Spent Primer Handling for Dillion 550

[Tatume]

Can someone recommend an aftermarket system to collect spent primers please. Thank you, Tom

[Winger Ed.]

I don't have a Dillon, but after being frustrated with the primer catcher thingy that drops them out the bottom
of the sizing station on my Hornady- I keep a small bathroom size trash can under the bench to catch them
as they fall out and run down through a rubber hose.

I had a 5 gallon bucket under there for awhile, but it was more in the way than the smaller trash can.

[scattershot]

My 550 came with a container that holds them. Holds a bunch, just empty it once in awhile. How many do you need to collect?

[John Boy]

https://uniquetek.com/product/T1346-550

[Qeyes]

Look at this
https://www.uniquetek.com/product/T1346-550

[Tatume]

My 550 came with a container that holds them. Holds a bunch, just empty it once in awhile. How many do you need to collect?

About 20% don't go into the container.

[Tatume]

https://uniquetek.com/product/T1346-550

The Uniquetek depends on the trapdoor mechanism that came with the machine. It tends to hang in the open position, meaning I have to manually tap it to get it to close. Also, whether open or closed, primers frequently bounce away without ever going in the trapdoor gizmo. This is true of both of my machines.

My third machine is an XL-650. I installed a catcher on this one that goes snug against the spent-primer port. Primers cannot escape. They are routed to a catch bottle with a length of Tygon tubing. It works like a champ. They don't make one for the 450/550 family of machines, or I would have bought two ages ago.

[country gent]

I drilled a hole in the bottom of the spent primer cup and glued a piece of clear tubing in it then formed a funnel with epoxy on the top. the tube is long enough and sized to fit in a 8 lb powder can on the floor. Thats actually big as when full its very heavy and hard to lift. I believe I did mine with 1/2" id tygon tubing.

[C.F.Plinker]

About 20% don't go into the container.

I put a 3x5 card in the container to effectively raise the walls. Now it catches almost all of them.

[chumly2071]

Entirely Crimson (https://entirelycrimson.com/collections/dillon-550/products/rl-550-spent-primer-chute) has pretty good stuff from my experience with other parts I have ordered.

[jmorris]

The Uniquetek depends on the trapdoor mechanism that came with the machine. It tends to hang in the open position, meaning I have to manually tap it to get it to close.

Replace the cotter pin with a section of a paper clip or other one piece of wire that will allow it to pivot freely and not hang up.

[alamogunr]

I have yet to experience bouncing primers from the 550. If it gets about half full, I empty it. I admit most of my loading is with small primers. I've also never had the trap door hang up.

It may be that I don't race when loading. I don't keep track of how many rounds I load in an hour. Maybe that leads to not cycling the machine very fast. I have no idea what may cause primers to not catch in the cup.

[edp2k]

Replace the cotter pin with a section of a paper clip or other one piece of wire that will allow it to pivot freely and not hang up.

this +1 :)

[samari46]

I do my depriming off the Dillon 550 and most of my other presses. Either a punch and base set or universal deprime die in an ancient CH press. The amount of crud I have cleaned off the Dillon and Rockchucker has to be seen to be believed. The Lee classic cast has a fitting on the bottom of the ram to which a piece of tubing goes. I save the jugs that iced tea comes in and the tubing end up in the jug. I'll completely disassemble my presses and clean and lube them. Then work the handle up and down to distribute the lube. My Rockchucker is close to 45 years old and the ram is in good shape. The Dillon only 20 years old and has loaded thousands of pistol rounds. And still runs well. Frank

[MrWolf]

I deprime off my Dillon also. I use the Harvey deprimer. Way to much crud for my liking on my press.

[ioon44]

I deprime off my Dillon also. I wet tumble all my brass and the primer assembly stays clean, no crud building up and I think it keeps the primer assembly from wearing out as fast.

[Gus Youmans]

Tatume,

Cut a piece from a plastic jug. You want the piece, when folded into a U-shape, to just barely fit into the spent primer cup. Leave the height of the plastic piece as long as possible without interfering with any other operations as the handle is raised and lowered.

Gus Youmans

[Walla2]

https://uniquetek.com/product/T1346-550

+++++

[rbuck351]

My 550 may not get 100% of the spent primers but it's pretty close.

[Tatume]

Thank you everyone. Replacing the cotter pin supplied by Dillon with a section of paper clip helped a lot. I still lose a few, but I don't have to manually close the chute, which speeds up my reloading by elimination of one operation. Again, thanks all.

[curiousgeorge]

Jmorris hit the nail on the head. Try using a hat pin, the ones that have the big bead on the end. Cut it off (it's too long as it comes), insert and put a little bend on the cut end with pliers.
Worked great on my 3 550's.

[onelight]

Another free piece of wire that is hard and still bendable is the wire from a utility locate flag . I have found so many uses for them I usually have a few around.

[Baltimoreed]

My Dillon 550 catchers work fine, I’ll have an occasional primer pop out of the cup on my Lyman T2s. I prime and deprime on my presses [for pistol ammo]. Prime off press for rifle.

[David2011]

Replaced the cotter pin on mine with a long 4-40 socket head cap screw and nylon locking nut a LONG time ago. I also stuck a small piece of self-adhesive felt on the catch cup where the primers first hit. That greatly reduced primers bouncing out of the cup. The long 4-40 screw was from an RC hobby shop.

[edp2k]

I also stuck a small piece of self-adhesive felt on the catch cup where the primers first hit. That greatly reduced primers bouncing out of the cup.

+1.

In addition to the cotter pin/hat-pin,
sticking a piece of self-adhesive felt, a piece of velcro (the soft velcro side, not the stiff side), or some similar cushy fabric
on the inside of the primer catcher cup and also on the inside of the RL550 primer trapdoor will minimize the primer ricochet
when the spring loaded decapping pin on the Dillon decapping/size die finally causes the primer to clear the primer pocket.

The suggestion to cut a corner out of a plastic milk jug to have taller walls on the primer cup is good also :)

[Capt. Senile]

You can take a safety pin about the size of the one that comes on an AR15 bandoleer and cut off the catch end, and the point end, then spread it a bit and put it on the inside of the primer catch thingy to spring load it to the open position when de-capping.
Works finer than frogs hair.

[Petrol & Powder]

Replace the cotter pin with a section of a paper clip or other one piece of wire that will allow it to pivot freely and not hang up.

/\ While I didn't resort to paperclip - this makes perfect sense /\

The little trapdoor/chute gets dirty and hangs up. This isn't a huge problem in my experience but when it hangs up it's a quick fix.

Pull the cotter pin out, clean everything well. Deburr the holes the cotter pin passes through and polish the area around the holes. Wax the entire thing with a bit of car wax - and it will work for about 15,000 more cycles before you have to clean it again [smilie=s:

The 550 is a rock solid machine but even the best equipment needs to be cleaned and lubricated occasionally.

[David2011]

The suggestion to cut a corner out of a plastic milk jug to have taller walls on the primer cup is good also :)

I forgot about that. I raised the walls on the primer cup with tape folded over from the inside to the outside. That helps with the sneaky ones.

[jmorris]

Thank you everyone. Replacing the cotter pin supplied by Dillon with a section of paper clip helped a lot. I still lose a few, but I don't have to manually close the chute, which speeds up my reloading by elimination of one operation. Again, thanks all.


There are other 550 tips that can help speed up things too.

I know it’s not your original question but a concept every 550 owner should know about.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rCGV-JPYaE&t=2s

[Adam20]

Jmorris, Thank you for posting that video

[MrWolf]

Agreed thanks for that. Never thought of it.

[Big Wes]

Another free piece of wire that is hard and still bendable is the wire from a utility locate flag . I have found so many uses for them I usually have a few around.

Ditto works great!

[David2011]

Lots of comments about replacing the factory cotter pin with another type of soft metal. The reason I used a 4-40 socket head cap screw is that it’s hardened steel and won’t bend easily. The cotter pin in mine was bent badly and the source of the binding. The nylon insert locking nut let me secure the screw without any pressure on the light aluminum pieces. It has worked flawlessly for many years without any adjustment.

[Old School Big Bore]

Both of mine will shoot the occasional primer at a sharp enough angle that they miss the chute altogether. I find slowing the upstroke so that the primer is ejected less forcefully will usually let them drop more by gravity and less by being propelled. The chute staying folded up is a different problem. I frequently have to tweak the aluminum one way or the other to get it swinging freely again. Now is there a trick to stopping the feed from freezing up on the last primer, even with a follower pressing on the stack?
Ed <><

[alamogunr]

I learned of that method of changing primers on the 550 some time back. It may have come from jmorris then too. I've done it both ways and the video he posted is by far the easiest.

[alamogunr]

Lots of comments about replacing the factory cotter pin with another type of soft metal. The reason I used a 4-40 socket head cap screw is that it’s hardened steel and won’t bend easily. The cotter pin in mine was bent badly and the source of the binding. The nylon insert locking nut let me secure the screw without any pressure on the light aluminum pieces. It has worked flawlessly for many years without any adjustment.

I tried to use a small machine screw also. Even a #2 is too large to go thru the holes in the spent primer chute. And for sure the cotter pin will be too bent up to put things back together. I just used a length of wire that I cut off of a coil that I had in the drawer.
I know this says a lot about my shakey old hands.