I'll start off by admitting I don't sort my pistol brass. I am not a target shooter so all I want is for it to go bang and hit a target somewhere and run reliably.

Today I scooped up a feeder full of 357 cases and went to work. About six pulls in a case wouldn't slide into the shell plate. I pulled it and set it aside and continued. A few more and the same thing happened. After five or six incidents I was getting frustrated.

My first thought was that a station on the shell plate was damaged. I pulled the plate to investigate. I picked up one of of the culls to try each slot in the plate. It was tight in every spot. I picked up another and the same thing. I pulled a loaded round out of the hopper to try and it slipped in every slot like butter.

I finally checked the headstamps and every one that jammed was PPU. I don't know if the rim was thicker or a greater diameter. I guess I should check.

I emptied the case feeder and pulled all the PPU's out(about 30). I ran the next 175 in about the same time it took to run the first 25.

No more PPU for me

Merry Christmas!!

So I measured the rim thicknesses.

PPU=0.059-0.060
RP and Starline=0.052-0.053

I slipped an RP and a PPU case in a M65-3 cylinder(not recessed) and could visually see the difference in headspace.

I have a 550b but the shell plate is held down the same way.

On the side of the main shaft, is a set screw; loosen it enough that you can turn the shell plate bolt. With your PPU cases in the shell plate loosen/tighten until things turn without sticking. Part of the basic caliber change. Don't forget to tighten the set screw!

Ivan

I'll try that. Thanks!

Even though I don't have a Dillon press, any time I have brass that won't work in my press, I sort it out and throw it in the recycle bucket. I personally wouldn't readjust my press for 30 rounds of reloads that may or may not work in my firearm after all that fuss. Just my opinion, of course. :-)

If you throw away every slightly out of spec piece of brass, you will be down about 50%!

On the other hand, I was reloading 175 38 S&W, about 80% W-W. Of the 20% that were R-P about half were longer than the current standard length, and two would not fit in the shell holder. I always use Taper crimp when I can to avoid trimming revolver brass. The two that were over diameter, were pre-war balloon head cases and should not be used with modern loading powders anyway!

As reloading is one of the older "Recycling" past times, we come upon brass that is lengthened, shortened, and/or expanded along with, twisted, mashed, and bent. We do our best to convert it to loaded ammo! A .007 thicker rim is an easy problem to fix. Besides, it sounds like his shell plate was too tight anyway.

Many European ammo companies are Metric cultures trying to make ammo that was in Inch Standard (ASE). The translation is difficult in either direction, and our tolerances will normally allow for it.

A rule of thumb is, Return to factory settings, then make it work from their!

Ivan

Especially so if you're working with random range brass. I rarely have the luxury of working with hundreds of the exact same head stamp.

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Several years ago I picked up a few belts of 303 British, unlinked them and ran them through my rifles. The all have the same headstamp but it is in Farsi or Iraqi!

Ivan

I was thinking about the loosening the shell plate but remembered they wouldn't fit into the slot with the plate out of the machine. The rim is captured top and bottom by the slot.

OK! When all else fails, Call the Mother Ship 1-800-223-4570. Tell the Dillon CS rep. that your shell plate is below minimum diameter and does not fit all brands of ammo! It is Warranted with No BS!

While you are on the phone with them, order your next caliber or two of cartridge conversions. They carry bullets too (my last bullet order took 4 weeks last spring!), so you may as well get the supply train moving!

Ivan

I tossed my PPU .357 and .38 brass. It was all short.

It's okay to mix brass, but be prepared for the potential headaches that often result by doing so. I find it much better to use same headstamp brass at the very least. Same headstamp from the same batch is even better.

Regarding PPU brass and my limited experience with it... PPU works just as well as any other brass. However, with the one batch of once-fired .38 Special brass I had, bullets seated noticeably "tighter" than they did with other brands. I would assume the case walls were thicker on the PPU brass, but I didn't measure them.

I bought some new PPU 7mm Remington Magnum brass a few years ago because it was all I could find. It averaged 14% heavier than Winchester brass. This contributed to a smaller case capacity, enough that powder charges had to be reduced to equal the velocity I was getting with Winchester brass. Just something to be aware of. Again, this was from one lot of brass, it may not all be like this.

I don't throw out much brass, only what won't fit in the shell holder. Now, when it comes to Perfecta brass, it all goes in the recycle bucket. I separate all my brass/calibers by headstamp; so when I reload a batch of ammo, it's all the same headstamp.
Just me and how I do it; I still clean primer pockets and trim revolver brass when it gets too long.

So I'm not the only one?

Can't say I've ever cleaned a primer pocket on pistol brass though.

Good intel, MrG5122.

Thanks for posting.