Reloading and general gun talk thread

It's a street car. Can be certified to the 9's. They don't like it at the race track---shaved door handles, no hood ect....
We built everything in a few garages, mine and a few friends. Yes, there's a roll cage and 5 point harnesses. SFI approved parts throughout, like the crank pulley, bellhousing, seat belts and such.
5 speed Tremec TKO600 helps so I can run the freeways with 4:11's in the Big Ford Currie 9" in the rear w/ a real Detroit locker and 35 spline axles. Sitting on a floating ladder bar suspension.

 

Expander balls are stupid.

Expander mandrels are the way.

Furthermore de-capping on the resizing die is also not my favorite thing when a cheap Dillon universal de-capping die can do it prior to resizing so the primer pockets can get cleaned while the rest of the brass is being cleaned.

My current state of chaos:



Dillon XL650 for higher volume stuff.



Redding T7 for precision and low volume stuff.



Short Action Customs modular sizing die is excellent. So is their seating die (comes with a Mitutoyo micrometer on top).

I replaced the de-capping rod with a SAC expander mandrel.

 

The SAC dies are admittedly pricey, but damn do they turn out straight consistent ammo.

They utilize a bushing that sets both neck OD and bumps the shoulder. So one die body can handle any cartridge in a family, for example the Creedmoor SAC modular sizing die can do any Creedmoor based cartridge with a bushing of your preferred size for the neck OD.

You can shim the bushing to control shoulder bump if needed, although this has proven unnecessary for me since it gives .002” bump back with the shell holder in contact with the die base and mild cam over on the press handle. Nice easy chambering with the slightest hint of snugging down as the bolt is fully closed.

SAC machines the bushings so there is a slight amount of taper from the shoulder to the case mouth on the neck. In fact everything in the die is a tapered (cone) fit, there is no way for anything to be misaligned, it is all forced to self center as the top of the die is tightened down.

They’re also designed to allow use of an expander mandrel in the die to set neck ID on the upstroke of the press handle (downstroke on the ram). All you might need to do is adjust the depth of the mandrel to perfectly hand off the resizing of the body and neck to the mandrel, although mine was perfect out of the box.

As an example of the results:



The largest 5 shot group is about .680” if memory serves, and the smallest was .400”. This was just a glorified ladder test of 6.5CM loads with 130gr Hornady ELD-M over RL16. No seating depth adjustments or fine tuning.

Velocities were spot on and all but one load had single digit SD’s on velocity.

 

This is why you buy the comprehensive spare parts kit that Dillon sells. Break some shit (it’s gonna happen especially index rings) replace it from the parts kit, call Dillon get a new part in the mail. When the new part shows up stick it in the tool box for the press with the other spare parts.

 

Oooooooohhhhhh maaaaaaan, got my heart beating over here. I bet she sounds great!! What headers are you running? Thank you for the pics and info. A 9 second street car is A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!!

 

The headers are custom made by a friend of mine too fit around the rack and pinion and they are 2" primary tubes into 3" collectors with cutouts..

 

Those are gorgeous!! You're freind knows what he's doing that's for sure.

 

He's a fabulous fabricator and isn't cheap

 

Yeah, good quality work costs money.

 

He did a few other things for me too and I didn't mind paying at all. We traded out some work too.
I serviced his Toyotas for his work.. win win for everyone.

He built this fan should and the radiator support that bolts in and out..

 

Any videos of her running? Sorry if I'm asking a lot of questions. I love muscle cars. Dad had a 69 road runner. He was a mechanic and I remember standing up in the back holding onto the seat, he'd tell me to sit down and if I didn't he'd throw it into 3rd and sit me down. Ha ha ha then he figured out I was doing it on purpose. I loved the way that engine sounded.

 

Wow, that's super clean!!

 

Wow, that's a great set up! I just got my Dillon up and running again. Was trying to load .45 Colt and the shell plate kept binding. I checked everything out, took it all apart and didn’t find anything. Called Dillon and explained what was happening. They said to check the indexing ring. Sure enough, it had a crack in it and was getting torqued out of shape. This was the new index ring.....They sent me some new parts along with an alignment tool, free of charge and its back up and running again. Yaaaaay!

 

Holy Moly!!!!! Very Nice indeed!!
Yup that'll do!!!

 

Won't let me add any videos. I have plenty
They are MP4.
And the link I have in my signature don't work here and I don't know why.

 

Oh well, I can pretend. Ha ha ha

 

I sent you a private message

 

Thank you

 

ALWAYS REMEMBER to torque down the set screw that holds the shell plate bolt in perfect tension. The shell plate bolt being the big ass bolt the shell plate rotates around. There is a set screw under the shell plate assembly recessed on the side of the ram, if you don’t snug it down the shell plate bolt will continue to tighten as the index ring automatically indexes since the index ring moves clockwise.

Once it tightens up enough the index ring will crack because it’s designed to be the weakest link to fail first so you don’t break even more expensive stuff, or get into a safety issue like setting off a live primer that is bound up etc.

 

Yes, thank you very much. I've been reloading for a long time but this is my first Dillon. So I'm a newbie when it comes to them.

 

I learned this lesson the same way you did. LOL.

Pretty sure the XL650 and XL750 are the same in this regard.

 

That's some of the best learning.

 

Yep, they are often quoted together. I like the machine, I've done a couple thousand rounds of .45 ACP and 10mm since getting it. It's pretty awesome!! Added the case feeder. Really like that.

 

In case my description sucked you’re looking for this little bastard circled in red:



Any time you do a caliber conversion that requires a different shell plate, you need to loosen the set screw… you also have to remember to tighten it again after you adjust the lash on the main bolt that the shell plate rotates around. It’s easily overlooked since it’s the only thing under the shell plate involved in a conversion.

 

Thank you so much!!! Yep, I loosened that, got my shell plate in, tightened that and the shell plate moves like its supppsed to.
Thanks again for the follow up and pic and info!!