G19

I was installing the powder bar and noticed for the first time that the smaller of the 2 brass pieces of the bellcrank has a bend in it. I don't recall using the kind of force that would bend it. Is the bend normal? I noticed that it contributes to a jerky return motion of the powder bar (as it returns to neutral position underneath the hopper). Also the wire hook at the upper portion of the bellcrank isn't fully seated on the rod by the small white plastic cube. Normal?

Good idea. I was thinking of gluing a small piece of leather or cardboard to the top of the follower rod - not enough weight to prevent launch, but enough padding to prevent hole in ceiling. Plus a little more convenient/aesthetically pleasing that tacking a piece of carpet or other padding to the ceiling.

If my 650 sends the primer follower rod into my upstairs neighbor's apartment, I'm pretty sure that, in addition to paying for the damage, I'd have to find another place to live.

Sort of a strange question I suppose. I live in an apartment building and just wondering what type of damage would occur to the apartment unit if I had a daisy chain primer detonation, and if there is any way to minimize the damage in the event of an explosion. Obviously I cannot cap the magazine shield as the explosion needs to vent and trying to contain that venting just makes for a bigger explosion which could burst the magazine shield open. I am very mindful about the danger of primers. I sort my 9mm brass (only loading 9mm so far) to remove NATO cases, and pay close attention to the primer seating portion of the upstroke and stop immediately if I feel unusual resistance. I also keep the primer disc, primer magazine and pickup tubes relatively clean to try and minimize the possibility of a detonation at station 2 daisy chaining around the disc and into the primer tube via primer dust (from all the reading I've done here, I assume excessive primer dust is usually the difference between the detonations that are isolated at station 2 and the daisy chain kabooms).

As it turned out, I was swinging by my friend's area for something else, so I stopped by and he did a quick drill and tap on the powder bar. Used a 6-32 set screw just as Foxbat used. Lined up the main index line at 2 o'clock position - I think it's easier to read this way - the numbers being right side up more than makes up for the somewhat inferior access to the right side of the machine. Skipped the loctite on the micrometer base since the setscrew will secure it; loctited the bushing threads to the insert and letting it dry overnight. Thanks for the various tips and suggestions.

Smitty, I probably had to wait for you! I also called this morning and had to wait in queue. I agree, being notified of your queue location is so much better than waiting with no idea how long it will be. I just put the phone on speaker and went about my business until one of the tech support guys picked up. Needless to say, he was helpful. This is Dillon, after all.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Yeah, quite the relief to get to the bottom of this. Was very annoying to get the occasional CRUNCH when the case mouth hit the sizing die. And because it's auto-indexing, stoppages like that are a real pain in the butt. Called Dillon today; they're sending out a new 9mm shellplate and having me send the old one back in.

Thanks! I'll try it the way Uniquetek recommends first, since I don't have a drill press or tap set. But if it doesn't hold, I'll ask a friend to drill and tap the powder bar.

Now we're talkin! Can you post a pic? Did you sand down/flatten the black micrometer base to make a flat spot for the screw to bite into?

The instructions do mention sanding the hole, not necessarily to create a rough surface, but to remove the coating and get to the bare metal. But I agree with you - I don't see how loctite is going to work in a situation where one part fits somewhat loosely inside another (not airtight), which is why I initially thought epoxy would work better. But seems enough people have success with loctite that I'll give it a shot. Worst case, I can heat it up, break the loctite bond, remove it and go the epoxy route.

@Sarge, I added pics since your last post. I think I can confirm that the shellplate is bad. I installed the #3 shellplate (.223, .380) and a toolhead with a .380 sizing die (both my 9mm and .380 sizing dies are Lee, so this is apples-to-apples from that perspective). With the shellplate bolt fully tightened down, the plate still turns with thumb pressure and it is smooth throughout - no spots of heavy resistance. More importantly, I hand inserted a few .380 cases into each shellplate slot - they all run into the sizing die without jamming against the die's mouth or the significant tipping of cases I'd see with the 9mm shellplate.

The only change from the above pics is I have now raised the ram until the case mouth contacts the sizing die mouth - i.e., it is jammed against the die mouth and any further raising of the ram will gouge the case mouth. I have not touched the case or jarred the press, so the case is still at full insertion into the slot.

Please make sure to read the directions carefully because it is easy to misalign the micrometer in the powder bar. Thanks for the responses. Alright, I'll give it a go with loctite. Worst case, I can get it off. No springs and my press does have a failsafe rod, so I'll leave off the powder bar post. So the screw (threaded bushing) doesn't rotate while the micrometer head (the part with the knurled banding that you grip) and shaft rotate? I guess that's why there are 3 little plastic tabs inside the threaded bushing - a friction fit solution to keep the shaft from rotating inside the bushing while the press is operational.

There is a tiny bit of springiness there. I'll tighten the shellplate bolt down a touch and see if that makes a difference in station 1 alignment. So the correct bolt tension would not allow us to displace the edge of shellplate at station 4 by pressing down on it, while at the same time does allow us to rotate the shellplate by hand, correct? I tightened down the shellplate bolt to eliminate the springiness. I also used a marker to mark the shellplate slots. Couple of observations: 1. When rotating the shellplate (9mm) by hand, there is a very noticeable difference in effort required depending on where the shellplate is relative to the ram. In other words, if my thumb is advancing the shellplate from the left side of the press, some of the slots are easy to advance, but one of them is quite difficult. Even when using the press handle to advance the shellplate, this can be felt, though not as obvious as when doing it by thumb due to the leverage the handle provides. I'm guessing I didn't notice this before because the shellplate bolt was a bit looser (hence the shellplate 'springiness' described earlier), thus creating more tolerance. Perhaps the shellplate isn't level? I've got a .223 shellplate I'm going to place in there to see if that feels the same. 2. Now that the shellplate slots are numbered, I can see that two shellplate slots are producing worse alignment than the rest. When inserting cases into the shellplate slot by hand (eliminating the case insert slide from the equation), slot "1" and slot "2" produce all the instances of the case mouth hitting the die mouth, with slot "1" being a worse offender than slot 2. Seems the shellplate may be asymmetrical? When I install the .223 shellplate, I'll insert some .380 cases and see if I notice similar behavior with particular slots. Will report back. Here is an example of a jam with the 9mm shellplate. The case is fully inserted into the shellplate slot (slot "2") and you can see how it lines up relative to the sizing die just prior to insertion: See my next post, #17 in this thread, for the next set of pics - ran into a forum limit on # or size of pics in one post.

I recently picked up a micrometer powder bar kit for my XL650, and had a few questions: 1. The black micrometer base (just below the micrometer head) is a loose fit inside the powder bar hole. Is a thin layer of loctite really going to hold this base to the powder bar hole? Seems like it wouldn't be airtight, thus rendering loctite ineffective. Perhaps epoxy would work better here? 2. The instructions mention applying 2 drops of loctite to the bushing screw threads at the point where they engage the powder bar insert. I'm a little confused why we'd want loctite here since the threads have to turn inside the powder bar insert in order to move the insert inside the powder bar cavity, which is how the powder charge is adjusted. Then again, it's only 2 drops and not applied to the threads before screwing into the insert, so maybe the goal isn't to lock up the threads to the insert? 3. Instructions mention that new style auto powder measures without return springs do not need a powder bar post. My 650 is several years old. How can I tell if this uses a new style auto powder measure, which would allow me to skip reinstalling the powder bar post?

There is a tiny bit of springiness there. I'll tighten the shellplate bolt down a touch and see if that makes a difference in station 1 alignment. So the correct bolt tension would not allow us to displace the edge of shellplate at station 4 by pressing down on it, while at the same time does allow us to rotate the shellplate by hand, correct?

Correct. That is how I set up the die. Still has a bit of case tipping as it enters the sizing die.

Why do you need a picture? Wouldn't it be quicker to have the two settings recorded in your reloading notebook and just dial them up on the micrometer?

That's exactly the info I was looking for!

Are powder bar bolt adjustments repeatable? Say for example I attach one of those rosette knobs to my powder bar bolt, can I mark the knob for 2 different powder charges and move back and forth between those two and expect the powder measure to throw correct charges? If so, then what advantage does the Uniquetek Micrometer offer other than making it easy to interpret where the knob needs to be (i.e., which revolution) for a given desired charge? If not, then what does the Uniquetek do differently than the stock powder bolt to ensure repeatability?

With a 9mm case fully inserted by hand in station 1 (taking the case insert slide out of the equation for the time being), I can see that the case tips slightly as it goes into the mouth of the Lee sizing die. The case tips inward, indicating that the center of the die is farther inward than the center of the shellplate case slot. Stacking tolerances - this slight misalignment, case variability, case bouncing out of fully seated position in shellplate due to vibration while operating press, etc., results in periodic jams at station 1 where the case mouth hits the sizing die mouth. What can I do to ease this situation? I adjusted the sizing die by threading it into the toolholder until it just contacted the shellplate with the ram up, then inserted a case, raised ram to insert case into die, then tightened lockring. Would it help to adjust the sizing die with the case a very tiny bit away from fully inserted into the shellplate (i.e., and thus perhaps causing the die to be slightly more angled outward)? Would using a Dillon 9mm sizing die help? Does it have a larger mouth than the Lee 9mm die? Any other suggestions?

Thanks Dave, that gives me a sense of where to start.

Used up all my lead bullets and switching to some Xtreme copper plated 147gr bullets. Powder is IMR SR7625. With 147gr lead bullets, I've been using 3.3gr in my M&P9L using a COAL of 1.145". In the Hogdon online reloading data, the only load shown for SR7625 with 147gr bullets is for 147gr Hornady XTP bullets (starting load of 2.8gr, max load of 3.3gr). Not sure how the XTP bullets compare to the Xtreme plated and how I should adjust for that. Anyone using this combination of bullet and powder?

Just the information I was looking for. Did you add the vise in the rear for counter weight? Or is it sturdy with out it? Sturdy without the vise. Loading the bottom shelf with bullets, etc. adds to stability.