G19

I recently pulled a small batch of .380acp rounds. I went ahead and reloaded some of them (powder, bullet, crimp). I noticed that a significant number of those rounds did not firmly hold the bullet - I could press the nose of the bullet into the bench with just a little force and the bullet would seat deeper. I'm guessing the problem is that once a round is loaded and then pulled, it no longer has sufficient neck tension to hold a bullet, and therefore needs to be resized. Is this correct?

Says the guy who reads and posts in a thread on a topic he's not interested in.

If you don't have a micro switch already, get a low force micro switch - the link in post #40 has thousands of switches, and you can sort by operating force. The counter I bought came with a micro switch that is way too stiff for small pistol rounds to reliably depress the lever.

With 3V, you want a resistor in series with the IR LED so that you aren't passing too much current through it, which will burn it out. On a 3V circuit, a 68 ohm resistor should get you in the neighborhood of 20 mA through the IR LED. 3V - 1.7V (fwd voltage of IR LED) = 1.3V 1.3V / 0.02A = 65 ohm 65 ohm is not a common resistor value, but 68 ohm is. Might want to check if your emitters are still good (not burned out) - if you don't have a multimeter, maybe run the LED for a while and see if it gets slightly warmer. Interesting that you are running the LED on a 1.5V circuit, and I assume no resistor. What's the current through that circuit?

If it would be possible to share your info on how you wired this up, including the voltages used, I would greatly appreciate it! I have the same Photointerrupter and have been on the phone with their tech service and they seem to have no idea how it would be used in place of a microswitch. My display runs on 5-30v and the Emitter appears to want 1.5v, so it looks like two power supplies will be needed. Thank you! Where are you getting that info? The IR LED has a forward voltage of 1.7 volts, so you'll need more than 1.5V for sure. I'm going to run mine off 2xAA batteries (3V).

Ha! Glad I mentioned it. Was checking out the website I linked to earlier - Digikey; they have thousands of switches, and you can sort by operating force. Going to pick up a very inexpensive, low force switch just to play with: http://www.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&itemSeq=176483323&uq=635731546338483834

LOL - c'mon man, if you can set all this up, you can focus a videocamera! Thanks for the video. .380 rounds seem to drop a bit more unpredictably given they are smaller/lighter than other rounds, but as you suggest, 'caliber conversion' 'funneling' pieces for the chute might be the way to go. I'm thinking maybe a bending some 1/8" steel rod into a U shape, epoxy upside down over the chute, and then hang 'caliber conversion' pieces on that, optimized for each caliber.

Thanks for the part #. What benefit are you getting from counting cases since you are separately counting completed rounds? You mentioned that you are also using this to control your casefeeder - are you setting this up so that you automatically feed cases until you reach X number of cases, that way you don't have any cases remaining in the casefeed tube once you have loaded the # of rounds you wanted to load for a session? I was thinking of using the IR photo interrupter reflectively, by mounting them side-by-side, but sounds like you've run into issues there too. Youngeyes seems to be having good success with the photo interrupter I posted earlier, so perhaps that particular model has some characteristics that make it better suited for round/shiny objects. I like the idea of a rod in the crimp die activating a switch, but I'm using the Lee factory crimp die, so no hole in the top of the die (there's an adjusting knob instead). Another alternative is using a low force, long arm microswitch and having the completed round press the lever arm as it moves from station 5 to the ejector wire.

Dry. Crushed walnut shells. The IR works on new Starline brass as well.Thanks. I wet tumble, but if it works for new brass, should be fine for wet tumbled brass. On a separate note, what's the smallest size round you've used with the photo interrupter setup? I'm wondering if a round as small as .380 ACP would consistently block the IR path. I suppose it's a matter of channeling the round into the IR path, but not so much that the round hangs up in the chute.

@PaulAnthony, great setup! So I guess wet tumbled brass has been giving you issues with optical sensors? Did you try an infrared photo interrupter? Got a link or part # for the inductive sensor you're using to count cases in the casefeed tube? @Youngeyes, you mentioned the IR photo interrupter you're using has been 100% - are you dry tumbling or wet tumbling your brass?

Right, you have eight primers lined up in a semi circle behind the one you are seating going right to the base of the primer tube. While the proximity of primers in the disc does help facilitate chain firing, it should be noted that there are plenty of instances (perhaps even the majority?) where a primer detonation at station #2 does not daisy chain through the disc and into the primer magazine. So the proximity alone is not sufficient to daisy chain (after all, the primers are separated by steel in the disc). My guess is the other requirement is the presence of a sufficient amount of primer dust to help propagate the explosion around the disc, and once it makes it to the tube, well, no primer dust necessary at that point as the primers are sitting on top of each other.

Now that I've got a micro switch in my hands, I'm realizing that it's too stiff for smaller rounds (e.g., .380 acp) to trigger the switch. Not sure if these can be opened without destroying them in order to access the spring and cut a coil off to make the switch easier to trigger. May have to go with the photo interrupter, but as a temporary solutions, I've got the micro switch mounted to the edge of my bench such that the press operating arm depresses the switch's lever at the bottom of the stroke. The counter has a pause button, so I need to remember to pause/unpause when changing powder charge mid-session or for any other issues that require cycling the press without spitting out a completed round.

For the 650, I just bent some 1/8" rod into a roughly U-shape that is then used to grab the casefeed support arm and prevent case feeding. Got the idea from this video (he sells these on ebay):

Exactly. I want to avoid that. I picked up an inexpensive counter + microswitch on ebay. Will report back once I receive it and rig it up to the completed cartridge chute.

So I had installed some new Dawson sights, and then I go to install the striker assembly and spring guide. And you can guess what happened . . . the guide/sleeve doesn't fit past the striker block - it needs to be installed before installing the rear sight. FML. I gotta take the sight off.

Thanks, got it done.

I couldn't find a Dawson video on rear adjustable sight install like the excellent video he has for front sight install: Installing Dovetail Front Sights with Dave Dawson A couple of questions: 1. Did you install the sight first before reinstalling the striker block and spring? I guess you can clean up the gap filling/retaining loctite from inside the slide before installing striker block. 2. Should I wait to apply threadlocking loctite to the setscrew until I actually shoot the pistol, even if I have the sight centered in the slide cutout? Or is there enough windage adjustment in the sight that I can go ahead and loctite the setscrew once I've got the rear sight installed and centered?

Any particular method to installing the plastic sleeve into the striker channel? Teeth forward and just shove it in until it touches the front of the channel? No need to orient it with respect to the notch at the front of the striker channel (notch where the hole in the channel to let debris fall out is)? Any tricks/tips in general on installing a striker assembly? The videos seem pretty straightforward, but just wanted to make sure.

Your microswitch might be more robust than a photointerrupter setup. Does your setup ever miss a round? With a photointerrupter, you'll have to ensure that the narrow infrared beam gets blocked as rounds pass through. You'll likely also have to reverse the logic so that counter increments when beam is broken, not when beam is connected. Link to post at Calguns where a wiring diagram is posted: http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showpost.php?p=10563822&postcount=28 If you're not a member, I can send it to you.

Here's an example: This is the photointerrupter he's using: http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/OPB819Z/365-1262-ND/1015177 And the counter: http://store.qkits.com/moreinfo.cfm/QK129 Seems this could be done with a less expensive counter since round counting is a simple affair and doesn't require counting down. Just count up and reset.

That's pretty cool. So I guess the rounds are depressing a microswitch? Here's a photointerrupter for $6. Seems these could be placed on either side of the cartridge chute and when a round breaks the beam, increment count on a counter. http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/OPB100Z/365-1628-ND/1636780

I know there are various round counters that people use, but does anyone have a completed round counter (as opposed to an operating handle pull counter) that they built and can share the plans for? I'm thinking an optical sensor that sits over the completed cartridge chute wired to a digital counter. Those are cheap parts that can be purchased on fleabay, McMaster, etc.

Called S&W and ordered the following: - slide end cap assembly - striker spring guide - striker assembly I asked about that; sounds like you just push it in to install it. It does have some teeth that mate with the end of the striker channel, so that has to be lined up. Good to know re: front sight. I guess it's all good as I'm replacing the striker assembly anyway. That set screw was on pretty tight; felt like I was going to strip the screw head, which is why I used the heat gun.

Do you know if the striker assembly is sold in parts? On Brownells, I only see the entire striker assembly, not the components.