Dillon Case Two Step Prep Question

[durachoke]

Disclaimer: If you have an opinion counter to mine regarding this method, please keep it to yourself. I know I am in the minority of people when it comes to doing things this way with a progressive press. I'm not interested in hearing "that's a waste of time, I do it ...." I'd like to only hear constructive ideas from those that are willing to discuss this two-stage method.

Short Version - If you were to reload on a progressive in two steps, how would you set up your prep stage and your reloading stage. Going to be doing a lot of 9mm and 223/300 blackout. I'd like to be able to lube up my brass, deprime, size, (in the future dillon rt1200) and whatever else I might be suggested to do on a dedicated toolhead. I will then deburr, wash, polish, and store. Reloading stage will be prime, powder/expand, seat, maybe crimp.

Thanks for indulging me. I'm a new dillon xl750 owner, and purchased a case feeder along with it. I have RCBS dies for the most part with a lee deprimer and expander thrown in. My future will include a dillon trimmer, and a bullet feeder.

I'm a self admitted shiny brass snob. I am proud of the way my ammo looks, and it's a personal measure of the quality of my ammo. I have the free time and reloading is a cathartic activity for me. Dedicating a process specific to brass prep is the way I want to go for now. I plan to make this easier for myself by getting a couple armanov toolheads and their lock rings so that I can easily switch between the calibers without tying up too much money/space in toolheads.

I'm planning to run my pistol and rifle brass through a prep stage and store it ready for a final reloading. I've read different setups and methods to do so, and I'm curious to hear what everyone would do or does.

Some of the examples of things not on my radar are using a mandrel, or using alternative dies.

Thanks for the discussion, and for not roasting me over the coals for doing it this way.

 

[jmorris]

I size/deprime and swage on the first pass, also let's me know every case is going to run through the press. The only extra work in keeping the collator full.


For rifle rounds I also have the a dillon trimmer on the first pass, to trim to length, then the load pass.

If you are a snob or anal about shiny brass don't polish it until you are ready to use it.

 

[captain awesome]

Dont know why anyone would roast you over the coals for it. You will likely get more consistent ammo for the extra effort. If you don't already have an RT1200, Dillon upgraded to the RT1500 now which is supposedly better. I never used a Rt1200.. I have had trouble with the motor on my 1500 after a several hours of use. I did a run of converting a few thousand 223 to 300 BO when I got it, packed it up and didn't use it again for about a year and a half. I'd recommend exploring/researching other options before you decide for sure the Dillon trimmer is what you want. Setting the correct trim length to the .001" is a pain in the @$$. And the motor gets pretty hot after continued usage. That might be what happened to cause the issues with mine, and of course its out of warranty now. I'll be looking for different options for a motor, probably brushless if I can figure something that will work out.

 

[durachoke]

Will the polish not keep it shiny and free from tarnish? That’s something that wasn’t on my radar.

I size/deprime and swage on the first pass, also let's me know every case is going to run through the press. The only extra work in keeping the collator full.


For rifle rounds I also have the a dillon trimmer on the first pass, to trim to length, then the load pass.

If you are a snob or anal about shiny brass don't polish it until you are ready to use it.

 

[jmorris]

Not forever.

 

[durachoke]

Well good to know. Thank you. I liked your auto setup. That’ll be a future upgrade as well and one of the secondary reasons I’m starting with a two stage process.

 

[ManFromMontana]

Great question.

I too am a relatively new Dillon 750 user...and love it. I've probably reloaded 2,000 rounds of 9mm and about half that for .223. In either case, my process seems to be about the same:

I have a separate tool head that I use for prep work. I de-prime (using the Dillon Universal de-primer so sizing is not done at this stage), and then (for rifle ammo only) I check size and trim if necessary (along with outside/inside de-burring of trimmed rifle brass) with a Hornady Cam-Lock trimmer.
Next is wet tumble and dry in a food dehydrator. I too take pride in clean, shiny brass.
Then I swage ALL .223 AND 9mm primer pockets. Seems to go more smoothly that way. I use the Dillon Super Swage 600.
Next I mount the other tool head and make some bullets. I have separate powder and conversion kits so swapping from rifle to pistol takes about 3 minutes. Brass feeder makes things easy and fast.
I hope this helps.

 

[rfwobbly]

► No complaints here. That's pretty much the way I do it.
• On all brass, I run the brass through the first time using the case feeder, and feed it down to a Tool Head setup with a Universal Decapping Die.
• After wet tumbling, drying and, spray-lubrication, I run it through the Tool Head set up with the caliber loading dies, once again using the case feeder.

► I saved up a long time to get the Dillon RT1200 Case Trimmer, and it was bit of a let down. It was loud, the vacuum was loud, and the vacuum hose kept clogging. Plus after you get the RT1200, you've also got to buy the expensive caliber adapter for it. If I had an automated 1050 things might have been different.

► Do not fall for the Swage In Press tool that some 3rd party makes. Those will bust your platen and void your warranty.

 

[PWC]

I don't see a thing wrong with the process. I don't have a Dillon or progressive anything. Why don't you get an inexpensive single stage and do your preload brass prep on it? Many people do; less wear on the more complicated and harder to adjust Dillon.

Deprime and size in one pull. Brass doesn't have to walkaround the unused stations.

 

[durachoke]

I don't see a thing wrong with the lrocess. I don't have a Dillon or progressive anything. Why don't you get an inexpensive single stage and do your preload brass prep on it? Many people do; less wear on the more complicated and harder to adjust Dillon.

Deprime and size in one pull. Brass doesn't have to walkaround the unused stations.

I have a rockchucker, and spent about $150 on accessories trying to “automate” and speed up and increase my efficiency. It still was quite the mental process to get through. And that was one step with the deprimer.

I bought the Dillon in huge part for the warranty. I’m not worried about having to clean it up and maintain, and knowing they’ll take care of me when something breaks is great.

Pulling the handle and not being locked in focused on my brass handling speed will be so much nicer for long runs.

 

[sevt_chevelle]

On my 650, for rifle
Station 1 Redding size
Station 3 Trim die
Station 5 Lyman M die

I tried a two step process for pistol, it was a waste of time really didnt see much improvement. I would size in station 1 and M die in station 3. Then throw that brass back in the hooper, prime, powder, seat and crimp.

Now for pistol.
1. Redding size die
2. Redding PRO expander
3. Powder
4. Redding Pro comp seater
5. Redding crimp

The Redding PRO expander is a M die design but Titanium carbide coated, its smooth as snot even with wet tumbled brass, no more sticking!

 

[PWC]

On my 650, for rifle
Station 1 Redding size
Station 3 Trim die
Station 5 Lyman M die.

As I said earlier, I don't have a progressive anything...so, how does the trim die work in the tool head?

With my single stage press, I do all trim and debur case work off press.

 

[durachoke]

I’ll answer in general. He can answer on the one he uses.

They have two trim dies I’m aware of. The Dillon die sizes and has a trimmer on top that trims the brass down.

Rcbs makes an x size die that you trim your brass short and it expands it up to a certain point and never lets it go further. I’m not sure how exactly that one works.

As I said earlier, I don't have a progressive anything...so, how does the trim die work in the tool head?

With my single stage press, I do all trim and debur case work off press.

 

[sevt_chevelle]

The dillon trim die is also a size die. Its nothing more than a size die with threads on the upper end to allow the trimmer to attach.



The trimmer is set to a predetermined depth, anything greater gets trimmed.

The M die in station 5 is for two reasons. Since the Dillon trim has no expander ball the neck diameter is small. The M die acts like an expander ball, it also irons out any burrs.

 

[lordpaxman]

Tagging in since I’m interested, and have a RL1100 on order. I currently load on a LNL.

Disclaimer: If you have an opinion counter to mine regarding this method, please keep it to yourself.

LOL, I can understand this statement given lots of opinions here! Hopefully mine isn’t too out of line.

9mm - for both LNL and Dillon - and probably most pistol, I wet tumble first, primers in, and use one head for deprime/size, prime, expand/powder, powder check, seat, crimp. The LNL does really well seating primers in crimped pockets for pistol, without swaging or removing the crimp so I don’t bother with any extra steps. The 1100 has the swager so I’m not worried about this. I load a lot, and mixed headstamps and I’m only interested in producing a lot of match quality ammo quickly. I’ve not found a good reason to do this in two passes so far, but will take any advice.

.223 - Dillon only - have two tool heads (they shipped these, still waiting for the press). One head will be setup for universal deprime, trim/size die with RT1500, then Lyman m die for expanding. Quick tumble, and then second tool head will have powder, powder check, seat, slight crimp. I am the bullet feeder for both pistol and rifle, so far. That’s the plan and I’m sticking to it. Good luck with yours!

 

[durachoke]

I'm glad I'm not alone in my thinking. Pistol brass likely isn't worth the effort for anything other than my own sanity, but it gives me something to do to keep busy and I'll know I'm ready ready without surprises when I go to load it up. Thanks for all the insight everyone into your processes.

 

[9mmepiphany]

Thanks for all the insight everyone into your processes.

With that, we can put this thread to bed