lockmup68

Been loading 40 and 45 on S1050 for years, finally bit the bullet and ordered the 9mm conversion a couple of years ago, but never shot through all the 9mm I had, so never bothered with it. Well, girls are shooting more now and I just picked up a Dawson/STI CRP 1911 in 9mm for my girls (VZ posey pink grips installed immediately) and need to do some 9mm. I've been collecting 9mm brass for a long time and have it all cleaned and stored. 99% is mil brass. Anyway, after getting through my ratchet/indexing problems the last couple of weeks, finally finished up the large 40 run I had going and tore the press down to clean, lube, and setup the 9mm head from scratch. Got the dies adjusted properly (I think), powder measure doing good, cut case in half and adjusted the swager properly, went through a few cases with no primer or powder to get the OAL and crimp set right. So after all that, I need to crank out 10-15 each at various powder charges to take to the range and chrono to figure out what I want to crank out. Started smashing primers pretty quickly. Haven't had any smashed primers in a long time, so went through all the steps (double checked down tube with light to make sure tray was lined up, made sure the bushing was tight and the primer rod was level with the top of the bushing, no rubber on the slide tray, primer cup on the tray is clean and has been polished, etc.) So did a manual test with no brass by cycling and pulling the primer off with my finger for 30 in a row, working good. Then tried a single piece of brass, smashed primer. Noticed the primer was catching just on one side of the pocket. Check the swager adjustment again and it looks good. Then start looking at the swaging rod itself. It is not uniform around the entire top, looks like one side is rounded/broken off. So, I "think" that that is the problem, the swager is not swaging the entire pocket and leaving a little piece out, which is then catching the primer and hanging it up. Took the swager rod off and it looks worse holding it in your hand and up to the light. Was on hold music with Dillon for 37 min before call was connected today to order a new small primer swage rod. Only took 3 min after got through, but rods are backordered (not made yet), so will be a few days. Pricey little sucker at $30 for the rod. I think this will fix the problem, but we'll see. Oh yeah, took the ratchet thing off the new head before installing it. And, I hate setting up new heads....Much more fun to just switch heads and start loading. Shannon

Use thick block of wood or double up a couple of pieces of 1 inch plywood for the top. Thicker/heavier the better. Or if you go thinner, put a nice 3/16" piece of steel under the press. I prefer higher than normal benchtops since I am tall, take that into consideration. Also, make it wide enough for all of the stuff you want to have within reach. HTH.

+1 So what is the intention of that rubber part if the press functions fine without it? I can just speculate, but maybe as a shock absorber or some kind of dampening effect? I think of it like my appendix, was causing pain, took it out to remove the pain and wondered what it did in the first place.

+1 on this too, as well as polish the primer pocket in the slide with a dremel. And make sure the slideway is nice and smooth too. Mine had a burr on it from the casting.

+1

update#2 for the day: So after doing a few hundred rounds fairly consistently last night, I probably shouldn't have said anything about the indexing problem. Tonight, after about 20 rounds, it was having the indexing problem on every round. Full down stroke, then about 90% of the way up it would hang and index about 3/4 of the way to next station. Pulling the handle down about 1 inch and then going back up would allow the index to complete. Visually checked all the hardware and it looks and feels fine. After about another 50 rounds of this crap, I decided to take the ratchet thing off as a test. Well, no more indexing problem. Can't believe how smooth it is now. So, just simply taking off the ratchet thing fixed all the problems I was having. I loaded about 300 more rounds over 30 min or so, just going slow to make sure everything was working ok. Still can't believe how smooth it is now. knock on wood, frustration is over. I will finish off this batch of 40s and then do a deep clean during the change over to 9mm.

I mix about 85-15 corncob to walnut. Plus add nufinish and spritz with mineral spirits every few batches. Found the thread on here about getting the 50 lb bag of corncob from drillspot.com, free shipping, for $39. Now I'm changing the media a lot more often and boy does it speed up the process. It is untreated media, so must add nufinish from the get go.

Update: So mine was catching after full downstroke, just catching about halfway up on the upstroke. Confusing the crap out of me. Finally found a thread that talked about tightening up the screw on the backside of the ratchet thing. Did that and seemed to fix the problem. I'm still unclear as to what actuates the ratchet to engage. What action or lack of actually causes it to lock the ratchet bar? If it is simply a full down stroke, I might have other problems. Now that that is fixed, I started getting an intermittent "fail to index" problem. Full down stroke, the shell plate starts to index and then just stops. Handle gets "squishy" feeling. Going back down and up seems to free it up. Visual inspection looks like the indexer arm and such are in good shape. Only have about 22-23k rounds through the 1050. I only have 1200 of 40s left to run before I am changing over to 9mm, so I really don't want to break it all down before that. I'm going to try and knock out the rest of the 40s tonight and then do a thorough cleaning and inspection. Maybe there is just some crap in there somewhere. Keeping fingers crossed.

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but what actually causes the ratchet to latch? Since all the functions are done on the down stroke, what is causing the ratchet to catch on the upstroke? I know most just remove, but mine operated great for many thousands of rounds and now is catching all the time.

I think it is the crimp station that is doing the shaving. Switched back to FMJ from JHPs and the shaving reduced dramatically.

Thanks. I ordered 8, 9, and 10 lb'rs to have on hand when the gun arrives.

Dawson told me mags (9mm) would be several weeks to several months out, but they showed up in 4 days. I was shocked. Pistol taking longer than expedcted.

Thanks.

date was 2/6, now 2/28.

is there more info on your controller board and sensors? Is this a kit?

what loader model?

have you cut a case in half to adjust the top die rod (backing rod) down flat, and the swaging rod up to the top of the pocket? Sometimes the swager will push the case up in the shellplate and the top die is not pushing down enough to let the swager fully enter the pocket. Leaves a gap, and the brass will "pop" as the swager is lowered on the stroke. I think this is due to the rod never getting fully seated into the pocket, but I'm not an engineer, expert, or even mediocre at anything. HTH,

not new brass. Could be resize die, not sure. I'm going to blow off and clean the press good and then try to notice what station gets the most dust. Maybe that will help me narrow it down.

Do you tumble wet or dry with these ceramic pellets? What kind and were to source? Thanks, Shannon

+1 on removing the rubber piece on the primer tray. That fixed it for me. Knock on wood, 10k rounds and still like butter.

cut a case in half with a dremel or something and adjust the swager rod to the top of the pocket. Also, sure the rod isn't bent a tad and going in at an angle?

getting a bunch of fine brass flakes or shavings while loading 40. No obvious marks on the brass. Checked and cleaned the dies, everything seems smooth. Using dillon carbide dies. All the rounds case gauge easily, shoot fine, just getting lots of fine brass dust or flakes. I don't remember getting this much previously, before I switched back to 45. 45s, hardly any brass dust, but not as easy on the case gauge. Any ideas? Or is the dust normal and I'm just being paranoid? Thanks, Shannon

great tip.

I have same issue, can't put more than a couple of handfuls of brass in or it won't spin.

Any IDPA matches going on in Happy Valley, SL Valley, or Heber Valley? Trying to get the in-laws in. Thanks, Shannon NC (formerly of Heber City)