LNL Case Activated Powder Dropper and Expanders...

[stilly]

SO as many may or may not know I have a Lee Classic Turret with a LNL Powder Measure with the Case activated linkage on it. I JUST got expanders and last night I was looking at it all closely and I was curious.

I THINK I have my expander setup, but according to hornady you can NOT adjust it (so you either have it on or you don't?) but I am finding that hard to believe because I believe that I have adjusted MINE to be a very slight flare and it seems to work although I have not yet put any .45 amm in it yet.

At this point I have adjusted my Die setup to be:
1. Resizer
2. Flaring/charging
3. Bullet seating/crimping
4. empty.

Should I experiment now and setup that powder cop with the white donut just to get a feel for it?

Should I now go backwards and see if I can swap out to a THREE hole setup (and thus increase my speed on making ammo?) that will work?

Better yet, I think I will just leave it empty but I am curious, I have this bar that they sent me and I am not certain how to use it. It is the PTX Powder Measure Stop http://www.hornady.com/store/PTX-Powder-Measure-Stop/

This thing came with my LNL powder measure or case linkage kit but what good is it? Anyone else use this thing? I found no real world use for this.

Any info let me know please or if anyone else uses that LNL Powder measure with case activated linkage AND the expanders also I would like your input on how to set them up.

I read that people try it and they hate them but only because they fail to properly install the expander bushings. I have just the opposite experience. I have installed mine (swapped out really) and removed the top portion of the dropper (the dropper itself) to adjust the lower screws and hardware (mine has to be set a specific way so it does not bump the primer system on the spin around) and then everything seemed like it was good to go in about 5 minutes or less. I turned the die a full turn each time to "TEST" the expander and after 1 full turn was too much I found that about a half turn was very close to using the Lee PTX die. But according to the instructions that I read from Hornady I should not have been able to do that.

ANYWAYS...


BTW, I am loading for .45 and I loaded up a .451 expander last night. I have a .452 expander also but is that only for .45 LC ? Why does .45 have two expanders when all others have 1?

[EL_NinO619]

That bar goes behind your powder spring, it acts as a stop for belling the cases. The bars purpose is to stop the powder insert from maxing out at the top position, you want it to come to the top of the cycle and stop about a 1/8" away from top. Once you have that adjusted, the little black screws on the bar you use to adjust the up and down travel, screw down the top screw all the way and pull handle till powder measure max's out, then adjust the bottom screw until it contacts the spring retainer. I will draw up a picture if you don't understand.

[stilly]

Yeah I don't understand it.

I have never used it because I did not see a need. I screw in the die/ charger base and simply screw or unscrew based on the shell height. Only takes about 3 minutes, then just reposition the part that locks with the screw and spring and you are good to go. What does having that bar prevent me from having to do?

Also, I never belled cases with it until now, but now that I have it all setup it seems to work fine without that bar. I mean, it aint any Lee setup in how fast it is so when I put it back onto my .44 mag or 10mm or .380 or 9mm cases it will need to be adjusted again but so what, that will add about 2-3 minutes onto my existing 30 second caliber change. What am I missing here?

I guess really I just want to know what it is supposed to do and for what shells?

[EL_NinO619]

The bar stops the powder insert from maxing out and putting force against your powder measure. If it working for you role with it, if problems occur then we will work on it.

[stilly]

Okay. It seems that is all that it can do is transfer the stress from the bars to itself. That makes sense. I will have a look at my setup and see if it is that bad or not. Thanks.

[EL_NinO619]

Exactly, your kind of getting it now. You want to adjust it so it stops on those screws instead of the powder hopper. That way it is belling more accurately. Get the case to activate the powder thrower until it goes to the top, like you have it now, where its actually putting pressure on the powder throwers housing. Then adjust the bar until screws make contact with spring retainers, then lower powder measure and tighten the top screw on the bar down a full rotation. The next pull of the handle should allow enough travel for the powder insert to make a full travel but not max out, because the bar set screw is now taking the force and creating the bell with the PTX.

[IMG][/IMG]

[stilly]

Exactly, your kind of getting it now. You want to adjust it so it stops on those screws instead of the powder hopper. That way it is belling more accurately. Get the case to activate the powder thrower until it goes to the top, like you have it now, where its actually putting pressure on the powder throwers housing. Then adjust the bar until screws make contact with spring retainers, then lower powder measure and tighten the top screw on the bar down a full rotation. The next pull of the handle should allow enough travel for the powder insert to make a full travel but not max out, because the bar set screw is now taking the force and creating the bell with the PTX.

[IMG][/IMG]

HAH! I forgot that I had this thread. I was looking for the problem now that I am having and I found this OLD thread. Okay I will go and reset my bar. I must have just did it incorrectly. Until now I have not used it but now my charges are all over the place and I dunno if it is due to maybe moisture in the powder or if this is setup incorrectly.

I might need to get some shorter screws. This thing does not play very well with my Lee Classic Turret.

http://www.powderfunnels.com/products.html <= Looks COOL!

[Fyathyrio]

http://www.powderfunnels.com/products.html <= Looks COOL!

Works great for me.