G19

Got the striker spring guide and striker block out. I think they were 'stuck' because the spring guide came partially out when I pulled out the striker assembly (I think the polymer parts of the assembly were partially fused to the spring guide, thus pulling the guide when I removed the assembly). The partially retracted spring guide was pressing against the striker block preventing the latter from being removed. After working the spring guide back and forth with some needle nose pliers, I was able to fully remove it, and then the striker block fell out. Any other parts in the slide that might have been damaged by the heat? Might as well order everything together. I suppose I should clean out the striker channel and the rest of the slide with acetone to remove any trace bits of melted plastic.

Yep, it's melted: Indeed. I watched a couple of videos on M&P sight replacement and none of them mentioned this. Should have asked here instead! Didn't realize how much plastic was inside the slide (never performed any slide disassembly before). It looks like the striker spring guide is damaged as well. How to remove that? It seems somewhat stuck. Also, I've got the sight off and striker block spring out, but the striker block seems stuck as well. Shouldn't it come right out once the sight is off?

Doesn't seem to want to click into place. But then again, I have the sight removed, so maybe that's why. Is it safe to remove that retaining plate and striker assembly while the rear sight is off the slide? Might as well use this opportunity to check that everything looks ok and to clean the striker.

I'm replacing the factory rear sight on my M&P 9L with a Dawson rear. I noticed that after heating up and removing the sight set screw, the slide no longer mounts to the frame. The polymer housing in the rear of the slide sits lower and its tabs are now down far enough to block the slide rail that the frame's metal tabs would fit in. Is this normal once the rear sight set screw has been loosened? Hope I didn't damage anything by using a heat gun - required a fair bit of heat to break the loctite bond. Pic of underside of rear of slide: I went ahead and removed the rear sight. There is a flat circular piece and a spring just below that, and those are the only 2 loose pieces. Just wanted to make sure everything looks normal and that I don't need to search the floor for something that came flying off without my noticing.

Checked Autozone, they don't have any springs that are even close. Better luck at Ace Hardware, where I found 2 springs that are fairly close to the original spring: The #80XA proved to be too weak. To get it to stand up high enough under the weight of the platform, you have to leave too many coils, which doesn't allow sufficient primer punch protrusion into station 2. The #141 spring worked better; I cut off 2 coils and that gives me sufficient primer punch protrusion (primed several cases and priming depth looks good). It's still not quite strong enough as it cannot return the press to 'neutral' after pushing forward all the way on the operating handle; but it comes closer than the original/worn spring. And if I pull the operating handle back to the press' 'neutral' and let go, the primer disc can be advanced. With the original/worn spring, pulling the handle back to neutral and letting go would result in the spring collapsing and allowing the punch to protrude into the primer disc.

You need to move the handle to the neutral position before advancing the primer wheel. You have to do this regardless of new or old spring in my experience. You need to move the handle to the neutral position before advancing the primer wheel. You have to do this regardless of new or old spring in my experience. I figured a non-worn spring would keep the ram at neutral, eliminating the need to pull back slightly in order to drop the punch below the disc. You need to move the handle to the neutral position before advancing the primer wheel. You have to do this regardless of new or old spring in my experience. I figured a non-worn spring would keep the ram at neutral, eliminating the need to pull back slightly in order to drop the punch below the disc. That is not the case. I had a chance to check out a friend's 650. He has the newer style primer seater assembly and with the ram at neutral, the primer wheel can be advanced; no need to pull back on the operating handle.

I wonder if the uniquetek excel form will work with this. I don't see why it wouldn't. Nothing special about the Uniquetek spreadsheet; as long as the Prairie Dog adjustments are repeatable, then you can create a table of settings and charges and plot that and fit a line through the points on the plot, and then use the line's y-intercept and slope to determine setting for a desired charge, which is all the Uniquetek spreadsheet is doing.

I guess you mean this one? http://www.harborfreight.com/2-inch-mirror-with-flexible-shaft-97217.html I like that flexible metal shaft. Since you have one, do you think the shaft would accommodate the weight of an additional slightly larger mirror (perhaps a plastic one to keep weight low)?

Looking for ideas for an inexpensive mirror that mounts to the casefeeder or the casefeed support tube. I live in an apartment, so I don't want to punch a hole in the wall or ceiling if I don't need to. Perhaps something that swivels so that I can see into the casefeed bowl from both seated and standing positions.

18.5"

put those rounds back in the priming station and push the primers in a bit farther That doesn't sound safe to me - that is a fully loaded round with powder and bullet seated - no margin for error. I just use the high primers in practice - most of them go off anyway. Never heard of anyone detonating a primer on a completed round by fully seating a mostly seated high primer. I'm not ramming the primer with the primer seater, I'm gently pushing it in. It's a gentler operation than the initial seating and I already know the primer isn't going in sideways since we are talking about a primer that is already mostly seated, so I'd consider it lower risk for detonation than the initial priming operation, where I cannot observe the orientation at which the primer is entering the case.

Sturdier bench setup will reduce the # of high primers. When you're done loading, put the ammo nose down in trays and the high primers will be easy to spot - just put those rounds back in the priming station and push the primers in a bit farther (I assume this is possible on the SDB, just like it is on the 650).

I assume you guys are referring to the primer seater alignment tool. What about aligning the platform to the toolhead (the powder die alignment tool)?

Almost $30 shipped for that little plastic piece. Wondering how all the folks who take advantage of the caliber crossover between 9mm and .223 to get .380 manage. Obviously not worth resizing cases before feeding them, though that would eliminate the problem.

Discovering that .380 cases don't feed very well through the 9mm (green) casefeed adapter. When the cases are sitting offset/angled relative to one another on top of the casefeed body, the casefeed arm is able to sweep out the lowest case. This is what usually happens. Every now and then, the bottom 2 cases will stack perfectly such that one case is sitting just inside another case's mouth, and then the casefeed arm cannot sweep out the lowest case. I verified this was the issue causing jams by manually pushing on the casefeed arm. It's doesn't budge in this situation without forcing it. Lift up the stack off the bottom case (e.g., with a letter opener) and the casefeed arm can easily sweep out the bottom case. Anyone else run into this? Any workarounds other than getting the .380 (white) casefeed adapter? Wondering how the .380 adapter gets around this problem . . .

Please share your recipe if you load for your G42.

Thanks. Looks like Dillon is now recommending the XS bar for charges under 2.6gr: http://www.dillonprecision.com/#/SD_small_powder_bar_problem-98-9-2104.htm My old manual has that demarcation at 3.0gr. Since you're able to get down to 2gr, I should be fine in the 2.8-3.2 range.

[i'm using a 650, but I believe the 550 and SDB use the same powder bars.] Going to load some .380, and see that the listed charges for my powder (IMR SR7625) are right on the border (3.0gr) of where Dillon suggests using the extra-small powder bar (which I don't have . . . yet). Wondering which powder bar most folks are using for .380 loading and with which powder. Looking to load for my G42, so I imagine the round will need a little oomph to cycle the Glock.

The adjustable rear sight for M&P I see on Dawson's site says it requires 0.285" tall front sight. So there's enough adjustability in the rear to get POA = POI at any distance (within reason) that you desire with a .285" tall front sight? I assume there is only one adjustable rear for all M&P series pistols (i.e., full size, L, Pro, Core; not including Shield and .22lr)? What tools are included - just a flat driver for elevation? What other tools are necessary to swap sights? I've never changed out pistol sights before.

Problem solved! I had borrowed an alignment tool from a friend (the large alignment tool that aligns platform with toolhead), so I tore the press down, cleaned everything, replaced a few worn/damaged parts from the spare parts kit, performed the alignment, lubed and reassembled. Just loaded 200 very easy, no-drama rounds. Primers seating buttery smooth, no casemouths hitting powder funnel, no occasional slingshotting case insert slide.

Yeah, once I saw how the spring was attached, it was pretty obvious that kinked spring was not as it should be.

nm

Borrowed a friend's alignment tool to see if it would help resolve an issue I've been having with alignment of shellplate and primer disc (http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=215738). At first I thought it was the primer disc, but realized it could also be where the shellplate indexes to, so I borrowed the alignment tool (the larger alignment tool, not the small one that sits on the primer punch - I've already used that, and have maxed out movement on the indexer block and the primer punch is still toward one edge of the shellplate slot). Anyway, I removed the platform and noticed a portion of the platform that makes up the hole that the index ball and spring sit in is gouged out. I'm assuming this is not the design. Not sure if it is a problem, since there is still enough metal for the spring to sit in. Also noticed the index return spring is quite kinked. I've got a spare in the parts kit, but didn't know if this is normal for the spring once it's in use.

I've been noticing that the primer disc on my 650 doesn't seem to always fully advance - when this happens, there are a few accompanying symptoms: 1. very difficult to push forward into the primer seating portion of the upstroke 2. sometimes when pushing through the resistance in (1), the primer disc hole is close enough to alignment with the unprimed case that the primer seater is able to seat the primer and in the process, move the disc into the fully advanced position. Other times, pushing through the resistance in (1) results in an angled-seated and mashed primer. 3. what often works when I feel the resistance in (1) is give the primer indexing arm a slight pull, and then the press handle will 'release' (i.e., resistance disappears) and I can smoothly seat the primer. Sometimes, just backing off on the handle and then pushing again also works. 4. case insert slide does not fully seat the case - this seems very much related to the primer disc advancement because the case insert slide does fully seat the case if there is no case in station 2 or if I am able to complete the seating portion of the upstroke without any unusual resistance. This makes sense since the case insert slide is adjusted to fully seat a case into the shellplate at the full upstroke position of the press handle. I was noticing all of the above last loading session when I noticed how worn the primer cam appeared. I replaced the cam with a new one from the spare parts kit, and that made a significant difference, with fewer instances of the primer disc not seeming to fully advance. But the problem is not fully eliminated, and aside from how much it slows loading, it seems to result in inconsistent powder charges, since I'll typically have to stop the forward/primer seating stroke when I encounter the stiff resistance, back off on the handle (including sometimes tugging a little on the primer indexing arm), and push again to both seat the primer as well as fully advance the case insert slide. This is an older press, so I'm guessing that the worn primer cam may be a sign that other parts of the primer system are worn as well, but not sure what to look for or how best to diagnose this. Any suggestions (besides call Dillon, which I'm going to do after the long weekend)?

You need to move the handle to the neutral position before advancing the primer wheel. You have to do this regardless of new or old spring in my experience. I figured a non-worn spring would keep the ram at neutral, eliminating the need to pull back slightly in order to drop the punch below the disc. That is not the case. Thanks, good to know.