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Mark7 Evo, crush primers.


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I'm about to give up on this press, I've had constant crushed primers and the priming mechanism get jammed up, I've taken the whole entire priming system out, cleaned it, re-lubed it, check for proper primer casefeed alignment, you name it and I can't this press to work. This is my second Evo that I received that has been prone to primer jams, the first one was so defective that Mark7 support decided to send me a new one.  Now this second one is prone to once again, primer jams.  This is not good! 

 

I've encountered crushed primers, stuck primers, etc.  This is extremely odd, and for such an expensive press it should work almost flawless but it doesn't.  Anyone has encountered the same issues with the Evo primers being jammed? 

 

Thanks 

Edited by chgofirefighter
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Sorry to hear that, you would  think that by now all the issues would have been worked out.. 

I've been on the fence with one of these machines for this exact reason. I would HATE to spend that type of money and have issue.. 

Hope you get it it all worked out.. GL 

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4 minutes ago, CClassForLife said:

Are you encountering these issues with only Winchester primers or did you experience the same when running CCI?

Both primers, CCI and Winchester but honestly it seems like its more prone to jams with Winchester... But regardless, a 3k press to keep doing this crap is not acceptable! 

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19 hours ago, Furrly said:

Sorry to hear that, you would  think that by now all the issues would have been worked out.. 

I've been on the fence with one of these machines for this exact reason. I would HATE to spend that type of money and have issue.. 

Hope you get it it all worked out.. GL 

 

 

I'm honestly about to give up, take the damn press apart and asked Mark7/Lyman to pay for its returned and get a full refund and turn around and purchased another Dillon RL1100.  Dillon is less expensive and it has given me way less issues 😠 

 

Edited by chgofirefighter
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12 minutes ago, chgofirefighter said:

 

 

I'm honestly about to give up, take the damn press apart and asked Mark7/Lyman to pay for its returned and get a full refund and turn around and purchased another Dillon RL1100.  Dillon is less expensive and it has given me way less issues 😠 I've contacted their customer support via email and telephone, 2 days ago... NO RESPONSE!  Not cool! 

 


I have had very good support from Mark 7. 
 

can you post pics or video of primers? Sorry to ask a basic question but I don’t know your experience level... are you using the large primer system with small primers by any chance? 
 

there are only a couple places adjustment points. Is the cover over the primer slide? 
 

how are you filling primers? Any chance some are flipped? 
 

Dillon will give you just as much grief. Grass is not any greener. Look at the Dillon section of the forum and you will see complaints. 
 

Mark 7s aren’t perfect but they give you way more flexibility on how you load. I have owned (and still own in some cases) almost all the big presses and will say Mark 7 is way less of a PITA.

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1 hour ago, DJRyan13 said:

Dillon will give you just as much grief. Grass is not any greener. Look at the Dillon section of the forum and you will see complaints. 

If memory serves me, I believe the OP bought a 1050 last year and had issues as well and returned it and decided on the Evo.

 

OP, do you know anyone with an Evo that could come by and help troubleshoot it in person for you? At least that way maybe there's something you're missing that they could help identify?

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OP,  you're not alone.  The primer system is one of the "soft" points of the Evo/Pro.  It's basically a beefed-up version of the 1050 priming system, but it seems to have the same weaknesses.  Also, the Evo is a highly-engineered but exquisitely sensitive machine that needs a lot of fine adjustments to keep it running.  I've found that the stacked priming system and case feed system (case feed assembly + shell plate) are common causes of stoppages.  Sometimes it runs fine, sometimes it can't do 100 rounds without stopping.  And yes, I've followed every bit of advice from M7, their manuals and handouts, the M7 Community (which is pretty sparse), and here at BE, and put countless hours into making it run. 

 

With the primer system, it's crucial to check the alignment of the primer tube over the primer pocket in the shuttle, adjustment of the primer shuttle's stop point in its travel backward (to align it properly with the shuttle pocket), and making sure the downward end of the  internal primer tube and the shuttle pocket are smooth and with no rough edges.  The lower end of the primer tube gets chopped up over time due to wayward movements of primers and screws up the smooth delivery of primers into the pocket. 

 

You need to take the primer feed ass'y off at intervals and clean everything to keep grit out of it.  Oil the sides of the shuttle lightly, per the instructions. 

 

There doesn't seem to be any way to keep primers from flipping out of the shuttle and getting crushed between the shell plate and the primer tube flange, even with a protective plastic  plate over the gap between them or at the aft end of the shuttle (just like the 1050...). 

 

It will also fail to feed primers at regular intervals.  A Primer Orientation Sensor helps keep the mess down by stopping the machine. 

 

It also "smears" primers fairly regularly, perhaps because the primer seating rod gets stuck in the large hole at the front of the shuttle.  That needs to be smoothed and polished. 

 

You might need to keep the production rate at 2000 RPH or less.  The shuttle moves pretty fast at any speed, and the faster you cycle the more likely things will go wrong. 

 

None of this is new.  Many folks have had these problems; it seems "built in" to the design.  They're apparently working on a new primer feed design; that may be the Evo-version primer collator that we've heard about (not out yet). 

 

Best of luck with your Evo Pro.  It can be an adventure!

 

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7 hours ago, teros135 said:

OP,  you're not alone.  The primer system is one of the "soft" points of the Evo/Pro.  It's basically a beefed-up version of the 1050 priming system, but it seems to have the same weaknesses.  Also, the Evo is a highly-engineered but exquisitely sensitive machine that needs a lot of fine adjustments to keep it running.  I've found that the stacked priming system and case feed system (case feed assembly + shell plate) are common causes of stoppages.  Sometimes it runs fine, sometimes it can't do 100 rounds without stopping.  And yes, I've followed every bit of advice from M7, their manuals and handouts, the M7 Community (which is pretty sparse), and here at BE, and put countless hours into making it run. 

 

With the primer system, it's crucial to check the alignment of the primer tube over the primer pocket in the shuttle, adjustment of the primer shuttle's stop point in its travel backward (to align it properly with the shuttle pocket), and making sure the downward end of the  internal primer tube and the shuttle pocket are smooth and with no rough edges.  The lower end of the primer tube gets chopped up over time due to wayward movements of primers and screws up the smooth delivery of primers into the pocket. 

 

You need to take the primer feed ass'y off at intervals and clean everything to keep grit out of it.  Oil the sides of the shuttle lightly, per the instructions. 

 

There doesn't seem to be any way to keep primers from flipping out of the shuttle and getting crushed between the shell plate and the primer tube flange, even with a protective plastic  plate over the gap between them or at the aft end of the shuttle (just like the 1050...). 

 

It will also fail to feed primers at regular intervals.  A Primer Orientation Sensor helps keep the mess down by stopping the machine. 

 

It also "smears" primers fairly regularly, perhaps because the primer seating rod gets stuck in the large hole at the front of the shuttle.  That needs to be smoothed and polished. 

 

You might need to keep the production rate at 2000 RPH or less.  The shuttle moves pretty fast at any speed, and the faster you cycle the more likely things will go wrong. 

 

None of this is new.  Many folks have had these problems; it seems "built in" to the design.  They're apparently working on a new primer feed design; that may be the Evo-version primer collator that we've heard about (not out yet). 

 

Best of luck with your Evo Pro.  It can be an adventure!

 

 

Thanks, yes, the primer system on both Dillon and Mark7 are their weak point Mark7 is a well-made press without a doubt and anything that’s mechanical can cause you issues. However, I was able to "FINALLY" resolved the primer issue with some guidance from "Anthony" the General Manager who kindly took his time on the phone to re arrange my dies and help me set my press the right way.  The issue was that I had the primer hold down die on the primer station and it was crushing the primers because that die did not belong in that station.  However, on the Mark7 manual the die lay-up states otherwise.  So, I moved the primer hold down to the Swage station and replaced the Lee U die that I had in its place.  Station 2 had the de capper die, station 3 had the Lee U die, 4 had the primer hold down, 5 the flare die.  I moved the primer hold down to the swage station, adjusted the swage station and re arranged the dies as follows.

 

Station 2: Lee U die/deprimming/sizing die

Station 3: Primer hold down "Mighty Armory"

Station 4: Lee U die without the decapping pin to stabilize the casing when the primers are being inserted into the primer pocket

 

I also received a new spring for the primer rocker arm, installed it and now she seems to be working very well.  Also, I verified per the guidance of "Anthony" from Mark7 that the primer slide pocket was correctly aligned with the primer station.  

 

With a little guidance from the support of “Anthony” and Mark7, now things seem to be working as they should.  Things needed to be tweaked and re arranged a bit for smooth operation. Every press requires fine tuning, tweaking, etc.  and Mark7 is not perfect but it’s perfect enough once things are in operational order. 

For now things are good, let’s hope it last a long long time :) Mark7 support came to the rescue, and they deserve all the credit!

 

Thanks for all the help guys! 

Edited by chgofirefighter
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Glad you got it worked out. yes, it can be stressful when the solution isn’t obvious. I think I have been very successful with my Revo’s and Evo’s because I lived with 2 1050’s for so long and know the normal issues that come up. In general, they are pretty similar.

 

I also owned 2 Hornady LNL’s and 1 Pro Chucker 7... Both the worst designed presses ever (especially the PC7). 

 

So, when I see someone complain about a Revo or Evo, I kind of giggle. You have no idea what a bad press is!!!! 🤣

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 5/29/2020 at 9:30 AM, teros135 said:

You need to take the primer feed ass'y off at intervals and clean everything to keep grit out of it.  Oil the sides of the shuttle lightly, per the instructions. 

 

I haven't been able to find the instructions you're referring to.  Could you point me to them please?

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46 minutes ago, BiknSwans said:

I haven't been able to find the instructions you're referring to.  Could you point me to them please?

 

They don't actually have instructions for a lot of the things we need to do to tune the Evo/Revo properly and keep them running.  There is a user manual for each machine on the Mark 7 Community and some various tune-up and troubleshooting guides there also, and a couple of videos.  I've found that the "fine tuning" tips come from hours of trying different things to make it work, occasional phone conversations with customer service, and tips from fellow travelers here on BE. 

 

They do have a couple of guides for the primer system, including "EVO Primer Stating Troubleshooting", which is probably the best of the lot.   I read, or heard, about lightly lubing the sides of the primer slider somewhere...

 

The manual (tube-fed) priming system is a weak point of the machine.  I often have primers jump out of the cup in the shuttle and jam up the machine, causing Digital Clutch stoppages (on the downstroke) or TorqueSense stops (on the upstroke, as the shellplate is trying to rotate but is jammed by the wayward primer).   I get failures to index, which don't seem to have any obvious cause, but I wonder if the overly sensitive primer system might be involved. 

 

The shuttle is too "floppy" and you can't adjust the forward travel, to it overtravels and is popped back into position by the indexing pin on the bottom of the tool head, which causes it to jump about and probably contributes to primers getting loose from the shuttle pocket and jamming up the works.   I do have the two plastic covers for the shuttle, but it still happens.  Takes several minutes to clear a jammed primer, because you have to remove the front plastic cover and then the primer tube system to get the little devil out. 

 

Regarding primer system lubrication, there is a Daily Hardware Check and Lubrication Guide, but you'll find that other documents or phone conversations contradict some of the instructions there.  The Guide doesn't mention the primer shuttle.  (The most problematic lubrication issue is the Top Pin of the crank assembly, the one the connects the bottom of the ram with the crank assembly.  It's not mentioned in any of the manuals, and there is no way to lube it.  That's a conversation for another day...)

 

 

 

 

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