What did you do in the reloading room today?

[Not_A_Llama]

Ran my first hundred in the RL1100 last night.

I'm going to run this as an initial impressions type of narrative, so as to see how my opinion differs as time goes on.

It's not quite the "angels singing" type of experience I expected.

As shipped, it's a very.. greasy, molasses-y press. It feels slow, even if the production rate is good. There's very little feel to the process.

I feel like the high production rate of the machine is largely tied to reducing problems, rather than being a slick machine. Corollary: it seems hard to solve problems that do arise (I know this will get better)

Between the molasses feel of the grease, the prime-on-downstroke mechanism, the primer pocket swaging, and Dillon's hyperaggressive cokebottle sizing die, I actually ended up a bit tired just running the press.


I'll keep learning the press and what it takes to optimize. Maybe in a week, I'll have found out half of these initial impressions were wrong. It'll be fun.


Background: Lee hand press, Lee Pro1000, Hornady Lock-N-Load AP, Dillon Square Deal B
Minor niggles: half the primers don't end up in the spent primer cup. A washer was missing. Holy crap there is a lot of grease in this thing. A graduated tool-free powder measure screw should be standard.

[Hoser]

Ran my first hundred in the RL1100 last night.

I'm going to run this as an initial impressions type of narrative, so as to see how my opinion differs as time goes on.

It's not quite the "angels singing" type of experience I expected.

As shipped, it's a very.. greasy, molasses-y press. It feels slow, even if the production rate is good. There's very little feel to the process.

I feel like the high production rate of the machine is largely tied to reducing problems, rather than being a slick machine. Corollary: it seems hard to solve problems that do arise (I know this will get better)

Between the molasses feel of the grease, the prime-on-downstroke mechanism, the primer pocket swaging, and Dillon's hyperaggressive cokebottle sizing die, I actually ended up a bit tired just running the press.


I'll keep learning the press and what it takes to optimize. Maybe in a week, I'll have found out half of these initial impressions were wrong. It'll be fun.


Background: Lee hand press, Lee Pro1000, Hornady Lock-N-Load AP, Dillon Square Deal B
Minor niggles: half the primers don't end up in the spent primer cup. A washer was missing. Holy crap there is a lot of grease in this thing. A graduated tool-free powder measure screw should be standard.

Your doing a lot of things at once on a 1050/1100.

Best advice I can give it so be sure to use Hornady One Shot case lube and get rid of the Dillon FL resize die.

[Not_A_Llama]

Do you have a recommendation for resizing die? I tend to reach for Lee. I see people are excited about Mighty Armory, but $100 for a sizing die is.. special.

[Hoser]

Do you have a recommendation for resizing die? I tend to reach for Lee. I see people are excited about Mighty Armory, but $100 for a sizing die is.. special.

I am using Redding resize dies. They dont make 9mm ammo look like coke bottles.

I am assuming you are loading 9mm.

[Not_A_Llama]

I am using Redding resize dies. They dont make 9mm ammo look like coke bottles.

I am assuming you are loading 9mm.

Sorry, yes, 9mm. I guess the coke bottle reference gave it away.

Had a fun series of malfs today:
-A primer didn't fully decap. Swager smeared the dead primer into its own pocket. Not sure what would have happened in the priming station, but I imagine excitement.
-A couple dead primers stacked up against the lip of the spent primer cup, piling up primer carcasses into the chute. Stopped the machine cold.

[Hoser]

Last night my D5 reloading case counter for the new style Dillon Casefeeder showed up.

It took all of 5 minutes to install. No wire cutting or perm mods to the Dillon faceplate.

I stuck it on the casefeeder for my rollsizer. The LED lights are even Dillon Blue...

The 3 buttons on the bottom can manually increase the case count, zero it and decrease it. It even remembers the number after you have power the casefeeder off and on.

[Hoser]

Sorry, yes, 9mm. I guess the coke bottle reference gave it away.

Had a fun series of malfs today:
-A primer didn't fully decap. Swager smeared the dead primer into its own pocket. Not sure what would have happened in the priming station, but I imagine excitement.
-A couple dead primers stacked up against the lip of the spent primer cup, piling up primer carcasses into the chute. Stopped the machine cold.

The primer might have been pulled back in. To help get rid of that I ground off my Dillon pins at a 45 and then smoothed off the edges. It seemed to help. Kind of a known gotcha on Dillon decap pins. In the end, different dies mostly fixed it. Every once in a while it happens. If the next station the swage rod reseats/mangles it, dont toss that case back in rotation. I did that a few times. That case is now dead because the primer pocked is most likely too deep now and primers might not bottom out and light off next time. For me is was not even 50-50. It took a while to figure it my missfires.

I have heard of that happening, but never had it happen to me. I drill out the chute and install a long aluminum sleeve so I can attach a plastic tube. This dumps dead primers in a can under the bench.

[Not_A_Llama]

That bucket is.. a real accomplishment. Wow. I was proud of my couple 8 pound powder jugs of dead primers here. I'm 3D printing out a primer chute to direct mine downward now.

I upped my case lube regimen, which has helped with the force required. I plan to try a Lee die off my old press, because I've never had primer get sucked back in, and the force seems lower to me.

In 9mm: I will have to research who has the shortest 147gr coated bullet, or switch to 124gr - my brass "herd" now has a large quantity of thick-walled and internally-stepped casings. Blue and Bayou 147gr bullets bulge out the walls, leading to chambering failures, even at 1.160" OAL, which is about as long as I can go and still assure reliable feeding in my mags.

[whitewalrus]

That bucket is.. a real accomplishment. Wow. I was proud of my couple 8 pound powder jugs of dead primers here. I'm 3D printing out a primer chute to direct mine downward now.

I upped my case lube regimen, which has helped with the force required. I plan to try a Lee die off my old press, because I've never had primer get sucked back in, and the force seems lower to me.

In 9mm: I will have to research who has the shortest 147gr coated bullet, or switch to 124gr - my brass "herd" now has a large quantity of thick-walled and internally-stepped casings. Blue and Bayou 147gr bullets bulge out the walls, leading to chambering failures, even at 1.160" OAL, which is about as long as I can go and still assure reliable feeding in my mags.

I use lee dies for 9mm. They don?t seem to size as aggressive as other brands that I have tried in the past or friends have. I do not lube the cases when using the 650 or Hornady LNL AP. Granted you have a lot more going on with the 1050/1100.

[Hoser]

I do not lube the cases when using the 650 or Hornady LNL AP. Granted you have a lot more going on with the 1050/1100.

Try Hornady One Shot. You will be amazed how much easier it is. Trust me.