Dillon 550 RL won’t drop consistent charges

[david walter]

My Dillon 550 RL won’t drop consistent charges

I have a Dillion rl550b. Had it for 30+ years.

As I’ve gotten more experienced reloading, I’ve noticed that stick powders (4064, RL17, etc) are infinitely harder to get to drop consistent charges. In an experiment I just did with a charge of 7-08 and RL17, a third to half of the charges were up or down .1-.2 grains.

Am I missing some obvious trick to get the powder drop to be more consistent?.

I get using ball powders should be more consistent. But I have the same issue with StaBall 6.5.

 

[TheOfficeT-Rex]

That is what I would consider consistent for extruded powder. Shorter stick powders like 8208 do a little better but you’re still +-.1 at best.

There are a few things you can do like polish out the thrower and add a baffle but a volumetric thrower will never be dead nuts on weight with stick powder. Search out the numerous Dillon threads, there are a lot of tricks and details there.

 

[DownhillFromHere]

No drop measure will be "precision consistent" (to my personal level of "precision" which is +/- 0.02 grains from target) with stick powders. Period. Full stop. Even with smaller kernels (N135, 8208XBR). I won't even drop "ball" powders (H335, CFE223) for anything except bulk blaster ammo. I too use a Dillon rig.

Get a trickler, drop a tenth or two light, weigh, trickle to weight. Yes, it's slow (or expensive if you want to get an FX-120i-class autotrickler, maybe a bit iffy with Chargemaster-class autotricklers).

 

[memilanuk]

Biggest thing is to stop and really think about whether you actually *need* the charge weights to be more consistent than the stock powder measure throws, or just want them to be.

For plinking / range ammo, probably not. For hunting - at the distances most people *actually* take their game at, not what they tell their buddies online - probably not. For positional practice, most likely not. For precision shooting at extended distances... maybe yes.

As an exercise, try taking the 'same' load - 10+ rds trickled to weight, and 10+ rds thrown straight from the measure - and go shoot them side by side. Leave the chromo at home. See how much *actual* difference it makes on target, and whether or not it's worth the extra effort for the kind of shooting you want to do.

 

[david walter]

memilanuk,

I like that idea. I have some ammo that I know was loaded on the Dillon and I know the drop charges varied + or - a tenth or more that still shoots well out to 450 on our 1.5 MOA (minute of deer) gongs.

I just loaded 10 for my 7-08 weighing each charge.

I'll load another 10 throwing each charge and we'll see.

I'll measure group, velocity, ES and SD.

 

[reelserious]

The dillon is horrible with stick powders. Ball powders like cfe 223 are ok but its just the nature of their powder dropper