Dillon 550b upside down CCI300 primer

[georgerkahn]

Doing a run of my-cast 200 Grain SWC bullets in .44 S&W Special, I converted my Dillon 550b to this caliber. Initially, about every third primer would not get in little cup -- this, I noted after very few rounds. I stopped, and took all apart, cleaning and polishing both the primer slide piece as well as black plate underneath it. The problem persisted -- but, I wanted to load, so I installed the slide I had the small primer cup in -- swapping in the large one -- and, :) :) I had it fixed. WHY the "bum" slide will not always be pulled all the way out, still puzzles me -- I had Googled the problem, and tried pretty much all suggested fixes. I ended up thinking, perhaps, that particular slide has a curse on it :).
BUT -- the "meat" of this post, is somehow, when doing my quality control of all loaded rounds (I did 383 at that point) -- I noted one was just about perfect -- except the primer (a CCI 300) was upside down. After a wee bit of thought, I donned "ears" and safety glasses, putting round in a kinetic bullet puller and whapping it on concrete floor to just about remove the bullet. I put the round, then, in a Wilson case-length gage, using a pair of pliers, wobbling to gently remove the bullet. I dumped the powder back in hopper, and... gently put round in a Redding single stage (Boss) press, with an RCBS universal decapper die in it. Verrrrry slowly I came down, and managed to pop out the primer with no detonation! :).
How the primer got upside down, beats me; it's been said that God smiles on old men and fools.... which is moot. In either case -- I thought I'd share...
(lucky) geo

[hermans]

My 550B does that maybe once every 10 000 primers, and due to my method of always marking my brass with a permanent marker whilst the rounds are standing upright in a homemade wooden tray, I always spot this "intruder" right away. My method of dealing with it is exactly the same as yours!
Why it does that....who knows?

[Petrol & Powder]

Yep, every now and then you'll get an upside down primer seated in a loaded casing. The good news is a drop of oil on the open side of that primer will deactivate it. Kroil, Clenzoil, Breakfree, etc, it doesn't matter.

After that the round can be disassembled as noted above with very little risk of detonating the primer.

[243winxb]

Dillon has an alignment tool for the platform the shell plate attaches too. The tool helps get the primer feed in alignment.

Or adjust the primer feed , like in posts here . https://forums.brianenos.com/topic/98128-primers-flipping-in-550b/

The plastic tip of the feed tube ,if worn, can cause feed problems.

Never force a prime feed. Even more so a Federal primer, as they contain nitroglycerin and are more sensitive.

[243winxb]

Alignment tool. https://www.dillonprecision.com/rl550-series-xl650-platform-alignment-tool_8_6_26408.html
At one time the were free.

To align my old RL450, i moved the powder funnel die to the priming station. Place a large nail or spike in die. Should be self centering. Seemed to work well.

If press linkage is worn or sloppy, run a test to see. Move lever so its parallel with the floor. Move lever side to side/left to right. Watch platform. Does it rotate. If a lot, press may need a rebuild.

[georgerkahn]

Thank you for comments! I have/had done pretty much everything mentioned, and my new "light" may be warpage in the primer slide unit (???) as mentioned by one of responders in Brian's posts. I have no idea if this is the case... but frankly seem to have explored all others. That I simply put the large-primer cup in my "small -primer" slide, and installed this in my press seems to have totally ended the occurrence reinforces it. I had, a few weeks back, done quite a run of 10mm Auto with the same (CCI 300) primers with nary a problem. The *ONLY* thing I did was (duh!) add more primers, taken from 100-unit trays from same lot/box. What could have caused a warp or bend or ??? baffles me.
I am, in a way, happy to have learned from my posting that the flipped primer was not a unique phenomena to me... my major worry was in its removal from case. Perhaps I'm too cheap -- should have put case in a shot-glass of Kroil, and then discarded it... I generally do not like kinetic bullet removers as the grains of powder always seem to stick to the bullet when dropped, and generally make a "mess". I was lucky as after four or five watched whacks on concrete floor I had bullet 90ish% out, removing it with pliers. No mess! Score again, I was manage to push out the upside down primer without detonation. [As a by-the-way, a few years ago I converted some corrosive-primed .30-'06 ammo to snap-cap type dummies for use in our CMP Hi-Power clinic students' use, and liberally sprayed each with WD-40 before removal of these. Just for kicks & giggles, we reinserted a few in "bad" cases, "clicking them", again, for fun. Much to our surprise -- of the eight we tried... THREE of this WD-40 soaked primers did in fact fire, although one of them sounded very weak. Since then, I do not put all faith in oil's ability to make primers inert. Again, this based solely upon *my* experience.]
Back to current 550b primer flipping -- thank you again for comments; and, it seems -- for me -- swapping in a different slide seems to have fixed it.
geo

[243winxb]

The *ONLY* thing I did was (duh!) add more primers,

I place a steel rod in tne primer tube , so the added weight presses down on the primers. This does 2 things, keeps primers moving and lets me know when i need to refill , before it goes empty.

Primer dust- Clean the primer tubes. I use isorobic alcohol 91% and a cotton patch. My old RL450 tubes are aluminum type metal, with no plastic tip.

As you have found, it near impossible to kill a primer with oil, wd40 or water. Fire pit works or burn barrel.

[labradigger1]

I place a steel rod in tne primer tube , so the added weight presses down on the primers. This does 2 things, keeps primers moving and lets me know when i need to refill , before it goes empty.

Primer dust- Clean the primer tubes. I use isorobic alcohol 91% and a cotton patch. My old RL450 tubes are aluminum type metal, with no plastic tip.

As you have found, it near impossible to kill a primer with oil, wd40 or water. Fire pit works or burn barrel.


Same here, I use a 17 caliber steel cleaning rod in the tube. Keeps light pressure on the primers and locks the primer feed up tight when empty.

[georgerkahn]

Mine came with a black plastic "rod" as part of the low-primer warning system -- a blue box containing an assemblage of a AAA battery, micro-switch actuated by a shoulder on plastic rod, and a buzzer. When you're down to but a few primers, the micro-switch contacts are closed causing the buzzer to sound -- a great addition (imho) to enable your cognition vis primers still available for seating. If more weight would help, it would not be much of a challenge to drill a rod-sized hole partway through a cast bullet, seating that atop it. If that will keep another primer from flipping -- it surely is a quick and easy "fix"! Thanks!
geo

I went to Dillon site, and they now command twenty-five bucks or so for the unit I mentioned. Here's a photo I pasted from their site. geo230410

[Iowa Fox]

I place a steel rod in tne primer tube , so the added weight presses down on the primers. This does 2 things, keeps primers moving and lets me know when i need to refill , before it goes empty.

Primer dust- Clean the primer tubes. I use isorobic alcohol 91% and a cotton patch. My old RL450 tubes are aluminum type metal, with no plastic tip.

As you have found, it near impossible to kill a primer with oil, wd40 or water. Fire pit works or burn barrel.


Thought I was the only one left running a 450 using the priming tubes with the turned ends. Every so often I make a paper wad out of paper towel soaked in alcohol pushed thru the inside of the priming tubes on all my Dillons to keep them nice and shinny on the inside. Makes a big difference. The entire priming system on Dillons needs to be kept clean and adjusted to avoid problems.

[Adam20]

Check the grove where the bar slides in and out, the screws that go up from bottom, if you over tighten them it pinches on the side of primer bar. Use a bright flashligh to see if there is a little bulge. I can take a picture also.

Only time I had primer issues is when I change to small primers and not actually install the thing.
Done that twice.

[Walter Laich]

Mine came with a black plastic "rod" as part of the low-primer warning system -- a blue box containing an assemblage of a AAA battery, micro-switch actuated by a shoulder on plastic rod, and a buzzer. When you're down to but a few primers, the micro-switch contacts are closed causing the buzzer to sound -- a great addition (imho) to enable your cognition vis primers still available for seating. If more weight would help, it would not be much of a challenge to drill a rod-sized hole partway through a cast bullet, seating that atop it. If that will keep another primer from flipping -- it surely is a quick and easy "fix"! Thanks!
geo

I went to Dillon site, and they now command twenty-five bucks or so for the unit I mentioned. Here's a photo I pasted from their site. geo230410

I just hot glued a nut on top of the rod. added the needed weight can easily removeable

[David2011]

A .45 ACP case fits the Dillon rod and is easily removed.

[lightman]

I've seen up side down primers seated by several different machines. Dillon, Star, Hornady and RCBS all will occasionally flip one. And who's to say that one was not accidentally loaded in the primer tube backwards? After a long session of looking at the little buggers ones eyes can feel like they are crossed!

[slughammer]

I think a primer can get flipped when dropping a new tube of 100 into the primer feed assy.

I've heard the stragglers slowly making the trip down the tube. I think the possibility of one flipping is right when it makes that transition from one tube to the next.

To avoid any issues, I always take the plastic primer rod and use that to follow the stack of primers on their trip. (Before I pull the hitch pin). And I always make sure the tubes are perfectly aligned.

I've been doing this for years and have never had an issue since.

[garandsrus]

The plastic tip on your primer tube is probably worn out and needs to be replaced. Happens once in a while.

[David2011]

A less than fully rigid and stiff reloading bench can also contribute to primers flipping in a progressive press.

[Baltimoreed]

My lyman T2 primer system would flip primers. I found that if I chamfered the inside and outside edges of the cup and the center hole each shell holder it doesn’t flip them any more. The corner of the cup holding the primer would barely catch the edge of the shell holder and compress the spring ever so slightly and then pop free which would flip the primer. Never had as issue with my 550b though. Something to check out.

[mulespurs]

I have noticed that if I try to rotate the shell plate before my downstoke is complete it can drag on the primer cup and have misfeeds.

I just have to slow down. I also run a cleaning rod thru my primer tubes from time to time.