Re: Dillon 550 and powders for 308
I use one of the Whidden tool heads with the floating dies + Uniquetek tool head clamping screws. The Whidden tool head came with one of the pink MTM multi-purpose powder funnels with the little flange turned off, which enables it to fit just perfectly down inside a Dillon powder die. It rides up when the ram raises the case, and you can dump your charges down it right into the case. For charging with Varget and similar powders, I use an RCBS Chargemaster 1500 automatic dispenser with the McD straw mod and some tweaks to the speed programming (easily available via a search on this forum). I skip a station as described by D. Tubb some years back so the sizing step doesn't interfere with or mask the more sensitive seating operation - sizing in station #1, powder @ #2, #3 empty, micrometer seater @ #4. Works well enough for F/TR out to 6, and Palma out to 1k.
The whole operation is slower than whacking them out the way a 550 was originally envisioned to be used, but still faster (overall) than a single stage press - basically by the time I place a bullet in a freshly charged case, rotate the shell plate, decap/size/prime a new case, rotate the shell plate, raise the ram up to position the new case for powder, pick the ejected round out of the 'Out' bin, wipe any residual case lube off and set it in the ammo box... the Chargemaster is either done or within a few seconds of done. Much faster wouldn't really matter... it'd just be waiting on me.
If I'm really being fussy (1k F/TR), the cases get sized/decapped separately, ran through a stainless steel media cleaning regimen, trimmed on the Giraud, and the charges weighed on a lab scale. Adds to the process, but the results are generally worth it.
If you want to throw charges of anything other than ball powder directly on the 550 with some degree of accuracy, you might try polishing the internals of the stock powder measure... but I'd recommend pitching that POS and getting an RCBS Uniflow and one of their case-activated powder drop (CAPD) accessories. The thing has a hella-stout spring on it, and actually throws charges of Varget/RE-15 more consistently on the press than I can by hand (at least with that measure). Not really up to what I consider acceptable for LR F/TR, but an improvement over the stock Dillon measure, and better than using ball powder for LR work.
YMMV,
Monte
