LnL Powder drop question

[Redemption]

Starting to Dial in my LnL ap and I am getting inconsistent drops.

This is a case activated powder drop.



the powder is that Hodgdon 700x I guess one would call that a flake powder eh?

intended drop is 4.4 grains and I am getting anywhere between 4.2 and 4.6

Checking weights on a Frankford DS-750 and I am calibrating the scale.....I should own a bar scale shouldnt I?

Thoughts? Advice?

no....I will not drink the blue koolaid and you cant make me!

also did a calibration check on the scale.... is this an issue with the scale?

I turned the scale on and did a calibration check, the unit read a pass and showed as 50.000 grams



I placed down the powder pan hit the tare option and placed the weight back on and got this. stared at it for a good 5 seconds....long enough to take the photo.



turned away to grab something and turned back and got this...



is the scale my issue here?

[crowbar]

I prefer the red koolaid myself!

Try filling the powder measure reservoir to within an inch of the top when setting up for a particular load, and top it off every time you refill the primer tube. Do you have a baffle in the reservoir?

[smoothy8500]

Keep it more than half full and/or use a baffle. That will tighten up your tolerance range. Personally I don't worry about .3 grain "range" of drops in a pistol reload, as long as you are not at max loading.

[Redemption]

I prefer the red koolaid myself!

Try filling the powder measure reservoir to within an inch of the top when setting up for a particular load, and top it off every time you refill the primer tube. Do you have a baffle in the reservoir?

Yes I have the baffle in. before when I was doing the powder drop I was hand pulling up the lever and dropping into the powder pan.

My first drop into a case yielded 4.3 Im going to prime another case real quick and do about 5 powder drops and see if that makes a difference.

[Redemption]

Keep it more than half full and/or use a baffle. That will tighten up your tolerance range. Personally I don't worry about .3 grain "range" of drops in a pistol reload, as long as you are not at max loading.

Rgr that will fill up the powder drop more and do some test runs, will report back in about 5 min.

[Redemption]

Did a control test. Dropping into primed case. Powder drop 60-65% full

Run 1

4.4
4.6
4.2
4.2
4.2

Run 2 (adjusted for larger drop)

4.6
4.5
4.6
4.0
4.2

Run 3 (no adjustment)

4.2
3.7
4.1
4.5
4.0

On the powder Im using I only have a spread of 4.2 to 4.7 to work with so I am a little worried.

[Pablo5959]

Use a finer powder. 700X is one of the worst for a volume drop.

[Mike0904]

I found the LnL dropper to work very well with ball and stik powders not so well with flaked pistol shotgun powders for those I use a LEE classic with the disc's

P.S. I use 700x almost religiously and drops great using a LEE

[Redemption]

Use a finer powder. 700X is one of the worst for a volume drop.

Yeah I could have sworn I read that somewhere, this is my first toe dip into progressive, when I was single stagin it I was just manually measuring each powder load.

I found the LnL dropper to work very well with ball and stik powders not so well with flaked pistol shotgun powders for those I use a LEE classic with the disc's

Do either of you have any suggestions on a good pistol powder for .40 175 grain cast?

[TexasJackKin]

Don't run it by hand, put a case on your scale and "tare it" then cycle it around and drop a charge. (be sure it has a primer in it), If you run it by hand, powder can get caught on the ledge at the top of the expander or funnel, and it will fall off that ledge intermittently. When you let the case activate it, it holds that gap shut, so no problem.

Also, it seems like the powder measure being "jostled" around a bit makes a difference, so you want to simulate the operation to be like you are actually loading.

[Redemption]

Don't run it by hand, put a case on your scale and "tare it" then cycle it around and drop a charge. (be sure it has a primer in it), If you run it by hand, powder can get caught on the ledge at the top of the expander or funnel, and it will fall off that ledge intermittently. When you let the case activate it, it holds that gap shut, so no problem.

Also, it seems like the powder measure being "jostled" around a bit makes a difference, so you want to simulate the operation to be like you are actually loading.

During the test run I did give the powder drop a tap tap tap between attempts. I figured maybe it was getting hung up.

The 3 runs of 5 I did above was with brass not by hand into the pan.

[Mike0904]

Well like I said 700x is good to go most any caliber specially with cast. Some say its dirty...what isn't ? it does clean up easy....IMO
Do you have a powder cop die ? if you run a progressive press you will need one.. best way to keep everything going

[wbunning]

Did a control test. Dropping into primed case. Powder drop 60-65% full

Run 1

4.4
4.6
4.2
4.2
4.2

Run 2 (adjusted for larger drop)

4.6
4.5
4.6
4.0
4.2

Run 3 (no adjustment)

4.2
3.7
4.1
4.5
4.0

On the powder Im using I only have a spread of 4.2 to 4.7 to work with so I am a little worried.

All of those are unacceptable in my book. I have the LNL AP, and had problems with the powder measure. You are indicating 10% variance in drops, and that's too much. I ultimately abandoned the Hornady measure in favor of the Lee which is much more reliable with my system. I also use an RCBS powder lock-out die to prevent over/under charges. It went to work frequently with the Hornady, but never with the Lee measure.

[Redemption]

Well like I said 700x is good to go most any caliber specially with cast. Some say its dirty...what isn't ? it does clean up easy....IMO
Do you have a powder cop die ? if you run a progressive press you will need one.. best way to keep everything going

Ive been using the 700x for a long time on 45acp and I am happy with how it shoots, not happy with how it is metering out of my case activated drop though.

All of those are unacceptable in my book. I have the LNL AP, and had problems with the powder measure. You are indicating 10% variance in drops, and that's too much. I ultimately abandoned the Hornady measure in favor of the Lee which is much more reliable with my system. I also use an RCBS powder lock-out die to prevent over/under charges. It went to work frequently with the Hornady, but never with the Lee measure.

I agree 10% is unacceptable by a long lony ways. I hear 700x and 800x works well with the Lee auto disk drop but I have so much equipment at this point that I am more likely to dump the powder in leu of something a little finer, that seems to make sense to me.

Another thing im wondering is that my drop isnt adjusted so that the handle goes all the way to the top of the stroke, could that be a big part of the problem you think?

[Mike0904]

Another thing im wondering is that my drop isnt adjusted so that the handle goes all the way to the top of the stroke, could that be a big part of the problem you think?

No....I worked with mine for I don't remember how long, finally got a LEE and problem was solved...they only sell for about $26 or less if you find a used one , but you need the LEE die set also for it to work as well...sold separately.