223 die set up
Quote from Reloader on November 18, 2013, 2:36 amBeen trying to set up my 223 dies on my Dillon 550b, the problem I am having is that they will not chamber in my ar15 it they do they are very hard to eject ( have not fired on seems to dangerous) any advice would be great, fyi this are RCBS dies SB do not want to buy new dies but if I have to I will.
Thanks in advance.
Been trying to set up my 223 dies on my Dillon 550b, the problem I am having is that they will not chamber in my ar15 it they do they are very hard to eject ( have not fired on seems to dangerous) any advice would be great, fyi this are RCBS dies SB do not want to buy new dies but if I have to I will.
Thanks in advance.
Quote from Reloader on November 18, 2013, 4:23 pmAre you using a headspace case gage to verify die adjustment? If not, this is what I recommend to help you get the size die properly adjusted.
#13254
Are you using a headspace case gage to verify die adjustment? If not, this is what I recommend to help you get the size die properly adjusted.
#13254
Quote from Reloader on January 6, 2014, 6:00 pmI'm guessing you have not screwed the resizing die down far enough. To get mine to resize sufficiently the sizing die makes contact with, and puts a tad bit of pressure on, the floor plate. Otherwise I have the same problem.
Leif
I'm guessing you have not screwed the resizing die down far enough. To get mine to resize sufficiently the sizing die makes contact with, and puts a tad bit of pressure on, the floor plate. Otherwise I have the same problem.
Leif
Quote from Reloader on January 23, 2014, 1:27 amI have just sent my new .223 sizing die back for the same reason. My fired brass is .005" longer than SAMMI specs. I have adjusted the die into the shell holder until there is excessive cam over pressure and cannot get the shoulder to bump back at all. I eased the bolt down on the sized brass and it would not chamber and almost didn't eject. I put one of my redding body only dies in the XL650 and screwed it down to touch the shell plate and it took the head space back .015". I adjusted the die up .010" to SAMMI which gives me .005" head space clearance and the round chambered and ejected properly. All measurements were made with a Redding Comparator installed in the Die holder and zeroed to the included headspace gauge. They were also checked using the same shell holder slot. From the look of things the Dies are being chambered too deep to allow proper head space and will most likely have the bottom ground about .010" . This will cure the problem but will put the lock ring on the last available thread on the Die. I would love to see a little more length on the dies and a little less depth on the chamber.
I have just sent my new .223 sizing die back for the same reason. My fired brass is .005" longer than SAMMI specs. I have adjusted the die into the shell holder until there is excessive cam over pressure and cannot get the shoulder to bump back at all. I eased the bolt down on the sized brass and it would not chamber and almost didn't eject. I put one of my redding body only dies in the XL650 and screwed it down to touch the shell plate and it took the head space back .015". I adjusted the die up .010" to SAMMI which gives me .005" head space clearance and the round chambered and ejected properly. All measurements were made with a Redding Comparator installed in the Die holder and zeroed to the included headspace gauge. They were also checked using the same shell holder slot. From the look of things the Dies are being chambered too deep to allow proper head space and will most likely have the bottom ground about .010" . This will cure the problem but will put the lock ring on the last available thread on the Die. I would love to see a little more length on the dies and a little less depth on the chamber.
Quote from Reloader on February 2, 2014, 6:11 pmI just received my die that went to the Dillon service dept. They removed about .020" from the base of the die and polished the internal surfaces. It was sent back with a lake city brass that was sized. That piece head space length was about .010" under my sammi guage length. I put the die in the xl650 and screwed it in till it touched the shell plate with the handle all the way down. I pulled out 10 pieces of brass that was over length, lubed them and sized one piece. It measured .005" under Sammi, I screwed it out just a little and the next piece measured right at Sammi. I ran the next 8 pieces and they came out consistant in length at or slightly below Sammi max length specs. I test chambered all the brass and they all chambered properly. The problem is fixed!
If any one is having issues with chambering the .223/5.56 rounds using the Dillon die set, first you need to first have some sort of guage to verify the issue. The Dillon case guages are great for verifying good and bad. If yours show excessive length after resizing and you die is screwed in to the point of heavy pressure at the bottom of handle stroke, return the die to Dillon service and they can fix it.
It is always good to have a die that sizes to the proper headspace with the die "lightly" touching the shell holder, this ensures that the entire case is sized. Heavy contact to get the proper length works, but the cost is additional wear on press components.
My thanks to Dillon for the quick 6 day turn around on my die!
I just received my die that went to the Dillon service dept. They removed about .020" from the base of the die and polished the internal surfaces. It was sent back with a lake city brass that was sized. That piece head space length was about .010" under my sammi guage length. I put the die in the xl650 and screwed it in till it touched the shell plate with the handle all the way down. I pulled out 10 pieces of brass that was over length, lubed them and sized one piece. It measured .005" under Sammi, I screwed it out just a little and the next piece measured right at Sammi. I ran the next 8 pieces and they came out consistant in length at or slightly below Sammi max length specs. I test chambered all the brass and they all chambered properly. The problem is fixed!
If any one is having issues with chambering the .223/5.56 rounds using the Dillon die set, first you need to first have some sort of guage to verify the issue. The Dillon case guages are great for verifying good and bad. If yours show excessive length after resizing and you die is screwed in to the point of heavy pressure at the bottom of handle stroke, return the die to Dillon service and they can fix it.
It is always good to have a die that sizes to the proper headspace with the die "lightly" touching the shell holder, this ensures that the entire case is sized. Heavy contact to get the proper length works, but the cost is additional wear on press components.
My thanks to Dillon for the quick 6 day turn around on my die!
Quote from Reloader on September 17, 2020, 7:50 amI just had the same problem– Dillon .223 sizing die was touching the shellplate and the case wouldn't go deep enough into the Dillon case gauge. Previously I had only bought fully processed and new brass. My brother had the press before me and I don't know what he did. There was a Lee three die set in .223– maybe he used that.
Since I have a lathe, I took .020" off the bottom and that gave me the adjustment range I needed. I checked with a file and the steel is hardened, but a carbide insert cut it just fine. The die is threaded almost all the way down into the tool head, but that's fine.
I just had the same problem– Dillon .223 sizing die was touching the shellplate and the case wouldn't go deep enough into the Dillon case gauge. Previously I had only bought fully processed and new brass. My brother had the press before me and I don't know what he did. There was a Lee three die set in .223– maybe he used that.
Since I have a lathe, I took .020" off the bottom and that gave me the adjustment range I needed. I checked with a file and the steel is hardened, but a carbide insert cut it just fine. The die is threaded almost all the way down into the tool head, but that's fine.
Quote from Reloader on September 23, 2020, 2:13 amHaving a similar setup issue. Using a hornady case gauge to check after sizing. Some cases are good, some are tight but will seat in the gauge with some pressure, and some won't get there at all. Sometimes if I operate the handle more than once (set up for sizing only, have a separate tool head for the other stages) a case will form to the gauge. Don't think that is normal? Have the die screwed down as far as I can get it to go or have backed it off and checked. Just doesn't seem to be consistent.
Is the hornandy gauge overly sensitive? Haven't had a lot of feed issues but have had a few. All cases are trimmed if needed also. Is there an allowance that a small percentage just won't get into spec? Looking for ideas as I can't find the consistency I would like.
thank you
Having a similar setup issue. Using a hornady case gauge to check after sizing. Some cases are good, some are tight but will seat in the gauge with some pressure, and some won't get there at all. Sometimes if I operate the handle more than once (set up for sizing only, have a separate tool head for the other stages) a case will form to the gauge. Don't think that is normal? Have the die screwed down as far as I can get it to go or have backed it off and checked. Just doesn't seem to be consistent.
Is the hornandy gauge overly sensitive? Haven't had a lot of feed issues but have had a few. All cases are trimmed if needed also. Is there an allowance that a small percentage just won't get into spec? Looking for ideas as I can't find the consistency I would like.
thank you
Quote from Reloader on September 26, 2020, 5:30 amIn this video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIO37hANQlY , Dillon says that the die can be screwed down up to an additional ¼ turn after it contacts the shellplate. That adds up to about 0.018" and just seems wrong to me. If that doesn't help, you might need to take a little off your die like I did.
In this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIO37hANQlY , Dillon says that the die can be screwed down up to an additional ¼ turn after it contacts the shellplate. That adds up to about 0.018" and just seems wrong to me. If that doesn't help, you might need to take a little off your die like I did.
Quote from Reloader on September 28, 2020, 1:06 amOne more thing. I've seen case heads get out-of-round such that they did not go all the way into the case gauge. Turn the case around and try to stick the big end in first. It should go in easily. If not, there's your trouble.
One more thing. I've seen case heads get out-of-round such that they did not go all the way into the case gauge. Turn the case around and try to stick the big end in first. It should go in easily. If not, there's your trouble.
Quote from Reloader on September 29, 2020, 2:49 amI'm hoping not to overly complicate this issue, and if I end up doing so, I apologize in advance. When you are referring to the size die, are you utilizing the size/decapping die? I do not and I'll explain why. The overwhelming majority of my rounds are fired through AR-15 or similar automatic rifles. They are very sensitive to the precise diameter of the sized case AND to the case length, and the brass in .223/5.56 tend to stretch quite frequently in my experience. So in my case prep tool head, station one contains a decapping die which does not resize the brass at all. Station 3 contains my trim die which also resizes the brass. It has been some time since I set this die, but when I did I ran it right down to the plate, then lifted the plate and screwed it in another quarter of turn. Yes, it cams over a slight bit, but not excessively. I used my Dillon case gauge to check the brass, and I also used one of my AR's to check the brass and ensure it drops in like a factory round. I really did not have to do any additional adjustment for the sizing operation, so to this point, my process is (a) tumble the brass to clean it; (b) apply the Dillon lubricant and wait 15-20 minutes to let the alcohol carrier evaporate, and then begin the resizing action in the trim die.
I then turn to the task of setting the trim motor. To this point, I have not found a way to set this permanently. But it doesn't take more than a few minutes, and when it is set, then it is "go time" and I begin running brass in earnest Yes, I periodically check my processed brass, both in the case gauge and in a chamber drop check.
The next two steps for case prep are outside of the Dillon press. First, I debur the cases, and if I am using flat base bullet, I chamfer the case mouth. Secondly, since I use a variety of ammo AND because I cheerfully pick up range brass, I need to examine the case heads to pick out the brass that needs to have the primer pockets swaged. Some time ago, I tried the little tool that bolted on to my press and I didn't like it. So I have continued to use the Dillon swage tool I bought many years ago.
The actually insertion of the primer, powder and bullet is really no different than reloading any other metallic cartridge, but my high power rifle case all require the use of two tool heads; one for case processing and one for actual reloading. I also check my completed rounds with the chamber check I described earlier.
I'll repeat what I wrote initially. I have no intent to overly complicate the issue and if I have, I'm sorry. My personal goal was to develop a process that would avoid that situation many of us have seen at the range where a fellow shooter's rifle has locked up on a loaded round that the shooter can neither file or extract from the chamber because it has been improperly processed.
Good luckTerry
I'm hoping not to overly complicate this issue, and if I end up doing so, I apologize in advance. When you are referring to the size die, are you utilizing the size/decapping die? I do not and I'll explain why. The overwhelming majority of my rounds are fired through AR-15 or similar automatic rifles. They are very sensitive to the precise diameter of the sized case AND to the case length, and the brass in .223/5.56 tend to stretch quite frequently in my experience. So in my case prep tool head, station one contains a decapping die which does not resize the brass at all. Station 3 contains my trim die which also resizes the brass. It has been some time since I set this die, but when I did I ran it right down to the plate, then lifted the plate and screwed it in another quarter of turn. Yes, it cams over a slight bit, but not excessively. I used my Dillon case gauge to check the brass, and I also used one of my AR's to check the brass and ensure it drops in like a factory round. I really did not have to do any additional adjustment for the sizing operation, so to this point, my process is (a) tumble the brass to clean it; (b) apply the Dillon lubricant and wait 15-20 minutes to let the alcohol carrier evaporate, and then begin the resizing action in the trim die.
I then turn to the task of setting the trim motor. To this point, I have not found a way to set this permanently. But it doesn't take more than a few minutes, and when it is set, then it is "go time" and I begin running brass in earnest Yes, I periodically check my processed brass, both in the case gauge and in a chamber drop check.
The next two steps for case prep are outside of the Dillon press. First, I debur the cases, and if I am using flat base bullet, I chamfer the case mouth. Secondly, since I use a variety of ammo AND because I cheerfully pick up range brass, I need to examine the case heads to pick out the brass that needs to have the primer pockets swaged. Some time ago, I tried the little tool that bolted on to my press and I didn't like it. So I have continued to use the Dillon swage tool I bought many years ago.
The actually insertion of the primer, powder and bullet is really no different than reloading any other metallic cartridge, but my high power rifle case all require the use of two tool heads; one for case processing and one for actual reloading. I also check my completed rounds with the chamber check I described earlier.
I'll repeat what I wrote initially. I have no intent to overly complicate the issue and if I have, I'm sorry. My personal goal was to develop a process that would avoid that situation many of us have seen at the range where a fellow shooter's rifle has locked up on a loaded round that the shooter can neither file or extract from the chamber because it has been improperly processed.
Good luck
Terry