Dillon 44 Mag Powder drop die issue accumulates brass with clean brass

I've been on a stainless steel pin tumbling binge over the winter and prepped a bunch of brass, my 44 Mag included.

So I finally started loading some on my RL550B and the powder drop die got harder and harder to pull up out of the case. come to find out, the brass was accumulating on it in several striations. I would polish it off and try again - same thing. I called Dillon. They said that's the way it will be with pin tumbled super clean or new brass. The only choice was just to media clean it. I tried old grungy fired brass - no problem because the residue lubed it. I've tried dipping the case mouth in mica - but not much help. I don't want to use case lube because I'm concerned the effect it would have on the powder over time? I really polished the die and even waxed it - a few cases and back to the same.

Anyone hear of a carbide drop or some other solution? I'm guessing I could bell it at station 1 and use a die that maybe did not go so deep into the case - but I'm not sure what die that would be.

I've not had this issue with smaller cases like the 32 cal revolver series in an RL550B or my 45ACP in a square deal press.

Mine will do the very same thing, and also with brand new brass. About the only thing I can suggest is try a little graphite in the case mouths. If that doesn't work you need to go back to tumbling. It doesn't remove the graphite residue from the insides of the cases.

ShooterAZ - good to know I'm not going crazy. I'll try a bit of graphite. Do you think it is inert to not affect the powder? I know we are talking about a miniscule amount. But I do want to load a large amount for even a couple years from now. does it just seem to be on the 44 Mag? I did not have an issue with 45-70 this winter. Be nice to see a carbide drop or something to avoid that. And, yes, mabye I have to go back to vibratory media.

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Originally Posted by Daryl

ShooterAZ - good to know I'm not going crazy. I'll try a bit of graphite. Do you think it is inert to not affect the powder? .

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I use graphite powder to lube and prime powder measures. Gunpowder has graphite in it. I also lube brass with lanolin/alcohol. I have no problems with it.

Take care

r1kk1

yep, my Dillon does the same thing with new brass. Tumbling new brass in media first seems to help. Kinda fills the micro-pores a bit so they don't have as much stiction.

I know you said you did not want to lube but a little lube never hurts. A little lanolin-alcohol mixture will stop your problem and also make the press run with about half the effort whe sizing. I use a 12-1 alcohol to lanolin ratio and a give a couple of sprays on the brass in a plastic bag or a box. A little shaking and a few minute for the alcohol to evaporate and you are in business. Leaves very little residue and I don't even clean it off. You must use 97% or geater isopropyl alcohol for this. I think Dillon case lube is the same, only with more lanolin.

I learned this from Brian Enos' forum.

If you take that perfectly clean brass and give it a half hour in walnut or corn cob, your problem goes away.

I personally tumble in corn cob with Nufinish after my wet tumbled brass has dried, but still eventually get the galling on the expander die, and sometimes the carbide sizing die.

To deal with it, I just remove the expander/powder drop every 500 to 1,000 rounds and polish it with 600 grit sandpaper, and after that 1000 grit. Afterwhich, I do a quick application of Flitz polish. THEN, after that, I give it 3 to 5 coats of Sailkote dry Lube. I'm usually good for another 500 to 1,000 rounds before the galling of the brass on the expander gets out of hand. My polishing process sounds longer than it is; the whole process really only takes me 5 minutes to do.

Although Dillon's suggestion works 100% at solving the galling, the old walnut/corn cob cleaning method alone gives me the lead dust I'm desperate to avoid, and the brass just isn't as clean as wet tumbling it first.

So, I just deal with cleaning the expander, as well as the carbide sizing die on occasion. For me, watching all of that dust go down the drain is worth the inconvenience of having to repeatably clean the expander.

I just keep a tin of that wax everybody uses for case sizing imperial I think it's called.
right there.
I swipe my finger over it every 4-5 rounds and wipe my thumb and forefinger over the powder bell.
it doesn't slow me down since my hand is right there setting the bullet in place anyway.
if I'm doing cast I have a little lube from the boolits on my fingers already and just give the bell a swipe.

new or super shiny pin tumbled cases will stick to the powder funnel, brass is grabby like that and is a natural sealant metal.

A number of us are wet pin tumbling or finish tumbling with an auto wash and wax liquid combo (I use ArmorAll Wash'n'Wax), which leaves a micro coating of hard wax on the cases; no tarnish and I have none of these drag symptoms when expanding my recently tumbled cases.

New Starline brass galls on every brand of expander. I've taken to tumbling it in treated crushed walnut and using case lube when loading for the first time. After that there are no problems.

I've pulled new Starline .38 Spl. brass completely in half on the expander. I had to cut a small groove in the half stuck on the expander and peel it off with needlenose pliers. I now tumble all new brass in corn cob for about an hour to leave some residue on it for lubrication. It would work the same for SS tumbled brass.

Hope this helps.

Fred

Got some new Lyman media and I'm going to give this a whirl this week and see what happens

I exclusively wet pin tumble anymore which equates to 15,000 to 20,000 rds of 9mm alone per year. Not counting the other calibers. I put handfuls of brass into a big ziploc bag, positioning it laying flat, and spray in a mist or two of Dillon case lube and roll & shake the bag around to distribute the lube. I always use the same bag which accumulates lube inside it also. A tiny amount gets in the necks as i mist it in but during shaking the case mouths envariably scrap the inside of the bag depositing some lube just inside the case mouth. The cases tend to run pretty smoothly through the machine with much less effort. Once in a while a case will be a little snug pulling off the powder funnel but that's the worst of it. After a session i can see a lite visible ring of lube on the funnel. In my experience i have had no adverse effects of the brass being lubed, functionality is perfect save for the cases darken a little but thats it. Give it a try!

Clean metals will cold weld to each other.

The only way to stop it is a little lube.

Try a tiny bit of floor wax or bullet lube.

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Originally Posted by Nueces

A number of us are wet pin tumbling or finish tumbling with an auto wash and wax liquid combo (I use ArmorAll Wash'n'Wax), which leaves a micro coating of hard wax on the cases; no tarnish and I have none of these drag symptoms when expanding my recently tumbled cases.

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Bingo, I agree with this 100%.