Hey, Horseman,Horseman wrote:[...] Fella's hanging all kinds of lights on their presses, powder cop dies, (I have two of these, I'll get to that later) lock-out dies, drillin' holes for mirrors, video cameras and more, and all to do one thing. To check for powder in the case.
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My thought to myself when I read stuff like this is, "what the heck else are these guys doing that makes this a problem"....look at the equipment available today, man, great stuff for sure, but maybe someone with a years experience (or less) maybe shouldn't crank up a Hornady Ammo Plant.... Or a Dillon 1050. Lot's of room for error on these machines and I'm really kind of surprised we're not seeing more (or they're not being publicized) of KB's and other issues.
I have to agree with you partially, progressive presses do a lot of things at the same time, and tracking all that at once can be challenging. On the other hand, I started reloading on a pro1000, and never had a single squib or double load up to now. But I started slowly, at about 75 rounds per hour, and slowly took speed until I reached about 250 rds/hr. For a pro1000 that's OK. It could be faster, but even if I own all available bullet seaters for that press, I still place every bullet manually, to force myself to check every case for the right amount of powder.
On the other hand, a friend of mine who's been a reloader for a few years longer than me, still has a lot of squibs (one in 200 rounds or so, way too many in my opinion), even if he "fixed" a lot of problems that nobody else seems to have: Powder bridge breaker in the auto disk hopper, camera system to check for primer, self made powder cop die, etc. Experience is no guarantee for good work.
To avoid KBs I prefer a poka-yoke system over any available double or tripple check: if the gun can't blow up with a full case, you're fine. That's why I love TrailBoss and Black Powder, a double charge is physically impossible. That's far better than any powder cop or lockout die.