I guess no one knew the answer to my question about the Lee FCD vs. the Redding profile. Maybe this one is easier. Please try to help.
I told you I was a novice. Unfortunately, it's worse than I thought. To make a long story short, a friend of mine died. His wife gave me all his reloading equipment, including some RCBS and HORNADY dies. I was thinking about setting up my Dillon 550 for .308. I opened the Hornady box. It had never been opened. Inside is a two-die set. I really like the Hornady seater die, but that's about all I'll use that is Hornady. Not because it isn't quality stuff, it really is. It's just that the Hornady seater is what I use on everything.
QUESTIONS:
1)What the heck is a person supposed to do with two dies on a progressive loader? How the heck does the powder get in there (this is where you laugh. )
2)So what goes in the place for the powder die? What the heck is it I don't understand
3) I was planning to use the Lee Factory Crimp Die. This is usually the fourth step on a progressive loader. With most three-die sets I've used the crimping is in the third (seating) step, if there is any crimping. My question on this is pretty obvious: If I use a Lee FCD what happens if it is already crimped? Can it be set not to crimp? I think so. That question would also apply to all the pistol calibers I reload. They are all crimped in the seating stage.
Whew, that took a lot of thinking. I hope it's easy for some of you to answer.
Thanks a bunch

With all the questions you have at this point I believe a good manual such as the Lyman, Hornady, or Speer would be a prudent investment. The answers to your questions are in them along with alot of other info on the basics. You should have a good understanding of the how, whys, and whats before you start reloading and a manual will get you started safely.................

I would think that the Dillon manual would have the answers you seek.

Clearly you would need whatever it is you are currently using at your powder station and so forth. What you're telling me is that the only die you'll be using is the sizing die. Nothing wrong with that.

If you got the other stuff and you want to load (as opposed to setting up to load on the Dillon) and you have a single stage press, use that. Pretty straight forward and there should also have been instructions in the die set. There was in the last set of Hornady dies I bought.

I'm not a fan of the FCD and don't use one. The Hornady die works fine.

Am I missing something in your question? Seems to me you should know the answer as you already use the Dillon...

You can use most manuf. dies in the Dillon 550 press. You will need a powder die from them. It goes in the 2nd spot & your Dillon powder measure fits on it. You may need a powder funnel insert for that die in the appr. caliber (ask Dillon). You can seat & crimp in one operation. It's already been said, but get a couple of good reloading books & read up on it. As as many questions as you can, know one thinks a new guy is stupid.

dzrtram

Dillon 550b was my first reloading machine, I learnt a lot of 550b specific aspects in the Dillon 550b Owner Manual. If you do not have the hard copy which is supplied with the press, you may go to:

www.dillonprecision.com

In Manuals Online section you may find the 550b one,two chapters to see on pages 10 an 11.
-Choose your dies
-Setting your Pistol dies

Regarding the Factory Crimp Die, it performs two operations, set the point and crimp.
A friend of mine use it in a 550b for pistol cartriges and he has an stage free, it is:
1st stage : sizing and decaping
2nd stage: load powder
3rd stage. he installed a powder check
4th stage: Factory Crimp Die

Hope this helps

BA Shooter

dztram

I am sorry, my friend uses a standard Lee die which seats the bullet and makes the crimp simultaneously, not the Factory Crimp.
I had a confusion because I use the Dillon dies which has one die for seating the bullet and other for crimping.

BA Shooter

Yep, that's definitely the long, slow, hard way to do it. Actually, all I really needed to know is what goes in the second stage. Manual is long lost. I'll call Dillon. I think it's simple enough to do on the phone.

quote:

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Originally posted by Ol` Joe:
With all the questions you have at this point I believe a good manual such as the Lyman, Hornady, or Speer would be a prudent investment. The answers to your questions are in them along with alot of other info on the basics. You should have a good understanding of the how, whys, and whats before you start reloading and a manual will get you started safely.................

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