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Help in setting up a Dillon Progressive
- Thread starter ghbucky
- Start date
G'day ghbucky,
Just asking why you aren't resizing at the same time as you are depriming the cases.
If you are doing sizing/depriming before you wet tumble and prime, means you can liberally lubricate straightwall pistol cases which reduces the effort dramatically.
It also means that you can eliminate the FLS die on the Dillon progressive which not only reduces the effort of running the press but more importantly improves the "feel".
Seat projectiles and "crimp" in separate operations for the same reason.
Also do your self a favour and get a bullet feeding kit.
Personally I think that speeds the operation up more than a casefeeder.
And yep, I have never achieved quite 100% reliability with my casefeeder on a Super1050.
A bulletfeed kit can be as simple as a Hornady/RCBS die with aluminium tubes. A 1 m/yard tube holds about 90 9mm projectiles.
The tubes are cheap and just fill them in front of the TV after you've finished priming.
Hope that helps.
Just asking why you aren't resizing at the same time as you are depriming the cases.
If you are doing sizing/depriming before you wet tumble and prime, means you can liberally lubricate straightwall pistol cases which reduces the effort dramatically.
It also means that you can eliminate the FLS die on the Dillon progressive which not only reduces the effort of running the press but more importantly improves the "feel".
Seat projectiles and "crimp" in separate operations for the same reason.
Also do your self a favour and get a bullet feeding kit.
Personally I think that speeds the operation up more than a casefeeder.
And yep, I have never achieved quite 100% reliability with my casefeeder on a Super1050.
A bulletfeed kit can be as simple as a Hornady/RCBS die with aluminium tubes. A 1 m/yard tube holds about 90 9mm projectiles.
The tubes are cheap and just fill them in front of the TV after you've finished priming.
Hope that helps.
jetinteriorguy
New member
A lot of people just deprime without sizing and then clean the brass to avoid running potentially dirty brass through the sizing die and damaging it.G'day ghbucky,
Just asking why you aren't resizing at the same time as you are depriming the cases.
If you are doing sizing/depriming before you wet tumble and prime, means you can liberally lubricate straightwall pistol cases which reduces the effort dramatically.
It also means that you can eliminate the FLS die on the Dillon progressive which not only reduces the effort of running the press but more importantly improves the "feel".
Seat projectiles and "crimp" in separate operations for the same reason.
Also do your self a favour and get a bullet feeding kit.
Personally I think that speeds the operation up more than a casefeeder.
And yep, I have never achieved quite 100% reliability with my casefeeder on a Super1050.
A bulletfeed kit can be as simple as a Hornady/RCBS die with aluminium tubes. A 1 m/yard tube holds about 90 9mm projectiles.
The tubes are cheap and just fill them in front of the TV after you've finished priming.
Hope that helps.
Thanks,for the tips, draggon.
My reasons for not sizing when I deprime are just at jetinteriorguy stated. I use a universal decapper, then tumble the cases. Since it is 9mm and I'm using Hornady titanium coated dies, I'm not having issues with case sticking.
Thanks for the tip on the bullet feeder.
My reasons for not sizing when I deprime are just at jetinteriorguy stated. I use a universal decapper, then tumble the cases. Since it is 9mm and I'm using Hornady titanium coated dies, I'm not having issues with case sticking.
Thanks for the tip on the bullet feeder.
Carbide sizing rings are harder than just about anything other than diamond. So unless you are sprinkling your fired cases with diamond dust you are unlikely to damage them if the cases have a bit of firing residue on them.
I just quickly run the cases through a rotary media separator to get rid of any paper/stones or 22 cases I have picked up and them give them (9mm) a really good spray of any lanolin based lubricant. That gets rid of most of the left over dust.
They run through my sizing/depriming setup like butter and then get wet tumbled.
Try running your progressive without the FLS die in place. You will really notice the difference.
I've loaded several 100Ks of 9mm over the years and haven't damaged a carbide die yet.
I just quickly run the cases through a rotary media separator to get rid of any paper/stones or 22 cases I have picked up and them give them (9mm) a really good spray of any lanolin based lubricant. That gets rid of most of the left over dust.
They run through my sizing/depriming setup like butter and then get wet tumbled.
Try running your progressive without the FLS die in place. You will really notice the difference.
I've loaded several 100Ks of 9mm over the years and haven't damaged a carbide die yet.
I was always told good idea to clean cases because of the carbon residue is pretty hard and can scratch things. Carbide is pretty hard.
I dont risk it on my nicer dies. But my cheaper lee carbide dies I could care less. But dirty cases can and will scratch just about any dies ever made
I dont risk it on my nicer dies. But my cheaper lee carbide dies I could care less. But dirty cases can and will scratch just about any dies ever made
jetinteriorguy
New member
That’s just it, the carbide is just a ring at the mouth of the die, the rest of the die is steel and liable to damage from carbon left on the case. Everyone does what they think best and a lot of people think it’s best to run clean brass through their dies, I happen to be one of them.Carbide sizing rings are harder than just about anything other than diamond. So unless you are sprinkling your fired cases with diamond dust you are unlikely to damage them if the cases have a bit of firing residue on them.
I just quickly run the cases through a rotary media separator to get rid of any paper/stones or 22 cases I have picked up and them give them (9mm) a really good spray of any lanolin based lubricant. That gets rid of most of the left over dust.
They run through my sizing/depriming setup like butter and then get wet tumbled.
Try running your progressive without the FLS die in place. You will really notice the difference.
I've loaded several 100Ks of 9mm over the years and haven't damaged a carbide die yet.
Jet,That’s just it, the carbide is just a ring at the mouth of the die, the rest of the die is steel and liable to damage from carbon left on the case. Everyone does what they think best and a lot of people think it’s best to run clean brass through their dies, I happen to be one of them.
I may check my lee 9mm Carbide Die in my pro 1000 and see if the 5,000 dirty cases I ran thru it scratched the actual carbide ring. It has me wondering now, some of them were pretty grungy
My Hornady FL sizing die has a titanium nitride ring, per Hornady's description:
At any rate, as jet said, I like to only process clean brass on my main press. I was the same way with my Lee turret press, but it has now taken up new duty to decap fired cases with a universal decapper and a swager die for crimped primer pockets on my old turret that was set up for 9mm
[edit] One thing I've learned about the Dillon progressive, I'm no faster with the ram than I was on my old turret press. At first I had this idea it would be much faster, but it isn't, not unless I want to have problems.
After at first trying to go fast with it, I've slowed way down and it is operating much more reliably. I'm still doing all the things I learned to do on the turret, putting eyeballs on the charge, making sure the bullet is aligned as the seating occurs, etc.
The thing is that even though I'm not working the handle very fast, it still drops a loaded round with every cycle, so it if 4x more productive than my old turret press. And that makes me very happy.
I used to load enough rounds to go shot. Now I've got plenty of ammo to shoot for a couple of weeks and I'm processing around 2k brass to load to let me increase my shooting frequency.
I'm very, very happy with this press.
Most of our pistol dies feature a titanium nitride “gold ring” finish that’s harder than carbide and doesn’t require lubrication. The super hard coating is perfect for resizing soft pistol brass and won’t scratch cases.
At any rate, as jet said, I like to only process clean brass on my main press. I was the same way with my Lee turret press, but it has now taken up new duty to decap fired cases with a universal decapper and a swager die for crimped primer pockets on my old turret that was set up for 9mm
[edit] One thing I've learned about the Dillon progressive, I'm no faster with the ram than I was on my old turret press. At first I had this idea it would be much faster, but it isn't, not unless I want to have problems.
After at first trying to go fast with it, I've slowed way down and it is operating much more reliably. I'm still doing all the things I learned to do on the turret, putting eyeballs on the charge, making sure the bullet is aligned as the seating occurs, etc.
The thing is that even though I'm not working the handle very fast, it still drops a loaded round with every cycle, so it if 4x more productive than my old turret press. And that makes me very happy.
I used to load enough rounds to go shot. Now I've got plenty of ammo to shoot for a couple of weeks and I'm processing around 2k brass to load to let me increase my shooting frequency.
I'm very, very happy with this press.
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The carbide ring does all the sizing. The steel body simply holds the carbide in place and makes no contact with the case.That’s just it, the carbide is just a ring at the mouth of the die, the rest of the die is steel and liable to damage from carbon left on the case. Everyone does what they think best and a lot of people think it’s best to run clean brass through their dies, I happen to be one of them.
The only exception is the Hornady TN die which is also an insert in a steel die body but is coated for the full case length.
I'm glad that it is working out for you.My Hornady FL sizing die has a titanium nitride ring, per Hornady's description:
At any rate, as jet said, I like to only process clean brass on my main press. I was the same way with my Lee turret press, but it has now taken up new duty to decap fired cases with a universal decapper and a swager die for crimped primer pockets on my old turret that was set up for 9mm
[edit] One thing I've learned about the Dillon progressive, I'm no faster with the ram than I was on my old turret press. At first I had this idea it would be much faster, but it isn't, not unless I want to have problems.
After at first trying to go fast with it, I've slowed way down and it is operating much more reliably. I'm still doing all the things I learned to do on the turret, putting eyeballs on the charge, making sure the bullet is aligned as the seating occurs, etc.
The thing is that even though I'm not working the handle very fast, it still drops a loaded round with every cycle, so it if 4x more productive than my old turret press. And that makes me very happy.
I used to load enough rounds to go shot. Now I've got plenty of ammo to shoot for a couple of weeks and I'm processing around 2k brass to load to let me increase my shooting frequency.
I'm very, very happy with this press.
I don't have any experience with the XL750 but from the brochure it has easily and economically replaceable toolheads.
Instead of the Lee Turret press setup you could do the same thing on the XL750 in 1/4 the press strokes.
I still think you should try sizing on the first round before wet tumbling. The difference it makes in the smoothness of press operation is remarkable.
My own setup for what its worth is using 2 progressives, one "dirty" one "clean".
The dirty setup has universal decapping die, Lee FLS die, Lee undersize die and for good measure a Hornady expander to just start expanding the case to make it easier during the loading process.
Also, again for what its worth, while I really like Hornady dies, their Titanium nitride sizing die is my least favourite 9mm die and I have tried all the major brands.
jetinteriorguy
New member
Interesting about the Hornady die, I have one in .41 mag and I’ve never noticed that the entire die is also Tn coated.The carbide ring does all the sizing. The steel body simply holds the carbide in place and makes no contact with the case.
The only exception is the Hornady TN die which is also an insert in a steel die body but is coated for the full case length.
jetinteriorguy
New member
Ah, I suppose they did that due to it being a tapered case. Does this seem to work better to you?Not the entire die, just the TiN insert. Mine in 9mm is the full length of a 9mm case.