Single Pass Rifle Reloading with a Dillon 650

[Russel Nash]

I discovered that if you get two of the old powder bar return springs, then the Dillon Powder measure can be moved to say station #3 or #4 in the 650 toolhead.

And basically two other conditions must be met:

1. You’re fairly confident your batch of .223 brass is all under 1.76 “ in length

2. The military style primer crimps, if there were any, have already had the crimps taken care of.

So I had my toolhead set up like this:

1. Universal decapper
2. nothing... empty slot here
3. Redding S type sizing die with a .245 neck bushing
4. Dillon Powder measure
5. Redding micrometer type bullet seating die

So I dumped UN tumbled but lubed brass into the Dillon’s casefeeder.

All the loaded rounds QC’ed/QA’ed just fine.

I wiped the lube off with alcohol/sloshed the rounds in an alcohol soaked towel.

Then when I went to the range last week, they shot fine with 100% reliability, and accuracy was satisfactory.

I think my next step is to tweak the small rifle casefeed plate so brass that is longer than 1.76 ‘ never gets fed into the press.

Well.... that’s my game plan for now.

[jmorris]

I think my next step is to tweak the small rifle casefeed plate so brass that is longer than 1.76 ‘ never gets fed into the press.


Might work if all your brass was fired from the same chamber. IME what length the case is before sizing doesn’t always equal what length it is after sizing.

Why the order of operations is generally Size/deprime/expand, trim, prime, powder, bullet.

Using a bushing, sounds like your cases are at the very least all the same thickness at the mouth and not your run of the mill range pickup from various firearms.

With rifle, the springs are not going to be an issue because a short stroke double will spill powder everywhere, no way you can put two charges into one case but do pay attention to the measure returning, the fail safe rod was added because of measures not returning and people loading squibs.

[Russel Nash]

Might work if all your brass was fired from the same chamber. IME what length the case is before sizing doesn’t always equal what length it is after sizing.

Why the order of operations is generally Size/deprime/expand, trim, prime, powder, bullet.

Using a bushing, sounds like your cases are at the very least all the same thickness at the mouth and not your run of the mill range pickup from various firearms.

With rifle, the springs are not going to be an issue because a short stroke double will spill powder everywhere, no way you can put two charges into one case but do pay attention to the measure returning, the fail safe rod was added because of measures not returning and people loading squibs.

I might just try buying some once fired mixed headstamped brass... measuring the brass before resizing and then measuring the brass again after resizing.... making sure it drops into a case gauge flush after sizing.

Ultimately, in my mind, if the brass starts out shorter than 1.76 “ and then goes through the S die with neck bushing it should still stay under 1.76 “

I case gauge all my loaded rifle rounds anyway. If a case is too long, I will catch it then.

[Russel Nash]

Yes, these were all LC19 brass that had been twice fired.

That is how I knew the primer crimps were already taken care of ( by using the Swage It tool in the 650 instead of the regular primer punch)

[Russel Nash]

About that failsafe rod and the powder bar not cycling correctly,

One of the extra checks I did was I weighed 20 of the loaded rounds on my digital scale.

They all averaged right around 186 grains.

I was charging them with 22.0 grains of H335.

Soooo... none of those rounds came up 22 grains short in overall weight .

And yes I kept an eye on that “arm” that engages that little white plastic square, which in turn engages the groove in the powder bar to make sure it went from one end to the other end and then back.

[1006]

All of my 223/556 is fired from an AR with either a 5.56 and 223 Wylde chamber. I do not trim my brass. I used to trim them, but had enough people tell me it was a waste of time.

I still end up running my cases through the 650 twice to get them loaded. The first trip involves doing everything that needs doing to the case before it is reloaded. The second trip occurs after I save up all the brass that I want loaded, then I knock out several hundred at a time.

[Russel Nash]

All of my 223/556 is fired from an AR with either a 5.56 and 223 Wylde chamber. I do not trim my brass. I used to trim them, but had enough people tell me it was a waste of time.

I still end up running my cases through the 650 twice to get them loaded. The first trip involves doing everything that needs doing to the case before it is reloaded. The second trip occurs after I save up all the brass that I want loaded, then I knock out several hundred at a time.

Which makes me think separating out my Lake City 5.56 brass by year group is kinda unnecessary.

I could mix them all together, and since they are just once fired brass, then yeah, it will have to be a two trips through the 650.

The Swage It tool bolted into the 650 for the first pass will take care of the primer crimps.

Then it would be onto the second pass with the load toolhead.

So.... I could just used the mixed year LC brass for whammo blammo 55gr FMJ ammo.

Then I could save my good Lapua brass for 69gr and 77gr SMK rounds.

[Russel Nash]

I fiddled around with my large rifle casefeeder plate over the weekend.

I haven’t been here on this forum on a regular basis over the past few years, so we’ll see if I can get some pics from my phone uploaded here.

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So that was the good news... brass longer than 1.76” was kept from dropping into that hole and being fed into the press.

Here is the bad news:

266759

The “gap” between the plate’s “teeth” is so deep that it allowed two .223 cases to ride uphill.

Sometimes when both cases got to the top of the casefeeder, only one case would drop into the hole (with no real idea if it was actually 1.76 “ or shorter) .

Other times both cases would drop simultaneously.

And then there were other times none of the cases dropped.

If you look at the top picture there, the too long case got caught between the plastic casefeeder plate and the adjustment screw.

That’s good.

That is exactly what I want it to do.

But coming over the top of ..the peak of the casefeeder.... and then starting on the downhill side, that too long case would stay stuck in that gap. Then when it made it to the very bottom of the casefeeder, it kept the shorter cases fron dropping into that gap for the next ride uphill.

The large rifle casefeeder plate only has 6 gaps, so in like no time whatsoever all the gaps were filled with too long cases and the good shorter cases were never getting fed into the 650.

Argghhhhh....

:groner:

Sooooo.... back to the drawing board.

[garandsrus]

Why didn’t you use the small rifle plate? You could always cover the extra slots if you didn’t want to use them.

The RCBS X die is probably your friend here. It will keep the brass from getting oversized. I don’t think full length sizing will hurt you, especially with an AR, and I don’t think neck sizing will help you.

[Russel Nash]

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There is not a lot of room left between the headstamp of a .223 case and the next “tooth” on a small rifle casefeeder plate.

Plus where that “spoke”.... that raised area of plastic is...limits how or where I can drill holes and tap them.

But that is like my Plan C if the large rifle plate doesn’t work.

And it will most likely be something made out of aluminum.

The intermediate teeth don’t leave a lot of room to drill and tap into also.