Why no expander in Dillon sets?

[taylor]

I was looking over a dillon catalogue and I noticed there was no provision in their dies for a expander. They described in detail each part of their dies and what it did but I saw no expander or mention of flaring?

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[Rascals]

Thats becasue you dont flare it with the dies. You use your expander/powder funnel. It goes in the second stage and it flares it and you dump your powder then. Its a real slick setup.

 

[Throckmorton]

it's the one part about a dillon that I hate.trying to get the flare right with the powder measure mounted is do-able,but sure not easy.Once it's set it's set tho .

this is the funnel/expander on the left for pistol,and the funnel on the right is for rifle.I believe only the pistol calibers expand the case mouths. these go inside the 'die' that the powde measure clamps to.

 

[BANE]

I love my Dillon 650 I'd never change a thing well make it a little less powder picky..

 

[deadshot2]

this is the funnel/expander on the left for pistol,and the funnel on the right is for rifle.I believe only the pistol calibers expand the case mouths. these go inside the 'die' that the powde measure clamps to.

You are correct, only pistol calibers use case mouth "expanders". Rifle cases are usually just "chamfered" to assist in preventing bullet damage when seating a bullet. Part of the seemingly endless case prep.

I love my Dillon 650 I'd never change a thing well make it a little less powder picky..

Yes, they are definitely "Powder Picky". A hint though. If you are trying to load what someone eloquently referred to as "Rat Turd Powder" like Varget or H-4895, Hodgdon introduced a new powder a few years ago in their IMR line. 8208 XBR is getting rave reviews among the Bench Rest community as it is less temperature sensitive than Varget. Better speed than H-4895 as it evidently has more "poop" per grain. The biggest benefit to us "Dillon Users" is that the powder meters far better than H-4895 or Varget. It also gives some great velocities in .223 due to the extra energy.

It also is supposed to show a very wide "sweet spot" with accuracy being achieved over a wide spread of loads rather than being real picky on charge weights that only change when the temperature shifts.

If it's all the users say it is I'll be making a change for my .223 loads and might even consider running a few hundred "fun rounds" at a time on my 650. Right now, due to Vargets "Salami sized granules" I have to load every charge by dispensing from my Chargemaster.

 

[noylj]

Bottleneck cartridges are expanded as the expander plug (part of the sizing die) is removed from the case.
Do you folks understand the difference between case expansion and case mouth flare/bell?
All sized cases need to have the case ID expanded to just less than the bullet OD. You can flare the mouth as much as you want (but shouldn't).

 

[deadshot2]

All sized cases need to have the case ID expanded to just less than the bullet OD.

Not if you don't size them too small to begin with. The only reason there is an expander ball in a bottleneck sizing die is that there can be a large variation in neck wall thickness. The die squeezed in but a thick case can make the opening too small so the expander pushes it back out.

Some turn their necks to even thickness and then use a specifically sized bushing to make sure the case isn't oversized.

And then there is the Lee Collet die which sizes the neck onto a mandrel, assuring a set size of the neck opening without working the metal as much.

 

[noylj]

Not if you don't size them too small to begin with. The only reason there is an expander ball in a bottleneck sizing die is that there can be a large variation in neck wall thickness. The die squeezed in but a thick case can make the opening too small so the expander pushes it back out.

Some turn their necks to even thickness and then use a specifically sized bushing to make sure the case isn't oversized.

And then there is the Lee Collet die which sizes the neck onto a mandrel, assuring a set size of the neck opening without working the metal as much.

Nit-picking. All cases must be treated (sized/expanded/whatever) such that the case ID, over the length the bullet will be seated is 0.002-0.001" under bullet diameter (OD).
The point of the comment is not the overly-meticulous loader who orders special dies, but the average reloader who doesn't seem to understand the critical nature of case expansion/sizing to ensure proper bullet tension without causing case bulge or bullet swaging.