clw42
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Posts posted by clw42
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On 1/28/2023 at 3:56 PM, HOGRIDER said:
Understand!
I had disassembled the pro dropper assembly for a good cleaning when moving the MBF over to the Apex 10, and don't remember seeing any "o-rings" in the brass tube assembly. But I wasn't looking for anything either; just a good swab with an alcohol patch and thorough cleaning of the dropper assembly.
I'll definitely file this thread for future reference!
Upon closer inspection of the upper portion, I now think it's actually the adhesive and not an actual o'ring. Where the tube inserts into the brass fitting, there wasn't any residue so it looked like an o'ring.
Very similar to this, but without the glue touching it so I thought they were two separate things.
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3 hours ago, HOGRIDER said:
Understand!
I had disassembled the pro dropper assembly for a good cleaning when moving the MBF over to the Apex 10, and don't remember seeing any "o-rings" in the brass tube assembly. But I wasn't looking for anything either; just a good swab with an alcohol patch and thorough cleaning of the dropper assembly.
I'll definitely file this thread for future reference!
It's between the tube and the brass, and the tube and the upper portion (with the switch). So if you didn't take those apart then you wouldn't have seen it. Also, the pro may be different. New versions of the standard dropper assembly might be different too for all I know. I'll snap a picture of the upper one. The lower one is gone, and I've removed the gooey mess and re-glued the tube to the brass.
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Looks pretty slick (pun intended).
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24 minutes ago, HOGRIDER said:
Great to hear you finally found the problem!
Any detail pics to share with others?
No, I wish I had though! I didn't even think to snap a couple of pictures. I was so caught up in slapping myself in the head for not thinking to check something other than the dropper die, while also being elated that I found the problem that I fixed it and put everything back together to run some more tests.
It would have been a good tutorial though...dammit.
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Well, this is embarrassing to admit, but here we are.
I filed and sanded and polished the dropper die again this morning. It's literally a shiny, glowing funnel. There's not a single ledge or ledge like surface to be seen. I placed bullets almost horizontally on the top and they corrected and slid down the die with ease. I put everything back together, fill the system and everything falls into place as it should. I load one round and the bullets don't fall. If I had hair to pull out, my scalp would have been a bloody mess. I tried a few more rounds with the same result.
So, I took everything down again, but this time I removed the polycarbonate tube and brass fitting from the switch so I could see how that whole assembly was working together. I filled it by hand and gently activated the die so a bullet would drop, then another then another. Crap, nothing obvious there. That is until I pull the brass fitting and tube off and four bullets weren't falling out from the bottom (through the brass fitting). So I flip it over, dump the bullets and put a flashlight at the end so I could see inside the tube. I'm initially thinking there's a burr on the brass. Turns out, the little silicone o'ring deteriorates over time. A small piece of it was pinched between the tube and the brass and blocking the bullets from dropping consistently. It was never the damn dropper die at all!!!!
TL;DR - Long Story Short Version:
Check the little silicone o'rings, they go bad over time, and will gum up the works.
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7 hours ago, HOGRIDER said:
@clw42Something came to mind where another user was pulling his hair out experiencing a very rare situation. The Pro Dropper you have now, was it purchased as an original 9mm dropper with the yellow zip tie up top? Reason I ask is the other user having difficulties was using a different caliber dropper and decided to load 9mm with it. Ended up he had forgot to change out the dropper ball bearings to the correct size for the caliber he was swapping to.
Installed the correct size bearings and fixed his completely! 9mm should be using 4.5mm balls.
Just thinking out loud............
I appreciate the thought and the outside of the box possibility, but I only load two calibers, 9mm and .223. I hardly ever swap the MBF for .223 since I don't really load that much of it.
Like I said, I've had this thing for five years, loaded over 100K now and this problem is completely out of nowhere. I've even loaded Blue Bullets from this very same lot without a problem. All I did was change from loading RMR Flat point for minor, to loading blue bullets for major. I use the same tool head, just swap out the powder measure, set the Redding Die to the correct seating depth, tweak the crimp, swap out bullets and set the MBF Collator for the different type of bullet. It's a bit of a process so I typically load a few thousand minor at a time towards the end of the season just to mix things up a bit, then switch back to major around now to gear up for the upcoming season.
The one thing that changed was going automated. I wonder if maybe this was always an issue, but was masked by cranking on the press. As it is now, I have to tap the dropper so the bullets fall and the dropper refills. I suppose it's possible that cranking the press was enough movement to keep any bullets that may hang up to actually fall, keeping things flowing. Now I'm depriming and resizing on a different press so the automated 1100 is swaging, priming, powder drop, bullet feed, seat and crimp. So there's no real force required and the automation makes it all the more smooth and consistent.
I have no clue. I'm completely flummoxed and throwing crap on the wall to see what sticks. I doesn't help that I have low level OCD and won't be able to not mess with it. By the time I'm done shaping and polishing this dropper die, it's going to be a totally useless nub...lmao.
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Still getting 2-3 stoppages every 20 or so rounds. I might try a new standard dropper die since the Pro Assembly is out of stock everywhere aside from MK7. It's just irritating, because I've literally loaded a ton of RN bullets, Blues included, without a problem...until now. All of a sudden it's an issue. If it were the dropper die though, I would have thought this clean up job would fix it.
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On 1/26/2023 at 10:05 AM, Posvar said:
For some reason I read that the Atlas were hard to find right now but hopefully you can locate some ASAP!
They've been out of stock forever!! I put one on my primary gun for the same reason as the OP. I've been looking periodically since at least October so I could get one for my back up and they've been OOS. I submitted a request to be notified via email when they're back in stock and sent a message asking how long they think it might be. I was told they're in the queue, but was not given a timeline.
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7 hours ago, Jsjac said:
The area that I am taking about is at the top of the dropper die itself.
I used a cone shaped stone in my Dremel tool to remove the square corners. To form a funnel.
Then I polished it. Since then I have had no problem with bullets hanging up.
Yes, DAA sent me a video of basically rounding off that edge with a countersink drill bit. I did that, polished everything real well, like shiny smooth. Still sticking. I am going to give it one more go again tomorrow and see what happens.
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2 hours ago, HOGRIDER said:
Mark7 is showing in stock at the moment...........
Also Midway shows "one" in stock........
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/2670185085?pid=932546
Thanks Hog, I almost ordered from MK7 until they wanted $30 for shipping.
Turns out, the problem wasn't what I thought it was. I've had the MBF for five years now and I've loaded all sorts of bullets. The Blues I'm currently loading, I've loaded 10's of thousands without a problem. That's what made me think it could have been the tube coming loose.
What I think is happening is that the bullets are stopping on the little ledge between the brass piece and the die assembly, because it will feed five, six, seven, then the bullets stop falling and feeding. If I give it a nudge they fall and load the next however many.
I took the die out and cleaned it again, as well as polished the inlet to the dropper. My problem is, I can't really get in there with anything to really polish it as well as may be needed.
Another thought I had was that maybe there's too much spring tension when the tool head is all the way down. I'll tinker with that in the morning. I did cut quite a bit off, but I think I left enough behind to allow for some additional slack. I thought the typical problem with that scenario though was that you'd get a bullet avalanche.
I've submitted an email to DAA. Maybe I just need a new die assembly.
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2 hours ago, Jsjac said:
Not sure or the shape bullet you are using.
I have been using the conical bullet and it tips in the feeder and hags up on the square shoulder.
I use a small cone shape stone to taper the spot where the bullet was hanging up.
I'm using round nose. I think I figured it out. The plastic tube that feeds into the brass piece came unglued which looks to have been causing the bullets to not drop or like yours, get hung up on the shoulder (if you were referring to the square shoulder in the brass fitting). I'd get five that fed fine, then nothing. As I watched, I noticed that the bullets would stop dropping entirely.
I have a habit of grabbing at that part of the tube when I want to move or remove the die. I must have worked it loose. I epoxied it last night so we'll see if that was the actual problem.
16 hours ago, 36873687 said:I loaded bunch blues in 9 major .356 were much more accurate. As for bullet
feeder go pro die. Best investment i made.
I'm using .356 as well. Looks like the pro die it out of stock at the moment, but I'll definitely keep an eye out for it.
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I used to use RMR exclusively. However, with their price increases over the last couple of years, primers costing what they cost, I made the switch to blue bullets last year. The cost difference is ~$350/12K, that's including all of the discounts I'm aware of for both types of bullets.
There's two things that bug the hell out of me when using blue bullets. One, the bullet feeder will stop feeding bullets for some reason. I'll have to manually lift up on the dropper, empty what's in the sleeve and fill it up again. I assumed that the internals or bearings were getting gunked up from the coating, so I've taken it apart and cleaned it several times. There's a little bit of blue coating on the top where the bullets enter the dropper, but that's it. So I don't know what is happening there.
The second thing is my OAL. I have it set up for 1.165 (Redding Micrometer Die) and I get a range between 1.155 and 1.173
I recently loaded a bunch of 124GR RMR flat point match bullets for minor, and the variance was between 1.123 and 1.127 with a set point of 1.125 which is about what I'd expect for range brass.
What I found was that the blue bullets measured between .614" and .629" (50 sample size) in OAL so that combined with the mixed headstamp brass would account for the OAL variances in completed rounds.
What I still can't figure out is why the bullet feeder stops feeding.
I'm loading on an automated Dillon 1100. All of my brass is decapped, sized and expanded (Lyman M-Die) on a 650 prior to loading on the 1100. So the 1100 is swaging, priming, powder, bullet, seat, crimp.
I'm not sure if this is enough to make me go back to the RMR JHP's, but I'm strongly considering it.
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6 hours ago, dtuns said:
What's the advantage of this over the swager the 1100 comes with?
It goes to 11
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53 minutes ago, HOGRIDER said:
Yes, Dillon has had brand loyalty for a long time! But, IMO, since Mike passed I don't think they have been aggressive enough in their development department.....
Prior to buying the Apex10, I had serious reservations based on what I had heard and read about their primer issues. However, I felt that I had the ability to learn the system and maintain it just as I had to do with the RL1100. Supposedly the current setup has helped tremendously, and so far I have had ZERO issues with the priming system.
Of all the years I owned/operated the XL650 series, I never remember having any priming issues whatsoever. IMO, it was one of the easiest priming systems to operate and maintain! With that being said, the first major issue I had with the RL1100 was the priming system! And it jammed the press up solid! All due to poor quality control on whomever did the assembly on my machine prior to shipment.
I do think that competition is a good thing for us consumers; and I hope the X10 proves to be a great product. Time will tell...........
Totally agree on the Dillon front. How they haven't seen the 10 station need is beyond me. MK7 should have been the wake up call. While I appreciate upgraded designs, new innovations always catch my eye.
Funny (not haha) you had issues with the 1100 priming system and I was scared off by reports of MK7 issues. You didn't have them with the MK7 and I haven't had any with the 1100...Like I said, if I were buying now (and FA wasn't coming out with the X10) I'd likely get the MK7.
Competition is always a good thing!!
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10 hours ago, HOGRIDER said:
I definitely respect and understand your opinion! After moving from a "dedicated" Dillon customer who most recently owned an RL1100, to the Mark 7 Apex10, my experience of having/utilizing a 10 station press has far exceeded my expectations!
I feel confident that those considering the 8 station, RL1100 at $2200 vs the 10 station FX10 at $1200 will lean towards the FA unit if they fully understand the benefits of a 10 station press! And I feel FA is committed to standing behind and fully supporting this press!
Yea, the MK7 is definitely more expensive; but again IMO, the quality and CNC machining of components justifies that additional cost............
I've been a Dillon fan boy as well. I thought about the MK7, but I got scared off by the primer feed issues people were having at the time I was ready to upgrade, so I ended up going with the 1100. I don't necessarily regret it, but I'd likely make a different choice if I were to do it over again. At this point, I won't trade the 1100 to upgrade to the MK7. However, I may sell a 650 and buy the X-10 when the time is right.
Also, valid point on the 8 to 10 station upgrade. Dillon will probably lose some sales also. I just think their brand loyalty is stronger. Maybe I'm wrong though, who knows. I guess we'll find out when the X-10 starts selling.
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On 1/12/2023 at 1:52 PM, ltdmstr said:
Winchester primers used to be top quality. Now they suck. First they did away with the plated cup. Now they are dirty and less uniform in size and shape. I went from having zero issues with them to having multiple problems with every single tube (in multiple 1050s). At this point, they are my last choice. I'm currently using CCI, Fiocchi, Magtech and Federal and have zero issues with any of them. The only brand I have a problem with is Winchester.
Crap! I just bought some after having press issues with the Servicios Aventuras. I was thinking Winchester has a good rep, I'll go with those. UGH!!!
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On 1/13/2023 at 2:13 PM, HOGRIDER said:
Really? Help me understand your reason(s) for this statement.............
It's a 10 stage press, supposedly built like a tank, cost is half (at least), and someone will automate it. I think it will draw more fence sitters, people who would upgrade to the MK7 but it's cost prohibitive. Also, I don't think they have the brand loyalty of Dillon customers. It's not scientific, just my opinion.
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1 hour ago, eboos said:
That price is looking more and more likely. When introduced, if I remember correctly, the price was going to be $1100. Then with the name change they also increased the price to $1200. For what this press is, compared to the competition this is a steal. Just checked the FA website and they now do not list a price. In my mind, that only means one thing. Still a good price, but not the industry knock out price that $1100 or $1200 would have been.
Agreed, maybe not a knockout price, but still very good for what you get. Also, their accessories seem much less expensive as well...so that's something else to consider. If nothing else, it will probably take more from Lyman than Dillon.
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47 minutes ago, Miranda said:
ETA: ah clw42, I realize not that I maybe shouldn't have quoted your post
as my post was more generic questions.
I think I started to ask you just about youtube vids and
if you found one that I likely missed.
That's okay, not a problem.
I likely have not seen anything you haven't, however, I do know someone that has an inside track on the development of the press. It's the typical, I know a guy who knows a guy type of thing. Having said that, I will be buying one based on this person's engineering prowess,insight and knowledge of the project. If the marketing claims hold (which they appear to be doing) and the price point is maintainable (jury is still out), then I think this press has the potential to really shake up the market. They will for certain do some damage to Lyman/MK7, and likely Dillon as well. Even if they come in at $1,500 (totally made up by me), it's a game changer. All in my opinion of course.
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On 1/2/2023 at 12:48 AM, SIGcurious said:
There are a good number of YouTube videos from early adopters. All seem positive.
I've heard very good things, both about the press and about FA's response to a couple of improvements that could be made.
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Rivets would work as well, and may be viewed as a more permanent solution.
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There's another thread on these:
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This thing works really well. It's a bit pricey, but for stand and shoot exercises it's fantastic.
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Romeo3 new button design.
in Gear & Accessories
Posted
Funny, I just received two replacement dots a 6MOA and a 3MOA. The 6 has the new buttons, the 3 has the old style.