Sheared off Shellplate Bolt

#1 · March 30, 2009, 2:12 am

I loaded about 250 rounds of .45acp this afternoon, took a break, came back to load more and on the second pull, (one in deprime station and one just rotated for primer insert) on the upstroke to seat the primer, there was a "click" noise and I noticed the shellplate was sitting at an odd angle. I pulled the locater buttons, cleared both stations, took an allen wrench and went to remove the shellplate bolt, and it rotated right out. It had sheared off on the first thread below the bolt head. Thankfully, I was able to take two dental picks and rotate out the remaining threaded part. See Pics below.

Shellplatebolt2

Any ideas what might have bound up to cause this? As I said above, it ran like a watch earlier in the day.

Thanks very much,

Brian Hester

bdhes40@gmail.com

#2 · March 30, 2009, 4:21 pm

Got my phone call in this morning. Thanks for taking care of the problem! This is another reason I will continue to recommend Dillon to anybody that shows an interest in loading.

I appreciate it!

Bdhes

#3 · April 3, 2009, 4:59 am

What was the final verdict? Was the bolt a little too tight and just stressed over time or just a bad bolt?

#4 · April 10, 2009, 12:26 pm

I had the same thing happen a few weeks back. Luckily I had a spare in the spare parts kit to get up and running again.
J