Ground Loop
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Posts posted by Ground Loop
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In a frenzy of 45 ACP reloading, I let my spent primer cup overfill. Apparently, this causes the primers to back up into Station 1, and lifts the Station 1 locator out of position.
Not sure what happened next, but I managed to crush the 'rails' in the Station 1 locator.
They're pretty tweaked, and even after I bent them back into shape, they are catching the brass cases and not sliding them firmly into the shellplate.
Anyone have this happen? Are these locators repairable with a file and some careful work, or is it a $15+9 mistake?
Time to replace the primer cup with a tube + can solution, as others have done..
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If you think they're sticking in the loading tubes, wait until they start sticking in the magazine.
I have one lot of Wolf LP that seems to be pushing spec diameter or something.
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For each caliber, I keep a tupperware bin of "primed" cases. It takes a long time to fill. (When it's full, I remove the decapping stem and run them through like normal.)
Any time I get a real jam or some odd mixup, I don't think much about it.. I pull the pins and clear the whole machine. If there's powder in one or two of the cases, well, that's a great time to do a spot-check on charge weight and dump them on the scale.
Now that the machine is clear, I put any loaded ammo (1 or 2 rounds) back into the seating station (to make sure they're seated and crimped) and then it's back to normal.
I find that having one single process for clearing a jam keeps me from having to overthink it. "Did the shellplate advance? Is it fully seated? Did this one spill?" Doesn't matter.. clear it quickly, start from Position 1.
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I'm with Mark K.. I keep my garage clean, and haven't found the separator to be a problem.
I turn it slowly, so as to maximize actual tumbling. Very little media flings out, and it's actually only when I'm pouring the load in.
Call me weird, but I wear my hearing protection.. brass is loud when you're doing it right.
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Excellent! I'm excited to hear about this development.
I've been using the UniqueTek kit to tap/heli-coil each of my toolheads. This cuts down on the thunking around, and gets my seating depth a little more regular. But it doesn't solve the larger issues of variation or die placement.
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Did the price just jump from $274.95 to $294.95? Yow..
I guess it's good to see something in this economy going up.
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I've had them not just break, but shatter.. the whole corner of the box reduced to shards and bits.
Looking over my old (lightblue) cases, many of them are chipped around the lip and corners. Hasn't kept them from working.
I'll see how these new ones work out. Midway / Frankford Arsenal still has cheap translucent ones if you really want 'em.
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I've been waffling around, and the end-of-year price jump was reason enough to get in.
Like it so far!
I use 55gr FMJBT bullets, and the lack of inside chamfer didn't bother them at all.
Just don't get your fingers pinched against the brass mount while seating. It's sharp now!
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Holy necropost 2005?!
That said, the issue is still the same as always.. the one-size-fits-none vac fitting on the Trimmer is still there.
I used a large "barbed" PVC fitting and shoved it in. The other end goes over a vac hose extension which I hit with the hot-air gun until it was soft enough to force over the PVC.
It works. Now I have to wear hearing protection, but if it lets me trim 1,000 pieces in an evening, I'll dig out the Peltors!
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The newest 10mm/40/44 bulk ammo boxes I've received are opaque blue, and not semi-transparent light blue like the previous ones.
Size and shape seem the same.
I can't call this an improvement.. it was nice to be able to see through the box at how full they were, or if they were empty, even if they were stacked up.
The new plastic feels different, more pliable, like it might be less prone to cracking and chipping.
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Yes, you can brew a cup of tea on the heat from the trimmer. This is normal. The motor is a DC motor, with a bridge rectifier.
Sealed motors do run hot, and are designed for it.
Excellent. I thought those were motor brushes I saw on there. If the motor doesn't mind the heat, I don't mind.
Any advice on trim time? Can we rock at full casefeeder speed, or does it need one-onethousand two-onethousand time to work its magic? Seems like a pretty high speed cutter.
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Just a quick check to see if it's normal for my new Dillon "Rapid Trim 1200B Case Trimmer" to run so hot.
After 45 minutes or so of continuous use, I'm measuring 165F temperatures on the motor body. It's hot enough you wouldn't want to touch it.
I'm running a (noisy) shop vac the whole time, but that's not for motor cooling, of course.
Seems to run fine, but at those temps, I'm worried about longevity. I'm trimming .223, using a dedicated size/trim toolhead. I'm going about as fast as the Casefeeder will go.
As an aside, it's not clear that there's enough air travel to suck the brass out of the cases. I'm finding several cases with brass shavings down inside them. Is the vacuum supposed to clear all the chips, or should I be tapping these cases out?
Last, is there a required "hang time" on this trimmer? Can I just feed cases through as fast as possible and trust the high-speed motor will get a fair pass over them, or should I slow it down and give it time at the top of stroke?
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It's not the shell plate I'm worried about, but the case rims, of course.
That said, I've seen what it takes to rip the rim off a .223 (stuck in the size die), and it's not a small amount of force. Maybe with the right taper, a swaging punch could be used with only rim support?
Does any other press/contraption do this? (swage with only a shellplate hold)
The Super Swage doesn't feel like much force, but it has a very magnified cam action, so it could be deceiving.
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For the top support, I'm thinking of a die like a Universal Decapping die, only with a stouter post and thick "pin" to sit against the flash hole.
Only then it's at the wrong end of the stroke. Hm...
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("Pay no attention to the motor arm"? That's like saying.. "ignore the fact that she's nude, check out the watchband!")
Very interesting!
It seems internal support is needed/preferred for swaging, then.
A contraption that adds a motorized primer pocket chamfer/reaming head under the primer station would be... more work.
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Like some folks here, I have two .223 toolheads.. one for sizing and Trimming (Dillon 1200), and one for reloading.
It seems like a small variation to the primer seating plunger could allow it to swage the primer pocket crimps out on the first pass, as part of the size/trim stage. I'm not loading primers there anyway.
The primer punch has a post that is larger than the small pocket, of course:
If it was perhaps smaller and tapered instead, like the punch in the Super Swager, then it could swage open the primer pockets on the upstroke!
This would save quite a bit of time and handling. Has anyone tried this? I've experimented with primer punch disassembly before, and learned my lesson there. It would take some kind of machine press to reassemble the splined piece.
I can't be the first person to think of this -- anything like it already on the market? Seems like a UniqueTek product opportunity!
Even just a standard small punch with the corners beveled off might do the trick. It doesn't have to enter the primer pocket fully, right?
The case would be supported only by the rim, rather than the inside. How does the 1050 do it?
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In these cases, do you get a small, light dent in the primer? And is the dent different from the others that ignited?Cup hardness varies with different primer brands.When I say light strike (and a lot of other people) I mean the primer cup is too hard for the way my gun is set-up....
It's impossible to tell, because if it DOES fire, then the dent is smashed into a different "glock slot" shape.
I wouldn't call the light strikes "small", as in clearly defective, but obviously I'm giving something up to get this nice light Glock trigger, so it's below normal impact.
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I tried just 1000 of the Wolf SP. I got several light strikes in my Glock 34 with glockworks light trigger.
To be fair, I also get a few rare light strikes on my CCI primers, but.. the difference was that with CCI I could chamber it again and always get it to go off on the 2nd bang. I had two Wolf primers that I struck five or six times without a bang. The primer dimple was not subtle. No idea what the problem was there.. it could be something that was entirely my fault, but it happened in those 1000 Wolf rounds and never again.
So I would say Wolf is at least a little harder than CCI.
That kindof turned me off to Wolf SP, but at $90/case, I'm buying Wolf again for my AR volume ammo and my harder-hitting LP guns.
I wouldn't bring them to a competition, but given that there are other more experience (and higher volume) shooters that love 'em, I'd be willing to try them again. I'm all about cheap plinking ammo too.
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Speaking of loose Federal primers.. my buddy got a case of XM193C (NATO, crimped right?) and the primers have been falling out, causing no end of frustration in picking them out of the lugs.
On inspection, the primer pockets are simply too large/loose -- a new SR primer can fall in and fall out. No signs of overpressure, so what gives?
The crimp -- it does nothing.
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I called to order a "short list" of things Santa may have forgotten, but it seems Brian's shop is closed "for the holidays" (until the new year?).
Did I miss the boat?
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There are probably as many different opionions and approaches as there are Forum members
I personally use two different approaches, depending on whether I'm loading new/processed brass, or fired/range brass.
For fired/range/unprocessed brass, I have one 650 toolhead with...
- Redding small-base sizing die, station 1
Dillon Rapid Trim 1200B Case Trimmer, station 3
Redding neck-sizer, station 5
I process lubed cases through this setup and tumble them clean.
For new/processed brass, I have a second 650 toolhead with...
- RCBS decapping die, station 1 (pokes any tumbling media out of the flash hole)
Normal Dillon powder measure setup, station 2
KISS bullet feeder, station 3
Redding competition seating die, station 4
Lee factory crimp die, station 5
Hope this helps!
Thanks for posting that! I'm thinking of going to a very similar setup (minus the KISS for now). The decap-only die in the second toolhead makes a lot of sense.. no lube needed. I was thinking of keeping a size die in there to neck-size, but that's better done on the first toolhead.
I am so bad about keeping my processed brass separate from range brass that I end up reprocessing all of it all the time.. might as well make a system that's good at that.
- Redding small-base sizing die, station 1
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So, I have been reading about how some of you love "Micrometer Powder Bar Kit" I wanted to know if you guys had any thoughts about the: 2X Powder Hopper Tube, Dillon 550/650 Toolhead Clamp Kit, and the Light-Load Shellplate Illuminator.
The micrometer powder bar is awesome, the powder hopper is excellent, the toolhead clamp kit helped eliminate a couple of thousanths of COL variations. The shellplate illuminator is a waste...
I second all of the above. I like the toolhead clamp (650), and can't live without the micrometer power bar.
The illuminator is a joke. The first one was defective, and the second one was just too dim and narrow to be worthwhile. Spend the effort on improved overhead light, or even just a clamp-on lamp.
Anyone own their Uniquetek digital scale? The one that goes to .02gr increments?
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I'm not sure a primer detonation in station 2 (under the case) would actually cause the tube to detonate. The primer is wrapped on all sides and the bottom in steel, so the energy would tend to be up into the shell casing. Little if anything should get to the adjacent primer and/or jump back the 5 or 6 primers to the bottom of the tube.
Oh yes it can happen. I had it happen last night (12/15) on 9mm, Winchester SP primers with range-found brass.
EDIT: I was mistaken. I had Winchester primers on the bench, but it was actually still silver Federal primers in the hopper.
One primer didn't seat centered, and I neglected to "abort".. going too fast, I know. From the looks of it, it sheared the primer rim. I smashed it and KaBoom.. the primer in the shell went off, then all the ones in the disc, and then the tube. So yes, it can happen, and I'm now back to wearing hearing protection while loading.
I kept the shell and can post pictures later if you're curious. It was on the upstroke.
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get the RCBS case Mic. That gives you a more precise measurement. I use the dillon guage to check loaded rounds but nothing more since I got the RCBS.
+1 for the case mic, for sure! Otherwise, you're just guessing.
Then you'll find that the Dillon dies are really just too damn long. To get them to size, you have to do two things:
1) Smash them into the shellplate. Don't be shy! Think of how much pressure the press is under with Real Brass in there, and then realize a little cam-over kiss on the shellplate doesn't really hurt anything. You have to do this in order to even approach spec-headspace length. I find 1/8th turn past contact is still too little. Won't size enough, and a few LONG cases will sneak through to ruin your shooting day.
2) LUBE. In a big way. I was amazed to find that with my miserly Hornady OneShot spray, I was getting +0.005" over where I needed to be. When I used the Dillon Lube spray in anger, the same die setting was getting me -0.002"! I was surprised to see lube have that much impact. If it takes two hands to pull the handle down, and you're pulling a stuck case every 100rds, you're not using near enough lube. So now I grease them up like a hot muffin.
I asked around here and a few people have actually taken a grinder/sander to the Dillon die to make them a more appropriate length. If I keep fighting this, I will do the same.
I called Dillon to ask about this very thing, and the advice they gave was to keep cranking it into the shellplate until I got the size I wanted. The whole frame will flex some under actual use, so it's not contacting as much with brass in. Mmmkay, so there's the word. Have no mercy on your shellplate.
Also, all the pressure on the frame will knock your seating depth back a bit. So you have to dial that back in to compensate. Then those rounds you load with no brass under the size die will be seated deep.
Dillon? How about having a second look at the length of the .223 die?
Dillon steel .223 sizing die?
in Dillon Precision Reloading Equipment
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+1 to what RiggerJJ said.
You wouldn't think lube would make a difference, but it's huge. When I went from Hornady One-Shot aerosol to the Dillon spray grease, I knocked a good 4 to 5 thou off my headspace, and they were much more consistent.
I keep the Hornady for pistol brass now, and grease up the .223s.
As for the trimmer, I run everything through two toolheads.. the first one is fast.. just full-length-size and then trim.
Then a tumble to remove the grease, then the second toolhead just has a decap pin to knock the media out of the flash hole.
I don't even keep track of which brass has already been trimmed.. it's easier to just run it all through every time.