Dillon 600 swager - any case prep after swaging?

[rajbcpa]

I just bought this swager and I'm kinda lost on how to use it. I swaged a bunch of military crimped brass and now I'm getting high primers on about 20% of the cases. They just flat out cannot be pushed into the pocket with a 550B progressive.

I took some of the brass that I had run through the Dillon swager and cut the remaining lip from the primer pocket with a 45 degree cutter from Depo that was mounted in a drill press. After that step, I am no longer getting high primers but the "push" into the pocket is not that easy on about 50% of the cases.

I'm pretty sure I'm using the correct Dillon case bar in the swager since I can feel the crimp being pushed into the pocket. Primers are Federal SR.

Is this just normal case prep for military brass or am I missing something? I assumed I could just swage the cases and reload.

 

[kerreckt]

I also use the "super swage 600". No problems at all with it. The only advice I can offer is to make sure it is properly adjusted. Make sure the ram presses against the brass fairly hard. I have mine adjusted so that the 90% of cases barely clear. The other 10% I must give a gentle push. I have used it this way with 9mm, 223,308,30-06 and primers have always seated properly even if I don't clean the pocket. I have also "automated" mine but that"s another topic.

 

[rodinal220]

Sometimes after swaging with the SS600 it leaves a ring of brass in the pocket.Use a dental pick to pull this out when inspecting your brass after swaging.

 

[rcmodel]

Keep adjusting.

And sort your brass by head-stamp.

The swager has to be adjusted for each brand of brass case web thickness to work properly.

rc

 

[GLShooter]

Amen to that! !

Greg

 

[zonzin]

At least you have a Dillion 600. mine has been order for over 3 months.

 

[kayaks]

The sorting advice is excellent. If I get it adjusted for LC, most of the FC won't fit. Otherwise it has worked well and I haven't had any problems with seating primers.

 

[rajbcpa]

OK sorting cases by head stamp sounds like good idea.

The "adjusting" part is not real clear to me, however.

I have adjusted the threaded case bar so that a brass case slips down into the frame with a tad bit of friction when it hits the black shoe.

Is this correct or does it need to be adjusted so more effort (friction) is needed to push the brass case down into the black shoe in the frame? I'm not doing something correctly since I'm still using the 45 degree cutting bit in the drill press to open the pocket.

I got the unit from Dillon last week and it was ordered in early March (about eight weeks). My order shipment was incorrect and I spent hours on hold calling them to talk about it. Their orders have increased 500%. My phone line went dead after I asked them to fix the shipment and I have no idea if they will fix it anytime soon.

YUK!

 

[MtnCreek]

You need to continue adjusting until the crimp has been removed.

 

[USSR]

The "adjusting" part is not real clear to me, however.

I have adjusted the threaded case bar so that a brass case slips down into the frame with a tad bit of friction when it hits the black shoe.

You've got it set up right with just "a tad bit of friction". Remember, the crimp you are removing is on the very edge of the primer pocket. If the crimp is not removed, then the primer will not enter the primer pocket at all. As rodinal220 said, sometimes a loose ring of brass breaks free and moves down into the primer pocket, so check for that. It seems to me that your problem resides with your 550B. I use a RCBS hand primer and have zero problems fully seating primers.

Don

 

[rajbcpa]

I have adjusted the case bar from just a slight bit of friction with the black shoe, to a great deal of pressure with the shoe. The blue 600 frame is mounted at the edge of a thick hardwood board so the forcing handle moves past 90 degrees to the full amount of travel.

Unfortunately, I'm getting the same result.

The primers are sitting too high in the brass cases. I'm getting some resistance during the pull and I can feel the brass being pushed back into the pocket. My primers are Federal SR and the press is a 550B.

I'm starting to think this unit has been shipped to me with a defective part.

The defective parts could be:

1. The black shoe is too thick
2. The swager button is too small

After swaging, I can still see a lip crimp at the edge (e.g., at the top of pocket) of the cases and they look visually like un-swaged cases. If I take a swaged case and remove the lip using a 45 degree cutter that has been chucked into a drill press, the primers seat in the cases with the 550b at the correct depth.

Basically, I'm not getting enough swaging action, even though I am feeling resistance on the brass on each pull.

At this point, I'm really frustrated and I think my solution is going to be to use the 45 degree cutter that has been chucked in the drill presses on all the swaged cases.

The last time I called Dillon service because they shipped me the wrong conversion kit, it took more than an hour to finally talk with a human. They no longer answer e-mails.

UHG!

 

[MtnCreek]

I'll try to get some measurements on my swager tool for you to compare.

 

[rajbcpa]

OK Thanks.

After a lot of experimentation, I was able to find a temporary (??) solution.

If I place a case into the Dillon swager and pull the handle 3 or 4 times on the same case, it will then accept a Federal SR primer from the 550B press and the primer is seated to the correct depth. I have tried this on about 20 cases and they all accepted primers which are then seated to the correct depth without issue.

I'm not seeing people on U-Tube who are using the Dillon 600 swager do this; they are using a single "pull" to size their crimped military cases.

What does that tell us?

Thanks...

 

[ericgst]

OK Thanks.

After a lot of experimentation, I was able to find a temporary (??) solution.

If I place a case into the Dillon swager and pull the handle 3 or 4 times on the same case, it will then accept a Federal SR primer from the 550B press and the primer is seated to the correct depth. I have tried this on about 20 cases and they all accepted primers which are then seated to the correct depth without issue.

I'm not seeing people on U-Tube who are using the Dillon 600 swager do this; they are using a single "pull" to size their crimped military cases.

What does that tell us?

Thanks...

I have had the same issue with both the RCBS press mounted swagger and bench swagger. I do not get a clean primer opening like you see others get in photos or videos. BTW, the RCBS swagger is very similar to the Dillon 600.

On the RCBS bench swagger I have the pin adjusted out until I can almost not get the cartridge closed for swagging and it looks about the same.

 

[rajbcpa]

I don't care that much that I need to pull the Dillon swager handle 3 or 4 times on each brass case but it doesn't seam like the norm for this machine. At least no one on U-tube does this with the Model 600 swager.

My experience with Dillon equipment is that it is always a solid design, great value with very few or NO problems.

Ordinarily, I would call Dillon and ask for help but I'm not going to spend two hours on the phone for this. I suppose I will just let it go.

 

[arizona98tj]

As you said, let it go for now.

But, when the craziness settles down, give them a call then. I've no doubt they will get the issue resolved to your liking.