Dillon 550B Users / Powder Funnel Expanding

[Fugowii]

Any Dillon 550B users out there modifying their powder funnel to expand the brass to
insert cast boolits? I seem to be having case crushing problems lately when inserting
cast boolits and hate to have to buy 'M' dies. Not because of the cost but due to
having to deprime and size off the Dillon. Just flaring isn't cutting it anymore it seems.

[Kevin Rohrer]

I only shoot lead in my 1911 and Vaquero, and am loading them on my 550 w/o a problem.

Are you sure you don't need to adjust your powder measure down a tad to expand case mouths a bit more?

[GregP42]

I just moved my expander down a little more to flare and it works fine on mine.

[Fugowii]

I only shoot lead in my 1911 and Vaquero, and am loading them on my 550 w/o a problem.

Are you sure you don't need to adjust your powder measure down a tad to expand case mouths a bit more?

Yeah,

I do minimize the case mouth expansion but there is plenty of it. Currently I am loading
a 148gr WC into .38 Spl using nickel plated brass and the brass is belling right around
the area where the bottom of the WC winds up. Not in all brass, but just enough to
make it annoying.

[Walter Laich]

a couple of things to check or think about:

the .38/.357 calls for the "D" funnel. Might want to be sure you have that one. Stranger things have happened

Does your funnel seem to hand up in your cases as you reload? Mine were doing this a bit with .45 Colt brass. Dillon's solution was to tell me not to tumble for any more than 1 to 1 1/2 hours as the residue powder in the cases acted as lube for the funnel.

I finally bought the next smallest funnel (on my nickle) and that solved the problem for good

Walt

[GabbyM]

Hold your WC boolits up beside that expander and you'll see the root of your problem. Yes the expander is far to short for a full wad cutter.

I just got set up for 38 Special over Christmas to feed my new old Model 10. Don’t know if my boolits are getting swaged because I can't knock one out with a hammer style impact bullet puller.

One fix may be to not size the case past where the expander reaches. However I’ve a set of Dillon dies and don’t think it’s decap has any adjustment so you have to run the die down to get primer punched. That and I’ve 500 pieces of new unfired brass to start out with.

In my 9x19mm I have similar issue with anything but a 124gr RN. Which seats shallow. They are tapered cases anyway so I lube em up size and decap in a single stage. Tumble clean then install a Lyman M die in station one and load em up. Now that I’ve this 38/357 powder through expander I will give it a try on 9mm next time up.

[Kevin Rohrer]

Fugowii: If you are having the problem w/ wadcutters, how about not seating them all the way flush w/ the case mouths. I let mine poke out a 1/10" so they are easier to load in the revolver cylinder.

[Fugowii]

a couple of things to check or think about:

the .38/.357 calls for the "D" funnel. Might want to be sure you have that one. Stranger things have happened

Does your funnel seem to hand up in your cases as you reload? Mine were doing this a bit with .45 Colt brass. Dillon's solution was to tell me not to tumble for any more than 1 to 1 1/2 hours as the residue powder in the cases acted as lube for the funnel.

I finally bought the next smallest funnel (on my nickle) and that solved the problem for good

Walt

Some of the answers I have received from Dillon to questions asked have truly been interesting, :veryconfu

[Alvarez Kelly]

Some of the answers I have received from Dillon to questions asked have truly been interesting, :veryconfu

Some folks answering the phones there are better than others. If you have a real tough problem, call Gary, extension 311. He has seen it all.

[Fugowii]

a couple of things to check or think about:

the .38/.357 calls for the "D" funnel. Might want to be sure you have that one. Stranger things have happened

Does your funnel seem to hand up in your cases as you reload? Mine were doing this a bit with .45 Colt brass. Dillon's solution was to tell me not to tumble for any more than 1 to 1 1/2 hours as the residue powder in the cases acted as lube for the funnel.

I finally bought the next smallest funnel (on my nickle) and that solved the problem for good

Walt

Hi Walt,

It is the 'D' funnel and it measures .357" dia. It's pretty short as well and since my
boolit is .358" dia and is much longer than the funnel it's a wonder my problem
isn't more acute. My funnel doesn't seem to hang up in the case.

[Fugowii]

Fugowii: If you are having the problem w/ wadcutters, how about not seating them all the way flush w/ the case mouths. I let mine poke out a 1/10" so they are easier to load in the revolver cylinder.

I might have to try something like this although 1/10" doesn't seem like it would buy
me much, but you never can tell. Thanks for the tip.

[Alvarez Kelly]

Not sure if it is relevant to your problem, but Dillon has used 2 different D funnels over the years. The current "new" one is longer than the old Dillon 450 "D" funnel.

If you have an older style, short one, you may want to look into the newer style.

[GabbyM]

Not sure if it is relevant to your problem, but Dillon has used 2 different D funnels over the years. The current "new" one is longer than the old Dillon 450 "D" funnel.

If you have an older style, short one, you may want to look into the newer style.

Mine isn't two weeks old yet and it's short to the point f being useless for wad cutters. I have the Magma DEWC that measures .570" end to end. It's a great shooter. Dillon expander reaches a little past the center or eyeball 3/4 of the length. The single grease grove on this Magma bullet is dead centerline. This along with the double ended aspect allows collating to feed a commercial lube master sizer or a collator on progressive machines.

This bullet leaves .080” above either crimp grove and from top of grove to bevel is .445” which is how long the expander needs to be to properly fit this bullet into a case. Expander button on my new Dillon measures .3546”. I’ve not calibrated my mic of late so give that a plus or minus of .0002”.

Not out to bash Dillon in any way. I love there machine and have used mine for about fifteen years. For the affordable price they chare Dillon can’t custom fit every Tom Dick and Harry’s bullet.

Here is my plan. Having just tried a WC bullet in a fired case. It’s a easy finger fit with a .358” sized boolit. I’ll use a universal decap die that I have. No sizing of the case. Using a slight crimp to hold the bullet. I’ve found that by pushing a bullet into a fired case then chambering it in my revolver there is some length to be gained and the bevel on the DEWC will align up into the cylinder throat with a tight fitted bullet C.O.L.
Most likely scenario is to decap the brass. Then set up the Dillon size die to neck size my brass about .250” down then load them up. A snug fit of case in cylinder with an aligned bullet to throat has to be a good thing.

If a person was single stage reloading the way almost everyone did back when wad cutters were popular. You’d save a step with no expander ball stage.

I just held up my Lyman 358477 SWC to that Dillon Expander and it appears to be an exact fit. Guess I’ll just load up some of those to fire form my brass.

For the average hobbyist a wad cuter mold should drop at a diameter to where all you need do is cast, tumble lube and load.

[357shooter]

Any Dillon 550B users out there modifying their powder funnel to expand the brass to
insert cast boolits? I seem to be having case crushing problems lately when inserting
cast boolits and hate to have to buy 'M' dies. Not because of the cost but due to
having to deprime and size off the Dillon. Just flaring isn't cutting it anymore it seems.

My dillon expander works fine for cast bullets. which at .360-.361 are oversized. Is the button that holds the case always inserted? If I remove the button on station 2 to measure charges, cases get crushed. With it installed they never get crushed. I use station 3 (leaving the button out) to remove cases to verify powder weight and expander settings and it all works.

[357shooter]

Yeah,

I do minimize the case mouth expansion but there is plenty of it. Currently I am loading
a 148gr WC into .38 Spl using nickel plated brass and the brass is belling right around
the area where the bottom of the WC winds up. Not in all brass, but just enough to
make it annoying.
Sounds normal to me. I deep seat 358429 oversized bullets and they bell at the bottom too. They also are extremely accurate and shoot perfectly. So there's no problem. Are you loosing accuracy?

Sorry but I'm not clear on what the problem is. If it's only how they look, does it matter?

Added: When you say "plenty of it", does approximately 1/32-1/16 of an inch of the bullet fit into the case? Using just finger pressure, that's "enough". If it's not fitting into the brass like that, it's not enough flair.

[Fugowii]

Sounds normal to me. I deep seat 358429 oversized bullets and they bell at the bottom too. They also are extremely accurate and shoot perfectly. So there's no problem. Are you loosing accuracy?

The cartridge won't fit in the cylinder. Accuracy is great on those that do fit.


Sorry but I'm not clear on what the problem is. If it's only how they look, does it matter?

The case is crushed (belled) to the point where the case will not fit in the cylinder.


Added: When you say "plenty of it", does approximately 1/32-1/16 of an inch of the bullet fit into the case? Using just finger pressure, that's "enough". If it's not fitting into the brass like that, it's not enough flair.

"Plenty of it" means exactly what you are describing. To me, it means that the boolit
will 'stand' in the case without falling out prior to seating. I would estimate that the
bell is pretty close to your description (I haven't ever measured it).

[Fugowii]

My dillon expander works fine for cast bullets. which at .360-.361 are oversized. Is the button that holds the case always inserted? If I remove the button on station 2 to measure charges, cases get crushed. With it installed they never get crushed. I use station 3 (leaving the button out) to remove cases to verify powder weight and expander settings and it all works.

Who hasn't left that button out at times and crushed cases? I surely have. No, it's
in the seating die when seating my 148gr DEWC. The boolit is long and the powder
funnel is short. I never leave any buttons out and only take them out occasionally
to verify settings. I have found the 550 to be 'perfect' (for me) with powder drops
so I rarely check it during a string of 100 primers. Maybe once or twice during a
100 count reload. I visually check the case after the powder drop and if there is
powder in there I'm pretty good to go as I could visually see a faulty drop.

[357shooter]

The cartridge won't fit in the cylinder. Accuracy is great on those that do fit.



The case is crushed (belled) to the point where the case will not fit in the cylinder.



"Plenty of it" means exactly what you are describing. To me, it means that the boolit
will 'stand' in the case without falling out prior to seating. I would estimate that the
bell is pretty close to your description (I haven't ever measured it).
So crushed means belled or flaired, got it.

The bullet being longer and deeper in the case cannot cause the catridge to not chamber. Not enough crmip to remove the flair can. Also, the bullet hitting the start of the taper-to-the-throat, though.

The diameter dictates how far forward the bullet can actually be seated. Someone suggested seating them flush, which would indicate to long an OAL for the bullet and chamber-throat size in your revolver.

At times I've placed a bullet in a chamber and held it with a pencil, using finger pressure. Than measured how deep the nose of the bullet is from the cylinder face, using calipers. Then measure the length of the cylinder, with a case installed to allow for the base. Subtract the depth from the total length and that's the max OAL that'll fit. Usually it's way longer than anything practical, but sometimee not. Might be worth a try.

Any chance you can post a picture of a round that chambers and one that doesn't?

What diameter are your bullets? What is the OAL? And last, the diameter of the outside of a loaded round? Maybe of one round that chambers and one that doesn't?

[Dave C.]

Yeah,
Not in all brass, but just enough to
make it annoying.

Some +P and +P+ 38 special brass is to thick to load flush seated full wad cutters
with out making a bulge in the case. Some times to the point that the round will
not chamber.

[Fugowii]

I've thought about this problem since I made the original post. I have about thirty pounds of boolits cast for this load and my completed cartridge supply is at zero. I ordered the 'M' die from Grafs and received it yesterday. Then I got an idea (why does this always happen after I have spent money?) and I think I found my problem. I reload and cast in my cellar and since I live in a northern climate my cellar gets cold (in the 50's). I got up this morning and took my mold heater-upper (a hot plate) and put a number of boolits and cases in an aluminum plate and warmed up the components. Result: seating like a champ and no crushed cases!

What got me to this line of thinking was that I was working in the cellar last night and thinking about how cold it was down there and I remembered that I was having problems with my Star when I was using it due to the cold (I had to use an old hair dryer in addition to the Star base heater) and would the lube stiffen up and cause difficulty when seating the boolit? I think that the answer is yes, it does. I will start looking for one of those food dish warmers in the recycling area at the dump for winter reloading as the hot plate I have is nothing more than an additional stove element and it is hard to keep the hot plate low enough to just warm the boolits and not melt the lube.