Primer fire on RL550B

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I had a primer fire on my reloading machine last night on my Dillon RL550B. Anyone have this happen? I wasn't slamming the handle or anything; it just went boom.
 
BillO said:
I had a primer fire on my reloading machine last night on my Dillon RL550B. Anyone have this happen? I wasn't slamming the handle or anything; it just went boom.

According to the 550B Video this is not an uncommon occurance. Rare, but
not uncommon. They go to great lengths to caution the user with regard to
safety. Where abouts in the cycle did it happen? I haven't done too much
reloading and thus have not had it happen to me.

TBP
 
I had one on my 650 when I first got it. Since then I anchored my machine to the table/wall better and I make sure the primer seating is adjusted for the caliber I'm loading (the tab that pushs the case in towards the shell plate). I didn't slam mine either, it was more like I felt some unusual resistance and kept pushing. The brass wasn't aligned with the seater and crushed the primer. No damage, I was wearing my glasses, and thousands of rounds later, I haven't had another one. One was enough.

Are you getting primers that are not seating right (sideways or not at all)? That might be a sympton of the problem. There are many posts on the Dillon machines in the forum at www.brianenos.com.
 
boom

I've been reloading for about 7 years and this was the first time. It happened during the the forward/repriming cycle of loading 40 s&W's. Didn't do anything differently, and I never slam the lever forward. Scared the bezesus out of me.
 
If it was a .40, check to see if the brass was an NT. They use small primers but I still have some of those that won't take a new primer smoothly.

For the alignment, check the spring or hand-thingy that holds the case in place while it is being primed. Since there is no locator button at that station that thingy keeps the case inline and in the shell plate for the primer. I've also had to play with the tension on my shell plate by backing off on the shell plate screw. I just set up for some .45s and when I had some sideways primers, backing off on the screw fixed it.
 
BillO said:
mmmmm, recently yes, I do get a few primers sideways. I'll look into it.
I used to load up 4 or 5 primer tubes at a time and sometimes lay them down before I used them. I had a couple get sideways on me and I think it was because I was laying them down. I leave then upright now and haven't had one explode since then.
 
May or may not be the cause (if anything, it's worth noting for reference), the height of primer cup must be adjusted to the specs in the diagram...

cup.JPG


FWIW, adjusting the height is a real PITA. That's a pretty powerful spring in seated in there and requires a vice, calipers and allen wrench to adjust.

Other possibilites (from the Dillion website)...

http://www.dillonhelp.com/rl550benglish/trouble_shooting.htm#problem_1


Problem 3: Primer jams or misfeeds A. Primer misfeeds can be caused by misadjustment of the set screw (#13961) in the primer feed block (see Figure 10).

B. The most common cause of primer misfeeds or jams is the primer punch not seated fully into the primer slide. This will cause the primer seating cup to strike the flexible orifice on the bottom of the primer magazine tube Warning: If the primers are jammed and will not feed from the bottom of the primer magazine. Do Not Attempt to force the primers or the primer slide. An explosion resulting in injury may occur.

C. Another common problem is that the primer slide fails to return fully forward with the new primer. Periodically wipe the primer slide with rubbing alcohol. This removes the spent primer residue that causes the slide to drag.


Then again... it's most likely one of those rare occurrences that just happens.
 
Moderator said:
Wow, 5 thousands of an inch. Pretty tight tolerance. I wonder what the tolerance on the primers are?

My thought exactly. My 1st impression was "it shouldn't need to be that precise", but that's what they state in the manual so that's the way I set it up.
 
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