Loading cast boolits in a dillon 650

[Gatch]

The short and curly of it is the expander plug in the dillon is too small and the the sized .357 boolits are swaging when they're seated.

What have been peoples solutions to date ? If there's no quicker option I'll turn one up at work and give it some harden/temper. Should get about 53ish rockwell c.

[razorfish]

What are you loading?

On rifle calibers I normally use an M die when I need to expand the case mouth before seating a bullet.

The powder funnel on a Dillon 650 is used to expand (aka bell) the mouth of Pistol cases. This funnel is a bit soft and is considered a “wear item”. This isn’t usually a problem with Dillon funnels (just lower it) but if you’re using a Mr. Bullet Feeder powder funnel you’ll need to replace it every 30-50k rounds.

I’ve seen people using Lee Factory Crimp Dies that when adjusted improperly may swage the bullet. I would avoid the Lee FCD and be sure that you’re seating and crimping in separate stations.






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[sigep1764]

Custom expander from lathe smith here on the forum. Reaches deeper into the case and expands it wider with an M step.

[hermans]

Custom expander from lathe smith here on the forum. Reaches deeper into the case and expands it wider with an M step.

This is great advice, will solve your problem!

[razorfish]

This is great advice, will solve your problem!

Only if he’s loading a rifle caliber... Sounds like it may be a 9mm pistol caliber (.357) in which case running an expander would require you to either using a combo seat/crimp die or run the brass through the press twice... Neither of which is ideal considering he probably just needs to lower his powder funnel.


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[Gatch]

Sorry gents I left out a few details. Trying to load an mp mold 145gr rn bb sized to .357 into 9mm. Hitek coated, leads about 11bhn.

The oem dillon plug is too small diameter. It's also too short. As in even at full depth, with an acceptable amount of flare on the case neck, the boolit seats deeper than the plug will go. On a pulled boolit, the last 2-3mm of the boolit is tapered horribly and right up to where it's crimped it's swaged to less than barrel groove diameter.

I searched and it looks like plenty of people have had this problem. Loading 145gr jwords I never had a problem. I've only noticed it since trying to make home cast work.

I was mostly wondering if there was a plug available as a stock item somewhere. Or is it a custom job ?

[kevin c]

My Dillon SDB has the same type and size of combination expander/flare/powder die, and I had problems with under expansion of the case with coated boolits sized to .357 - kept shaving the coating. Turning the die down didn't work: too short. It also really didn't expand much over .351. Lathesmith turned me a longer replacement that expanded wider and with a step, and that that basically solved the problem.

[Adam20]

Ladesmith on this forum in vendor section can make it custom, not sure if he can ship to Australia.

[kir_kenix]

If you have access to a lathe they aren't difficult to make. I've turned a handful of them from relatively mild steel and they seem to hold up for about 20,000 rounds. I suppose a hardened and polished expander funnel would probably last 10x as long. Same goes for the Lee powder thru expander dies.

[EMR]

I use the Mr Bullet feeder. It has the “m” step. I’ve managed to load even my .360 sized rounds in my Dillon 650 without swaging. I got mine from this site but it looks like they’re out of stock. https://www.doublealpha.biz/us/mr-bu...-powder-funnel

If waiting for stock isnt an option, I echo the opinion above about reaching out to ladesmith.

[Michael J. Spangler]

Harder bullets.
I hi-two coat an alloy of 2% tin 3% antimony and water drop after my last coat.
They don’t size down at all. Shoot great in anything I’ve tried them in.

[Gatch]

Harder bullets.
I hi-two coat an alloy of 2% tin 3% antimony and water drop after my last coat.
They don’t size down at all. Shoot great in anything I’ve tried them in.

That kind of alloy would require buying from the local foundry..

I'll just turn up a plug. Photos to come..

[sigep1764]

He's on a Dillon. Pretty sure the seat and crimp are separate steps on all their machines. The SDB and the 550 are separate steps for both processes. Stage one is decap and resize on the upstroke, prime on the downstroke. Stage two is expand and powder drop. Stage three is seat. Stage four is crimp. With the 650 you get an extra stage, usually for a powder check. I could be wrong with the 650, but not the 550 or SDB.

[Gatch]

He's on a Dillon. Pretty sure the seat and crimp are separate steps on all their machines. The SDB and the 550 are separate steps for both processes. Stage one is decap and resize on the upstroke, prime on the downstroke. Stage two is expand and powder drop. Stage three is seat. Stage four is crimp. With the 650 you get an extra stage, usually for a powder check. I could be wrong with the 650, but not the 550 or SDB.

Correct the 650 is 5 stations. I turned up a pointer that acts as a powder check. Decap/size is 1. Neck flare/expand/powder/prime is 2. Powder check is 3. Seat is 4. Crimp is 5.

[hermans]

Ladesmith on this forum in vendor section can make it custom, not sure if he can ship to Australia.

He made me one which solved the same problem 100%, as well as a Star die and he shipped it to South Africa, so I am pretty sure Aussie would be no problem to ship to.
Try him, great guy to deal with and he makes excellent parts!

[Cherokee]

Highly recommend lathesmith.

[Gatch]

Ordered a mrbulletfeeder funnel. Been dispatched already