Plastic Plug on my Dillon powder measure broke.

[Mowgli Terry]

The Plastic Plug is a real Dillon part. It is the white plastic peg the locates the spacer for the small bar in the power measure. I managed to shear one of those things. The spacer came loose. Surprise, Surprise. What happened them was the remaining Accurate #2 dumped onto the floor. I cleaned up the mess. The damaged powder appeared intact save the broken plug.

There was some resistance on the down stroke on the press. The end of the plug was still in the spacer. The excitement started immediately.

I called Dillon. Rep was terse and did not respond to my question. Two of the plugs are on the way. He would not take my order for #2 pins but would send two along. This response made me wonder what's going on there. Also, I'm still trying to figure out had that plug was broken. A help is greatly appreciated.

 

[bruce381]

they will send parts when u email also no phone contact at all think they are busy and stressed easier to send part the talk to eveyone

 

[Mowgli Terry]

they will send parts when u email also no phone contact at all think they are busy and stressed easier to send part the talk to eveyone

Sure enough, but he declined to answer the question about the cause. This not answering a question is totally opposite of my experience of many years.

 

[Matt]

My experience with Dillon has always been excellent. Sometimes you get an employee who seems to be a shooter and reloader. This person knows the products and can give some insights to why things broke. You might get someone who brings up the schematic on his computer and just gets you the parts shipped for free.
I’ll take either way because Dillon has always backed their products. It’s been that way since I bought my first RL1000 In thelate 70s and RL 450 in the early 80s. Things are a bit different since Mike Dillon died, but the company has grown huge in the last 40 years. The days of calling Dillon and speaking to the founder himself are long gone. Mike Dillon was always a prince to me. Dillon service is on par with RCBS, Leupold, Burris, Bushnell. and Lyman. They make it hard to pay for most parts or repairs. In general the shooting industry has the best customer service in the world. Most shooters and reload era are the best types too.

 

[Mowgli Terry]

As I noted this most recent customer service experience was not typical. The parts are coming. My question remains what caused the Plastic Plug to shear. Is there something in my machine to needs attention?

 

[Cherokee]

I'm having trouble visualizing that, how bout some pic's.

 

[fiver]

i am too.
there is no stress on that part unless the sliding bar is binding on the little plate, or the parts were put together wrong, it's just a little locator pin.

 

[david s]

Is it possible something was in the powder to bridge the powder bar and spacer block that would apply pressure to the spacer block? Or a seriously gummed up powder bar.

 

[bruce381]

As I noted this most recent customer service experience was not typical. The parts are coming. My question remains what caused the Plastic Plug to shear. Is there something in my machine to needs attention?

I broke mine years ago it looked like it was sheared off. I think there is some pressure on the stud part from the spacer bar and may vary on what type powder, Like with the stick kjind I think putting more pressure on the plastic piece hope that makes sense.

 

[bruce381]

i am too.
there is no stress on that part unless the sliding bar is binding on the little plate, or the parts were put together wrong, it's just a little locator pin.

Just pulled mine out it is about 30 % swaged smaller than the upper side so maybe I should get a new one also.
But I have shimmed the spacer bar with tape on 1 side to take up slack where ball powders were leaking out

 

[david s]

I make shims for the Dillon powder measure out of aluminum pop cans and place them between the measure and the spacer bars. I've never noticed the locator pins wearing unevenly when cleaning the powder bars, but I haven't taken a good look at them either. I also don't use stick powders in the Dillon powder measures so just don't know on this.

 

[fiver]

I use stick powders in the two that are setup for rifle loading.

 

[RBHarter]

Can't help with the measure parts failure .
I'm told that Dillon customer service is top shelf .
I don't know how customer service folks go to work every day , it such a negative input job . I bet they don't get 1 call in 500 that's "hey I just wanted to say thanks for great "whatever" . That's all . Bye." and 300 that want something fixed or replaced that was broken by some ham fisted 40 IQ gorilla with a 6ft cheater bar on a 95 ftlb rated casting .

It's cool that the parts are on the way , unfortunate that the tech on the phone didn't have a suitable answer .

 

[Mowgli Terry]

Sorry, no pictures. The measure went back together with no problems less that plug. There was no damage to the rest of the measure. The top part of the plug has not been found. I had this measure since new. It had been set up with the spacer since day one. Since the plug and spacer are stationary some outside force should must have broken the plug. I have no idea. Rest assured that spacer coming loose will make a mess. I have been using 550's for many years. This measure breakdown was a first.

I go with Dillon being slammed. My last call had the rep spend time helping me set up a tool head for 223. The difference now was startling.

 

[Petrol & Powder]

Dillon calls that part a "Spacer Bar Retaining Plug" and it is included in the spare parts kit if you have one of those.



As for Dillon service, it is top notch. If they are currently having trouble it is likely due to the extreme demands occuring throughout the firearms industry.

By the way, when things get back to normal, I can highly recommend the spare parts kit for a 550. The machines are very reliable and the benefit of the kit is more to handle the loss of parts than the breakage of parts.

 

[Brad]

I figure that the part is made of plastic because it may break or wear. Made of metal it may not yield and cause damage to other parts.

Mine is good after a few decades.

 

[Petrol & Powder]

I assume it's made of plastic becuase there is little stress on it and it needs to be as cheap as possible.

It must be removable so that the spacer bar can be removed but the other 99.99999% of its life, it just sits there and locates the spacer bar in the correct position.

No need for a complex part made of expensive material.

 

[Mowgli Terry]

By the way, when things get back to normal, I can highly recommend the spare parts kit for a 550. The machines are very reliable and the benefit of the kit is more to handle the loss of parts than the breakage of parts.

I have two spare parts kits with no extra plastic plugs. The gremlins made off with them.

Added: The first 550 came this way from an update from a 450. I still have the old frame. What had happened to my extra plug was to get a second 550 going. That 550 came together only missing a powder measure. The plug was missing from that machine. I'm still looking for that for the other plug. I still have no idea how and why that part broke. I'll write that happening off as an enigmatic vicissitude of life and be done with it.

 

[fiver]

those damn Djin's will make off with most anything good in a reloading room.
they stole a good 10 gallon size Beaver felt hat I was gonna make some waxed spacers with, and a box with about 250 pieces of once fired 44 mag brass in the same 2 week period I was gone to work.

 

[Mowgli Terry]

I am hunting a shaman and some sage. As a distraction I pulled out an RCBS Piggyback, Actually, the PB is going on eBay. Maybe, that evil spirit will go someplace else after the exorcism.