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Yesterday I was reloading some .223 rounds on my Lee classic turret press and charging them with the Lee pro auto disk and rifle charging die. Since I am still a newb I have been reloading my .223 in single stage mode by removing the indexing rod. I have been charging the cases, placing them in a holding tray, then when the tray is full, seating the bullets. I have been doing this and weighing the powder charge every few rounds, everything has been going well using this method.
I completed about 70 rounds then I figured it was time to use the turret by manually rotating between the powder charging die and seating die. In hind sight, I should have put in the indexing rod but I figured I would just manually index the turret between the charging and seating dies. I did 13 rounds and everything was going fine, then on the 14th round after dropping the powder charge I forgot to rotate the turret to the seating die. I placed the bullet on the case and as I pulled down the handle, my mind said no, no, no but my right hand kept saying yes, yes, yes. Well the bullet lodged in the powder die and a powder charge was dropped right on top of it.
I had to disconnect the powder measure, the riser, then the charging die with powder spilling everywhere. What a mess. Because of the way the powder measure works, it loaded a second charge in the disks so even though I removed the dispenser the second charge was already loaded. Oh joy, more powder to deal with! I was able to gently move it over to the powder jug and dump it in without to much spillage. I had to dump the contents of the powder charing die out and was able to save most of it. Then I had to disassemble the die to get the bullet out and powder then stuck to the little bit of lube on the threads holding it together. Once I got the bullet out I had to clean up the mess I had made. There were tiny grains of powder all over the press, the table top and on the floor. After trying to brush it up I finally just grabbed the vacuum cleaner to suck up the spilt powder.
I guess moral of the story is if using the turret press, use it as a single stage or use it with the indexing rod. And if anyone ever wondered, yes a .224 bullet will fit quite nicely inside the powder charging die.
I completed about 70 rounds then I figured it was time to use the turret by manually rotating between the powder charging die and seating die. In hind sight, I should have put in the indexing rod but I figured I would just manually index the turret between the charging and seating dies. I did 13 rounds and everything was going fine, then on the 14th round after dropping the powder charge I forgot to rotate the turret to the seating die. I placed the bullet on the case and as I pulled down the handle, my mind said no, no, no but my right hand kept saying yes, yes, yes. Well the bullet lodged in the powder die and a powder charge was dropped right on top of it.
I had to disconnect the powder measure, the riser, then the charging die with powder spilling everywhere. What a mess. Because of the way the powder measure works, it loaded a second charge in the disks so even though I removed the dispenser the second charge was already loaded. Oh joy, more powder to deal with! I was able to gently move it over to the powder jug and dump it in without to much spillage. I had to dump the contents of the powder charing die out and was able to save most of it. Then I had to disassemble the die to get the bullet out and powder then stuck to the little bit of lube on the threads holding it together. Once I got the bullet out I had to clean up the mess I had made. There were tiny grains of powder all over the press, the table top and on the floor. After trying to brush it up I finally just grabbed the vacuum cleaner to suck up the spilt powder.
I guess moral of the story is if using the turret press, use it as a single stage or use it with the indexing rod. And if anyone ever wondered, yes a .224 bullet will fit quite nicely inside the powder charging die.
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