1050 primer feed problems

[Canuck223]

Just an observation.

I purchased the PW Autodrive kit last year. I tend to find a load I like and stick to it. I generally buy componenets in bulk, and load most of the years supply in one large batch.

Using the PW autodrive, I chose to pre-process my brass. (size, primer pocket swage)

When I had time, I set up the press to do nothing but prime. After priming, I had my twin boys inspect each case for defective primers. None were to be found.

Prior to getting the PW autodrive, I would have the odd primer turn sideways. I tried many of the tips suggested here. I replaced the primer seating punch as it was chipped, and the slide buffer as it was missing. Still, I could get the odd misfeed.

Using the autodrive has seemed to eliminate that issue. I suspect that smooth operation is one of the keys to success.

[sperman]

sperman: can you share what you think mnade the biggest difference for you? I'm glad you have it going well. I have greatly minimized my priming issues however, I still get one or two per hundred. Like you stated, the powder mess is quite an annoying issue! I switched to a flake powder for some of my pistols just so that when a primer is missed, it doesn't fall all over the place. I am also in the habit of looking at each round coming off the press to verify it has a primer. This of course slows down the process greatly!

I wish I could point to 1 thing that fixed it. I checked and adjusted several different items, so I can't say for sure which one did the trick.

After my previous post I loaded another couple of hundred rounds and had 1 primer get sideways in the slide. 1 in 600 is a whole lot better than what I had before, but it's still not as good as I would expect.

[Spanners]

I fail to understand how that piece of tubing can do ANYTHING other than cushion the slide actuating lever (13413) against the slide when it goes to move the slide back (out)

The back of my slide stops on the Primer Slide Stop (13018)- rubber tube not touching the stop.

The actuating lever should be adjusted via the clamp on the primer tube so that it moves the slide up against the stop and then the spring 13936 takes up any over travel of the arm.

[RiggerJJ]

I fail to understand how that piece of tubing can do ANYTHING other than cushion the slide actuating lever (13413) against the slide when it goes to move the slide back (out)

Agreed, thats why I took mine off, adjusted it without, and haven't had a single problem since (knock on wood). Before that it was rather frustrating, to the point of getting ready to unbolt the 1050 from the bench and buy something else...

jj

[dillon]

The rear of the primer slide, not the rubber bumper, is what should contact the stop. If the rubber sleeve is absent, the arm may not move the primer slide rearward enough to pick up a new primer.

[AWLAZS]

Is that supposed to make a clicking sound when the primer slide hits the stop?

[RiggerJJ]

Is that supposed to make a clicking sound when the primer slide hits the stop?

it does on mine, to the point that if I don't hear the click I stop to see what is wrong...

jj

[DougCarden]

Adjust up the primer arm so it is a little higher up. That should take care of the noise.

DougC

[RiggerJJ]

Adjust up the primer arm so it is a little higher up. That should take care of the noise.

DougC

NOPE! Nice try, but I ain't changing mine!

Its seating primers just fine with the clicking. and besides if I change it so it doesn't click, its gonna sound like something is always wrong...

jj

[CSEMARTIN]

I'm trying to be a good boy so I deleted my 1050 comments. Obviously, I'm not a fan of the machine.

Edited September 2, 2011 by CSEMARTIN

[Siphon Odesse]

... so it seems that getting EVERYTHING right may be beyond American Industry.

I was gonna say something, but I'll let it go ..

I will add, though, that when looking for reloading equipment, us Europeans look to the US, so you're still one up on us. (And Dillon has been great in terms of assist, replacements parts, and the likes of it.)

My old RL 1050 has started throwing primers recently, so obviously I have benefitted greatly from all the info in this link.

Regards,

Siphon

[DEP44]

Adjust up the primer arm so it is a little higher up. That should take care of the noise.

DougC

If I want the primer slide to be activated, the rachet stops the press on the upstroke. Adjusting it on the primer tube the slightest bit higher and the activater will skip over the slide (messing up the rubber tube). I ended up using a rubber band to keep the rachet out of the way.

Other than that, the primer slide does not just slide backwards, it shoots backwards with a force. Many primers somehow escape onto the bench.

[DEP44]

Took the machine apart: The slot in the frame in which the primer slide rides, was gunked up. The slide is running smooth again.

However, the press is still ejecting 1 out of 100 primers out of the back onto the bench. The ejected primers show no signs of damage.

Now I'm trying to figure out how exactly that primer gets lost and the only thing I can come up with, is that it jumps out of the slot during the ride towards the primer punch.

The only moment that the otherwise smooth operation gets disturbed, is when the expander gets pulled through the neck of the 223 cases.

I bought this press new and went the extra mile for the carbide die, but now I'm considering a sizer with neck bushing. Any thoughts on this?

[DougCarden]

If you are loading .223, I would strongly suggest that you process the brass, then load the brass. Resizing and loading at the same time is messy and quite honestly a pain....

Process it by setting up the press to size, swage, and trim if necessary.

Then set up the press to load with a universal decap die, prime, dump powder, seat, and give it a "light" crimp if it is going into an autoloader.

Now for the priming issue. Since you cleaned up the raceway for the primer slide, check the blue tip on the inner primer tube, replace if necessary. When you are putting the primer slide arm down and adjusting the height on the outer primer tube, put it all the way down, then experiment with how far to bring it back up. It is just a little bit, but it will be a smooth stroke and there shouldn't be a hitch, which is when the primer is getting dumped. You may be loosing the primer due to the primer pocket not accepting it as well. Also, make sure your priming station plastic tab is tight on the case for flawless priming. Hope this helps!

Good luck,

DougC

[DEP44]

The brass was pre-sized and -trimmed.

The blue tip did not look worn at all, but... when actually comparing it to the spare ones I have, it did appear to be more sloppy.

I also decided to run a wire from the bulletfeeder bracket to a hook in the wall behind the press and the brass and bullet feeders dance around way less since.

So far no problems, I'm starting to turn into a believer!

Thanks!

[DEP44]

In short:

Clean primer slide track

New blue tip primer tube

"Wobble reduction kit" (also cured case insertion problems):

The 1050 is just.... amazing!

[lockmup68]

Background: Super 1050 brand new, about 3 years old now. I have setups for 40 and 45. I go in spurts, won't load anything for 6 months, load off and on for a couple of weeks and then nothing for another 6 months. Total round count on the machine is about 10k. 4k of 45 and 6k of 40.

Had the various primer issues discussed, most noticeably with 45 (toolhead setup from factory). 40s seem to go smoother. But still get 4-10 smashed/crooked or no primers per 100. 45s were more like 15-20. Got so bad last spring, I didn't take the cover off since last March til the Christmas holidays. Just didn't want to deal with it. Spent lots of time on the phone with Dillon, super nice guy, but I'm not getting any more reliable loading, shimmed out the slide stop half moon, shimmed it back in, polished the cup, polished the primer slide "tray", cleaned, recleaned, recleaned, adjusted, tightened, Dillon sent me new tips and primer slide trays, did BE's 10 in a row single primer drops again just yesterday. 10 in a row work, but then 12-14 do not, reshim and adjust, 8 in a row work, then next 5 don't, etc. I was going to load over the holidays, but couldn't get 10 rounds to load in a row. So left it til yesterday. Found this thread and tried everything again. It will only go 5-8 in a row til it starts spitting primers, missing, or crushing them.

Over the holidays, when I couldn't get the 40s to load, switched over to 45 and it was worse. I keep getting double primer feeds or smashed primers. I've tried swage, no swage, rechecked and changed dies to flush with plate, to not touching plate, primer push up rod bushing is flush, spring seems good, changed tip on the primer tube, etc.

At this point I'm just done. I have components to load about 4k 45 and 6k 40s sitting here for over a year, want to get them done. Also want to add .223 setup, but I need to get it working first. Any thoughts? Would sending it in to Dillon help?

Other info, it is bolted to a 3 inch solid countertop, bolted to the wall and on a concrete slab. Brass is all clean, even tried depriming, tumbling, and visually checking primer pockets for a bunch of brass to see if that made a difference. tried winchester, federal, federal match, and cci primers.

Any thoughts appreciated. Full disclosure, I'm not a pro, I'm not a machinist, I'm not even that great of a shooter, but I do love it, love to tinker, do some mechanicing, fabing, and woodworking for fun. I don't think I'm an idiot, but sure do feel like one since I can't get this to work.

Thanks,

Shannon

NC

Edited February 23, 2012 by lockmup68

[RiggerJJ]

Used to have very similar problems with small primers & 223. Removed the little piece of hose on the primer slide, and fine tuned the adjustment of the primer slide actuacting lever; the adjustment that slides up and down the primer tube. Move it in 1/16 inch or less incriments. Once I got it adjusted it has worked near flawlessly for 5 years. Only occasonal primer issues, less than I have on my 650.

Now I am about to change over to large primers and 308. I ran about 5k thru a processing head, gonna start loading 308 this weekend, wish me luck that the primer issues don't reappear...

jj

[RiggerJJ]

Shannon,

Just a prelim report;

I ran about 50 rounds of 308 this morning, and no problems with primers. So that tells me that when the primer arm/cam actuator assembly is adjusted correctly it will work just fine with small and large primers.

Again, I removed the little rubber hose from the primer slide. Haven't had one on my small primer slide for 10s of thousands of rounds. Once that was removed and the arm/cam assembly adjusted, I haven't had a primer problem.

I am loading Lake City 308 and 223 brass, which requires swaging. (I don't load pistol on my 1050, I save the light work for the 650... ) If the swager isn't set up right, you will have problems seating primers. If the primer arm/cam assembly (20488) isn't adjusted up/down the tube (20773) correctly (by loosening/tightening 14037), you will have problems seating primers.

Are you using mixed 45 brass and maybe have some swaged primer pockets? Also, some 40 may have swaged pockets, I think they may be identified by NT on the headstamp. In either of these cases, it doesn't hurt to have the swager in play...unless you know for sure you have culled out all the swaged primer brass before dumping it in the casefeeder. Have you tried to adjust the primer arm/cam assembly? Also, I read here somewhere that a member had a primer slide with an over-sized primer hole, and there may have been a primer punch size problem identified by another member, so measuring these and communicating those sizes with Dillon may help...

The 1050 is an awsome machine, its a shame it can be a booger to set up sometimes... but when it is running,

jj

[zorba]

Ok guys after weeks of fighting with my 1050 priming issues i finaly got it working.

I have done and checked all the fixes on all the forums and still had no joy, i hope this helps you people still having no joy.

I had to find out at what point in the process the primer was turning sideways or getting smeared or not seating at all and falling on to the bench.

Whilst moving the arm slowly and with the white cover off the priming station i observed the primer always correctly seated in the slider bar that transferes the primer from the tube to the case. so it was good there.

Then i wached it start to come up on top of the punch and noticed it move sometimes falling off completely or just slightly off to one side resulting in the primer getting smeared, crushed etc, what was causing this was the snap back of the decapping / sizing die, dillons one is spring loaded and as the old primer is pushed out it snaps back and the vibration alone disrupts the primer sitting on top of the primer punch. Believe it or not. simple fix was to place a spacer between the sir clip and die body, problem solved, hope this helps you guys out there, let me know.

Cheers Paul

[lockmup68]

simple fix was to place a spacer between the sir clip and die body

Can you explain a little more, and/or include a pic? How does putting a spacer in prevent the spring "recoil" of the decapping pin that you mentioned you believed was the culprit?

I'm still struggling with it. Can't go 10 rounds without a smear of double primer. Really frustrated.

Thanks,

Shannon

[lockmup68]

when you take off the rubber hose on the primer slide tray, how do you adjust the half moon stop to keep the primer hole lined up? It has to be adjusted in, right? Do you have to grind the half moon stop shorter? Just trying to understand the adjustment there.

Thanks,

Shannon

[zorba]

lokmup68 what i have done is take up the space between the top of the die and the sir clip, some of my old dillon dies had a spacer in there from factory, my 9mm die tha came with the press did not, i was using a lee die initially and had no priming issues the problems started when i installed the dillon die, unfortunatley i did not realise that this was causing my priming issues for almost 6 months.

When the pin pushes out the old primer it raises the decaping pin held by the sir clip up and out of the die body about 2 to 3 mm it then snaps back down once the spent primer is out of the case, just to test my theory i placed a small washer in that gap whilst it was in the fully up position and i could load 100 rounds streight no problem , tace the washer out and instantly had smeared and crushed and missing primers about 2 to 3 in 10.

I will get some photoes up today.

Cheers.

[zorba]

Sorry people i have tried to post pix but have no idea how to.

I have the rubber hose on the slider bar.

[lockmup68]

simple fix was to place a spacer between the sir clip and die body

Can you explain a little more, and/or include a pic? How does putting a spacer in prevent the spring "recoil" of the decapping pin that you mentioned you believed was the culprit?

I'm still struggling with it. Can't go 10 rounds without a smear of double primer. Really frustrated.

Thanks,

Shannon