Yard Sale Goodies

[dennie]

Looking thru the morning paper and saw a yard sale that sounded pretty decent. Decided to check it out. Lots of fishing stuff, tools, household stuff (junk), etc. Also saw some reloading stuff! Very rare to find this around here. Anyhoo, ended up buying a late 1980s slightly used Dillon Square Deal press that is already set up to run .38spl DEWC, along with 160rds of Win. brass, and about 200rds of 148gr DEWC bullets. Also came with an as new Dillon Eliminator scale! I was thinking of replacing my Lee scale already, so that worked out. Had to give $150 for everything. I think I did OK. Now, gotta figure out where to set it set up and see if I can get it working. Never used a progressive before. I have more .38 brass than any other, so this will work ok. Might even check to see what it would cost to set up for .45acp. This is kinda like buying another gun that you don't need, since I did not need this press. Oh well, somethin' else to do after lunch.
dennie

[jhrosier]

Get the manual for the SDB. You will need it to understand how to adjust the press.
I load about 400 rounds per hour on mine without pushing.

Jack

[JHarold]

I also picked up a "B" at an estate sale a year ago. I found I needed to replace some warn parts and I called Dillon. They sent me the parts I needed for free. I did purchase the strong mount at that time so that may have helped in getting some free things. You can print out the instruction manual on line at Dillon.

[Chuck 100 yd]

Man! you did good there pard. Have fun!!

[Birdman]

I have two Square B's and I think they're great. Dillon service is second to none.

[dennie]

Thanx guys. I got to play with the press a little, and found that the expander die is undersized for .38spl. I was getting no flare on the case mouth, and it was shaving lead. After several attempts to adjust the die, with no improvement, I got out the mics and found that the expander was only .355" dia. No way to make that work. I will contact Dillon this week to get the proper part. It can load the plated bullets I have with no problem. I will also ask about converting to .45acp. That will be expensive, I'm sure. I found this press to be much more difficult to adjust settings with than my Lee Classic Turret, but, such is life.
According to the instruction sheet that came with the press it is the older Square Deal, not the Square Deal B.
dennie

[Malamute]

Did Dillon say it was the wrong expander? Seems odd it couldnt be adjusted, all expanding dies should be able to make a flair.

I had a square deal, it was a nice machine to use, but I ended up with the 550, so sold the square deal. Wish I'd kept it, it was a nice tool.

[Tristan]

I'm not as familiar with the SDB as the 550, but on the 550 the flaring happens at the powder drop station. Did you test that?

[Ji in Hawaii]

I got my Browning Citori 20 gauge O/U shotgun at a yard sale for $300 still in the box.

[Griff]

Good deal. Aye, the case mouth flaring should be at the powder dump station. The flaring is done by the part that slides up and down inside the body of the die portion... (I'm sure I'm not using the proper nomenclature). You probably just need to drop the powder measure down some more, as the expander should have a flange further up to actually do the case flaring.

[dennie]

Thanx Griff. I ran the die down until only one adjustment thread was left, and finally got a flare. Now, the primer tube does not want to feed properly, and the powder measure actually started to throw very inconsistent, and lighter and lighter charges, until it quit dropping powder all together! It looks to be static from being stored several years in it's plastic shipping box. I took the hopper off and wiped it down both inside and out with several drier sheets, which seems to have helped that a lot. Now the primer tube does not feed properly. The primers either fail to drop, or just disappear. I finally noticed primers falling out the side of the nylon primer feed. Some were fine, others mangled. Gotta check this out now.
There are many little plastic "beans" inside the storage box, as well as some deteriorated rubber from somewhere. I am guessing a very good cleaning, and de-static job, may solve most, if not all, the problems. But, right now, it is starting to drive this old man nuts. Well, actually too late for that, since that happened a long time ago. Guess I need to spend some more "get to know you" time with it.
dennie

[jhrosier]

dennie

Dillon has upgraded the primer feed mechanism to eliminate the problems with sideways primers etc.
If you call their customer service, they will send the new primer feed assembly to you for free.
You will need to give them the serial # of the press so that they can check that the primer feed is needed.
They will ask you some questions about the primer feed so you will want to have the press handy when you call.
I called about my twenty-some-odd year old press and got a complete priming assembly sent to me at no charge.

Jack

[Griff]

But, right now, it is starting to drive this old man nuts. Well, actually too late for that, since that happened a long time ago. Guess I need to spend some more "get to know you" time with it.
dennie

Teachin' an old dog new tricks is hard on the teacher... and the dog!

The primer feeder is the most finicky of items. It must be kept clean of any residue on the slide and clear of anything that will hinder its movement back and forth. One of the little tricks, (probably everyone else knows, but I had to figure out on my own), is that when setting up the primer feeder, loosen the screw holding it in place until you get the primer carrier set under the shell plate base, and then tighten them down. This will ensure that the carrier lines up with the hole in the shell holder plate every time. Nothing worse that having it slightly out of alignment and the plate catches the edge of the carrier... and boing!!! there goes your primer flying... only to land 20 feet away!

[dennie]

Thanks guys for the info. Yep, I ran about 150 rounds thru her today and had primers sideways, upside down, and flying out of the press in all directions! After taking the primer assembly off a few times and pretending I was helping it run better, it finally did. Not real good, but better. The powder feed is much better since getting most of the static out of it. Glad I had my Lee Classic Turret Press close by to help with the screw-ups. Much easier to redo brass and primers on the Lee. Might just give Dillon a call re the new primer assembly. I did manage to break the spent primer catcher thingy off while doing something else. Oh well, it only caught about half of them anyways. I just sat a little cardboard box under it and went on.
I am getting there tho.
dennie