[stocker1042]

So...a while back I posted about hull separation on my Dillon SL900 using all types of Remington hulls. I finally gave up on them and just reloaded AA's only, which work fine. With all that is going on, I decided to see if I can get them to work. I emailed Dillon. Their response....which means I'm sticking with AA.

 

[phatkaw]

Weird

 

[pettifogger1]

Not unusual. I had the same problem with my Dillon 900 and a certain lot of Nitro 27s. Other lots loaded fine. Right now I have a Spolar as does a friend. He has been loading Gun Clubs. He has had several rounds where the plastic stayed in the chamber and the rim was kicked out by the ejector when they were fired. A wad knocker down the barrel and the plastic part came right out. All the reloaded rounds look 100% normal so there is no way to tell if a particular round might separate. If the rims aren't crimped onto the hulls properly it can and does happen.

 

[phatkaw]

Hey stocker, what words should I use to find the thread about this? I looked a little but found nothing...
I'd like to read it .

 

[stocker1042]

Dillon SL900 Help

I know. Dillon has a great reputation for service. I know. I tried calling on Friday and I tried calling today. After being on hold for 30 minutes and never moving past 7 in line I've given up on them for now. Maybe someone can help. I've loaded tens of thousands of rounds machine over 10...

www.trapshooters.com

 

[phatkaw]

I remember the thread now.
At least they finally answered you... lol

 

[jk80]

I had a similar experience when I had trouble with a 900. I call and talked to a tech and the final outcome was according to him shotshells are much more difficult to load than centerfire cartridges. I told him I couldn't go along with that thinking because my first shotshells were loaded with a hammer powered set up at around 12 or 13 years old. He told me maybe I ought to design my own loader and hung up! I have other dillon products and they are awesome but that 900 was a real pain. That experience was the only one like that. Other times the techs were outstanding. I called them Monday, was told the average wait was 7 minutes. Sat on hold for almost an hour and gave up. Gonna try again tomorrow. Can't blame them on that, the way things are now I'm sure their snowed under.

 

[mattcabi]

I have had a few STS cases separate, but the occurrance is so rare I don't worry about it. All my separations have been upon firing, Maybe about 3 in 10,000 and they were all on a gun with stout extraction, the Win SX1.

 

[stocker1042]

I've been happy with the SL. I've prob loaded over 100,000 shells on it in about 10 years. I can really get going if the case feeder plays well and I put non-foot stomped hulls in there. I'll take the guys word for it. I'll just load AA's and get over it.

If they start getting tougher to find I may break down, buy straight walled wads, and give the white Federal Grands a go. They have been plentiful on the ground at some shoots but I've been passing by.

 

[creeker]

I have had within the last couple of months 2 or 3 shells pull apart from the base [ sts & 2- gunclubs ] which I have loaded on my Spolar.They were found after I ejected them out of my O/U Beretta,so this is not just a one machine happening?The ramrod that I carry on my cart took care of that,happening.

 

[WillM]

I got on the wait list when Dillon announced the SL900 and got one of the first machines. Dillon at the time was very specific that the machine was optimized for AA hulls and even included a dummy round. Over the years Dillon has sent me many replacement parts, mainly primer related and I used several different hulls over the years with varying degrees of success. I have the machine in storage because it hasn’t been cost effective to load 12 gauge for many years.
Since Mike Dillon died it’s not the same company even allowing for the pandemic and gun panic.. I still use my 550 and 1050 and have parts stockpiled so I don’t have to deal with them. If you really need SL900 help, there’s a guy in WA state who knows everything about them. He’s a pistol Grandmaster who took up trap and you should be able to find him on the internet/you tube. Haven’t talked to him for a while but if you can’t find him, pm me and I’ll reach out to him.

 

[frostyman]

Not unusual. I had the same problem with my Dillon 900 and a certain lot of Nitro 27s. Other lots loaded fine. Right now I have a Spolar as does a friend. He has been loading Gun Clubs. He has had several rounds where the plastic stayed in the chamber and the rim was kicked out by the ejector when they were fired. A wad knocker down the barrel and the plastic part came right out. All the reloaded rounds look 100% normal so there is no way to tell if a particular round might separate. If the rims aren't crimped onto the hulls properly it can and does happen.

I have had the same issue with Gun Clubs but they were new shells. Occasionally the base will come off of one when ejecting a new shell. But I have shot thousands of them.

 

[jjhess]

My one complaint is hulls getting under the shell feeder plate, haven't even loaded 10k on it yet tho, but it can crank them out

 

[MTRSG]

I am also having that issue with 12ga Rem's (gun club & golds) and 20ga Rem Premiers as well. They are awfully tight in station 2 and it just pulls the brass off leaving the powder to spill all over the shell plate. I have given up on the 20ga Rem's and just have went back to the WinAA's. The plastic feels slightly thinner on the AA's than the 20ga premiers and fits better in the die in Station 2 (perhaps that is a difference with the true tapered hull and the straight hull and tapered base wad that the AA's have?). I would load 100 without issue , then 3 in 10 would separate in a row. I gave up and loaded out the remainder of the bag of shot with AA's.

Straight wall hulls have been loading great on the Dillon. Happy for that as I have a big supply of Eurotrash hulls.

 

[loneranger]

Recently bought a SL900 after being a little disappointed in the crimps on my Mec. It WILL kick out some ammunition fast and I didn’t even buy the case feeder. Right now I’ve set it up for AA hulls and 1 oz loads and it makes beautiful finished ammunition. My Mec really likes Remington hulls so I’ve set it up for Gun Clubs and 7/8 oz loads and those shells look great. Both machines work great but each one definitely has a preference to one type of hull.

 

[StevenZ]

If you really need SL900 help, there’s a guy in WA state who knows everything about them. He’s a pistol Grandmaster who took up trap and you should be able to find him on the internet/you tube. Haven’t talked to him for a while but if you can’t find him, pm me and I’ll reach out to him.

Hi Will...actually I was a couple percentage points from GM when I stopped...but thanks for the complement!

I reload REM GC/STS exclusively (12ga)...primarily GC's and yes, I have had a few case head separations with the GC that occurred at station 2 but they seem to run in batches and I haven't had it happen in the last couple of years. I think in the last 9 years that I've been using the SL900, its happened maybe 5 times....maybe.

 

[creeker]

The GC & STS case separations are not unique to any one loader,I have had both,within the last year,mostly,after shooting them on the sporting clays course.The steel base would eject out and the plastic casing would stay in the gun.I carry a ram rod on my sporting clay cart,just in case and have used it,along with other shooters,at times.One of my STS,cases came apart in my Spolar,right after the sizing station.

 

[cflanon]

I’ve had a handful of ALL of the Remington hulls separate on the press at station 2, as StevenZ mentioned. The worst seemed to be those "Clay and Field" hulls. It also appeared to only go on for a period of time, then get better, with me now going for quite a bit of time without having any separate. As many have speculated before about this, maybe there was just a bad batch of cartridges for a while, and they are beyond that now.

 

[beetledude]

I agree that all shell manufacturers have had their run of badly constructed shells, but put me in the camp of the SL900 is more problematic than other presses. I mostly reload on a spolar, but also have a PW, hornady, and MEC. The SL900 is the only press that I have returned back to the manufacturer.

 

[creeker]

FWIW,I have known about 5-people,that have done the same thing,as far as to return the SL900,for a refund.