45 ACP Problems
Quote from Reloader on January 23, 2017, 4:06 pmI have been a long time user of the SDB and 550b. That being said because of family (kids taking all my time) I have been away from shooting heavily for the last ten years. Kids are moving on and I am getting the presses rolling again. I purchased dies for doing handgun loads on the 550b with the intent of passing my SDB onto my son. I am having all kinds of issues with the initial setup, and I am getting deformed cases.
It took me some time to get things set up where I could run dummy rounds through the press and not see deformed cases, but I was able to get everything set up and ran a half dozen dummy rounds through with no issues. All gauged out in terms of OAL and dropping in and out of a case gauge so I thought all was fine, but when I started loading the problem appeared again.
The issues occur in the seating stage. It looks like the case isn't belled enough, but it does gauge out and when I try to make it slightly deeper I get fractured cases. As I am new to handgun rounds on the 550b I thought it was a lubrication issue so I tried that (dillon lube), but that didn't really help. Getting about 25% of my rounds that have a deformed bullet and case. I am really confused. Have loaded lots of rifle bottle necked cases over the years and never had this issue, and done thousands of handgun rounds on the SDB. This is new. All lock rings are tight, everything looks to be set per the specs, but I am sure I am missing something.
Using cleaned once fired brass. It is old, but looks good. I bought it at back (from Dillon) when I was regularly shooting so it is at least 10 years old. I don't think that would be an issue, but maybe? Also using a 230 grn Berry's RN bullet, but randomly grabbed some Rainier that are same profile and weight and had the same issue. Also, had like three where the bullet stuck in the seating die and I had to remove and knock out.
I am sure that somewhere in my set up I am missing something. Operator error on my part, but I haven't found it yet. Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.
I have been a long time user of the SDB and 550b. That being said because of family (kids taking all my time) I have been away from shooting heavily for the last ten years. Kids are moving on and I am getting the presses rolling again. I purchased dies for doing handgun loads on the 550b with the intent of passing my SDB onto my son. I am having all kinds of issues with the initial setup, and I am getting deformed cases.
It took me some time to get things set up where I could run dummy rounds through the press and not see deformed cases, but I was able to get everything set up and ran a half dozen dummy rounds through with no issues. All gauged out in terms of OAL and dropping in and out of a case gauge so I thought all was fine, but when I started loading the problem appeared again.
The issues occur in the seating stage. It looks like the case isn't belled enough, but it does gauge out and when I try to make it slightly deeper I get fractured cases. As I am new to handgun rounds on the 550b I thought it was a lubrication issue so I tried that (dillon lube), but that didn't really help. Getting about 25% of my rounds that have a deformed bullet and case. I am really confused. Have loaded lots of rifle bottle necked cases over the years and never had this issue, and done thousands of handgun rounds on the SDB. This is new. All lock rings are tight, everything looks to be set per the specs, but I am sure I am missing something.
Using cleaned once fired brass. It is old, but looks good. I bought it at back (from Dillon) when I was regularly shooting so it is at least 10 years old. I don't think that would be an issue, but maybe? Also using a 230 grn Berry's RN bullet, but randomly grabbed some Rainier that are same profile and weight and had the same issue. Also, had like three where the bullet stuck in the seating die and I had to remove and knock out.
I am sure that somewhere in my set up I am missing something. Operator error on my part, but I haven't found it yet. Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.
Quote from Reloader on January 24, 2017, 5:43 amWell I think I may have figured it out. I was looking through some of the other threads and saw other people having similar issues but in the powder funnel stage. Couple different causes seem to be the issue. Either wrong shell buttons or the shell plate itself wasn't tight enough or something was making in not plumb. Following someone else's advice I unscrewed it a little, and then placed 4 pieces of brass in and tightened it down. Once snug I backed it off enough so it would move and that seemed to correct the problem.
Well I think I may have figured it out. I was looking through some of the other threads and saw other people having similar issues but in the powder funnel stage. Couple different causes seem to be the issue. Either wrong shell buttons or the shell plate itself wasn't tight enough or something was making in not plumb. Following someone else's advice I unscrewed it a little, and then placed 4 pieces of brass in and tightened it down. Once snug I backed it off enough so it would move and that seemed to correct the problem.