Reloading the 357 Magnum on the Dillon RL550B

[Bwalls1]

Hello,
I started out handgun reloading with the Lee single stage press, Lee classic Turret press and now have a Dillon RL550B. As you may guess I have a lot of Lee pistol dies. I only have one set of Dillon dies (38SP/357M). I have been using Lee dies on the RL550B and they work for me. I even use the Lee Powder Disk System on the Dillon. The only problem I have is reloading the tall & skinny 357 Magnum with Lee dies on the Dillon. The Lee sizing die does not have enough lead in radius and sometimes catches the mouth of the 357 case requiring you to jiggle the case. The Dillon sizing die has a wider radius and works great. So for 357M, I use 3 Lee dies with a Dillon sizing die. I can use all my other Lee dies in the Dillon for other cases I load (380ACP, 9MM, 45ACP, 38SP, 357M, 32 S&W Long, 32 H&R, 38SC, 44SP, 44M, 45LC, etc. Are there any other brands of sizing die that has this wide radius on the lead in? Anybody else experienced this with Lee dies on a Dillon? I do not remember this issue on the Lee turret press.

Thanks,
Bwalls1

 

[kraynky]

Occasionally, my 550b will require me to giggle the case to make it enter into the die, but most often mine does it on station 2, the powder/flaring die. Make sure you have the proper shell plate and buttons (however the button does not come into play at the sizing stage). I use Lee, Dillon, RCBS and Lyman dies on my press and have not really noticed which one does require "the giggle", as I keep all of my dies on their own toolhead on a stand, so without digging out the boxes, I don't recall which is which. I do seem to recall that mine is mostly when loading 9mm, so I will check and see which brand of die I use for the 9mm and 357. It doesn't happen often enough to cause any concern for me though.

I also have a Lee 3 hole turret, and I don't recall it ever happening there either now that I think about it.