Learn from my stupidity

[59Bassman]

I've been reloading a pretty decent amount of time. I got my first press about 15 years ago, and have loaded probably ten thousand rounds of .45 ACP, plus a few thousand .223 through it - a single stage CH press. I know that's barely a drop in the bucket with metallic loaders, but I'm pretty comfortable with the process.

I also have loaded a couple hundred thousand rounds through MEC shotshell reloaders over the years. If you load on a MEC, you come to learn that the one thing guaranteed to fail on you is the primer feed. My wife used to gauge how cranky I'd be by how many times the shop vac turned on while I was out in the garage. My MECs have all been tweaked now and run great, but it takes a lot of futzing with springs, polish, silicone cloths, and bead chain to get you there.

So when I bought my Hornady LNL AP, I expeced a few primer hiccups, but nothing I couldn't deal with. I loaded a few hundred .45 ACP with a couple shuttle hangups, but then I swapped all the parts over to load small primers and the problems really started. In the past 3 weeks, I've loaded primers sideways, upside down, or missed entirely on dozens of 9 mm cases.

So I began to tinker. I polished the shuttle. I polished the shuttle guide. I chamfered the shuttle hole. I polished the feed tube. I tried adjusting the timing. I tried locking the allen screw that holds the feed mechanism tight, I tried it loose. Nothing worked. Every other round the shuttle would lock back, or the primer wouldn't seat properly, or something else would screw up.

Finally, I noticed that with a dental pick, there was a slight roughness around the inside of the hole in the feed shuttle. So I wrapped steel wool around a drill bit and slowly polished it out.

When I was done, I wanted to be sure that I had not hogged out too much material. So I grabbed a primer from my box of Winchester Small Pistol primers, and dropped it in the shuttle. There was a huge gap all the way around the primer. OH NO, I'd trashed the shuttle! (Wait for it, wait for it...)

A dim light came on over my head, and I started digging around the bench, and found the OTHER shuttle the press shipped with. Yes, I found the SMALL PRIMER SHUTTLE that I though I'd been working with for the past 3 weeks. Apparently, I mixed them up while swapping parts in the primer feed.

All I can tell you now is that the primer feed works MUCH better when you use the shuttle that is the correct size for the primer you are loading.

I'm a frickin' idiot.

Edited February 18, 2011 by 59Bassman

[Pat Miles]

Oh the stories I could tell you about me... but I won't.

Pat

[Alvarez Kelly]

You are a good "spinner of yarns." I was not expecting that ending and actually laughed out loud! Thanks for putting a smile on my face this early!

Edited February 19, 2011 by Alvarez Kelly

[Jman]

...humans.

[Youngeyes]

Wait for it......

[Powder Finger]

I've been reloading a pretty decent amount of time. I got my first press about 15 years ago, and have loaded probably ten thousand rounds of .45 ACP, plus a few thousand .223 through it - a single stage CH press. I know that's barely a drop in the bucket with metallic loaders, but I'm pretty comfortable with the process.

I also have loaded a couple hundred thousand rounds through MEC shotshell reloaders over the years. If you load on a MEC, you come to learn that the one thing guaranteed to fail on you is the primer feed. My wife used to gauge how cranky I'd be by how many times the shop vac turned on while I was out in the garage. My MECs have all been tweaked now and run great, but it takes a lot of futzing with springs, polish, silicone cloths, and bead chain to get you there.

So when I bought my Hornady LNL AP, I expeced a few primer hiccups, but nothing I couldn't deal with. I loaded a few hundred .45 ACP with a couple shuttle hangups, but then I swapped all the parts over to load small primers and the problems really started. In the past 3 weeks, I've loaded primers sideways, upside down, or missed entirely on dozens of 9 mm cases.

So I began to tinker. I polished the shuttle. I polished the shuttle guide. I chamfered the shuttle hole. I polished the feed tube. I tried adjusting the timing. I tried locking the allen screw that holds the feed mechanism tight, I tried it loose. Nothing worked. Every other round the shuttle would lock back, or the primer wouldn't seat properly, or something else would screw up.

Finally, I noticed that with a dental pick, there was a slight roughness around the inside of the hole in the feed shuttle. So I wrapped steel wool around a drill bit and slowly polished it out.

When I was done, I wanted to be sure that I had not hogged out too much material. So I grabbed a primer from my box of Winchester Small Pistol primers, and dropped it in the shuttle. There was a huge gap all the way around the primer. OH NO, I'd trashed the shuttle! (Wait for it, wait for it...)

A dim light came on over my head, and I started digging around the bench, and found the OTHER shuttle the press shipped with. Yes, I found the SMALL PRIMER SHUTTLE that I though I'd been working with for the past 3 weeks. Apparently, I mixed them up while swapping parts in the primer feed.

All I can tell you now is that the primer feed works MUCH better when you use the shuttle that is the correct size for the primer you are loading.

I'm a frickin' idiot.

That is a great story, detail, anticipating the successful conclusion to the needed modifications.

Hey WTH I always say there is absolutly nothing that you buy that can't be modified to improve it!

[GrumpyOne]

Oh the stories I could tell you about me... but I won't.

Pat

Way to jump on the bandwagon there, whatmeworry!

[Mush from PA.]

I'm a frickin' idiot.

No Sir, you are human. And a smart one because you were able to figure out your mistake. I bet you won't make that mistake again any time soon.

Thank you for the reminder so WE (the collective board members)will remember to check the primer tube when we change calibers.

This is why I like this board so much. It helps me keep all my fingers and other body parts during handloading. Again thank you.

[Jerryinokc]

Great story! Isn't this a fun "sport"? I can't tell you the number of times I've looked at EVERY…SINGLE…COMPONENT…of the machine, just to realize I forgot to change some critical piece of the puzzle. I feel for you, but do appreciate you sharing the story.

[Mattog22]

A few months ago I had some hangup on my lnl ap primer slide. The slide was stuck back with one feeding into the slide. I could not get it to go anywhere and I didn't want to take the whole primer tube off and spill primers so I started wiggling and pulling on it. Well, it came loose and came back further, I let go. It came back far enough that a primer fell in front of the primer slide and I let go letting it slide violently forward with a primer in the slide and in front of it. It went all the way and smashed the primer. Next thing I knew my ears were ringing and my fingers were black. It all happened in a split second. Scared the crap out of me! Won't do that again.

[McGlock]

Hence my reason for only loading cartridges that have small primers.. Lol! That and only having one type of primer.. No mix matching! Lol! Glad you figured it out

[Warhammer4k]

Tch, that's nothing. At least you didn't try to load large primers with the small primer shuttle for 3 weeks, and only then realize your mistake.

Now THAT would have been embarrassing!

[gohuskers]

It's all about learning from your mistakes.

[roadapple]

I've got a similar story about roll-crimping .45 ACP rounds, shortly after I first started reloading... about 20 years ago. I caught it before any went into the pistol. I broke my bullet puller trying to disassemble them.