Quote from Reloader on November 6, 2016, 1:34 pm

0ne man's experience on his 550B. First off, I'm ah, fastidious. Wife would say a picky bastard, but ok you get the picture. I love shiny brass and I HATE spilled powder, even one grain bugs me. Recently I started compressed loading 5.56 with Viht N140. Every 10-15 rounds I would dump a load of powder onto the plate and my shoes. Would usually occur just as I was getting into the swing of things, putting out a nice rate of bullets. Unhappy I read up a storm on bridging and spillage and ball vs extruded powders. Then watched many videos and read even more forum debates advocating a frenzy of M1911-esque polishing and de-burring of the various metal components of the system. I opted out of this entirely, and instead concentrated on published Dillon factory recommendations. Using just a simple change in motion, I have just finished 500 rounds of 5.56 with zero - and I mean not a grain - of spillage, a happy contrast to the powder carnage that was my life before. So this is what I did: stripped the machine and inspected all the moving parts and sliding surfaces. All were clean and undamaged. Reassembled and verified that the powder bar was moving smoothly to full travel by screwing the powder die down while keeping the actuating handle fully down/shellplate up with a cartridge in place to actuate the mechanism. This adjustment is easily done with lock ring and both clamp bracket screws loosened. Rotate the threads of the powder die while watching the white bell crank cube move to full travel, then re-tighten the lock ring and bracket screws. I then adjusted the blue butterfly knob, compressing the failsafe rod's pre-tensioned spring. I have .95in of thread below the base of the knob and the spring compresses to 50% of relaxed height with handle in priming position. Correctly adjusted it gives a nice crisp reset when the powder bar is half-way back. I then refilled the powder tube and went to work. Listening carefully to the flow of powder, I marked the powder bar and housing with a stripe to indicate where the powder flow began and where it ended. This was a crucial breakthrough for me, as when I reach this visual point I slowed my stroke way down, to allow the powder to flow slowly but smoothly out of the cavity and down the constricted neck of the 5.56 cartridge. How slow? Slow, slow enough to hear the powder flow and then stop. I delay a moment at the end of the stroke - short prayer - and then return the handle smartly upwards, allowing the bar to reset with a snap. I clocked my unhurried average at one completed round every 10 seconds, six per minute every minute. As I say, this is one man's experience and solution on a 2015 550B which has eliminated all his powder spillage problems. Happy reloading, Mike.