Bulge Be Gone
For some time (as in years) I’ve been having a rare but persistent problem when reloading. When the Dillon 650 places the shell in the first station, on rare occasion - 1 in 100 or 200 - the shell will be slightly out of position such that when the ram comes up to the sizing die, these shells will either “boom” into position as they carrom off the edge of the die, or if far enough out, they will be crushed.
I’ve tried cleaning, replacing the shell plate, giving them an extra nudge, but nothing has been effective at curing this rare problem. In a batch of 500 rounds, I’d be pretty much guaranteed of at least two squishes, and sometimes as many as four or five. While that’s 1% or less, it’s annoying and breaks both my concentration and rhythm.
This evening, I reloaded the first batch of 500 using the full-length resized brass. To my surprise, I didn’t get a single crunch nor the slight thump of a near-miss. Instead, nothing. Just nice and smooth motion. No bumps.
Was it fat bottoms?
I’ll reserve judgement for another 500, but at least so far, it looks like it might have been due to extractor-warped bases. The full-length resizer squeezing the bases back into tolerance and cures that. Now wouldn’t that be nice!
Addendum 02/25/2013
In the video I say this could be done on a progressive but I need to retract that statement. It’s possible, but not practical.
Here’s why.
First, you’d need several of the push-up gizzies from Lee, not just the one that comes with the kit. They’re needed in each position of the rotating plate.
Second, you’d have to custom-machine them to fit into the plate’s slot.
And third, with that much time and effort invested, it would only be practical onlyh if you were full-length resizing a huge volume, and on a regular basis. For you and me, that’s not a productive path.
Better to stick with the Lee kit, its one “pusher,” and a single stage press.
Find a used one: Ask around at the range and check on-line. I have an RCBS that’s a real work-horse and great for low volume and one-off jobs.