Dillon quality

[stompah]

Is lacking.



I am so disappointed with my recent 9x25 Dillon die purchase.

First the instructions to set up the sizing did doesn't match up to reality. It says to crank down till die touches shell holder than back off. Doing that barely reformed the case. I had to lower the ram and crank down well below to the top of my ram's travel. Universal instructions or a die machined too shallow?

Second is the seating. It is obvious that the case is not belled enough to accept the base of the bullet. I tried three times as you can see to balance the bullet perfectly hoping to get it to slip in. No luck and no point ruining more brass and bullets.

I know from reading several people have had similar issues. I just thought since there has been a lot of time since people first started having these issues with these Dillon dies that Dillon stepped up and redesigned them. I was wrong.

I have never been let down by my Lee or RCBS dies and am truly disappointed since I planned on hitting the range tomorrow morning.

Worst part is since these issues have existed for a while Dillon probably doesn't have a fix so I get the privilege of buying more dies to correct this problem.

So for my 9x25 loading brethren what brand die should I use to bell the case to the proper width?

 

[ReloaderFred]

There are a couple of things you can do. First, chamfer the inside of the case mouth enough to get rid of the sharp edge that is catching the bullet. You only have to do this one time.

The second is use an expander from another die set. If you have 357 Sig dies, they can be adjusted out to place the proper amount of case mouth bell on the 9x25 case, similar to using the same dies to load .38 Spl. and .357 Magnum.

If you don't have 357 Sig dies, then a 9mm expander can be made to work, depending on the brand. If the expander die has enough diameter to accept the 10mm case, that will work, or if you can adjust the expander down into the die enough to just accept the neck of the 9x25 case without touching the shoulder, that will also work.

I personally use the expander from a Redding 357 Sig die set, since I shoot both calibers.

The problem with the Dillon die set, other than being outrageously expensive, is the expander would be on the powder drop and not in the die set, since they don't offer a separate expander die in this caliber. You'll have to improvise, which is what I did.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[stompah]

I have Lee 9mm and .357 mag and rcbs .357 mag to try out. If they don't work I'll have to buy a 357 Sig die.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[mmorris]

How are you expanding the case mouth before seating the bullet?

 

[jmorris]

The bad news is that you can ruin brass like that with any die set.

More bad news is that Dillon dies do not come with a way to bell or flare the case because they intend for them to be used in their progressive presses with the "F" powder funnel that would come with the 9x25 conversion kit (not the die set).

You will never get decent results of you don't bell the mouth a little but the marks on the bullets (horizontal marks in the middle of the"flat") suggest that they contacted something, might want to check what "seat" is in the die and make sure it is compatible with the bullet.

If you are still loading 9mm for your XD 9 on your Lee turret you might be able to use that expander on your 9x25 brass (backed out of course) and see if that doesn't change your results.

 

[jmorris]

Dillon makes two different styles of powder funnel that not only drop the powder but also flare. The one for the 1050 is on the left of this photo.



Note that it lacks an expander. This is because the 1050 expands on station #3 with the back up rod for the swager. The SD, 550 and 650 use the funnel like in the center of the photo, note that it also incorporates an expander.

The reason for this is because pistol dies do not contain expanders on the decapping stem like rifle dies do.



So you could be trying to load them not only without bell but unexpanded as well, compounding the problem.

Fixing this problem will likely solve the crushing issue.


If not, as I said above the horizontal marks, at least on the left and center rounds in your photo above look like they could have been caused by the bullet not being vertical and contacting something.

Not unlike what would happen to the one in the center of this photo.



If that is what happened your results would be expected as the rear of the bullet would be inside the case when the front comes down and crushes the rest of it

Sometime caused by a mismatch between the seat and bullet, they do make different ones.

 

[SSN Vet]

Do you have the caliber conversion kit with the correct powder drop insert to bell the case mouth?

And if so, is it adjusted correctly.

 

[moonman16]

As per usual, jmorris, knows his stuff.

 

[jmorris]

Unfortunately experience is something you get after you need it. The OP nailed it 3 years ago with this quote.

December 18, 2012, 12:24 PM
stompah

Reloading can be broken down into 2 parts. Your normal steps and then when things don't go right.

 

[lauderdale]

JMORRIS good one that's about wright!

 

[Longhorn 76]

So, chalk up another one for operator error, and blaming the equipment.

 

[stompah]

Thanks for stalking me jmorris.

Nowhere on Dillon's die page do they mention needing their powder funnel to bell or expand further.

So combine that with some misleading info on the net and here I am with some egg on my face.

Looks like I will be ordering a set of 357 Sig dies.

But jmorris still creepy that you went through my old posts.

 

[GT1]

The internet rarely forgets anything.

 

[daboone]

I like my tag line. ;-)

 

[Rule3]

I do not really follow this whole thing, but shouldn't the solution be with SMURF CENTRAL??

A call to Papa Smurf should fix any and all issues, they are after all the greatest in the whole reloading world and it is their creation??

 

[Nature Boy]

We all blame equipment first. The operator is usually way down the list.

 

[jmorris]

Thanks for stalking me jmorris.

Nowhere on Dillon's die page do they mention needing their powder funnel to bell or expand further.

So combine that with some misleading info on the net and here I am with some egg on my face.

Looks like I will be ordering a set of 357 Sig dies.

But jmorris still creepy that you went through my old posts.

I would have preferred you gave us enough information to answer your question right off the bat but you didn't say what press you were using. So I made a guess and searched your user name and the key word "Lee", then just clicked on the "very new to reloading" thread and confirmed my suspicion.

Had you stalked Dillon on google entering "Dillon expander" that would have been the answer to your problem as well.

You don't need a new set of dies you just need to call or email Lee and get the expander die and you'll be good to go or even better call Dillon and order the rest of the press