Trying to Repair A Dillon RL-300!

[seagiant]

Hi,
I acquired a Dillon 300 that someone had done some "custom" work on. I really don't know what it was they were trying to accomplish? No matter, my mission is to repair it the best I can without having to do a lot of machine work.

The damage was a hole that was drilled in the front of the base(not even straight,go figure) for some reason. The bad news is on the original design there are two tapped holes for a primer post and a spent primer catcher at the front of the base and the threads were of course removed when the hole was drilled.

I turned a peice of bronze rod to fill the hole and will JB Weld it in and any small crevices will be filled,sanded,and painted. The screw holes will have to be redrilled and tapped also.

I could I guess go into this furthur and tig weld everything but see no reason to as it takes more time and work and will not be any stronger or work better if I did. Here are some pics!

[Artful]

*** - so the gunbutchering idiots have now moved onto reloading presses - Sorry to see that - and thanks for keeping repairing a bit of history.

[Weaponologist]

It's a shame some people wont ask for professional help before they try some stupid idea they saw on a DIY channel ..lol...
Please show us the after photo's...

[seagiant]

Hi,
Well,everyone seems to have a better idea! This guy figured he knew more than Mike Dillon I guess? There were only about 800 of these made and Mr. Dillon said he lost $100 on every one!

The bronze bushing for the ram is actually two bushings as one in the bottom and one at the top of the base. The one on the bottom is about two inches long and the top one is an inch. The bottom one was not cut or damaged as the drilled hole did not reach it! Plenty of bushing anyway you look at it and one reason I am able to get away so cheap on this repair!

After a couple hours for the JB Weld to set I took a file and started getting rid of the excess bronze rod I had put in. I have a belt grinder but was scared of heat on the epoxy so did it the old fashion way. Everything looks good and hope to drill and tap and paint tomorrow. That will put me back to square one as I am missing parts and will have to make them as this progresses!

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Good looking repair!

[LUBEDUDE]

That looks great SG!

It sure looks like it will work.

[seagiant]

Hi,
Thanks Gentlemen! I found more damage with the ram and the shell plate holder! I may have to do some welding and remachining on the holders. Yea I have two actually and they both were ground on! The ram was ground on the front and back creating flat spots with a small divot included.

I thought about welding the divot up but really do not want to put heat on anything I can keep away from. The only thing that would force me would be if it would not work as it's suppose to!

[Iowa Fox]

Good luck on your project seagiant, keep us posted with pics on your restoration. I hava a real soft spot for these old presses.

[Sghinds]

Very nice repair work. Good to see people keeping these presses alive.

[seagiant]

Hi,
Well...Admittedly I'm trying to keep it as simple as I can and get the loader back on line. I'm missing the complete primer system and know that is going to be a bear as the casing for that was originally cast and I will have to make it out of bar stock!

Just going to take it easy and work on one part at a time and one day hopefully have another Dillon 300 running!

[Alvarez Kelly]

I have a few shellplate platforms around... Maybe I have one that'll work for you.

[44Vaquero]

Seagiant;

Boy oh Boy! Did the previous owner find new ways to bugger up that press! Looks like she is in better hands now. Good luck on the rest of the restoration.

[seagiant]

Hi,
Thanks Fellas! Brian, PM inbound!

[seagiant]

Hi Brian,
Here's pics of under side! Ring heights are .180 and .200 small to large.

I don't know if the 300 and 450 share the same shellplate platforms? I do know they have an opposite rotation from each other when loading! (CW vs CCW)

I might call Dillon tomorrow!

[Alvarez Kelly]

Hi Brian,
Here's pics of under side! Ring heights are .180 and .200 small to large.

I don't know if the 300 and 450 share the same shellplate platforms? I do know they have an opposite rotation from each other when loading! (CW vs CCW)

I might call Dillon tomorrow!

I'll measure and inspect them when I'm back at the spares bench.

[Daddyfixit]

Nice work! I just can't understand what some fool was trying to do?

[seagiant]

Hi,
Thought I would show what I've done so far. Have a long way to go but will get the loader mounted on the bench and then work as I can on it! The good news is the ram is still nice and tight,smooth probably as good as it was in 1980 when it left Arizona!

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Seagiant,

Not sure if this will work, but might be worth considering and a try. Fill those damaged areas flat, then silver solder chunk of steel to them you can machine to match the rest of the machine. That would likely be a solid enough repair, especially if you added perhaps a couple steel pins and wouldn't heat things up too much.

Hope this helps,

Dave

[seagiant]

Hi Dave,
Well...I'm done with repairs unless I can't get a good shell plate platform from Bryan. Then I will have to weld up and remachine that piece!

Everything works as it should so far.

My next hurdle is to make a complete priming system!!!

[Artful]

Looks to me as if was wanting to make either auto-eject or auto-feed on the RL-300