Question on powder drop undercharging periodically

[cwall64]

I have noticed on on some of my loads with BE-86 and Longshot for the most part they are pretty close to my adjustments (+/- 0.2 grains), but on a handful per 500 i am getting some that are roughly 1.0 grain low. I hear the powder check station beep for just a quick millisecond until the shell plate is all the way up. Inspecting by eye the stick is a lot lower that it is supposed to be (but still in the cutout wedge), so when it hits the next station I pull the round and weigh. it is random, but I assume it has something to do with that stroke when the powder is dropped. Luckily it is never high and these loads are fine to shot as they are still above the minimum load for the round (10mm). Any suggestions on what I could be doing to make it drop that low? Powder hopper is between 75% & 50% full most of the time.

BTW - it is mounted on a heavy table with around 250 - 300 lbs of bullets on the lower shelf (very stable).

[mcracco]

I would call Dillon. A swing of .4gn for a 'good' round doesn't even sound right. I'm not familiar with either of those powders but are they a coarser stick type that won't meter as well as a flake or ball?

[cwall64]

BE-86 - The special extruded flake formulation results in excellent ballistics in a wide array of centerfire pistol loads, with high energy, an ideal burn speed and less flash. It meters well and is available in 1- and 8-pound canisters.

Longshot - Is a spherical powder.

I just bought some Accurate #7 & #9, I'll give them a try this weekend and see if I get better results.

I'll try to give Dillon a call today.

[RDA]

Are you 100% certain that the powder slide is traveling the full distance fore and aft with each stroke/cycle? Do you have any type of static or bridging issues?

I see very little variation, even when using stick powders I rarely see +/- 0.2 grains.

[benos]

With an empty Shellplate, push the handle forward as if seating a primer. Then look at the spring at thet bottom of the Failsafe rod - it should be at least half-way collapsed.

[cwall64]

Are you 100% certain that the powder slide is traveling the full distance fore and aft with each stroke/cycle? Do you have any type of static or bridging issues?

I see very little variation, even when using stick powders I rarely see +/- 0.2 grains.

Yes, even increased the bell to make sure that I was getting full travel.

[cwall64]

With an empty Shellplate, push the handle forward as if seating a primer. Then look at the spring at thet bottom of the Failsafe rod - it should be at least half-way collapsed.

That is the procedure I used to adjust it, but I'll reverify.

[MrDanCheck]

I would just like to comment on how upscale your bathroom looks next to your reloading bench.. You must be single.. My buddy had his 1050 in his kitchen.. As a single guy the 1050 got more use then the stove..

[cwall64]

Too funny! My man cave was my youngest daughter's room until she got married and moved out, so the colors are not my first choice, but it is my private room for reloading and other hobbies...

[cwall64]

I guess the press is just getting broken in, after 3,000 rounds through it it doesn't seem to be doing any 1 grain lower charges on the last 600 I ran through it. But what I did notice is that over that last 600 it did seem to drift down over the run. I tried to keep the powder hopper above 50% full all of the time (when it got close to 50% filled it back up to 95% full or so). I started out with a pretty consistent load of 9.5 grains of Longshot, and around the 175-225 or so mark I noticed that the powder check point of aim was moving higher in the v notch, so I measured and it was now 9.2 grains pretty consistently. It kept moving lower until I had to adjust the drop again back up to 9.5. BTW - measured on old Ohaus beam scale and RCBS Chargemaster.

Does an extra powder tube baffle help here?

I did check all the previous suggestions.