Lee Loader

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.
[...]
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.

Hey, Horseman,

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.

I use a RCBS RC press, single stage, and to help assure cases are not under filled or over filled, each case gets put in a loading block after the powder is dropped in. Afterwards, a flashlight is used to inspect each case for any signs of obvious over filling or under filling.

Like most reloaders, once you get either a squib or double dump, you don't tend to forget what it's like, and you try to avoid as best you can.

All the Best -

Bayou

I've loaded 300/hr .38 Special on a turret.

Y'all wanna guess where my squibs came from?

GasGuzzler wrote:I've loaded 300/hr .38 Special on a turret.

Y'all wanna guess where my squibs came from?

I've got a friend who also loads 38 SPL on a turret.

He bangs a rod down his barrel numerous times during our range visits.

GasGuzzler wrote:I've loaded 300/hr .38 Special on a turret.

Y'all wanna guess where my squibs came from?

I would say there is no guessing to it....
For me, 300 per hr, the whole world be nothing but a blur.

Fyodor wrote: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.

Way to go Fyodor! I too have found it worth while to spend a little more for powder that nearly fills the case. Its imposable to double charge and easy to see if it is short.

I have had to vary from this practice because of powder availability in the recent years but try my best to make it a practice to run nearly full cases.

GasGuzzler wrote:I've loaded 300/hr .38 Special on a turret.

Y'all wanna guess where my squibs came from?

If you can actually load 300 rds an hour (that's a finished round every 1.2 seconds) on a Lee Turret (I say Lee because it is the "fastest" turret out there) I'm not surprised there were squibs involved. Best I ever did on the one I had was around 125/hr. Doubt I do much more than 300 on my Loadmasters. Interesting that Trail Boss was mentioned as I was "testing" TB just yesterday with my Auto Drum measure using the Lee Universal Charging die. I've had some "issues" with some powders using this measure with charges being very erratic so thought I would try it with a baffle, the one from Titan. It did seem to help with the "problem" powders quite a bit. Back to the Trail Boss powder. Now, it may be I didn't have the UCD set up with the proper inserts (that little instruction sheet that Lee sends with it isn't the best description of which to use at least for me ) but after about 10 or so powder drops (that were good) I started getting nothing . Took the die apart and the insert was literally packed tight with the powder. Had to use a small pick to dislodge it. When I emptied the measure (bottom portion) the drop tube was also packed tight. Will try the AD again with the caliber specific powder die. Never had that problem with the disk measures using those dies. Right now I'm ASSuming the problem was the UCD and not the measure, but I'll check to make sure it wasn't the measure itself.

I guess my point would be, if any, that IF I had been loading 300/per hr on a turret press with this "setup" with "minimal" attention, I'd have had 290 or so squibs.

I had help so it doesn't count. Clock musta been slow too

I pulled most of them.

I find it interesting that you had trouble with Trail Boss. I've used n three out of four of my powder measures, a RCBS Uniflow, a Lyman 55 and a lee perfect with good results loading 45 Colt, 40-65 and 45-70. Of the three I lean toward the 55 with a baffle for most of the loading with trail Boss and find it consistant.

Make smoke,

I've been working with Trail Boss quite a bit and I have experienced stoppages during the drop using the Perfect Powder Measure and also the Auto Disk mounted on a rifle charging die. I even experience it with a large opening powder funnel when dumping a hopper back into the jug. If you just dump it into the funnel it will plug the funnel. I have a bunch of powders and Trail Boss is the only powder with this behaviour.

I think the problem with the PPM is the tapered drop tube that it uses. I goes from about 37 caliber at the top to .24 at the bottom and with large drops (3.00cc +) it can plug.

The problem with the Rifle Charging Dies and Trail Boss is that the durn hole is so small. If a large disk cavity drop is used, it will plug as well. I was trying to use Trail Boss with both delivery systems to load the 303 British and just gave up as I really had some problems ensuring deliver.

Not all is bad, even with small caliber necked cases such as the 218 Bee. I use the 1.02 cavity with the basic old school Auto Disk and Trail Boss works great.

As far as the case vs. powder watching goes on the turret or progressive, I'm a tall guy and don't have any problems watching the powder leave the disk. If it drops and doesn't make a mess there is only one place it could go. I also use powders that provide a very full case and even though I'm using bullet feeders, I notice it in the case as the case moves up.