| Introduction:
The Dillon
Precision RL550B Progressive Reloading
Press is an excellent machine, and it cranks out large quantities of
great reloads with a minimum of fuss. But, it has a couple of little
"nags" that bother me. One of them is the tendency for spent
primers to find their way around the spent primer cup. I don't know
about you, but I hate sweeping... and I certainly don't like trying to
sweep up those little brass devils from my garage floor. So, I fixed the
problem!
The "Problem":
Here is a picture of the stock spent primer
cup:
When the spent primer drops out of the
chute under the de-capping station, it doesn't always drop directly into
the cup. Often, it will hit the edge of the cup or the mounting lug and
bounce who knows where! How do you get that little brass gremlin
to fall into the cup?
The "Solution":
My solution was to create a "feed
ramp" for the primer cup such that if the spent primer hits
anywhere around the cup, it will be deflected into the cup rather than
onto the floor. Here's an image of the cup with the ramp installed:
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The Result:
I re-installed the cup on the RL550B and proceeded
to test the fix. I de-capped 500 40 S&W cases and all 500
of the spent primers made their home in the cup rather than under foot.
I consider this a success.
OK, so this isn't an "Oh Wow!!"
fix, but it certainly makes reloading an even more pleasurable pursuit.
Here's an image of the modified cup
installed on the machine:
I have submitted this idea to Dillon as a
suggested design change. If Dillon passes on the idea, I am seriously
considering producing this ramp to "upgrade" the large number
of existing RL550B et al. presses with this cup.
Please take a moment to let me know your
thoughts on this project and whether you would be interested in having
one to upgrade your machine... You can email me of course, but I
would prefer that you post your comments in the Forums under this
thread.
Shoot safe and shoot straight!
Note: Click on most images for a
larger version.
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