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MountainMan

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Everything posted by MountainMan

  1. Does anyone set up support for the case feeder and bullet feeder in other than the stand provided for the evolution\revolution? For my new homes reloading bench and I was thinking of mounting them (bullet feeder and the case feeder) to some supports that I affix to the wall or ceiling so it’s out-of-the-way which will make access to the shellplate etc easier. This bench is now up against a wall and not far below the ceiling joists of my workroom. So I have solid supports to anchor the assembly that supports the case feeder and the bullet feeder.
  2. I'm a B class USPSA shooter, but I shoot mostly IDPA these days and in IDPA I am a two gun Master, and I've been working on my shooting fairly diligently for 10 years (but not consistently since I work, have a family, etc). I've taken lessons from 3 world champions in groups or personally (Leatham (group twice), Vogel (group) and Frangoulis (personal lessons many times). I don't have strong hands or wrists, and I've been struggling with recoil management as much as any other thing. Each of them has a different take on grip and recoil management and I, too, have dispensed with dogma. It's like batting styles of professional baseball players. Great variation in style, but the are all very similar in performance. Each must play to their anatomy, strengths, weaknesses, etc differently to achieve their outcome. I have found that (perhaps b/c my hands are small and relatively weak) that engaging my lats and not hunching my traps helps considerably with consistent return of the sights between shots. Perhaps it's a crutch, I dunno. As a result I've been told I look like I'm shooting more 'casually' (shoulders down) than when I used to bunch up my shoulders and deltoids. It seemed to reduce the recoil transmission to my head, also, making shooting smoother. my scores are better this way. It required me to adjust the ergonomics of my draw and forearm angles a bit (I'm bringing the gun up more and not dipping my head forward and down as before), but it works...it is now natural, after 20-30k rounds of careful practice to train this reflex. I've worked on variations of grip technique endlessly, and still can't get my sights to track perfectly straight up and down consistently. I"m right handed and I have spent thousands of rounds experimenting with technique, and my most consistent return is with a grip roughly 70/30 left/right strength, and yet the sights still rise in a short loop toward the right and come back nice and reliably each time. But not straight up and down. I've asked one of the above GMs and he shrugged and said his track up and down but that isn't the goal, that's just his technique to achieve his goal (of rapid return of sights to the original index, resulting in the accumulation of more trophies). He suggested I not sweat it that much since I have other things that are now limiting my improvement, like entries/exits, and reloads! I'm never winning a sanctioned match at my age and skill level, and that's not any goal anyway. I just need to feel like I'm getting a bit better in something over time. I'd like to know if some of you Masters and GMs have similar observations. Is a straight up/down track of your sights your goal or is it more of a non-imperative consequence of your technique. I guess by standards of performance, it's how fast and consistently the sights return to the original index that matters, not whether there is a little curve to the left or right as it rises....but I keep hearing Enos's comments about the holy grail 'neutral grip' concept in my head. I will add that for new shooters, you should experiment with different recoil springs. If your spring is unnecessarily strong, it will cause the slide to dip down when it returns to battery, and that contributes to the problem of perceived recoil control. I noticed a big improvement when I ranged to a spring that consistently cycled the gun (but just barely) compared to a stock factory spring. Thanks
  3. A bit louder, since there is more metal surface area (the collator plate is metal) and it holds more cases. But I wear hearing protection anyway so never bugged me.
  4. I have one on my evolution. I was fed up with the jamming problem with the stock case feeder that came with the evolution. Even with the 3-D printed fix, 9 mm cases would lock up the feeder frequently, and I’d get those brass waterfalls. The 14 works much better. It can handle lots more cases. I have not had any upside down cases or falls. I have used it with 9 mm only so far. It’s just very expensive obviously.
  5. I bought an Evo and sold my 1050 which had a M7 autodrive set up. i had so many troubleshooting issues with the M7 that I would not do it again. Now it’s all fine but it took literally 6 months of back and forth and replacement components and one full return to get things right. Maybe it was just the fact that mine was early on in their production. But the time I wasted I’ll never get back. ‘’if you are a tinkerer type with any mechanical proclivities it’s prolly fine now. Like I said, now my system is flawless and reliable and I can happily make a months ammo (2-3k) in 1.5 hours.
  6. I will admit that, now that I have everything finally running smoothly, that the powder check sensor introduced the single biggest change to my routine. Took 20-30k rounds before I changed, but now I don’t feel compelled to watch the powder charge in every single case.
  7. Ok, thanks. What caliber are you loading? Ok. I apologize for this...but did you ensure your Swage sense button on the tablet is on (green)? You said you could trigger it manually so I assume yes. Also, unplug the swage connector into the autodrive housing, and plug it back in while unit is on. Sometimes that's an issue. You said backup rod. What is your back up die? Mark 7 unofficially (at least awhile back) discouraged use of the Dillon 1050 swage station style back up rod which actually makes contact with the inside base of the brass. On the 1050, the rod could be a little sloppy and function with mixed brass fine, since the 1050 just swaged (did not sense obviously) and that swaging is the bottom of the primer pocket. So a little 'give' to the assemby at swage station was okay for a 1050. Not so for the Mark 7. The swage sense needs the brass to be pretty much fixed on that shellplate with minimal upward deflection. Yes there will be a little give when you test it with a firm push with the toolhead up, but with the tool head down, and the back-up die holding the brass down, there should be very minimal upward deflection of the shellplate/brass. With the toolhead in the 'clear shellplate' setting, you should just barely be able to rotate the shellplate with your finger. this will also reduce primer height variations, BTW. At my swage station I use a resizing die with depriming pin removed. (In fact, to be honest, I resize at swage, as my 2nd stage (1st stage after case feeder) is actually a universal Lee depriming die. I was getting too many bent pins from gravel in my cases (I'm lazy) etc so I did this way, and it works great. When it hits gravel, it pops the pin up (doesn't break it), I get a clutch stop, and/or I get a decap sense stoppage. But nothing breaks. I also have another resizing die at priming, doing the same thing holding down the brass to reduce primer height variations) So if you are using a back up rod like the dedicated Dillon 1050 die (which is a combo case neck expander and hold down rod), and especially if your shellplate is a tad loose, you will find that the case will move up until it hits the back up rod and that will trigger the clutch. The swagesense 'window' of sensing a ringer is a very narrow window of that cycle. To test this, I would actually move your resizing die to the swage station and use this as the back up die to test this issue. You'll need some deprimed cases for the test first. You sound experienced but so was I when my Evo arrived and I spent dozens of frustrating hours before realizing I was missing one little step in a process as the source of my problems. So apologies if this sounds pedantic... 1) calibrate press. Make sure all other dies are not touching shellplate. shellplate just barely able to move by one thumb. 2) move toolhead down to bottom. 3) screw in a resizing die (depriming assembly removed) until it just makes contact with shellplate, tighten the die lock rings here. 4)Toolhead up, put in your half-cut brass, then move-to-bottom on toolhead. 5) thread swage rod up into primer pocket per manual. tighten the nut on the swage rod base. 6) set your digital clutch to 2 or 3 or so. Make sure swage sense is green on the tablet. 7) test the system with a normally deprimed brass, then with a piece of brass with retained spent primer. Another poster mentioned that his microswitch bolt had no 1/4" nut...which I think is necessary to anchor that sensor switch. Yeah maybe the sensor has been changed since I got mine, but I don't know. But....if you could snap and post several close-up images of your swage sense unit (several angles) that will help us troubleshoot for you. The next step, if all this fails, might be trying to squeeze those two red plates together to mimic a ringer situation. I've never heard of that being the problem, but there are spring washers stacked between those plates that are intended to compress with such-and-such a force applied (the force one gets with a ringer or retained spent primer). I guess it's possible there is some blockage or mis-alignment of that assembly preventing the plates from compressing properly. I really doubt it, but it's possible.
  8. Describe how you adjusted the height of the back up die and then the swage rod. Did you use a half cut piece of brass? you need to set the back up die, whatever you use, first. Then the swage. To summarize, u r getting a torque stoppage but no ringer detected stoppage?
  9. That’s a good reason, admittedly. I have that now too on my Evo....and The entire sensor suite. I just load pistol caliber now. but if you wanted a powder check and bullet feeder on the Dillon 1050\1100, The necessary compromise was a combination bullet seating/crimping die which just isn’t that good. One of the quirks of the Mark 7 Is that if there is a digital clutch stoppage and you jog up to troubleshoot, then want to continue and hit end cycle, depending on how far down the toolhead came before it clutched, it may have or may not drop more powder into the case upon resumption. So, without the powder check sensor, you have to remember this feature and clear that case. It was a bit of a stressor but I got into the habit of doing that. Now, with the powder check sensor, there’s that back up protectionfor that concern. The single most common reason the powder check sensor fires now, however, is because there was something in the case Sharing space with the powder charge and accordingly triggering the power check sensor because it was running higher than normal. This has been gravel mostly...not removed during case prep and which for some reason did not hang during the decapping process. but Please don’t expect to be up and running flawlessly 24 hours after the item arrives at your doorstep. Load up A month supply before you sell your Current press and plan on a learning curve with the new press.
  10. The Apex is cheaper to make. The EVO CNC is a great piece of hardware but...too costly to make. that was my take on the comms with folks at M7 when I first heard the cast version was coming out I fully believe they could also integrate solutions into the Apex after identifying them on hundreds (thousands?) of Evos/Revis. But that was not the main impetus. It’s not a criticism. I want them to be profitable forever and if they have to make a cast unit to do that, so be it.
  11. The obvious down side is that you have a fully functional system now, and when you order an EVo or Apex, you will be starting over with a new press. All these presses are temperamental and it will take several thousands of rounds for you to learn the quirks and nuances of these presses. Don't under-estimate the frustration protential regarding this. I started with a 550b, then bought a super1050 that I used manually for 150k rounds or so, then added a Mark 7, then pivoted that autodrive onto an EVO. And sold the 1050 to a range acquaintance. The Evo took months to troubleshoot and fine tune. all kinds of annoying little problems that eventually all smoothed away, but i STILL would not do it all over again. I would have just kept my 1050 Mark7 autodrive if I had to go back and do it again. Took too much time to figure out. This APEX is a new press, really, so don't assume it'll be flawless out of the box. They never are.
  12. The red plates are normally very 'tight' and pressing on it with your hands etc rarely evinces any noticeable compression. It's normally very tight like that. photos of the swage system and POS system would help when you have time. Not sure what your swage system looks like as you describe... The 'flicker' spring-loaded deprimers impart a short sharp vibration impulse through the system and can cause the primer to jump. The obvious test is to replace it with a less shocky deprimer and see if the problem is instantly solved or not. Also check that your primer punch rocker moves up and down smoothly by pushing underneath it with the shellplate fully up. you should see the punch come up through the shellplate, then return back quickly and firmly after you release the finger pressure on teh bottom of the rocker. If you feel grittiness or some clunky resistance-then-it-moves, you need to strip this all apart and clean and inspect. It's rare but I heard someone had crushed primer frags down there affecting the smooth up-down motion of the punch. Never saw it myself. As you state, and with which I agree, sideways primers are almost always due to something happening from the bottom end of the primer tube stack to the point were the primer is shuttled into position above the primer punch. Consistently fully flipped primers is more likely your primer pickup/primer filler issue. M
  13. What caliber are you reloading? Was it set up for you when you took delivery or did you install? Please post a video of the swage station in action wherein it fails to register a ringer or primed case. Please include in the video the shellplate and also the lower portion of the sensor where the two halves come together. As for the swage sense, I assume you have gone thru the manual and installation guidelines and set the swage height correctly. Obviously if the swage pin is not set high enough, it will never trigger the sensor. Setting the height is is best done with a halved-piece of brass (cut length wise with a dremel tool) so you can see how high the swage enters the primer pocket. This is in the PDF instructions. It would be good to have a flawed (unswageably small) primer pocket, or a ringer as a 'positive' calibration piece, and a normal deprimed case as a negative calibration piece. Yes you can use an un-de-primed case for that purpose in a pinch. But a true ringered pocket is ideal. If it senses a ringer it will sense a remaining primer. The reverse may not be true if your adjustments are not correct. One common issue is shellplate flex/deflection. If the shellplate nut is not screwed down enough and the shellplate has too much vertical play, and especially if you are not using a hold down die of some kind at Swage, when the swage pin comes up it just pushes up the brass without meeting enough resistance to trigger the sensor. This would also cause primer height variations and could also influence primer orientation, but mainly primer seating height issues. The shellplate should be just able to be rotated by finger when the tablet is in 'clear shell plate' mode. If you can push down on it with your thumb and see it depress down (against the spring detent ball) then it's not tight enough. I assume you already checked this, but the sensor adjustment is a small 0.050 allen screw on the 'right' side of the unit. You need to first loosen the 1/4" nut that locks its position. Back out the set screw with a 0.050 allen wrench off the small orange switch a few turns. Tighten the screw until you hear an audible “click” from the orange microswitch (if you do not hear a click the switch may be damaged). Slowly back off the set screw slightly until you hear another audible click (also you can see that the screw is just above the switch and no longer depressing it). Retighten the 1/4" nut. Re-run the system and see if it works correctly. close up pics and a video are always helpful so in the future, post those with your first post to speed up the process!
  14. Drmike, You have the autodrive on it, I assume, right? So you have set the height of the primer sensor orientation plunger according to the manual; please post a photo of this for us. Is the plunger free to move up and down when you press lightly with your finger? One problem that can occur with the primer orientation sensor is if the index pawl is not set correctly and the shellplate is not aligned quite correctly at the end of each cycle and before the cycle begins. The primer orientation sensor triggers at the BEGINNING of each cycle, and if the shellplate is not aligned at that time, the primer sensor pin notes an apparent primer height error and triggers. You can tell if this shellplate pawl adjustment issue is the problem by carefully watching the shellplate (all sensors off, no brass) during the cycling of the press. If the shellplate moves ever so slightly (or more than ever so slightly) when the toolhead alignment pins FIRST enter the shellplate holes, then the shellplate pawl needs to be adjusted so that it is better aligned at the END of each cycle. If that is happening, let me know and I can direct you to the index pawl adjustment area. Mark7 had a link to a dropbox file with a nice video with this but it's been removed and I can't find it quickly on their site. It's a confusing collection of information on that mark7 community site...
  15. Has anyone had problems with Trident recently? I can't get it to load at all and even the website contact us feature won't work for me. After it thought over my submission for 10 minutes it flashed a screen and accused me of being a spammer. Huh.
  16. good to hear. did you get a chance to check the alignment of the primer tube with the cup in the primer slide? Was is correct already or did you adjust? I had some frustrations with all my presses....550 up to 1050. I automated the 1050 then rolled that automation (Mark 7) in at Evo. I am now very happy, but there were bumps along the way. Don't let frustration linger long when you hit a problem. Reach out here or at the Mark 7 forum for help.
  17. Setting up an IDPA stage wherein hitting a popper activates a disappearing rise-and-fall target. But I'd like to delay the rise-and-fall initiation for 3-4 seconds after the popper is hit Right now the lightest functioning weight on this rise-and-fall target gets me to 2-2.5 seconds. Though about inserting into the cable line a second activator (so popper activates a second activator which then activates the rise-and-fall). But before I spend too much time, I figured someone has done this before and might have a solution that they have actually used successfully? Thank you. M
  18. You mean the slide wasn't moving forward properly with cycling?
  19. Yep, so if you are looking at it any other time it won't be how it actually works. It's one of those things that "can't be off" by design....not that I ever trust anything fully.
  20. Can you post a short video showing that area as you cycle the press?
  21. Hmm. The alignment pin on the tool head is what sets that position.
  22. Sorry I’m using my iPhone on the road and I can’t see that picture very well. If it’s not lining up with the primer tube, that’s the setscrew at the very back that you turn to adjust it’s stop point which is what you wanna do if the primer slide is not moving back far enough to catch the primers coming down the tube
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