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Thread: Dillon .45AR shellplate discovery.

  1. #1
    Boolit Master Baltimoreed's Avatar
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    Dillon .45AR shellplate discovery.

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    I have been experimenting with .45Cowboy Special brass [same length as .45acp] in my Marlin 1894 Trapper after having issues with .45 schofield brass. The Schofield’s larger rim would occasionally jam up the bolt to where it wouldn’t quite close without a struggle. Tight bolt? So I got a handful of .45CS to play with. After working out an oal that feeds 100% [1.295-1.300] [and I can get 10 into my very short trapper magazine]. It shoots swell with a 255 swc boolit but I want to move my reloading to a Dillon 550 that is permanently set up for .45acp or .45autorim. I tried to get a .45colt shellplate and the seller screwed up the order and sent me a .acp plate not a .45colt plate even though he invoiced the correct part??? Having to deal with a fleabay return now and all that rigmarole. Anyway just out of curiosity I just tried some .45colt brass using the .45 autorim ‘H’ shell plate and #4pins and I think that it will work just fine for the .45cs brass. The dimensions of the cases are pretty close other than the rim thickness. I only have 25 pcs and they’re loaded so after I’ve fired them I’ll try to reload them on the Dillon and know for sure. Don’t know if this is common knowledge or not. If this works I won’t buy another plate. Save a few $. I’ve got 250 CS brass backordered at Starline.

    Okay, I just tried one on the Dillon and the primers will start to seat but the extra thickness of the AR brass rim means a deeper cut for the rim into the shellplate so the case lifts. Doh! I will have to seat them the rest of the way by hand with my auto prime and then load them. But, I might be able to recut the primer seating punch so that it sits a little higher as I’ve got a few spare punches. I recut the bottom of the priming seating punch and reshaped the set screw point and got some more height out of it. Maybe this will work.
    Last edited by Baltimoreed; 06-06-2021 at 09:43 PM.

  2. #2
    Boolit Grand Master jmorris's Avatar
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    The 550 will allow the stem to protrude well above the depth a primer could be seated to, even using brass with a thinner rim than the shell plate was designed for.

    Remove all cases and push the handle to the rear, how high will yours come up?

  3. #3
    Boolit Master Baltimoreed's Avatar
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    Initially using the AR shellplate and .45cs brass my Dillon would only seat the primer halfway into the primer pocket of the 45cs or 45colt brass. This was high enough to seat primers correctly in 45acp and AR brass using the correct plates. The shellplate platform is as low as it can go as it is bottoming out on the primer slide. But by lowering the radiused part of the bottom of the primer seating punch lower and reshaping the set screw to make it narrower and engage the punch lower I was able to get the ram to sit higher which in turn seats the primers deeper into the primer pockets. Might work. I’ll shoot the 25 rds tomorrow and try to reload them. [trying to use the Dillon nomenclature here.]
    Last edited by Baltimoreed; 06-06-2021 at 09:33 PM.

  4. #4
    Boolit Buddy

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    Sounds like you’re on the right track, good luck.
    Keep your powder dry and watch your six !!

  5. #5
    Boolit Master Baltimoreed's Avatar
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    I’ve got it working but I also had to redo the little white plastic primer holder/stop as it was too small in diameter to hold the primers high enough for the higher cup to get under them to pick one up. I found a piece if brass rod in my stuff and turned it down on my mill a few thousands. Put a nice round end on it with no taper. I didn’t bother with the step on the end where the flat spring is. The extra thickness of the brass stop lifts the primers a little higher so they don’t hit the now higher cup. Just resized, deprimed and reprimed thirty .45colt and CS cases just fine. No need to buy another plate now.
    Last edited by Baltimoreed; 06-08-2021 at 10:28 AM.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check