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Old February 8, 2012, 09:09 PM   #1
Roland Thunder
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Dillon 550

Finally got my 550b Dillon working the way I want it almost. The only issue I am having now is I have trouble moving the sprocket to advance a case from station 1 to station 2 whenever there is a primer in the primer cup. It looks like the shell plate is catching on the lip of the primer as it tries to advance leading me to believe that the shell plate is to low. Any other ideas what it could be and how to remedy?
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Old February 8, 2012, 09:42 PM   #2
jef2015
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I don't believe it's designed to advance with a primer in the cup. I don't think adjusting the shell plate will help. I raise the shell plate a little with the handle when I need to advance and have a primer in the cup.
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Old February 8, 2012, 09:55 PM   #3
bamiller
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Not sure if this is the same exact problem as you are having but when I first set mine up the sprocket wouldn't move to station 2 after depriming/priming at station 1. Found out I wasn't pushing the handle all the way forward after depriming resulting in the primer catching on the bottom of the shell or sprocket not allowing it to rotate to station 2.
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Old February 8, 2012, 10:07 PM   #4
dmazur
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My experience with this problem has been limited to large rifle primers, which are a little higher than large pistol primers. When properly adjusted, the shellplate did clear the primer seating cup, but it caught the edge of a large rifle primer. I believe the large rifle primer is slightly higher than the cup.

The primer seating punch has a groove in it for the setscrew, and there doesn't appear to be any way to adjust this, or the primer seating cup lower.

My suggestions:

1. You do not want to loosen the center bolt for the shellplate, in an attempt to "raise" the shellplate. This will cause the shellplate to tip during primer insertion, causing crooked primers. Keep the shellplate as tight as possible while still allowing indexing the sprocket.

2. You can tighten up the stripper wingnut on the failsafe rod, to a position where the shellplate platform is supported by it slightly. This will not interfere with primer seating, but will hold the shellplate slightly higher than the primer seating cup without having to pull on the operating handle.

Quote:
I don't believe it's designed to advance with a primer in the cup.
I don't believe this is correct. During normal operations, the primer does get seated in the case, so it is missing at the time of indexing. However, at the end of a "run", you have a few cases to run through the other stations, and Station 1 is empty. So there is a primer in the cup, cycling back and forth and going nowhere. (Unless you always use 100 primers every run, without stopping.)

As long as the primer is completely contained by the cup, it shouldn't matter whether there is a primer in the cup or not. However, if it "sticks up", it can catch on the shellplate.
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Old February 8, 2012, 10:10 PM   #5
Edward429451
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It is designed to advance with a primer in the cup. I do it a lot when I am dialing in the measure and such and it advances fine. If it is hanging up then your shellplate is too low, or your primer cup is not affixed properly with the set screw.
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Old February 8, 2012, 10:18 PM   #6
jef2015
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Good info, mine hangs also. It seems if I loosen the shell plate to the point it doesn't snag there is to much play. I need to check the primer cup adjustment.
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Old February 8, 2012, 10:42 PM   #7
mdm3
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As dmazur said, tightening the wingnut on the failsafe rod up a bit should fix the issue.
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Old February 8, 2012, 10:46 PM   #8
dmazur
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Not trying to argue, but I've never successfully adjusted the primer seating punch. It has a groove for a setscrew, and that is how it is assembled to retain the spring under the cup.

The "workaround" with the failsafe rod nut will solve this...
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Old February 8, 2012, 11:26 PM   #9
Jerry45
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The primer seating punches (large and small) for my 550B do not have any grooves in them. I seat them all the way (as far down as they will go) in the hole then tighten up the set screw. I’ve never had a problem with the plate dragging on a primer or the retaining cup.

Actually there usually isn’t a primer in the punch when the plate is advanced. You put a piece of brass in, drive the handle down, which seizes and decaps and picks up a new primer. Then you drive the handle up which drives the case out of the sizing die, give it an extra up stroke to seat the new primer. Then you advance the plate. There is no primer in the punch at that time. Now I’m not saying the plate won’t advance with a primer in the punch, mine will. However in actuality when you’re loading there normally isn’t a primer in the ram when advancing the shell plate.
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Old February 8, 2012, 11:34 PM   #10
Misssissippi Dave
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I had that problem too. I just turned the wing nut a bit more for the rod coming down from the powder measure. This placed a little more upward pressure and the shell plate cleared the primer in the cup just fine. There was still enough room for the spring on the rod to still not over compress either. Give it a try to see if it works for you as well. It is a cheap fix and takes very little time to try it out. Also it didn't make any change in the amount of powder being dropped.
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Old February 8, 2012, 11:37 PM   #11
Edward429451
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Tightening the wing-nut will work. I just tried it.
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Old February 9, 2012, 09:47 AM   #12
Roland Thunder
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I'm having another problem

Not sure if tightening the wing nut as described will work or not as I have encountered another problem:

At the moment the problem I am having is that when there is a primer in the primer cup and a case in the shell plate, the operating arm won't go all the way forward to seat the primer. If I remove the case from the shell plate, I can then push the operator arm all the way to ccompletion and the primer punch pops up out of the primer cup with a primer on the end of it as it should. It's just that the arm won't go all the way forward as it should when there is a case present. It appears to me like the case is blocking the primer punch from extending upward.

I am wondering if tightening the wing nut will solve this as well. Any thoughts?
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Old February 9, 2012, 10:17 PM   #13
Jerry45
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If you call Dillon customer service they’ll tell you exactly what the problem is and the fix for it. Those guys are pretty good and friendly too.
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Old February 9, 2012, 11:23 PM   #14
orionengnr
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There is a prescribed dimension for the height of the primer cup, measured from the bottom of the bar to the top of the cup....I saw it recently, and can't swear to it, but IIRC it it 1.115-1.120. If I can find where I saw that, I will check back in and post it.

The first Dillon I owned was an old 450 (not bought new), and it did not come with two primer bars. It came with one primer bar and two primer rams and cups, which could be swapped out on the bar. The set screw was used to anchor the ram at the correct height--I never knew the dimenion back then; just did it by eye "close enough" method.

I wass recently helping a co-worker who just acquired a 450, and the ram and cup are available individually from Dillon. If you buy those parts and install them, the correct dimension will be very helpful.
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Old February 10, 2012, 12:55 AM   #15
dmazur
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From Dillon's site

RL 550b manual



I extracted this from the 550b manual (so readers don't have to download the entire pdf file just for the dimensions.)

There may be some adjustment possible, but the groove in the punch on my press is pretty much filled by the setscrew.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg 550b primer punch.jpg (15.8 KB, 66 views)
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