Loading 380 acp on the Dillon 650 ?

Road_Clam · January 2, 2020, 08:12 PM

Hello gents,
My 1st attempt at loading 380 acp and after much reading seems many loaders prefer loading 380 acp single stage. As this is my first attempt I wanted to err on the side of cautious and load SS. My quick conclusion is this is a PIA ! Dam casings are SO short and tiny bullets. I'm doing fine using my Chargemaster 1500 combo dropping my precise charge, but fitting the casing into the funnel and making sure the casing fits snug against the spout so as to not spill powder is a tedious chore. Bullit seating and crimping is not much different than 9mm. So the big question do any of you load 380 on your Dillon 650 ? Hows the Dillon powder drop work for a 3.0 gr charge ? I'm using AA#2 which is an ultra fine ball powder so I would imagine AA#2 meters like a dream through mechanical powder drops ?

kmw1954 · January 2, 2020, 11:59 PM

Road_Clam I cannot speak to your question on the press or measure but I can about the 380 on a progressive press with a Lee measure with AA#2.

The 380 has run very well in my Lee Pro1000 which includes priming on the press. I first started with using a Lee Auto Drum on the press but I kept getting the case mouths chipped out by the powder measure. The only thing I could narrow it down to was the thin walls of the case and the very heavy return spring in the measure. I say this because I switched to a Lee Auto Disk and the chipping went away, the only change made to the setup was the change in powder measures.

The powder works very well in both the Auto Drum and the Auto Disk so I cannot see any reason it will not do the same with the Dillon measure. I'm dropping 2.8gr of AA#2. So far I have loaded 100gr Xtreme plated and 102gr RN cast lead and I'm having a blast! With the cast lead bullets I am loading these at about 5cents a pc.

January 2, 2020, 08:12 PM	#1
Road_Clam Senior Member Join Date: November 21, 2013 Location: New Hampshire Posts: 1,695	Loading 380 acp on the Dillon 650 ? Hello gents, My 1st attempt at loading 380 acp and after much reading seems many loaders prefer loading 380 acp single stage. As this is my first attempt I wanted to err on the side of cautious and load SS. My quick conclusion is this is a PIA ! Dam casings are SO short and tiny bullets. I'm doing fine using my Chargemaster 1500 combo dropping my precise charge, but fitting the casing into the funnel and making sure the casing fits snug against the spout so as to not spill powder is a tedious chore. Bullit seating and crimping is not much different than 9mm. So the big question do any of you load 380 on your Dillon 650 ? Hows the Dillon powder drop work for a 3.0 gr charge ? I'm using AA#2 which is an ultra fine ball powder so I would imagine AA#2 meters like a dream through mechanical powder drops ? __________________ "To be old an wise you must have been young and stupid"

January 2, 2020, 11:59 PM	#2
kmw1954 Senior Member Join Date: June 11, 2016 Location: SE Wisconsin Posts: 1,524	Road_Clam I cannot speak to your question on the press or measure but I can about the 380 on a progressive press with a Lee measure with AA#2. The 380 has run very well in my Lee Pro1000 which includes priming on the press. I first started with using a Lee Auto Drum on the press but I kept getting the case mouths chipped out by the powder measure. The only thing I could narrow it down to was the thin walls of the case and the very heavy return spring in the measure. I say this because I switched to a Lee Auto Disk and the chipping went away, the only change made to the setup was the change in powder measures. The powder works very well in both the Auto Drum and the Auto Disk so I cannot see any reason it will not do the same with the Dillon measure. I'm dropping 2.8gr of AA#2. So far I have loaded 100gr Xtreme plated and 102gr RN cast lead and I'm having a blast! With the cast lead bullets I am loading these at about 5cents a pc.