dillon powder die ..throwing inconsistantly

[five.five-six]

I recently got a new-to-me 550 with most everything. I have been setting it up for .45ACP and I just cant get consistent charges. I am trying to throw 3.7 of bullseye, but am getting anywhere from 3.1 to 4.2... now, I am used to seeing a spring to pull the powder bar back, but my setup did not come with a spring, just the spindles to attach it to. did I just answer my own question?

[30Cal]

Call Dillon. Mines got a pair of springs under the bar.

Also, the consistency of the drops you get are a direct function of how smoothly and consistently you operate the press. If you are paying attention, you'll learn to spot when a heavy drop is pending.

[Sheldon]

Older version powder measures used the springs. The current version does not use the springs. Is it possible something is in the drop tube of the powder measure that may be bridging the powder as it drops? Had some fibrous material get into one of my powder measures and do just that. Took it apart and found what looked like a small wad of cotton fibers that was catching powder and causing all kinds of havoc.

[kmca]

If you're using a dryer sheet, maybe it dropped down too far and is blocking the passage?

[problemchild]

Went though this. Fixed it by polishing the inner parts. All I did was use Flitz to polish everything the powder touches. It throws almost perfect charges now.

http://www.ar-15.co/forums/showthread.php?t=4606

From enos's website

"Here is what I have done to make my Dillon powder measures throw more consistent charges with all powders. Not just coarse grained powders like Varget, 4198, ect…

First remove the plastic hopper from the measure. If its yellow and cracked, order a new one.

If you look inside you see how rough the inside of the measure is. Its just a aluminum casting.

Before Polishing

I start by hitting the inside with some 440 wet/dry sandpaper to take off the high spots. I also break the edge where the hole is in the bottom. Then I fire up the Foredom (AKA Dremel) and start polishing. I use a small Scrotchbrite wheel for the majority of the work. After it starts looking better, I start up with the felt tips and polishing rouge. Once it looks like a good mirror finished feed ramp, I apply some car polish. Several coats just to make sure it stays pretty and more importantly, slick.

After Polishing

It is a royal pain to get inside the track where the adjustment bar slides, but it seems to help. Using a piece of flatbar, I just knock off the highspots with some 440 sandpaper. Then using a large diameter felt wheel, I polish the bottom and left (side away from lever linkage) side. Just polish, don’t remove any metal. Try as I might, my camera wont focus that close.

A big part of adjustment repeatability is the addition of the Uniquetek adjustment knob. With absolutely zero backlash, turning it to X.XX on the dial equals what it did the last time you used it there. Before installing the Uniquetek, I polish the powder bar also. I lightly break the sharp edges on the corners. Try not to remove much metal. Just get it slick. Don’t forget to polish the little notch where the square plastic washer rides. Once installed, consider adding a *very* small amount of grease on the backside of the washer. Probably cant hurt, might help. Here is what the measure looks like with the Uniquetek installed.

Finished

I have a grounding wire running from my 1050s to an outlet to keep the whole machine grounded. I also keep anti static spray close by if I see powder sticking to the side of the measure. Some guys tape a static cling sheet to the outside of the powder hopper, but then I cant see how much powder I have left…

I also polish the inside of the powder funnel that rides inside the powder die and also where the powder flows through the measure itself. If it is for 223 or another case where compressed charges are likely, I heavily polish the hole and make it as much of a taper as I possibly can. This allows the powder go in the case faster and keeps spilling down to a dull roar. With a good taper and polish job, I can throw 27.0 gns of Varget in a Lake City 223 case without occasional spilling. Before, 26.6-ish was about it.

Don’t forget to grease the outside rear of the measure where it rides up and down. That is the only place where grease/oil *should* be used.

After doing all this, I can throw 10 charges of Varget and only have a 0.2 (0.3 on a bad day) variance, 0.1 either side of the desired weight.

As a technique, I pull the handle down somewhat fast and smooth, stopping abruptly at the bottom of the stroke. Every time. This keeps the powder settled so even amounts get dropped. I go up much slower as I am using an auto indexing machine.

I don’t use any graphite or other dry lubes on the powder bars. It can build up and make the powder bar bind. Gunpowder has enough graphite-ish stuff in it to keep things moving.

Don’t leave powder in your hoppers, it attracts moisture and can klump up leading to powder “jams.” Fine grained pistol powders are really bad about this. Ask me how I know.

Lastly, I hate the Dillon low powder sensors and powder check dies and don’t recommend them. "

[Oceanbob]

I recently got a new-to-me 550 with most everything. I have been setting it up for .45ACP and I just cant get consistent charges. I am trying to throw 3.7 of bullseye, but am getting anywhere from 3.1 to 4.2... now, I am used to seeing a spring to pull the powder bar back, but my setup did not come with a spring, just the spindles to attach it to. did I just answer my own question?

Call Dillon and they will send you a free Spring (or springs)

Be well, Bob

[problemchild]

Call Dillon and they will send you a free Spring (or springs)

Be well, Bob

Its not springs, new systems dont use springs, thats old school.

Its what I said above. I have 5 powder funnels and 4 are polished and 1 isnt. The one that isnt will throw charges all over with up to a 1.7gr difference even on ball. All the polished funnels throw spot on every time.

[vmwerks]

Mine was throwing Bullseye poorly at first - now I get 2.8gr every time. I bet it's because my pulls are more consistent now. FWIW it has always thrown W231 well...

However it seems that polishing is a great idea... smooth is always good.

[Twystd1]

Your Dillon 550B will only throw consistent charges IF you loan you me one of your lowers for the next week desert run.

If not.

Your Dillon will never work.
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Your ugliness....You wanna borrow my one of my powder dispensers to compare???????????
I can bring over tomorrow night.

Da Ol'e man.

[five.five-six]

thanks fer da offer, but it's a tidbit late yet... take whatever lowers you want, I don't need them..... I'm all out of .223 and won't have any til I figer this out

[Brian1979]

I use bullseye and get consistent drops each time.

You need to look at the powder return bar. The long vertical stick that pulls the bar back in with the down stroke of the handle may not be aligned well. The "L" shaped part that fits in the bell housing slot some times will bind up and not allow the powder bar to return fully. I had to do some adjusting and tweaking on mine to get it right. I had to bend and adjust that vertical rod a little. Also all these parts that move up and down I have greased well. No oil/grease on the actual powder bar but on all the other parts that move.

To check this half stroke your handle up and then down to see if if the curved part which rides in the bell housing slot moves freely. If not and it sticks then that is your issue.

Also I had to find the perfect spot for the powder station in terms of how its rotated. For my 650 I had to rotate very close to the primer tube but not touching. If I rotated the powder drop left it would start to bind and the vertical rod wouldnt cycle the bell housing fully which short strokes the powder bar.

[Sheldon]

Yeah, be sure the powder bar is actually traveling it's full stroke. You can miss that is you don't adjust the powder due down far enough to actuate it thru its full stroke.

[five.five-six]

I polished up my bowl a bit and put a rubber-band on the spring spindle, throws like a champ now. thanks for all the help