Hi Ray.
Probably the Dillon feature that I like best is that powder is not dumped at the powder charging station if there is not a case present. My Stars run well, but it seems that once you get rolling, every once in a while the Hulme feeder will mis-feed a case and you'll end up with a powder charge dumped onto the shellplate.
The bullet seating station on the Dillon machines is located on the front of the machine where on the Star it is located on the back. A solution to this was to mount the Star to a plank made of two thicknesses of 3/4" plywood. The Star is elevated on the plank by two circular pieces of plywood cut to fit under the base of the machine. The plank is mounted to the bench with the machine extending out into the air past the edge of the bench with the machine turned 90 degrees. You can lean your hip against the bench while loading and crank the handle with your left hand and seat bullets with your right. A finished round recepticle can be mounted on the plank on the bench and will catch ammo as it ejects from the machine. A hole can be drilled though the plywood base to allow spent primers to fall through into a large pill bottle mounted to the underside of the base.
I also like the auto-eject feature on the Dillon machines, my presses have been modified to auto-eject but the Dillon's are set up to do it plus you have the press designed with a box to catch your loaded ammo. The best modification I've seen is the one that Bill Cunningham at Star Pioneer does but he is so busy I don't don't know if he is still modifying presses. I also like the M-A eject ease but it is expensive and more complicated than the Dillon design.
The 1050 auto-indexes. You can still get attachments and the old Brewster type is the most common. I don't like the Brewster for a couple of reasons; The first being that the spring tension in the Brewster unit counters the mainspring on the Star and we used to have to modify our Star machines to use bigger springs in order that the toolhead would remain at the top of the stroke when at rest. The second and more important reason is that on one of my visits to Star in San Diego, they showed and gave me some worn out Star bases with a noticeable trough on one side. They explained to me that the Brewster indexer would cant a case in the shellplate slightly as it PUSHED the case. The result was the case rim could act as a scraping tool and over time, wear a groove in the base of the machine. I like the M-A auto indexer as it pulls the shellplate and doesn't exert force on the cases, it's drawback is that it is expensive. I use the Star machines with just a Hulme case feeder and take care of the indexing manually.
I like the variable charge bar feature of the Dillon. Dillon's charge bar is OK, but I have found it is easire for me to repeat settings using the MR. Dial kit. I have a couple of Hogue variable bars for the Star machines and I understand that the fellow on the Bullseye list makes a good one.
The blast shield around the Dillon primer magazine is comforting.
Dillon's powder meter holds a lot more powder so you don't have to re-fill as often. I like and use the Powder-Check system as it saved me from a disaster once when I got a .40 case stuck inside a .45 case and the decapping pin perforated the 40 primer and went on to decap the .45 case. The machine primed the case but the Powder-Check caught it and told me something was amiss.
I really like the Dillon seating dies in that you can remove the seating stems/nose punch for cleaning without losing asjustment.
I wish Bill Cunningham sold t-shirts and REALLY wish he'd start a calender
.
Now, .223. I have never loaded .223 on a Star. I have read about the Super Star and have seen some parts from an old one but have no experience with one. Before Star closed it's shop in San Diego, George showed me some machines that they had built in .308 but I have never used one. My recollection is that they had a longer main shaft and a much larger charge bar housing. I tried the Dillon 1050 route for .223 Service Rifle ammo and had mixed results. I don't think mere mortals can get really good 600 yard ammo from a Dillon as it comes from the factory. I tried replacing the powder system with a Redding meter and a Hornady actuator and it worked but it still didn't throw charges that were consistant like those that I throw, trickle and weigh for the long line. Another problem is the 1050 was really designed as a pistol machine and there isn't clearance to seat a bullet using the Redding Competition Seater Die with a .223 case due to the plunger system in the die protruding out of the base of the die. I think you'd have room with a Dillon Super 1050 but never tried it. What I ended up doing was stealing ideas from David Tubb and set a Dillon 650 up with free-floating dies, a powder funnel and Promethius scale (
www.speedweigh.com). The Promethius is expensive but now all of my .223, .308, and 6XC ammo is made utilizing weighed charges for all distances.
These are the thoughts that came to mind this morning. I am sure you'll have your own when you operate the machines. I always wished I had machinist's skills, I was always thinking of things I wanted to make. Invent something cool and I'll be your first customer.
Take care,
Marvin
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