LnL Powder drop question

[stilly]

Agree. I converted my Hornady dropper to a stand-alone, but my RCBS Uniflow still works better in that capacity. The Lee Auto-Disk with the micrometer, followed by the RCBS lockout die is the most reliable set up I've ever used.

There are issues with all of them. I had to polish the expander plugs on the Lee PTX dies before the cases would go in and out smoothly. Guys using the newer Lee Auto-DRUM report some issues as well.

Link to equipment used to polish?

I THINK I polished mine. It was almost mirror smooth, but I was guessing on everything I did and in the end, it did go in and out like butter instead of holding on and BUMPING but yeah anyways...

I think I have some reddish paste or rouge or something in a little dremel tub and some cotton/cloth wheels for the dremel. But how does one polish for reals?


Oh and Mr. Redemption, load some more and see if the variance has changed now.

[Redemption]

Link to equipment used to polish?

I THINK I polished mine. It was almost mirror smooth, but I was guessing on everything I did and in the end, it did go in and out like butter instead of holding on and BUMPING but yeah anyways...

I think I have some reddish paste or rouge or something in a little dremel tub and some cotton/cloth wheels for the dremel. But how does one polish for reals?


Oh and Mr. Redemption, load some more and see if the variance has changed now.

I was actually doing that as you posted. Variance test results:

4.3
4.3
4.4
4.3
4.3
4.3
4.3
4.3
4.5
4.2

[checkenbach]

Using a pistol drum(smaller volume) may help a bit...

[Redemption]

Link to equipment used to polish?

I THINK I polished mine. It was almost mirror smooth, but I was guessing on everything I did and in the end, it did go in and out like butter instead of holding on and BUMPING but yeah anyways...

I think I have some reddish paste or rouge or something in a little dremel tub and some cotton/cloth wheels for the dremel. But how does one polish for reals?


Oh and Mr. Redemption, load some more and see if the variance has changed now.

Using a pistol drum(smaller volume) may help a bit...

it sure seems to be... LOL

[wbunning]

Link to equipment used to polish

I don't have a link to my garage, but what I did was to make an arbor out of an appropriate size stove bolt. I slipped a washer over the bolt, then the expander plug, then another washer, then snugged that sandwich up against the bolt head with a nut. Then I chucked the bolt/arbor into my drill press. One could use crocus cloth, but I used a strip of cotton about 1" wide and 8" long and smeared some simi-chrome polish on it. Turn on the drill press at a low speed. Stretch the polishing strip between two hands, pull it up against the plug, and shine 'er up. I did that with all of those dies that I have. You need a couple of different sized bolts.

[smoothy8500]

I was actually doing that as you posted. Variance test results:

4.3
4.3
4.4
4.3
4.3
4.3
4.3
4.3
4.5
4.2

With flake powder that's pretty good, and in my experience, not enough variance to affect pistol groups.

[SandDiegoDuner]

Years ago I sprayed the internals of my powder dropper with graphite spray. After it dries to the touch, use something to burnish the graphite onto the surface until it has a glossy smooth finish. Powder will not stick to this surface and powder drop variance should not be more than 0.1 grains. Powdered graphite will also work for the hopper tube, do not use the spray graphite as the propellant can cause the hopper tube to crack. It just takes a lot more work to get a nice burnished finish on the powder hopper with powdered graphite.

[noylj]

NO, the problem is today's OCD need to exactness, when such is not needed.
Added to that, you take the powder most famous for indifferent metering and try to make it "play nice" with your idea of how things should be.
Go to AA2, 231/HP38, or N320 and never look back.
You know, unless you are into long-range handgun shooting, +/- 0.2gn will not affect accuracy. Try some and prove it to yourself. This has been discussed for about 6-10 decades with 700X and the various Alliant flake powders that the conclusion was always the same--it just doesn't matter.
Next, you have a powder measure that is as good as almost any and better than most.
You can try to install a vibrator/aquarium pump/etc.
You can try to keep the hopper full
You can try to clean it per Hornady instructions and then run a whole hopper of 700X through it to get it graphitized (or just run some powdered graphite through it).
But, bottom line, you have the exact same "issues" everyone has had with 700X since it came out.

[pacrat]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Redemption View Post
I was actually doing that as you posted. Variance test results:

4.3
4.3
4.4
4.3
4.3
4.3
4.3
4.3
4.5
4.2

With flake powder that's pretty good, and in my experience, not enough variance to affect pistol groups.

I concur with "smoothy". If you had a "bench mounted" measure. You could, further limit variations with proper consistent measure activation procedures.

But with a linkage activated measure. Too many wiggles, jiggles, bumps, and jerks, are getting transferred to the measure from the machine it is mounted to.

JM2c

[Redemption]

These are just target midloads, if I stay within 4.2-4.5 I dont think that is too much of a problem

[pacrat]

These are just target midloads, if I stay within 4.2-4.5 I dont think that is too much of a problem

UB fine.........Choot Em


JM2c

[GUNNTZ]

LOL I was CLEARLY using the rifle drum, no wonder I was metering like ****... the rifle one is like the size of a nickle while the pistol one is like the size of a pencil eraser. I never even looked in there, that part of the powder drop was already assembled when I bought the press, it never even occured to me that there were two different types.

Thank you very much.



by adjuster do you mean you mean the part that locks into the drum, the lever that comes up on the drum when the powder drop is activated?

I dont think the rifle one would fit right?

Sorry for the late reply. What I'm refering to is the inserted metering stem that goes into the rotor. In a standard hornady LnL press kit they include the case activate powder dropper that has two rotors and metering stems. One is a 0.5 to 17 grn and the other is technically 15 to 100 grn (I've used this one to drop smaller charges and mix match the rotors for my needs). I've always got a very repeatable powder drop for the hornady setup. Based on your earlier post, it semi you've already got it sorted out. Just thought I'd add a little more info.

[stilly]

I use the rifle to consistently drop about 3.5gr-25gr...

Not of 700-X, but Most ball powders and others- WSF, Enforcer, H-110, CFE- Pistol, AA#9, AA#7, Blue Dot...

[Redemption]

UB fine.........Choot Em


JM2c

Yeah thats what I figured. Made another 150 of em too

Sorry for the late reply. What I'm refering to is the inserted metering stem that goes into the rotor. In a standard hornady LnL press kit they include the case activate powder dropper that has two rotors and metering stems. One is a 0.5 to 17 grn and the other is technically 15 to 100 grn (I've used this one to drop smaller charges and mix match the rotors for my needs). I've always got a very repeatable powder drop for the hornady setup. Based on your earlier post, it semi you've already got it sorted out. Just thought I'd add a little more info.

yeah I seem to have it stuffed into a 0.3 variance, Im weighing often enough that when it starts to creep into a 0.4 variance I can catch it and adjust... it just seems like the powder continues to compress over time and the metering just likes to creep upwards a little at a time.

Im heading out tomorrow to pick another powder. Likely one of the ones that were recommended to me. I tend to use 700x on 45 normally so maybe it will meter better at a higher grain count.

For now its good enough for gooberment work.

you cant mix and match those stems though can you? the rifle stem is much larger isnt it?

I use the rifle to consistently drop about 3.5gr-25gr...

Not of 700-X, but Most ball powders and others- WSF, Enforcer, H-110, CFE- Pistol, AA#9, AA#7, Blue Dot...

I was going to buy a bottle of H-110 today but the guy said it might not meter well in my setup....he only seemed mildly educated on the topic so I decided to hold off.

[wbunning]

I was going to buy a bottle of H-110 today but the guy said it might not meter well in my setup....he only seemed mildly educated on the topic so I decided to hold off.

H110 is a good powder for magnum loads, no good at all for light loads. I use for some of my 44 mag and it meters fine in my RCBS uniflow. Realistically, how many magnum rounds are you likely to shoot? Probably not so many that you need to load them on the progressive press. I usually only make 50 at a time, and do all the work with a bench mounted dropper and a single stage press. My LNL AP gets used for size/prime/expand a bunch of cases at a time, and for the whole process for plinking/practice ammo.

Having a s/s press and a second, stand-alone powder measure works well for me when I don't want to futz with the AP just to do 50 cartridges.