Patriot
NES Member
I have had a Dillon 550 for a long time. Long enough that I thought it was a
good idea (bad idea) to upgrade it to the 'B' version. I reloaded and then due
to family and whatever ceased reloading for a long time. In fact long enough
that the piston on the press froze up and I had to do the heat/cold trick to
loosen it. That's the background for my current story.
I have been assembling various components and due to the crappy weather I
thought that I would finally start setting up my press to do some serious
reloading. This is where it all came apart.
When I purchased the additions to the 550 to upgrade to the 550B this did not
go off without a hitch. Adding the bracket to the bottom of the press to hold
the powder fail safe rod was ok but the powder measure was so old that it did
not have the correct interface to the rod and subsequently Dillon replaced that
gratis.
I do have a problem with this that I cannot seem to come to grips with. In
the following picture you will see the powder fail safe rod and an angle from
the lower bracket to the powder measure interface. This is due to the
problem that the interface on the powder measure will hang up if I try to
align it vertically with the lower bracket. First question I have for you 550B
owners: Is this fail safe rod supposed to be aligned vertically to the powder
measure?
The interference that seems to be causing my problems is circled in this photo.
Lastly I tried to set up the powder die for .357 Mag and what I found was
that I was not getting any, or minute, belling of the case mouth. When
measured with my calipers it was virtually identical to the case body. The
powder charge bar was adjusted properly (I think) as it was all the way
forward (not like in the picture).
Picture of unbelled 357 mag case:
Finally my last question for now: When you set up your press does this
cam (second picture) ride up against the powder measure housing and
release with somewhat of a 'clack' as I can't find any other word to
describe it. The cam rides on it until the case pushes up the against
the powder measure and then the cam releases. (I hope that I did a
fair job of describing my inquiry).
good idea (bad idea) to upgrade it to the 'B' version. I reloaded and then due
to family and whatever ceased reloading for a long time. In fact long enough
that the piston on the press froze up and I had to do the heat/cold trick to
loosen it. That's the background for my current story.
I have been assembling various components and due to the crappy weather I
thought that I would finally start setting up my press to do some serious
reloading. This is where it all came apart.
When I purchased the additions to the 550 to upgrade to the 550B this did not
go off without a hitch. Adding the bracket to the bottom of the press to hold
the powder fail safe rod was ok but the powder measure was so old that it did
not have the correct interface to the rod and subsequently Dillon replaced that
gratis.
I do have a problem with this that I cannot seem to come to grips with. In
the following picture you will see the powder fail safe rod and an angle from
the lower bracket to the powder measure interface. This is due to the
problem that the interface on the powder measure will hang up if I try to
align it vertically with the lower bracket. First question I have for you 550B
owners: Is this fail safe rod supposed to be aligned vertically to the powder
measure?
The interference that seems to be causing my problems is circled in this photo.
Lastly I tried to set up the powder die for .357 Mag and what I found was
that I was not getting any, or minute, belling of the case mouth. When
measured with my calipers it was virtually identical to the case body. The
powder charge bar was adjusted properly (I think) as it was all the way
forward (not like in the picture).
Picture of unbelled 357 mag case:
Finally my last question for now: When you set up your press does this
cam (second picture) ride up against the powder measure housing and
release with somewhat of a 'clack' as I can't find any other word to
describe it. The cam rides on it until the case pushes up the against
the powder measure and then the cam releases. (I hope that I did a
fair job of describing my inquiry).
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