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cases sticking on powder funnel - new problem


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Seeking the collective wisdom her. 

Reloaded 10's of thousands of rounds on both a 550 and 650 (9mm and .38 super) in a nice reloading room inside - never a problem. 

Moved things to my garage (new house, no room for a reloading room), and I now have a very nasty case of cases sticking on the powder funnel.  

Nothing changed other than the garage isn't heated, so I am wondering if hot/cold + what humidity we have here (Calgary is pretty dry) has something to do with it? Though I know lots of folks reload in their garages.  Ideas? 

 

 

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I have used a VERY SMALL amount of Hornady case lube, first rubbed on my finger tips, then very LIGHTLY applied to the exterior of the powder funnel (once about every 20-25 rounds, usually).  It makes the problem disappear, and it in no way appears to cause clumping or problems with the powder.  The trick is to apply the lube LIGHTLY.

 

Also, in my experience, the cleaner the brass cases, the more likely they are to stick on the powder funnel.  Brass that isn't shiny clean usually never sticks, regardless of the caliber.

 

YMMV.

 

 

 

 

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19 hours ago, Steve RA said:

If you don't use one brand of case it could well be the difference in case wall thickness between brands.

True, seems to be most with CBC and Herters brass for me. Other brass makes are fine.

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4 hours ago, RudyVey said:

True, seems to be most with CBC and Herters brass for me. Other brass makes are fine.

hmmmm... I sort for headstamps and have a pile of Herters that I've never loaded for.

I've loaded CBC and agree that it is either thicker or stiffer than just about everybody else. 

With CBC I  adjust my dies for that run.

Looks like I might have to do the same for Herters.

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After 40k rounds or so, the powder funnel on my 38SC 650 was sticking so badly that it was painful to load on. Last weekend I decided enough was enough and set out to fix it. I run all brass through a u-die and decided this was most likely the culprit. To verify I grabbed 20 pieces of sized brass, the powder funnel and the calipers. What I found was the ID of all brass was within .0005, all Starline, and the OD of the funnel was .002 larger than the ID of the brass. I reduced the flat sides of the funnel by .0015 then progressively polished with 220 to 2500 grit sand paper. After that I hit it with a buffing wheel on the bench grinder, cleaned and reinstalled. The press runs smoother than it did when new with absolutely no hitch from the powder funnel. Even when lowering the ram very, very slowly, there is zero tactile feedback when the case leaves the funnel. Wish I would’ve done it about 30k rounds ago when the problem first presented.

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What do you do to clean your brass? Any change there?

 

I had serious sticking with a specific .45 ACP headstamp. Some of the finished rounds wouldn't chamber easily either - but I managed to fire them anyway. Now I've loaded the same brass again - with no issues. One difference is that there was a couple of years' break in using those dies, and that brass, before the troublesome session.

 

 

Edited by perttime
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My reloading bench is also in the garage. I wet tumble my brass and began having this same sticking problem on the powder funnel.  The solution for me is to use Hornady One Shot Spray Case Lube. I put a couple hundred cases in a one quart zip bag, lay them flat and spray the lube on.  After a few minutes, I shake the bag, lay them flat again and give them one more shot of lube. I do this before loading primer tubes. Once I'm done the the primers, I empty the bag of brass into the case feeder, fill the bag again, spray and repeat. By this time, the brass in the feeder have aired out and I start loading (after verifying my powder drop, of course). 

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I started having cases stick on the funnel after I started wet tumbling brass.  I guess they are too clean.  Once clean and dry I run the brass through the vibratory tumbler with walnut media treated with polish.  No more cases sticking on the funnel.

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On 9/5/2018 at 3:02 AM, taxil343 said:

After 40k rounds or so, the powder funnel on my 38SC 650 was sticking so badly that it was painful to load on. Last weekend I decided enough was enough and set out to fix it. I run all brass through a u-die and decided this was most likely the culprit. To verify I grabbed 20 pieces of sized brass, the powder funnel and the calipers. What I found was the ID of all brass was within .0005, all Starline, and the OD of the funnel was .002 larger than the ID of the brass. I reduced the flat sides of the funnel by .0015 then progressively polished with 220 to 2500 grit sand paper. After that I hit it with a buffing wheel on the bench grinder, cleaned and reinstalled. The press runs smoother than it did when new with absolutely no hitch from the powder funnel. Even when lowering the ram very, very slowly, there is zero tactile feedback when the case leaves the funnel. Wish I would’ve done it about 30k rounds ago when the problem first presented.

What was you method for polishing? How did you maintain concentricity?

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The One Shot seems to help a bit, however I am very interested in what seems to be the ultimate solution - fixing the funnel.  I have read some have taken theirs to a machinist and had the taper reduced and the polished,  essentially the crux seems to be -  reduce the angle and polish the crap out of it, the question is how to do this DYI and maintain concentricity, or does it really matter?

Edited by docscoutjr
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Had this problem recently mostly with new brass.   Through the brass in my tumbler with some automotive car wax 10 min or so.

No more sticking .Brass was in a way too clean. I dont wet clean pistol brass this brass was.

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20 hours ago, docscoutjr said:

What was you method for polishing? How did you maintain concentricity?

Chucked it up in a drill press and used a wood backer on the paper. Only removed 1.5 thou from the diameter and the machine is certainly incapable of making ammo with less than .0015 variation so I did not worry about concentricity. The ammo, guns and targets have seen no effects... just the press and the guy pulling the handle haha. 

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3 hours ago, taxil343 said:

Chucked it up in a drill press and used a wood backer on the paper. Only removed 1.5 thou from the diameter and the machine is certainly incapable of making ammo with less than .0015 variation so I did not worry about concentricity. The ammo, guns and targets have seen no effects... just the press and the guy pulling the handle haha. 

Cool, thanks.  Kind of what I figured.  

DL 

 

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On 9/17/2018 at 8:08 AM, MikieM said:

It's all atmospheric. The temperature difference is causing the brass to shrink a wee bit causing the stickiness.

Also, keep an eye peeled for rust. You may have to dehumidify your garage.

Where I live we probably are as dry as you can get - rust has never been a problem around here.  Interesting that it was when it was rather hot and muggy that the problem was the worst.  

 

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  • 5 weeks later...

Running pin tumbled spotlessly clean brass here too.

 

I've finally had it.  I'm  shocked I haven't broken my press yet.  Hornady One shot USED to work just fine.  I don't know whether I have a bad batch, they've changed formulas or what.  I too use a 13X9 cake pan and stand all cases up in it and also group them in a bunch sides touching.  I spray at a 45 degree angle specifically to get lube into the inside of the cases.  I spray them.  Wait a minute.  Turn the pan 180 degrees and spray again.  Then 90 degrees and another 180.  I can see it running down the inside of the case!  They stick like they are epoxied to the funnel and I know there's lube in there.  Used to be if you missed 4 cases in 10 it didn't really matter.  Now you have to spray and hit every single case and it still doesn't seem to matter they are just gonna stick anyway.

 

My Hornady sizing die is TiN coated and it doesn't care one whit whether there is lube or not but they are easier and smoother with a bit of lube.  I just rounded up every powder funnel I have and they are going out for TiN coating tomorrow.  I ain't messing with this anymore.

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I use 9mm range brass and have intermittent sticking issues on the powder funnel. I use dillon lube and have noticed the same headstamps stick. Ive quit trying to adjust for it...

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  • 1 month later...

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