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Old September 8, 2012, 04:54 AM   #15
Pond, James Pond
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Join Date: July 12, 2011
Location: Top of the Baltic stack
Posts: 6,079
Hi all. I must have you lot groaning with despondency...

Quote:
didn't we cover this problem in another thread of yours?
Yes!
..... and no.

Previously, I had been perplexed by the fact that the auto-disk did not dispense the loads as indicated on the paper: I now understand why that is and accept it as being a guide. That was with my starting load thorugh the 1.26 disk.

I can live with that especially as, having nailed my best crimp, I could move on up to the next disk: 1.36. In principle that would dish out near my maximum charge, but in practice it dispensed on 0.4gr above my min. in other words about 13.2gr.

That I was also happy with: I wasn't looking for hot loads.

My main complaint here is the massive inconsistency. Last time, I took pre-primed cases and used the turret function to make bullets with three pulls of the lever. Having checked the charges for the first dozen or so, I could see 13.2gr coming out each time, according to the Hornady scales.

Once more, I set up the bench, half-filled the hopper and opened the feed (the action is firm, but smooth: once opened it won't budge back to closed with my input). I dispensed a dozen charges: first was spot on the book value: 13.8 or so, then it dropped with each charge, as expected to 13.2gr. However, once there I like to pull another few to make sure it is consistent and this time it kept dropping to settle on a consistent 12.6 or 12.7gr. That is less than the book value for the 1.26 aperture.

So it is a bit different from the my last issue: it is not a disk metering out less than expected by the book, it is a disk metering out far less than it had the last time I used it. That is my concern.

I have also noticed that I have powder on my worktop and I noticed that if I am too positive with the lever the internal edge of the disk aperture actually extends past the out edge of the auto-disk frame.
So, if you pull too firmly that edge can poke past the edge of the base-plate, dropping some powder on the work top before it can drop down through the feed hole to the die below.
Now, regardless of the rest of the system, that is a design flaw.

It could be the change in the weather: it is a bit damper in the air, and the temperature is now about 12 celsius, but my powder and scales are stored at home, and they'd only been out for 20 minutes.

It could be the scales, but I calibrated them at the beginning of the session.

It could be
Quote:
Operator error
but I really didn't conciously do anything differently and being new to this I am quite deliberate in all the actions I take as they are not engrained yet...:
Powder charge: slow but firm pull of the lever, all the way down, with a double "tap" of the lever when it reaches the bottom of its travel, before raising it for the bullet seater die. (User error would be ideal!! It's by far the cheapest to fix!!)

I will go back out there today and try again to see what happens. I can live with not having equipment to make reloading easier, but I don't like equipment that I don't have confidence in.

Re the graphite and dryer sheets: dryer sheets are not sold here: no really market for them as most people don't own dryers and graphite powder: I have no idea who might stock this and none of my acquaintences know. If I find some, I'll get it.

PS: I am perfectly happy with my Lee gear. The only exceptions are the safety scales that I found fiddly: I prefer digital, and this auto-disk. And if I can resolve that, I'm quite happy to keep it.
However, if it is not up to the job, for whatever reason, I may as well look to alternatives...
One product not working for me is not the same as thinking a brand being junk, so I don't want to sell the lot and buy a Dillon progressive. I want to find a solution to this one issue...
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Last edited by Pond, James Pond; September 8, 2012 at 05:37 AM.
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