Dillon 550 throwing inconsistent powder charges.

[biggin215]

So. I have just started reloading. Yesterday I tried out my first 28 loads. I followed the specs in the Lyman book on 9mm.


115gr FMJ, recommended starting charge 3.5grains of Bullseye powder.

I did that, fired it in a Glock 19. I had several double feeds, failures to extract, you name it. No problem, up the charge to 4.0 grains.

So I go to the Dillon and I tweak the thrower a little until I get it throwing a consistent 4.0 or 4.1 grains and start going to work. I'm eyeing the casing making sure they don't look too full and taking measurements every now and then.


The problem. At least 3 times in the 40 some odd rounds I loaded in the last 20 minutes, there was no charge at all thrown.

At least 5 times I would measure the charge and it would be as low as 3.3 grains or as high as 4.4 grains. According to the book, 4.4 is well within the safe zone but it's annoying because how am I supposed to figure out what my gun likes if the press is not throwing a consistent charge?

Does anyone else have these problems? Am I doing something wrong? Should I give dillon a call? Is this the nature of the beast?

 

[biggin215]

Just to make sure I'm not crazy, I just did 5 throws and measured each one.

3.5, 3.8, a no throw (so I did an extra), 4.3, 3.5, 4.0

I'm new, like I've said, but it seems to me that this shouldn't be happening.....

 

[artabr]

Are you being consistent & smooth in your movements while working the press?
If you operate the press with jerky motions, you'll get varying charge weights.
I don't see why you wouldn't have dropped a charge. Strange.
Calling Dillon wouldn't hurt, nor cost you anything.



Art

 

[hdfinder47]

Never had that happen with my 550RL in thousands of rounds loaded. Visually inspect the thrower for cobwebs, do-do or other obstructions. If it is nothing obvious, call Dillon Customer Support.

 

[hdfinder47]

And keep an old used Bounce in your powder hopper after use so the clear tude does not yellow.

 

[artabr]

And keep an old used Bounce in your powder hopper after use so the clear tude does not yellow.

+1
It'll also cut the static electricity & keep the powder from sticking to the tube.




Art

 

[biggin215]

Ok, so I just did a little experiment. I thought about it for a while and when I first calibrated the press to throw 3.5, it was consistent. I thought back to what I did to calibrate it: I threw like 3 that were consistent 3.5. I then threw 10 in a row and tossed them back in the hopper then measured 5 more throws. All 3.5.

I decided to try throwing 30 charges then measure 5 after that 30. I also zeroed out my scale each measurement and verified it with a calibration weight.

I got 4.0/4.1, 4.3, 3.8 that crept up to 4.3 after I stared at if for a minute, 4.3, 4.3,

Those numbers made me much more confident than the original 5. Consider it fixed?

 

[artabr]

Maybe so.
When I set up, I just dump about the first five loads back into the hopper. I do this to let the powder settle.
Then I get my weight set & check my first 5 cases.
Then I'll load about 25 rounds & check the charge weight. Then I measure it about every 25th round.




Art

 

[Barney88PDC]

Are you using an electronic or beam scale to measure your charges?

 

[Tadpole]

I agree with Barney. Check your scale. If it is electronic, turn off all air movement. A/C, fan, etc.....I have had this problem before and every time it was the scale. Allow warm up time, practice your style of throwing. I doubt it is the powder measure.

 

[deadidunn]

I agree with Barney. Check your scale. If it is electronic, turn off all air movement. A/C, fan, etc.....I have had this problem before and every time it was the scale. Allow warm up time, practice your style of throwing. I doubt it is the powder measure.

I've had this problem as well, it turned out to be that every time the A/C would turn on, the air would bounce off the eve of the ceiling and blow down on my scale giving a false reading.

If you keep having problems, I'll bite the bullet and just let you give it to me and I'll deal with it!!

 

[hdfinder47]

Oh yeh, fill your powder hopper 3/4 to full. If you only have a small amount of powder the consistancy of the drop could be somewhat affected.

 

[tupperware9mm]

Something else you can try is to dump ten,... measure the total amount,... then divide by ten see what you get.

 

[FTRrookie]

Also check your fail safe rod. Try tightening the wing nut a little more to get more compression on the spring. And make sure you've installed it properly. When I first started using the 550 I had the same problems your describing and I found that the powder measure wasn't closing all the way. Taking a few more turns on that nut solved the problem