys (snipershide,longerangehunting) and their use of the 550 and this has been brought up multiple times by them so figured what the hell I’ll try it. I’ve also seen this article referenced and recommended multiple times some other tips and tweets.
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Might be better off polishing the shell plate bolt hole and bolt , although sometimes to smooth is a problem and crud gets under there with no place to go
 
Well, I guess I'll have to pass on the FB offer. I don't support Mark, so I can't log in to get details.
Besides, most of my casting days are over. Just too much labor required for what I get out of it.

Loaded up some 54mm (7.5/7.62/7.65) with some lead free projectiles.
Hey, I can't cast these anyways!

Mosin shooters:
Although my range area is only 40 yards, you're welcome to come try some of these frangibles on steel, rocks, paper, balloons, water-filled cans, etc.
Most any day works for me, so it's up to you to make this happen. Shoot some and I'll show you how to roll your own with the empties.
 

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resized and prepped and primed 50 9mm cases. gonna keep loading some more 125gr speer LRN over 4.2 gr of unique at 1.13" Makes for a nice soft shooting plinking load and I have a bunch of these bullets because I used to use them for 38 super.

I've only got my rock chucker and my Lee classic press set up right now, loading 50 9mm at a time on single stage sucks, desperately gotta dig out the dillon I inherited from my dad and set it up.

Also decapped and tossed a few handfuls of brass in the tumbler.

Haven't rolled my own pistol ammo in years because it was pretty cheap to shoot factory ammo. Right now I still have plenty of factory ammo to shoot, but I want to be able to roll right into reloading if I have to so I'm slowly gearing back up. I refuse to pay $35/box for 9mm lol and I don't see this insanity ending anytime soon.
 
Loaded 30 223 for group/chrono testing
2011 Lake City M193 once fired, resized to 0.003" shorter than what came out of my barrel last time at the range, trimmed to 1.760"
CCI #41
50 grain Hornady V max seated to 2.260"
IMR 3031, 5 each 24.0, 24.3, 24.6, 24.7, 24.8, 24.9g

I pulled a couple handfuls out of my bucket of 223/556 brass to look things over, and the 2011 Lake City seemed to have the best consistency of the stuff I had on hand. I found a lot of really off center flash holes in some of the federal 223 cases I had.

Around 24.6g, I have to take the filled case and tap on it a bit to get the powder grains to settle in enough where it's not a compressed load. I noticed the grains settle in better if I tap on the side of the case, vs tapping the upright case on the table.

Now if I can figure out how to get the rifle to stop throwing the brass where I can't find it... this is why I like revolvers...
 
p.. said:
....Now if I can figure out how to get the rifle to stop throwing the brass where I can't find it... this is why I like revolvers...
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Are you shooting a Mini-14? They seem to chuck brass a looong way.
Good, consistent reloads will land in a bucket, if you're shooting from a fixed location (sometimes, at least!).
Place some sort of barrier next to your shooting bench or construct some sort of basket to gather your brass on your rifle. Or just live with it
 

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