Mark7 Evolution - Tuning & Troubleshooting

[Clint007]

I have received most of my equipment. A few hiccups in terms of incorrect gear sent to me, they are fixing that and have been very helpful so far. I'm going to start assembling stuff this weekend.

 

LOL, but I can feel the chaos just behind the curtain when I call...like they are all working hard but things are new and/or changing so much they can never really strike an efficient rhythm before the ground shifts yet again on them.   Overall probably typical of a new company selling new tech, and in a tight labor market to boot.   But so far they seem like good people doing good work.  If the market and business plan calculations don't recoil on them, this seem like it should succeed...

 

C

[Clint007]

I’ve had my Evolution for a few days, still getting used to it.

 

What’s the fastest any of you are able to load 9mm without powder flying everywhere, and what are your settings, powder etc?

 

I have spent a few hours and the fastest I can go without powder flying, after experimenting with index and dwell variations,  is about 2100 per hour using N320. I haven’t tried Any other powders yet?

 

[andrewtac]

I settled on 1900 rph with dwell of 4 top and bottom with 40 and wst.  Faster and sometimes bullets would fall of, maybe more bell.   I could probably go faster, but that is plenty fast enough for me.  I think it was effectively around 1400 rph.   I let it run while I am doing something else, and monitor from a distance.  A couple times doing something in the hangar and I have enough rounds for the month.

[tanks]

10 hours ago, Clint007 said:

...What’s the fastest any of you are able to load 9mm without powder flying everywhere, and what are your settings, powder etc?

 

 

On a .40 fastest I have run is 3,000 rph on a Revo with N320. Dwell of 3. Now, that is with processed brass which is rollsized, decapped, swaged, and sized. 

[Clint007]

Thank you.

 

right now my issue is more primer jams. I’ve followed all the instructions listed in that troubleshooting document, but still get lock up with torque sense and find a distorted crushed primer in the cup under that thin black plastic tab between the tube and the shellplate. 

[tanks]

I can't say much on that as I have the primer collator. However, when I was getting crushed primers it was due to brass having pieces of the old primer in them. Pre-processing the brass eliminated that issue. Here is an example.

 

[Clint007]

Thank you. followed the suggestions on the priming problem  troubleshooting document.  The tube and pocket are aligned. The primer punch is flush with the bushing. Still getting this.It does seem more frequent at higher speeds, but so far dwell and index speed mods haven’t influenced this. These are win spp.

 

I’ll keep studying and talking with Mark 7 and hopefully get it resolved. I’ll set up a video recording to hopefully help diagnose it, but it seems the most likely explanation is that primers are not seating flat into the slide pocket as they fall from the tube. 

 

I don’t know about the Mark 7s but my 1050 needs a few thou rounds to break in, during which time I’d get hard to resolve intermittent issues of various kinds. This Evo priming issue seems more systematic however.  

[andrewtac]

Did you try the washers?  Mine wouldn't index due to the primer system.  My inner tube was to long evidently, since putting in washers zero primer issues at about 4k rounds.  Maybe the tube is to short.  I did use one size smaller than recommend for the washers.

[mikamarj]

I had similar issues, needed to polish/round the edges of the primer pocket in the primer slide... If you decide to do that, go carefully with fine sandpaper.

[Clint007]

5 hours ago, andrewtac said:

Did you try the washers?  Mine wouldn't index due to the primer system.  My inner tube was to long evidently, since putting in washers zero primer issues at about 4k rounds.  Maybe the tube is to short.  I did use one size smaller than recommend for the washers.

Where exactly do the washers go? I saw that in another document but couldn’t recall where and now I can’t find it again....

 

I do note the inner tube is wiggly even with the large nut tight on top (where primer sense sits).  And when the slide cycles even empty I see the inner tube quiver....I assume that means the slide is making contact with the tip?  

c

Edited August 6, 2019 by Clint007

[Tanfastic]

Also make sure the slide "slides" perfectly smooth, and has a little oil in the channel to make it so.  I ended up polishing mine and using a couple drops of light machine oil on it to get it to not "jump" during primer pickup.  Once I did that, I never had another flipped primer that got stuck.

[andrewtac]

The washers go under the three screws that hold the bottom of it down.  

[Clint007]

3 hours ago, andrewtac said:

The washers go under the three screws that hold the bottom of it down.  

 

ok thx will try that next.

 

ive already polished the surfaces...without effect..

Edited August 6, 2019 by Clint007

[Clint007]

My jams seemed to resolve then re appeared. Thanks to tanks For the advice to check the brass. I’m actually thinking the my jams were due to the same WMA 9mm brass.  Both jams tonight were from that.  I don’t have Swage sense set up yet, but both of these Deprimed and went through the swage station without a torque sense or clutch stoppage.   One failed to prime and the primer jammed the slide. Another half inserted into the pocket and jammed the shellplate that way.  A 3rd case (WMA mil stamp) activated the clutch at the deprime station, And I assume it was because the primer was very hard to eject. Or the mil brass is thicker. It’s not steel disguised as brass I checked with a magnet. All of them left the exact same apparently intact ring. Is this a ringer or is this a manufacturing feature?  Checking the forums some think the latter. These will nor swage out, but I assume swage sense will catch these when set up....

[Clint007]

The last undamaged case I checked with my primer pocket gauge and it’s hopelessly undersized due to that ringer/band.

[tanks]

On 8/8/2019 at 10:15 PM, Clint007 said:

The last undamaged case I checked with my primer pocket gauge and it’s hopelessly undersized due to that ringer/band.

 

What has happened between the brass and the metal is called Galvanic corrosion.  Dissimilar metals begin a self deterioration process, and when that happens it causes a weld.

The decapping pin is actually tearing  the primer apart while pushing it out.

[Ocrrhbow]

I had the crushed primer problem with WMA 9mm brass.  I had lots of problems as virtually all of my 9mm brass is WMA.  I would have 30 or so per 100 rounds loaded turn out with crushed primers.  I ended up taking my machine to Mark 7 for them to work on in their shop (I live 1.5 hours away from them).  They fixed it and I haven't had a single problem with it since (8-10K rounds loaded).  I wish I knew what they did to tell you but I can't remember what they told me they replaced.  It worked, though. 

[Clint007]

On 8/9/2019 at 11:02 PM, tanks said:

 

What has happened between the brass and the metal is called Galvanic corrosion.  Dissimilar metals begin a self deterioration process, and when that happens it causes a weld.

The decapping pin is actually tearing  the primer apart while pushing it out.

Interesting and frustrating. It’s so smooth it looks like a deliberate band lining the primer pocket....I now have swage sense installed.....hope to catch these now.

Edited August 16, 2019 by Clint007
spelling error

[Clint007]

On 8/14/2019 at 11:57 AM, Ocrrhbow said:

I had the crushed primer problem with WMA 9mm brass.  I had lots of problems as virtually all of my 9mm brass is WMA.  I would have 30 or so per 100 rounds loaded turn out with crushed primers.  I ended up taking my machine to Mark 7 for them to work on in their shop (I live 1.5 hours away from them).  They fixed it and I haven't had a single problem with it since (8-10K rounds loaded).  I wish I knew what they did to tell you but I can't remember what they told me they replaced.  It worked, though. 

 

Key question then: does your successfully reloaded WMA brass have that 'ringer' before it's primed during the loading process? Show us some of that brass after it has left Swage station but before priming, if you can....

 

I was able to hand swage one case to accept a new primer WITH that ring inside, this was before tanks above shared the judgment that this IS a ringer, not a unique case construction feature.  I tossed that case, sorry I didn't keep it for illustration. Don't do that anymore obviously.

C

[Tanfastic]

On 3/3/2019 at 5:32 PM, teros135 said:

 

I wonder if the problem is that they need a different drum for pistol, with a smaller bore, like Hornady and RCBS.   Mk7's is "one size fits all" and doesn't adapt to pistol so well.  

 

Here's a bit of good news, there now IS a smaller-drum powder measure in existence!  I just got one back with my press, will be trying it out later today.  I load 3.1gr of Titegroup in my Production Minor loads, and the large drum was not well suited for that.  You can see how much smaller the powder cavity is in the photo compared to the standard drum.  I'm not sure if this is also available with the digital measure at this point or not, this one is a manual model.

 

 

[andrewtac]

How much?

[Tanfastic]

On 8/18/2019 at 8:14 AM, andrewtac said:

How much?

 

Not sure individually, you'd have to check with MK7 on pricing.  Mine was part of a larger upgrade package with the primer collator.  It was actually supposed to be a digital one, and it has been verified now that the digital is also available with the smaller drum, so I'll be swapping this one for the digital.  

[MountainMan]

On 8/22/2019 at 5:43 PM, Tanfastic said:

 

Not sure individually, you'd have to check with MK7 on pricing.  Mine was part of a larger upgrade package with the primer collator.  It was actually supposed to be a digital one, and it has been verified now that the digital is also available with the smaller drum, so I'll be swapping this one for the digital.  

 

Is this newer measure more consistent?

 

my Mark7 mechanical measure wasn’t very consistent. I’ve installed a Dillon powder measure and jury-rigged the failsafe rod to the opening where the large spring was (which I removed with the auto drive in operation). The Dillon measure is within 0.1 grain for Titegroup.  Hoping Mark7 fixes that issue.

[Tanfastic]

On 8/28/2019 at 12:39 AM, MountainMan said:

 

Is this newer measure more consistent?

 

my Mark7 mechanical measure wasn’t very consistent. I’ve installed a Dillon powder measure and jury-rigged the failsafe rod to the opening where the large spring was (which I removed with the auto drive in operation). The Dillon measure is within 0.1 grain for Titegroup.  Hoping Mark7 fixes that issue.

 

I haven't tried it yet, waiting for the digital to arrive tomorrow, hopefully loading over the weekend.  But at least for my light grain loads I think the smaller drum will be WAY better.  The original drum is so big that the adjustment had to be nearly all the way in for me to get the 3.1gr charge weight I was aiming for.  That led to a lot of inconsistency, I was lucky to get +/- 0.2gr variance at 2200rph.  I'll report back after I get a chance to run it.  MK7 did test my press in-house, using the exact powder and charge weight that I use, and they reported 0.1gr variance, so if I can reproduce that I'll be very happy.

[MountainMan]

On 8/22/2019 at 5:43 PM, Tanfastic said:

 

Not sure individually, you'd have to check with MK7 on pricing.  Mine was part of a larger upgrade package with the primer collator.  It was actually supposed to be a digital one, and it has been verified now that the digital is also available with the smaller drum, so I'll be swapping this one for the digital.  

 

Thank you. I’m very interested in hearing your results..