Seating SWC cast booolets

[milprileb]

http://www.dillonprecision.com/#/con...n_Seating_Dies


It appears this seating die does the job of seating SWC boolits pretty accurately vs the flat stem approach on my RCBS and Hornady New Dimiension die set approach.

Not sure that sliding sleeve on Hornady does much , I think it just makes you feel good. I see no better seating results than the RCBS stem.

I mention this only because I find the odd round in a box of ammo that does not drop perfectly into my case gauge (45ACP) and that round is the one that the bullet did not seat true. Its the round that will slow magazine follower function and give rise to faulty feeding issues which as you know can be hard to diagnose at times. When you get that odd fail to feed, you chase recoil spring, magazine, extractor, load, ramp and barrel issues. You can chase all of that and the issue is really your bullets tilted on seating just enough to give you feeding issues.

I am thinking this Dillon die approach may be the answer. Besides, you can clean the seating die of lube deposits and never lose the settings of die installed on your case head (for progressive presses).

Your thoughts please on this.

[milprileb]

If this is wrong forum for this post, pls push to right one. No intent to post wrong
at my end.

[Char-Gar]

I went to that link and found it pretty much to be advertising hype. For pistol bullets with a meplat, I removed the seating stem and turn it perfectly flat in the lathe. The flat stem on a flat bullet will align the bullet within the tolerances of the die.

[462]

Lyman's Multi-Deluxe die sets come with interchangable seating stems which will accommodate RN, WC and SWC nose profiles.

And, to tie into another thread of yours, they come with the world famous, argument instigating M-die.

What more could a boolit caster/reloader ask for...one die to accurately seat three different types of boolit designs, as well as properly prep case mouths.

[kelbro]

I use the Dillon dies on 38/357 and 44. They work well but so do the Hornady New Dimensions. I prefer the Dillons though for ease of cleaning. That little c-clip on the Hornadys is a pain plus you have to re-adjust.

[L1A1Rocker]

I LOVE the dillon dynamic dies!!! The ease with which you can clean them is the number one reason to get them IMO.

[milprileb]

Please.. don't bring M dies into this or we will go over the cliff. !!!

Beyond cleaning (great feature by the way), I am the proud owner of RCBS and Hornady
die sets for 45 acp. I really don't want to buy another die set like Lyman. I kinda hoped
the cast bullet experts here would validate this Dillon die as a better mousetrap.

We are not getting a lot of input from the die hard core casters to vote the Dillon up or down yet.

[Lizard333]

+++ for the Dillon Dies. I have ten different caliber conversions for my 550B, and have no reason to go to anything else. Simple fact is they work. Plain and simple. Yes, they are twice as expensive as the "other" dies, but I prefer to buy stuff that works well and doesn't give me a pain in the neck. You can keep everything on a stand for each conversion, and you don't have to sort through a bunch of different die sets to get what you are looking for.

I can go from 9mm to 357 in about 2 minitutes. Add another couple minutes if I go from a caliber with a small primer to a large primer.

I have Powder dispensers for every caliber as well so I don't have to make huge adjustments wasting time finding out where the powder is dumping out at.

Yes, their stuff is expensive, but in my opinion, is worth every penny. Plus, if you ever have any problems with any of your equipment, it is the mail the same day. They are also very helpful if you have questions. If you have the money, go with the best and never look back

[milprileb]

I have the 550 and the 650. I know all about what you wrote. While I like index and case feed of 650, changing calibers is a major drama and darn costly. Far better to change calibers in 550 series.

In hind sight, it was a half great idea to get the 650 series. I was way ahead with the 550. What was I thinking !!!

Now to blow your mind. While I like Dillon stuff , I use a Lee Pro Measure on my die heads as they are very effective and far easier to adjust powder settings and they are a fraction of the cost of Dillon measures. They work a little better for consistency acutually.... yeah, for a Dillon addict, this is hard to admit. But... they do.

[Blammer]

I will have to say that my one experience with Dillon dies was with 41 mag.

The problem I had was the seating die sized down ALL boolits to .410 INSIDE the case. I needed a fatter boolit, it didn't work for me. I traded them off and haven't looked back.

[JLK]

I have one of these seater stems in my Star reloader and RCBS dies I have
in my 550B.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Dillon-45-Cal-se...item20ba1df623

It use the slight shoulder on the .45 SWC bullet. The great thing about this
stem is once the seating depth is set, bullet shoulder relative to the case mouth,
it is set for all SWC bullets...H&G 130, 068, Lyman 630, etc.

I have absolutely no affiliation with Steve. Just a satisfied customer.
JLK

[milprileb]

JLK, I was unaware of this seating stem for Dillon die. I only load a #68 clone by Lee. I am wondering why the Dillon die for 45acp would not suffice and would be interested to hear why
you pursued this replacement stem.

What was wrong with the Dillon seating die that moved you to seek improvement ?

[JLK]

Milprileb,
I hope I didn't mislead.
I don't own any Dillon dies.
I use RCBS on my 550B and the original Star dies on my
Star progressive.
I shoot NRA Conventional Pistol and own several .45 SWC molds.
These include the Lee 068 clone, Lyman 068 clone, MiHec 068 clone, Lee 160gr
SWC, H&G 130, H&G 068 and I gotta be leaving something else out.
With the seater plug I posted the link for I don't have to worry about adjusting
the seater die for each bullet. It doesn't use the nose of the bullet but the shoulder.
This distance, the one from case mouth to bullet shoulder is the critical dimension.
Once set all my .45 match ammunition will head space the same.
Hope that helps clear it up.
Thanks!
JLK

[milprileb]

Sir, let me ask a question please. It would appear this works precisely as long as no lube or shaved lead deposits are moved north during seating step. Such deposits might throw a wrench into consistent seating of bullets whereas a stem that stops a bullet at a precise depth is not pushing on bullets shoulder / or nose and is not subject to deviation due to lube or shaved lead.

Since I cannot see a bullet during the seating process, the bullet once it comes out of seating die may show lube and lead shaving deposits and I have a bullet that is out of spec to the rest of the batch loaded up.

I don't want to chase molecules of whether a film of lube may degrade bullet seating. Am I wrong in assuming this situation / potential will deflect any real good your die stem does ?

I am looking at this stem like a Pig Looking At A Wrist Watch !

[Char-Gar]

Anytime you load cast bullets, gunk will accumulate on the bullets nose, case and seating die. At least it always has for me.

I wipe every finished round free from this stuff. I also clean the seating die from time to time with plain old rubbing alcohol. There, for there never has been any deviation in loaded ammo.

If you experience shaved lead, there is a problem with how the case is belled, bullet seated and/or crimped. Shaved lead is not acceptable.

I need to be honest and say I don't have a progressive press and don't want one. The one foray I made into these complex gizmos proved to be very unsatisfactory for several reasons.

At one time I was seriously engaged in Bullseye pistol competition and loaded well over 1/4 million rounds on a single stage old black Pacific C press. One perfect round at a time.

There were a couple of progressive presses around at the time (Star and Phelps), but I never saw one nor knew anybody who could afford to buy one.

I have always enjoyed the process of handloading and found it an enjoyable way to spend time. So, the more and faster bug has never bitten me as it has the younger generation.

[Cherokee]

milprileb - If there are lead shaving, you need to stop and fix that problem. This design of seating nose punch also offers the advantage of straighter seating of the bullet in the case. I have altered some of my SWC seating dies to seat this way and have good results. Many of the "flat" nose bullets are not really flat, more domed to some extent so the contact area is small and may not contact the bullet at the same spot each time allowing the bullet to cant to a certain degree. Just my experience, YMMV

[milprileb]

I don't have lead shaving but for maybe 1 in 100 rounds and I use a very healthy flare/ belling on my cases. Clearly the round that shaves lead is not seating true and I carefully place my bullets in the cases. This odd round led me to look around and discover the Dillon seating die which by pictures and description would align bullets better.

Yes, my SWC bullet nose is hardly flat and is domed. That hardly fits precisely my RCBS an Hornady flat seating stems : so that drives my question of whether Dillon has a better solution.

Still... Dillon approach seems a bit better than flat seating stems .

[canyon-ghost]

Dillon is good, for what it does. Read what Blammer said, there's a potential for it not to function in the realm of cast bullets. In Cast Bullets, the best dies are RCBS. But, then not everyone wants to single stage either. It's a matter of choices and Dillon does have a No BS warranty.

Ron

[357shooter]

The double-ended seating stem in the Dillon quick-disassembly dies works great. One end fits the bullets perfectly, at least it fits my bullets...

Love the way the dies come apart for cleaning, and go back together, without loosing adjustment.

[MikeS]

... These include the Lee 068 clone, MiHec 068 clone, H&G 068 ...
JLK

As somebody that owns these 3 moulds, how would you say they compare to each other? Also, I know the Lee mould doesn't have the same quality as the others, but how would you compare the quality of the MiHec #68 mould to the H&G #68 (both boolits, and quality of the moulds themselves)? I've used a Lee 2 cavity #68 which I've since sold, and currently I'm in on the group buy for a MiHec #68 mould. I'm also considering buying a Lee 6 cavity mould of this design, as it's going to be at least a couple of months till the GB gets done, and at about $50.00 for a mould & handles, that's a price that can't be beat.

Sorry for the thread hijack!