Dillon Super Swager isn't so Super after all

[GRUMPA]

Most of you know I convert brass and I deal with crimped brass all day long. I tried and failed with swagers that would hold up regardless of who made them with my way of doing them. When I got the Dillon the thing really was impressive and frankly made my day. I even got a second 1 so I can keep one for large primers pockets and one for small primer pockets. I guess I found out how much use these things can handle, which for the price leaves me wondering.

86268

86269

Now before I get folks chiming in telling me I'm the one that put to much stress/pressure on the unit here's how I do things. I get feed back from people that get my brass and ask them questions and have them tell me what they experience when seating the primers, among other questions. This is set to the point it makes them happy and not me so let's not go down that path.

I guess a call to Dillon is in order but......with all the people calling them already I wonder what kind luck I'm going to have getting a replacement. I've never dealt with Dillon directly for a very long time and hope things have changed. I went to there old store many a years ago and point blank told them I don't want to be on any flippin mailing lists, guess what happened?

[Love Life]

All through the shortage Dillon has been Johnny on the spot with support. I'm sure they'll take care of you.

Looks like maybe a bad casting issue?

[GRUMPA]

Looks like maybe a bad casting issue?

LL I've worked in aero-space for 27yrs and yes it could be a casting issue, but I suspect that the set screw for the spring and detent ball creates a weak spot.

[Love Life]

That's the 1st cracked one I've seen. What'd you do to it? :kidding:

[1hole]

It's designed to remove crimps, not deepen pockets.

[LynC2]

Dillon has always treated me well with no questions asked, even when I was the one that screwed up! They will do right by you. :smile:

[Smoke4320]

They will replace it .. probably without question

[Kevin Rohrer]

I guess a call to Dillon is in order but......with all the people calling them already I wonder what kind luck I'm going to have getting a replacement.

I''d say that you can complain about them IF they don't replace it at their expense, but not until then. :violin:

[VHoward]

I didn't see a set screw where either of those cracks started. Can you clarify your statement?

[Guesser]

I just looked at mine. I don't have a spring/detent on mine. But I can see that all the stress is centered at the point of the failure on yours. Mine has been a good unit but hasn't seen a lot of use as compared. Mine is about a dozen years old, so maybe a design change incorporated a spring/detent.

[GRUMPA]

Here take a look:

86373

Both of mine have them.

[scb]

I had a Dillon swage. I still have an RCBS swage die set. The problem with swaging pp's is that the equipment relies on consistent internal dimensions of the brass. Which it is not. I now ream all my GI brass. RCBS's trimmate reamer is OK but I see they have a new one that will radius the corner. I'll have to give one a try.
https://shop.rcbs.com/WebConnect/MainServlet?storeId=webconnect&catalogId=webconnect&langId=en_US&action=ProductDisplay&screenlabel=index&productId=6217&route=C11J037

[leeggen]

looks like a small crack in the oppisite side from the set screw also. Hope all turns out well.
CD

[waco]

Dillon has always treated me well with no questions asked, even when I was the one that screwed up! They will do right by you. :smile:

agree fully. Dillon is the BEST with customer service.

[GRUMPA]

looks like a small crack in the oppisite side from the set screw also. Hope all turns out well.
CD

Actually it's a grease streak, I noticed that after I took the picture and it cleaned right up.

[Dutchninja]

Grumpa, You weren't kidding about how much brass you process were you? I'd never thought I'd see one of those broken!!

Let us know what Dillion says, and if you get off their catalog list.

[starreloader]

Grumpa, your Super Swage broke in the same area as mine did this past spring.... My swage was a few years old, got it sometime in the mid 80's if I remember right, but I only put maybe 500K of 223 through it over its lifetime... Call up Dillion tell them what happened and they will replace it at no charge.. Dillion will give you a Return Repair Number to ship it back to them... My total turn around time was 8 days from the time I talked to Gary, packed the Swager up, shipped it out and had a new Super Swage returned to me... And that turn around time was during the height of the "panic buying"

[VHoward]

Here take a look:

86373

Both of mine have them.

OK. I see the problem now. Dillon will make it right I'm betting.

[Guesser]

I see, mine is mounted so I couldn't see the underside. I think you're right!!

[starmac]

Man from all I have ever heard from the dillon guys, I would have thought just the blue powder coat would have kept it from cracking. lol (kidding) Not sure how to do the chain jerking thing. lol

[Kanitz8541]

Call Dillon early in the morning they are experiencing extremely high call volumes and tend to get a little grumpy around 2 or 3:)

[GRUMPA]

I did call them today at just after 7am and spoke with a person that gave me what they call a RMA number. Asked me typical questions based around my personal info and he asked me when my last visit was. I told him it was around 92 and he asked me why so long did we pizz you off? And here I go telling him what happened and all info I give is personal and private and I told them back then I didn't want to be on a mailing list or my personal info given out to anyone. He said he was going to flag it so that it wouldn't happen.

So I sent it off today, you know that whole thing fits in a SFRB just fine? It's like it was made for it. So now it's the wait and see game, I'm sure they'll replace the thing it's the mailing list I refuse to be on.

[Kanitz8541]

Well good to hear. The blue press has some pretty girls on it.

[rattletrap1970]

And they have some really good articles.. No.. really they do.

As far as them fixing or replacing, yeah that isn't even a question. Best customer service of any company I have ever delt with.

[Kskybroom]

When did they put articles in the Blue Press ????

[GRUMPA]

Just an update: I did call them up and they got all my info and asked when's the last time I ever dealt with them. I told him it was back in about 92 when they were at there old address and was asked if there was something that happened that pizzed me off. I told him that I made it a point to tell the guys behind the counter the information I give you is personal and private and don't want to be on a mailing list of any kind, well I got more junk mail than I knew what to do with. Which if a company can't respect my wishes I can personally do without them. He assured me he'll flag my information so that wont happen again, on that part of it it's a wait and see deal.

I sent off the broken swager on Monday and when I went to the PO on Friday it was there. That part went without a hitch which I pretty much expected to happen. The machine itself is rather stout and robust and does a remarkable job for what it does. Which for the volume I do on a weekly basis is just great, once I get the rhythm down it goes pretty quickly.

[ackleyman]

Dillon will impress you with their customer service. I think that it is improper for you to trash them on the net before you give them a chance to impress you with your customer service.

[Alvarez Kelly]

Dillon will impress you with their customer service. I think that it is improper for you to trash them on the net before you give them a chance to impress you with your customer service.

You didn't read his post very well. He knew Dillon would make it right. He also knew he was taking a chance on getting on their mailing list. Again. See his post #26. Only time will tell on that issue.

I love Dillon's warranty too, but I never would have predicted that Super Swager would fail like it did.

Glad it worked out GRUMPA... or at least so far. :-)

[GabbyM]

As a production machinist I’ve seen several in house products change over time.
Pretty simple really. If parts start to show a pattern of breaking in the same way. Engineers look for a fix and an ECN (engineering change notice) is added to the part. On an item such as the swagger it could be as simple as changing the alloy of the casting to a tougher more expensive one or increasing mass of part. But they’d need to see a pattern of failure not one or two coming in from hard used swaggers. If Grumpa manages to break another it probably would be cheaper for them to just mill him a frame from a very tough piece of steel or aluminum than change the part thus increasing cost on the item for everyone.

[be603]

"RMA" = Return Material Authorization

[EDG]

The bottom photo shows that part to be an aluminum or zinc die casting.
That material is not very strong or ductile. Given the hard use dished out by grumpa I would not be surprised at those breaking. Dillon would be better off beefing up that casting or switching to a better material.

[GabbyM]

The bottom photo shows that part to be an aluminum or zinc die casting.
That material is not very strong or ductile. Given the hard use dished out by grumpa I would not be surprised at those breaking. Dillon would be better off beefing up that casting or switching to a better material.

That all sounds nice right up to the point where you go bankrupt.

[GRUMPA]

Years back, almost 9yrs now, when I worked in aerospace we would make a part from start to almost finish. Back then the casting and I mean a much more complex casting would cost us at the time $3 in volumes of around 1k. Something like what they use isn't rocket science and the material doesn't require any of the certifications and so on for what it's used for which cuts the costs significantly.

When I saw the break I instantly thought of the weak point from the hole that's drilled and threaded for the spring and detent ball, since that's where it gave out first and then the other crack started. To me it would be a rather simple thing to work around. Instead of a thru-hole like they have now for the shaft, make it (what we called) a blind hole. In other words leave the material or make it so the casting completely blocks the hole making it like a solid cap on that one end. Not saying that it will solve the issue 100% but it will beef up that section up.

I don't really put it under a lot of stress, I just use it a lot really, roughly 4-6K a week. I have it set to where when the case is in it and I grab the handle and bring it down I don't actually engage the case till I'm at a 8 O'clock position. Not what I would call a lot of stress by any means.

Now on there end (or whomever makes it) you have to stop and think, is it simpler/easier to just replace it or go through the headache and hassle to engineer the housing?

[DukeInFlorida]

I had one of the linkage arms on my RL550b press break. They replaced it ASAP.

[Kent Fowler]

I bought my first Dillon Square Deal in 1989 or 1990. Dillon has, free of charge, completely rebuilt it twice, once around 2001 and this year. I see no problem of Dillon taking care of your swager. I just purchased a CH crimp remover. Not working well, atm, on 223. By the time you get it to accept a primer, you have ruined the head on the case. Going to see how well it works on 9mm pistol brass, but I may be buying the Dillon myself, shortly.
P.S. The 221 Remington Fire Ball brass I got from you is working out fine.

[Walter Laich]

I bought a SDB (actually a SD) way back when they were $129. After a number of years I broke the handle. Got a new one that had been redesigned. Two months ago broke it and new one was again redesigned.
walt

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

I bought my first Dillon Square Deal in 1989 or 1990. Dillon has, free of charge, completely rebuilt it twice, once around 2001 and this year. I see no problem of Dillon taking care of your swager. I just purchased a CH crimp remover. Not working well, atm, on 223. By the time you get it to accept a primer, you have ruined the head on the case. Going to see how well it works on 9mm pistol brass, but I may be buying the Dillon myself, shortly.
P.S. The 221 Remington Fire Ball brass I got from you is working out fine.

I owned the same CH crimp remover. Didn't work right out of the box. Called CH, sent it in and they remachined it. Got it back, still didn't work right. Sold it.

Tried other brand swagers than Dillon, including RCBS. None worked right. Bought a Dillon Super Swager used at a good price. Cleaned and adjusted it, worked over several thousand .223 milsurp brass. After my experience with the Dillon, I see no need to buy another brand. The Dillon isn't perfect, but it's a heckuva lot better swager than anything else I've tried.

Note: I'm not a Dillon fanboy and had a 550 that never fed primers right. But their Swager is about as good a primer swager as it gets.

[robertbank]

My entire bottom end of my 550 has been replaced under warranty along with all the stuff on top of the ram. Dillon sent all the parts to me with just my phone call. Shipping the broken parts back to Dillon would have been expensive so they just said forget it and sent me everything I needed. I will give this press to my son when I am done with it. The darn thing is that good. So is Dillon.

Bob

[257]

my buddy had his break same place last june he bought it new when they sold for 39.95 it's had over a million cases thru it he called dillion told them where it cracked they sent him a brand new one. they didn't even want the old one back he got the new one 3 days later

[GabbyM]

No reference to previously posted machine failures.

For simple service on any press rams. I like to use EP grease over machine oil.
Especially with any cast iron body press. Grease will tend to eventually fill up voids in cast iron.
After a few thousand strokes of a press lubed with grease . You'll find it starts to get slick in the right spots.
With a typical loading press. Push out the pivot pins by clipping off the circle clips then greasing the pins up. Or whatever retention devise the manufacture of your press used to retain your pins. Sometimes a little grease can make life much more enjoyable.

AKA
If it isn't smooth. It needs grease.

[waco]

:kidding:
Man from all I have ever heard from the dillon guys, I would have thought just the blue powder coat would have kept it from cracking. lol (kidding) Not sure how to do the chain jerking thing. lol

[Colorado4wheel]

I think it's funny that people seem shocked that a Blue Part can break. Everything will eventually break. The warranty says they will repair the part not promise it won't break.