Issues with Dillon RT1500

[skullbox]

So I've been working/researching for a while... I've read some of the threads here about the case thickness and "approved brass list". Here is my setup:

Dillon 650
RT1500 with carbide trimming die
I have both Lee and Dillon carbide dies

The trimming seems to work fine. I've tried a few different case lengths. The cases always gauge just fine in my EGW case gauge. I've noticed that when they come from trimming station the necks are WAYYY too small. When I run them through a full length re-sizing die which is VERY though even when I cover it in Dillon case lube.

Once it comes out, the neck is the right size, but the shoulder is almost gone. Needless to say the cases don't gauge after. I can't figure out if it's something I'm doing wrong in the trimming/forming step or something else.

I've had this problem specifically with RWS cases which I know are somewhat thicker. However, I seem to randomly have this problem with LC and RP cases.


Does anyone have any insight on this?

[polizei1]

The die itself is the full length sizing die. You need to screw the die down until it forms the case properly, and then set the trim die to the correct length. It's a little tricky to get setup...I had to run the nut UNDER the toolhead, you might have to as well. With the nut on top, there was virtually no room to allow brass shavings to leave the cutter as the nut covered most of the opening.

It sounds like you have the trimmer set correctly, but not the die itself.

[skullbox]

Yea, I realized that same thing about the lock nut. I'm just really puzzled as to why the forming/cutting die makes the case mouth so small. If it wasn't doing that I'd be golden.

[Alex Wilson]

The cutter makes the mouth smaller because there is no mouth sizer in the die. The cutting dies only set the shoulder and cut to length. They can't size the mouth due to not having a sizing ball. There are a couple ways to fix this.

I don't use the trimmer dies to size my brass. In station 1 I full length size, then trim to length. Station 4 I run a 30-06 sizer die. This die obviously does not size the case at all but I run the .30 sizer ball thru the case to expand the case neck to the proper dimensions. I have no problems seating boat-tail or flat based 110gr bullets doing this setup. All of my cases will fit my guns and a Wilson gauge.


It seems like you are trying to size twice which is over working/crushing the case due to a lack of lube. Trying sizing once and only running a .30 sizing ball after trimming. You can do this with a .300aac die. Just screw it out so its not sizing at all and screw the ball down.


One question though. Since you have a 1500 I'm guessing you aren't using a mini saw to trim the cases. You are just putting a .556 case and trimming all the excess brass off? Please let me know your process before sizing

[skullbox]

I'm using the trimmer die/RT-1500 in station 4 only. So it's be sized/formed/cut all in one step. I like your idea using the ball sizer of the die only. I'll give that a try today.

[polizei1]

Hrmm. I have a universal decapper in station 1, swage in 2 (GS Custom), and cut in station 4. I then load using a Lyman M Die, powder drop, MBF, Forster Seat, Lee FCD.

[Alex Wilson]

You're using the "M" due to expand the neck to fit the bullet in right? I would guess if you pull the expander ball out of a die and run a case thru, the neck will be a tiny bit small.

Somewhere in your trimming/loading you are going to have to get the neck into proper alignment. Either thru an "m" die, an expander die or a sizing ball.

Btw, what size are your necks going to? You never said. Is it just below .30 or much smaller.

[polizei1]

Yea I'm using the M die to expand the mouth for coated bullets. I'm having an issue with the Dillon powder funnel closing the mouth back up, so I may switch to a different powder funnel and expand it that way.

[Overton-AR]

When prepping and resizing 300BLK brass I use an oversize .309" expander ball in my Forster full length size die in station #1. This really makes seating the .310" PC'd bullets a breeze. Then my Dillon trimmer is setup in station #4. I honed out the neck of the trim die so that it wouldn't squeeze the necks back to a smaller size. I want them to stay .308"-.309" for easy insertion of the soft cast lead bullets.

Then when loading I use the 30 Carbine powder funnel when I am loading PC'd cast bullets. It bells the mouth just perfectly and it eliminates the need for the expander die. Then I seat in station 4 and use the Lee FCD in station 5 to close back up the bell. I don't have it set to crimp tight at all....just to remove the bell.

When swapping over to load jacketed bullets I just replace the expander ball with the standard .307" ball and the 30 Carbine funnel is replaced with the 7.62 AK funnel.

[skullbox]

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.