Dillon 550 help. Bullets seating sideways.

[andyo5]

I have owned a 550 for many years and have loaded several pistol and rifle calibers, perhaps 20,000 rounds so far.
It is typical for my 45acp rounds to show the bulge that you describe, but all the way around instead of only on one side. Same with my 38 special and 357 magnum rounds. I have the impression that the resizing die sizes the case to below its original diameter, and that pressing in the new bullet bulges the case (where the bullet is) back to the necessary diameter to house the bullet. I have never had functional or safety problems associated with this, and case life has been very good.

 

[growr]

2hawk...good for you in helping set the 550....hope you find the REAL problem, I suspect not enough belling on the powder die station....let us know how it all turns out.

Randy

 

[TdocZ]

The first thing I would check would be the neck bell, certainly. However,you may have a separate problem, not involving a faulty press or shellplate alignment. By the look of the OP pics, you have way too much crimp. You should only use a very light taper crimp on .45acp rounds. The excessive pressure placed on the case during the roll crimp may be causing the case to collapse. Too heavy crimp plus lack of sufficient neck belling would certainly produce results similar to the OP's. Also, an incorrect seating plug would explain the rings on the bullet itself.

Just food for thought.

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[TdocZ]

Hmm, I am looking at the photos on my cell phone and it's kind of difficult to see the images well. I just noticed that the bullets are lead cast. At first glance I thought they were copper plated. My previous comment about crimp was based on what I thought appeared to be a roll crimped plated bullet. Unfortunately I can't see the pic when I am typing a comment. Sorry about that.

However, why does the cast bullet appear to be so wide for case? I don't load cast bullets in .45acp so without looking up bullet profiles in a reference manual I am not familiar with common round nose bullet base shapes. That said, to my inexperienced eye it looks like the seated bullet us significantly wider than I would expect for a played round nose bullet. Is this common?

I guess I better spend some time researching lead cast bullets and the common dimensional differences between them and their plated bullet counterparts. It never hurts to be better informed. Cheers.

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[TdocZ]

Out of curiousity, what type and weight of bullet is that in the OP photos? Anyone know off hand?

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[Engineer1911]

I have received 2 Alignment tools from Dillon. I think one came with a primer feed upgrade and one with a powder mesasure upgrade. When I ordered a second powder measure, I cancelled the alignment tool during my conversation with Customer Service. I believe the Alignmet tools are free, if you have a need.

Increase the case mouth bell and verify correct taper crimp may solve your case bulge. Tummy bulge requires greater effort (exercise) .