Progressive Press advice

[psweigle]

Good choice t-bird, I wont trade mine for nothing. My friends and I shoot a lot and I have no problems cranking out the rounds with it. The deciding factor for me was the control over all the functions and the cost of caliber converting.

[jetinteriorguy]

great idea jetinteriorguy

Thanks. Guess it's been a while since I've checked this thread. Been too busy cranking out ammo on my Loadmaster.

[Norske]

I'm retired so I have lots of time.
I check my cases after every step in the reloading process so a single stage Rockchucker serves me well. I also have an old Lyman turret press but it's only used for some bullet seating. After getting a small primer stuck crosswise in a primer feed tube years ago, I even handle primers one at a time.

[mummer1973]

I agree with the majority. I am a 550 fan. I was forced to give up shooting for a year. But I uncovered the press and picked up right where I left off.

[T-Bird]

any tips to stop a leaky Auto Drum? Mine leaks AA #5 which is pretty fine, but I use a lot of it in handgun loads. How much does it leak?- probably 15-20 "kernels" of powder at a time when it dumps, but it adds it over time.

[T-Bird]

Didn't know to clean the measure before use- seems others do so. Think I'll try this, then the dryer sheet treatment. Hopefully this will solve the leaking.

[T-Bird]

cleaning did nothing. I realized the drum, when it was at "zero" position was not aligned with the throat of the measure, but was offset about 1/2 of the dia. of the pwdr cup. This leads to dumping of pwdr on both the rotor face, and the cup. If the pwdr is fine, the rotation of the drum pulls the pwdr into the space between the drum and the die body making it leak. The drum could be manually moved to the correct alignment, but there was loose "play" that wasn't taken up by the spring. I sent it back to Lee.Just trying to give accurate reporting of my experience. We'll see what the outcome is.

[kmw1954]

T-Bird please post back what you find from Lee. I used mine for about a month and something jammed. After fooling with it I thought I had it cleared. When using afterwards it wouldn't hold weights and leaked horribly. Sent it back to Lee and had it returned in 4 days from the time I sent it. It has worked flawlessly since with relatively no leakage with HP-38.

[T-Bird]

I will

[T-Bird]

I got it back on the 6th. Used it with IMR 4227, didn't leak. Will post all the things they did tomorrow. Will have to find the invoice. Haven't used the AA#5 yet.

[T-Bird]

Invoice says they: 1. replaced the sleeve outlet 2. replaced the slider drop tube 3. sanded the faces of both drums ( they are no longer shiny) don't know why they left the factory shiny if they weren't supposed to be? Anyway, there you have it, I said I'd post back. Will let everyone know how well it uses the AA#5 when I get time.