I have to share this with people who can understand my pain....

strobro32

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I've been going freaking crazy trying to fix the excessive powder spillage on a new powder for my XL650. After adjusting, checking and polishing everything, turns out my powder alarm plunger was attracting grains and dropping powder on the shell plate.
99.8% of the problem was solved by pulling the rod out.

iu
 

deadduck

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That’s messed up!
Isn’t troubleshooting fun.

Think of it this way… your loader has now been super adjusted and polished so you’re ready to go. All you’ve wasted is an enormous amount of time and trouble.
 

Slowmo

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What powder is it? I just switched out of N320 because it was spilling so much powder everywhere on my 9mm setup. Seems fine on my .45 setup, so I’ll probably use it up there.

I should also add that when switching out the N320, I also spilled a ton of powder trying to fill the measure with WSF, so a big headache day in general.
 
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Slowmo

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The cost effectiveness of reloading can easily be offset by the pre mature aging it causes. Glad you solved it lol.
I often feel like I am my own worst enemy with reloading. Frequently my efforts at chasing improvement or to just try new things result in new headaches.
 

amphibian

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For the most part I stopped using the powder alarm. Installed a light and mirror and I just look in every case.
I never used the powder alarm but I have always used the powder check die.
I don't know if it is BS or what, but one of the guys that is a big reloading supplier in my state that also sells reloads (which I've heard are good) told me that he says he keeps the measures at least 1/2 full as it keeps the powder drops more consistent w/ the weight of the powder in there. I always had that in the back of my mind. So when I go to drop more brass into my case feeder, I look at the powder and will top it off so then if needed so I am above 1/2 capacity of the powder measure.

All that said, I had a neighbor give me all his reloading supplies years ago that included powders I normally don't use but in low quantities. I burned up all his powders running them down to empty in my powder measure. When approaching empty of the measure, I would measure all the drops and I didn't notice any deviation in the charges.
 

Gaffshot

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I ditched the powder check system also. Too many false alarms and powder spillage. I also have the 650. For 9mm I will deprime first and then run through a second time depriming a second time and completing the reload on the second time around. Eveything runs much smoother and less spillage.
 

chili17

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I never used the powder alarm but I have always used the powder check die.
I don't know if it is BS or what, but one of the guys that is a big reloading supplier in my state that also sells reloads (which I've heard are good) told me that he says he keeps the measures at least 1/2 full as it keeps the powder drops more consistent w/ the weight of the powder in there. I always had that in the back of my mind. So when I go to drop more brass into my case feeder, I look at the powder and will top it off so then if needed so I am above 1/2 capacity of the powder measure.

All that said, I had a neighbor give me all his reloading supplies years ago that included powders I normally don't use but in low quantities. I burned up all his powders running them down to empty in my powder measure. When approaching empty of the measure, I would measure all the drops and I didn't notice any deviation in the charges.
poor wording on my part. Powder check die is what I was referring too. I have never used the powder measure alarm
 

skoda

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I ditched the powder check system also. Too many false alarms and powder spillage. I also have the 650. For 9mm I will deprime first and then run through a second time depriming a second time and completing the reload on the second time around. Eveything runs much smoother and less spillage.
Same for me, I was going nuts with false alarms so I took it out and just take a peak in the case as I place the bullet.

I'm actually quite impressed with the consistency of the powder measure on my 650 but feeding cases onto the shell plate (especially the .380s) and old primers being punched out and then drawn back into the pocket are driving me nuts sometimes.
 

strobro32

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I eventually went back to Dillon dies for that reason. The snap spring decapping pin solved the problem with primers being pulled back in. I have also never broken a Dillon decapping pin. Knock on wood.

Did you use anything else for the powder check station?
 
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Slowmo

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I eventually went back to Dillon dies for that reason. The spring primer solved that problem.

Did you use anything else for the powder check station?
I’ve had a good bit of problems with primer drawback when using Dillon dies in 9mm, but I still really like Dillon dies. It mostly seems to be related to Blazer and sometimes Federal brass that I’ve bought as once-fired brass. The nice thing about the 650/750 is that you can feel when something is off about the priming step. Very helpful, particularly when you’re loading calibers that come in both SPP and LPP varieties.
 

Alaska_Shooter

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The spring primer solved that problem.

What’s a spring primer?

I’d tried both the Dillon and an aftermarket powder check die. Both causes more issues than they were worth

Has anyone ever had the Dillon powder drop system fail and significantly over or under throw powder? It’s very robust and I’ve never had that happen on a 550 or 650
 

strobro32

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I meant the Dillon decaping pin has a spring that pops the primer free so it rarely (for me, never) got pulled back into the case... like other dies I've used did.
 

Alaska_Shooter

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Interesting. I’ve never seen a Dillon die. Does it smash and break decapping pins as easily as other dies?
 

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