Not Flaring With Dillon Powder Measure

[mmc45414]

Did you get rid of the powder check station?

Yes, I did. I figure if the Dillon measure is mechanically being reset the potential for a squib is almost none, and with the indexing on the 650 the potential for a double charge is almost none, and with the drop of Clays a double would be spilling over. I still plan to use the powder check on rifle cases that I cannot see down into.

I replaced my Dillon powder funnel with SSI Alpha funnel. It’s shorter and doesn’t engage the case quite as much. It is still clunky, but not as bad as it was.

I had seen those and had contemplated that angle. (ETA: I was at the beginning of a run of loading 3k and decided since I had three F funnels on hand I could butcher one of them and see how it worked rather than order something and wait)

Nothing against the OP but I don't have any issues or clunks with 9mm, 40, or 45ACP.

I have been using the Lee dies, and one reason people like them is because they are alleged to size a little extra small. The rounds have been utterly reliable, but I wonder if they might be holding onto the powder funnel just a little extra tight?

For rifle, I have been playing with the auto drum as I feel it is more consistent than the Dillon measure, but it still isn't perfect.

For rifle I have been using the Hornady measure, and they have been giving pretty good drops, even with Varget. And 223 loads with Varget is another thing that started me deviating from the Dillon measures, I got some rounds that I presumed bridged in the funnel, and this is also why I started using the powder check as well (I changed to the 650 in 2016, it wasn't an option on the 550s I had before then).

I've reloaded a lot of rounds into a lot of calibers with the Dillon setup, and never had any problems.

Yeah, I probably should reiterate that this is a tweak that makes the operation smoother, not fixing a problem that makes the loader or the rounds not function. I got my first 550 in 1984 and have loaded 380, 9mm(lots), 40(lots), 38, 357, 45(lots), 44, 223 and 300BO. The only real Dillon problem I ever had was dropping that Varget through the Dillon measure on the 550 when the powder check wasn't a potential option, and that was probably just a bad idea in the first place. But I have never enjoyed the way the flaring works, and this is just chasing an alternative setup that smoothed things out.

[OfficeCat]

I have been using the Lee dies, and one reason people like them is because they are alleged to size a little extra small. The rounds have been utterly reliable, but I wonder if they might be holding onto the powder funnel just a little extra tight?

You may be right. I posted earlier in the thread that I had experienced similar issues and resolved them with a switch to a Lee expander die and powder measure. I was also using Lee sizing dies and had this issue with both 9mm and 40.

[willie]

Expander plugs have two sections. One flares the case mouth. The other enters the case and slightly expands a front section of the case interior to more easily accept a bullet. The op removed this section. Cast bullet shooters might fret that the case will now size down and reduce bullet diameter. But let's try to figure out why he observed a noticeable effort to remove the expander from the case. Perhaps his size die is undersized and is excessively reducing the diameter of the case. This means that an expander would be entering a case that is now very much reduced in diameter. Greater effort would be required to remove it. Hand loaders experiment. The op did and found a workable solution.

[rdtompki]

The OP mentions his LNL: I struggled to get the LNL powder measure with expander feature to work reliably and at that point, several years ago, I bought a 1050. I've never had a problem with my powder drops on the 1050 and that's after 150K rounds, most with a Mark VII. I did initially find that the MisterBullet expander would stick in the case, but I worked through that.

[mmc45414]

I came here to snag a reference for a similar discussion elsewhere and thought I would make a quick necro post...

I ended up getting the bullet feeder (and eventually the 1100) so I lost the station that I was flaring with and was (reluctantly) forced to discontinue this process, but damn that bullet feeder is nice! Also, the MBF provided powder funnel was not all that nice, and I got an Armanov funnel and it is pretty nice.

But the main thing I wanted to mention is that it seems that folks that are most bothered by the sticky powder funnel extraction are wet tumbling (I am), and it does not leave any dust behind like dry tumbling does. I sure love my shiny wet tumbled brass, but it is probably also sticky! I have been using the tribe recommended Wash & Wax soap, but one thing I am now trying is not rinsing it so thoroughly, and it may be helping.

[Spartan1980]

I came here to snag a reference for a similar discussion elsewhere and thought I would make a quick necro post...

I ended up getting the bullet feeder (and eventually the 1100) so I lost the station that I was flaring with and was (reluctantly) forced to discontinue this process, but damn that bullet feeder is nice! Also, the MBF provided powder funnel was not all that nice, and I got an Armanov funnel and it is pretty nice.

But the main thing I wanted to mention is that it seems that folks that are most bothered by the sticky powder funnel extraction are wet tumbling (I am), and it does not leave any dust behind like dry tumbling does. I sure love my shiny wet tumbled brass, but it is probably also sticky! I have been using the tribe recommended Wash & Wax soap, but one thing I am now trying is not rinsing it so thoroughly, and it may be helping.

Wet tumbler here too. I've had some times I thought I was going to break my press or shellplate, the expander stuck so bad. I'm utterly amazed that I haven't at least bent my 9, 40 & 45 shell plates. I even sent all of my funnels out and had them TIN coated. That did help, quite a bit actually, but the main problem remains.

Your idea was a good one. I went to a Dillon 5.56 die specifically for that little carbide expander ball as I was pulling the shoulder back out. Immediately fixed that issue. Lubing case necks is a PITA and it defeats the purpose of a progressive press and it's production capacity. I'm really surprised that Dillon hasn't incorporated their rifle expander ball into their powder funnels. Sure, it would require more machining but I'd sure as hell pay for one.

[358156hp]

Are you still using the Dillon powder measure?

Uniquetek offers powder measure funnels in different configurations for both Hornady and Dillon powder measures. They're still sticky on the totally clean stainless tumbled brass.

[willie]

Spraying with Hornady 1 Shot will reduce or eliminate sticking.

[WDR]

Spraying with Hornady 1 Shot will reduce or eliminate sticking.

I too noticed brass sticking more after wet tumbling. Using some sort of lube like One Shot, or car wash/wax in the brass does help. This problem can also be caused by a dirty powder funnel/expander... or a damaged one. A small scratch from dirty brass starts grabbing brass pretty quickly, and once built up, will cause sticking on the down stroke. JB bore compound on a patch, and polishing the expander helps. I've also had that happen in a sizing die (Lee .223) and I ended up polishing the hell out of it with JB on a tight patch over an AR-15 chamber brush.

Lyman "M" dies can be helpful... and there is a company or two that makes a powder through expander with an M die type step built in.

[358156hp]

Spraying with Hornady 1 Shot will reduce or eliminate sticking.

I'm thinking about using Reddings graphite based neck lube kit. It's super fine graphite applied by dipping the case neck in a container of tiny ceramic beads before sizing. I can't see a major issue since lots of people are still using case lube to size. This should also make taper crimping easier, and more uniform.