Issues with Dillon RT1500

[Alex Wilson]

I run a case thru my press twice in order to load it. First pass is to form the case, de-prime, trim, and neck size.

On the second pass I prime and load. I haven't really found the need to use and expander as some have.

I don't trim and load all in one pass due to the case shavings. Even with a shop vac hooked up to the die I still find shavings in my cases. Not a huge deal but it prevents me from trimming/loading in 1 pass.

I'm on a Hornady AP and had to make some modifications to get it all set up correctly though.

[Overton-AR]

I think I made some progress yesterday. Started from scratch and reset everything from the dies to shell plate.

This time I sorted out all the lake city brass and focused on using just those. I noticed those seemed to go just fine. Here was the process:

1. I cleaned all my brass as it was my old .223 cases with split necks. Lubed them and put them in my case feeder.
2. Ran them through station 4 where they were formed and trimmed. I check them with a EGW case gauge.
3. Pu them through my single-stage RCBS press with a Dillion FL resizing die. Initially, I had the die backed out so just the expander ball was re-sizing the necks. I had mixed results this way.
4. I ended up adjusting the die all the way down as I usually would and now it's working fine.

In the end, I think the issue was some of the brass I was using was just too thick. I verified this against the sticky which has the case thicknesses and I measured to concur.

It's just a real shame the Dillon short toolhead doesn't have a usable station 5. I think what I'll end up doing long term is doing the re-size after the cuts in bulk by just setting up a dedicated toolhead with the re-sizing die for use after I remove the cutter.


Thanks to everyone for the insight. I'll post a video on my setup and process in the future for those who want to see this and/or are thinking about doing it.

You really are making this harder than it should be. Running them through each step, that many times really defeats the purpose of the progressive reloader. Do what you want, but honing out the trim die was simple and easy. When are you decapping....?? You should be able to do this quite easily with the brass only going through the press twice.

Once through to decap, size and trim. Then clean off the lube and run them through the loading cycle.

[skullbox]

Do what you want, but honing out the trim die was simple and easy.

What is involved in doing this? I assume putting it in a lath and shaving off a few thousandths? Seems like it would need to be polished to allow smooth operation correct?

[Overton-AR]

Do what you want, but honing out the trim die was simple and easy.

What is involved in doing this? I assume putting it in a lath and shaving off a few thousandths? Seems like it would need to be polished to allow smooth operation correct?

Nope....just some wet/dry sand paper and a .250" metal dowel. Here is a link to a youtube video that shows the same process......you are only taking off .002" thousandths.

https://youtu.be/IEa2jeV-BKs

[Warbird 2]

The design for the 300 BO trimmer is the worse I've ever seen. Trying to secure the trimmer to the tool head is a joke, you must hold on to the trimmer when starting it, otherwise it will spin and the electrical wire will wrap itself around the trimmer. Surprised that Dillion hasn't come up with a better and more secure design.