Dillon 550 for 223

[poacherjo]

I just picked up a used press and I ordered the caliber conversion kit and an extra quick change setup. I have always used a single stage press and the reloading process will vary now. My question is how often do you get spills from the stick powder clogging up? Also I have RCBS rifle dies and they aren't carbide.

[CraigOK]

I do brass prep sperately on my single stage , so carbide isnt an issue. Ive used shorter extruded powder without issues, but a ton of powders work great in 223 so if you ha e issues switch to a different one.

[Greg S]

As Craig said. I use the 550 to drop powder, seat bullets and a light taper crimp. I pin tumble brass, FL resize, trim if required, tumble in clean corn cob and hand seat primers. All my powder funnels, I have polished the interiors with 220-2k then flitz to prevent dust buildup ect. I still load precision ammo 300+ on a single stage.

[WJP]

Prepped on a single stage or 1050 with trimmer. Then I run them on the 550 with ball powders.

[Greg S]

Always wanted a 1050 for those case prep steps. Sweet set up. I used an RT1200 to trim the star crimp off of 6.5k of Hirtenburger 7.62 blanks. The trimmer is a beast and will keep your coffee warm. : )

[Reddirt62]

Long extruded and very large disc powders can have issues but powders like h335, 8208, cfe223 all meter very well.

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[poacherjo]

Please let me rephrase the question! I have been loading ammo for 40 plus years. I have worked up my favorite loads in the 223 and bought 8 lb kegs of powder for these loads, I have W748 and W760 but I really like H322 and 8208 . So all of the cases have been trimmed and reloaded and shot so I wont need to trim them. In the past I have always cleaned the brass full length size and neck sized and deprime then run everything through the case prep center. Reprime ,drop powder and seat the tips. Now if I am going to eliminate the single stage and just run the cases through the 550 I was going tumble and spray lube the cases and place them in the unit and go for it.If you prime it with the 550 can you feel the if the primer is going in to loose? I was wanting to know if the stick powder will occasionally clog in the powder drop and create a problem?? I was thinking of setting up an LED light above the unit so I can look into the case to make sure that the powder drops every time. Just wanted to see if you have any tips. I will probably just have to work my way through this and see for myself. I shoot a lot of squirrels and rock chucks

[kayala]

I'll try to answer based on my experience - yes you can "feel" primer going loose or tight, yes extruded powder can bridge and make a mess (had it happen with N140 quite a few times). Can't comment on spray lube, cause I use imperial lube and separate prep step (I have dedicate toolhead setup with size die, Dillon trimmer and neck expander). LED light is a very nice addition and it does help.

[Pee Wee]

Please let me rephrase the question! I have been loading ammo for 40 plus years. I have worked up my favorite loads in the 223 and bought 8 lb kegs of powder for these loads, I have W748 and W760 but I really like H322 and 8208 . So all of the cases have been trimmed and reloaded and shot so I wont need to trim them. In the past I have always cleaned the brass full length size and neck sized and deprime then run everything through the case prep center. Reprime ,drop powder and seat the tips. Now if I am going to eliminate the single stage and just run the cases through the 550 I was going tumble and spray lube the cases and place them in the unit and go for it.If you prime it with the 550 can you feel the if the primer is going in to loose? I was wanting to know if the stick powder will occasionally clog in the powder drop and create a problem?? I was thinking of setting up an LED light above the unit so I can look into the case to make sure that the powder drops every time. Just wanted to see if you have any tips. I will probably just have to work my way through this and see for myself. I shoot a lot of squirrels and rock chucks

I load 223 and 300 blackout on my 550 the answer to your questions is yes on primers, yes spray lube on cases, yes on full length size and neck size, I can't help with stick powder as I do not use it. yes on seating bullets and yes on factory crimping in 4th station. I have the LED lighting set up in mine also to check powder level, works great. I have one powder that I use in my Thompsons that hung up (trailboss) so I dissembled my powder hopper and polished the metal funnel part and fixed the problem. Good luck, hope this helped
Pee Wee

[Greg S]

In Line Fab, a vendor sponser here has an LED lighting harness for the 550 press. You can reload the cartridges as you planned but I think you will get more consistant shoulder bump and powder drop with less herkie jerkie press operation. As the brass cases work harden they have to be well lubed consistantly to get a consistant shoulder bump if you are FL resizing.

Yes, H322 will work in the powder measure. Try it with Wolf SRM (5.56) Primers and Sierra 77 OTM. ; ) As mentioned earlier, I polish the inside on my powder drop dies. I think it helps so I feel more confident in the finished product especially with the light flake/ball powders getting hung up in the funnel at the top of the die.

Its a hertbreaking to make a 500+ production to learn that some of your cases won't chamber in your rifle.

As far as the powder measure, consistant smoooth operation leads to consistant drops. After refilling or a pause in use, I use my dummie cases to cycle through the powder station till I start getting consistant drops, perticularly with flake/disc powder. Once you get consistant drops compare against running some FL sized & primed cases through and then performing the operation as you intend both without seating bullets and see which is more consistant with your powder selection.

If the powder bridges in the powder drop funnel it usually dislodges when the cartridge mouth comes out of the powder drop funnel spilling all over the machine or the next cartridge will be alittle fuller or overflowing when coming out of the powder die.

[poacherjo]

Thanks for the quick replies!!! I will receive the needed accessories Thursday and it will be raining Friday so what a perfect day to reload!! I will do so with caution until I master the 550 . If all else I can fall back on the RCBS and knock em out. It's only a few weeks till I head to Oregon for the Sage rats and stuff.

[dillonhelp]

I've run lots of H322 through the Dillon automatic powder measure. If you operate the handle downstroke at a speed where it takes the powder bar about one full second to travel from one side of the measure to the other, you won't have any bridging issues. You will still shear through a granule of powder sometimes, but that should be all.

[W.R.Buchanan]

You won't get any better advice than directly from the source. Note source in post #12.

Randy

[Kevin Rohrer]

Carbide dies are irrelevant for bottleneck cartridges. You need lube no matter what the dies are made of.

[scattershot]

I recently started loading the 223 on my Dillon 550B. No issues to speak of, but I use CFE223, which is a fine ball powder.

The spray lubes work fine.

[dkonrai]

I too am new to reloading 223 on the 550. Set up one head, deprime, fl, neck, lee quick trim. A trip to the lee to decrimp the primer pockets. Quick tumble.
Then off to the 550, prime, powder, seat, crimp. Much better than a single press. So far I've only used h335 and it meters like water. Consistent 24 gr drops.
Good luck. Btw, get the redding vs dillon dies. And a universal deprime die.

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[runfiverun]

H-322 will meter just fine in the Dillon.
IMR-4895 does just fine too.
ball powder like 2230, 748, cfe-223 etc. will meter better no matter what brand of powder measure you use.
I don't get all worked up over .1 or .2 gr differences in powder weight, I shoot holes in small animals and paper hung on wood.
I judge the results based on what they say.

[M-Tecs]

Some mods that help with stick powder.

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/7421299/Re_Dillon_650_improvement_Modi

https://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?t=154783

http://www.uniquetek.com/store/696296/uploaded/20_Tips_for_Powder_Measure_Accuracy.pdf