dillon 550 spills powder?

[maxit]

hi Ya All, i just began to reload rifle cases:
lots of spills over shell plate of excess powder.
called Dillon and they gave me the two usual problems;
not those what else can it be?
much obliged,
Max

[mjmagee67]

Slow down. Give the powder time to fall into the case. That reduced my spillage.

[Bill Steele]

Need a little more information.

What caliber, what load spec (powder, charge, bullet and weight, brass used, etc.)

All of the above will have big impact on how smoothly rifle reloading will go on a progressive. Oh, and what mjmagee67 said too.

[jericho89]

what rifle cases
what powder is being used
what is your load data

[bubbala]

On a 550 you can put a finger on the case as you turn ,that should help with any wobble. If you think thats the problem. You might try loosening the center post if the turret seems to tight

[mjmagee67]

I had a little powder spillage when I loaded 308 and 223, not so much with 300BO. When I went too fast I could see few grains of powder fall out of the charging die when I dropped the ram too fast. Some of the grains would fall on the shell plate. When I slowed down the spillage was less. With 300BO I would get some spillage if I rotated the shell plate to aggressively. The 300BO charge fills the case pretty full. I did try polishing the inside of the charging die, it helped a little. I wouldn't polish it again if a went to a new caliber. YMMV

[Red9]

Also install the bullet before rotating to the next station.

[maxit]

hi ya Guys,
I like what dk said about installing the bullet before rotating the shell plate. (nice dog, we have a doxie/Chihuahua mix, love it).
however this problem is on .223's and not spillage from movement. it happens before that; something about the drop from the funnel.
sorry Bill,
I forgot the details. cases: range pick up, not trimmed.
H322 powder; 25.3gn
armscor 22cal 55gn fmjbt-wc

much obliged,
Max

[Carsgunsandchics]

Your powder might be bridging inside the funnel. If the powder measure/funnel is new you might need to hand cycle a lb or two through it to help alleviate it. You can give the assembly a small slap/tap to keep it from bridging, or not be so smooth when you cycle the handle and the vibration will help.

[Revoman]

[Bill Steele]

hi ya Guys,
I like what dk said about installing the bullet before rotating the shell plate. (nice dog, we have a doxie/Chihuahua mix, love it).
however this problem is on .223's and not spillage from movement. it happens before that; something about the drop from the funnel.
sorry Bill,
I forgot the details. cases: range pick up, not trimmed.
H322 powder; 25.3gn
armscor 22cal 55gn fmjbt-wc

much obliged,
Max

I can think of a couple things. That seems like a lot of H322, is that a compressed load? IIRC, H322 is an extruded powder and even smaller grain extruded powders tend to stack and not evenly fill the case. Perhaps drop back a few grains and see if the fill is a little lower in the case, even with the stacking.

Maybe less will spil out with that approach.

[maxit]

Bill, not a compression load; just what Hodg has printed on their label. i thought that would be a good place to start. however Lee starts at 23 gn and i adjusted to 24gn and will make some like that for a while.
also the suggestion about going slow resonates. i am used to speed from loading 9mm and other pistol calibers. i have to pause and think about such large loads taking time to drop.
many good suggestions here; i am restarting now with those two first.
much obliged to all,
Max

[gmsoccerfam]

I agree with SLOW DOWN theory. Personal experience. Pull the handle down. Count one onethousand, two onethousand, then push forward on the handle. Solved the problem for me. 223 and 308.

[jericho89]

assuming you have the correct powder funnel installed I have found that usine a strong pull of the handle to jar the case to the top of the cycle does wonders for making the powder fall into place.

[maxit]

H335>H322 powder

I can think of a couple things. That seems like a lot of H322, is that a compressed load? IIRC, H322 is an extruded powder and even smaller grain extruded powders tend to stack and not evenly fill the case. Perhaps drop back a few grains and see if the fill is a little lower in the case, even with the stacking.

Maybe less will spil out with that approach.

Bill, i dropped the load to 24.gn since the Lee book uses 23gn as starting load.
however i found i was using H335 and not H322 which has lower powder quantities. works fine anyway. slowing down did the trick too.
now i am almost out of H335; i would never do the following with any other two powders but can i just add to the hopper some H322? same load now and same bullet. any intel on that one?
much obliged, as always, Max