Hollywood powder measures

[seagiant]

Hi,
I just received my 2nd Hollywood powder measure. My first I obtained from Roundnoser a member here. It was in pretty poor looking shape but cleaned up nicely and was blasted and repainted with a new clear tube and I turned a new cap from aluminum for it. It was so smooth and worked so well, I wanted another as I have 2 PW Metallic II's for pistol loading. I found another cheap on E-bay and it arrived today. I was surprised when I saw it as it was close to brand new looking except the tube was cloudy but the paint and drum were in perfect condition. I was wondering if any one else uses these powder measures and what you thought of them???

[skeettx]

Hello
I have used Hollywood measures for years and they are quite serviceable.
I (in the last 5 years) have been using SAECO powder measures as they are a
bit more tightly fitted.
I see from your pictures you have P/W presses, I have two of them, they do not see much use these days either.
Mike

[seagiant]

Hi,
I'd be interested in seeing your Seaco powder measures and what PW presses do you have that you don't use any more???

[Char-Gar]

I started with a used Hollywood measure in 1959 and still use it today. Four years ago, I picked up another in case my original does bad. Doesn't look like I will ever need it. I am sold on them.

[Kevin Rohrer]

I got a Hollywood as part of a trade, but haven't yet cleaned it up or started using it; I need to. I really don't like the Lyman 55 it will replace.

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv29/KevinRohrer/Reloading/IMG_0466.jpg

[Kevin Rohrer]

re: Your P200s.

I have never seen one in operation before. How does the moveable shellholder thingy index?

Am trying to decide if the P200 w/ its single, moveable shellholder is more efficient than my CH 444 w/ its four, fixed shellholders.

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv29/KevinRohrer/Reloading/IMG_0200.jpg

[seagiant]

Hi Kevin,
My presses are PW Metallic II's or Met 2 at the PW Shop! I have their PW 375 shotshell press which introduced me to the swing-arm concept,where you put one case or hull in at a time and go through the reloading steps. I had a Brown Bair metallic loader much like your CH 444 and it was a nice loader but I got tired of picking up and moving the case from station to station. With the Met II you put the case in the shellholder and just slide the arm as you go through the process but you have the option to pull the case to check it when ever you want, Yes,not as fast as a Dillon but I'm not in a race any more and actually enjoy reloading!

The other thing I like about the loader is the primer assembly comes as a complete unit and only take one screw to change from a large primer set up to a small or what ever you want to do. I'm running both of mine now to make 45 acp and 10mm as if I want to switch to 9mm small primer it is no problem. Some people buy 2 loaders one in snall primer and the other in large because the primer switch is such a pain but this is not that way. There are extra toolheads available for $50 each which is very reasonable to me!

Oh yea,I sold my Lyman 55 years ago also!

[Kevin Rohrer]

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but...

Seagiant:

I went to the PW web site; it was less than informative. The pictures are way too small and there is no description of how the press operates. If they were smart, they would post the manual online. They also didn't bother to post a video on YouTube that shows how either metallic cartridge loader works.

A few questions:

1. Do you go thru the loading process from right-to-left (deprime/resize, prime/add powder, seat bullet, and crimp?
2. How does the swing arm index so you are lined up?
3. Is the primer arm automatic?
4. Is the toolhead the oval disk at the top where the dies set?
5. What does the rod with the spring on it that is attached to the left rear of the press do?
6. Any weaknesses or deficiencies with the system?

[seagiant]

Hi Kevin,
I took some more pics so I'll try to explain it. I had a HARD time trying to find info on this loader and even after calling PW and any dealer that would talk to me just finally had to say to hec with it and ordered one! I'm going to explain the best I can and then put up some pics in the loading order and maybe that will help some what.

The first thing I'll try to explain is the priming system. The priming arm that you see in the front of the loader that is sticking up thru the swing arm plate is the primer seater or punch this is spring loaded somewhat like a primer arm on the old single stage reloaders. As you can see when the shell plate is down this is in the way of the swing arm moving to the right. However when you pick up the shell plate just abit with the press handle it drops below the shell plate and is out of the way. This sounds complicated but once you see how it works becomes stupidly easy! OK the primer gets to the primer seater by being carried by the little holder to the left of the shellholder on the swing arm! The only other priming system I can relate this to is the priming system on a Hornady 366 shotshell loader where the primer is dropped in a hole between the shells on the round shellholder and then is carried around and dropped into the primer seater as you advance the shells to the next station.

Ok with everything ready to load you move the swingarm that holds the shell holder and the primer holder all the way to the left and push down on the primer tube. This is the rod that has the spring that you asked about. When you push down on this it deposits 3 primers in the cup to the left of the shellholder.

Now you move the press handle down a bit which raises the swing arm plate and the primer seater arm is now out of the way and you can move the swingarm all the way to the right to station#1. With the case in the shell holder you lower the handle which raises the case and it is resized and deprimed. At the same time a new primer has been deposited in the primer seater at station#2 at the left! Pushing the handle up just aways lowers the shell plate and you swing the arm to the left to station#2. A primer is all ready in the primer seater and you raise the handle and lower the shellholder to prime. Now your case is primed and you lower the handle raise the shellholder to expand the case and drop the powder. I use a Lyman powder-thru case expander for this. Now you move to station#3 to the left,deposit a boolit on trhe case and seat the boolit,then move the swingarm again to the left to station#4 and taper crimp and your finished!

The only learning curve to this loader is the primer set up and that you have to raise the shellplate to navigate to the right with the shellholder because of the primer seater! Like I said though once you have it in front of you it is no problem and is like driving a manual geared truck or motorcycle it becomes intuitive very quickly!

Ok to answer some of the questions,the swingarm plate has little detents that let the swingarm stop at each station. This is all manual. Like I tried to explain the rod to the left of the loader with the spring, holds the primer tube and when you move the swingarm all the way to the left and push down on the tube it will deposit 3 primers into the primer holder to the left of the shell holder on the swingarm. Look at the pics and hopefully with what I wrote you can seeit better! Oh yes the top oval peice that holds all the dies and the primer tube assembly is the die head.

You asked about weaknesses or difficulties. It is not a fast loader but I believe there is less room for error and I enjoy it. It is also very robust and I would have no reservations using it to load any magnum rifle round that would fit! However I have my Hollywood Senior for that so I will probably only use these for pistol rounds.

[Pressman]

Kevin, Seagiant - thanks for this thread. I kept it for reference.
Ken

[Kevin Rohrer]

I was able visualize everything you talked about; good job!

I am guessing that the "detents" are on the front of the brass half-moon-shaped thingy, and the black shellplate knob is spring-loaded. You pull it out to move the shellholder from station-to-station; correct?

Am also guessing that you don't have to raise the shellplate w/ the press arm unless you are moving the shellplate to or from the priming station.

Does the press use normal RCBS-type shellholders?

Would Dillon dies work?

How do you load the primer tube?

Is the press aluminum or steel/iron?

[seagiant]

Hi Kevin,
Glad it helped. Yes the detents are on the top, back of the aluminum swingarm guide and on the front of the brass guide! Somewhere PW changed the position of the detents. The brass is the older loader and the aluminum is brand new. You do not have to pull or push the swingarm knob. it is a ball and spring set up like a tool head on a turrent reloader. you just move it where you want and it finds the detents.

The toolhead and base are aluminum but 3/4" thick aluminum.The cross shaft and uprights are steel. The loader uses any 7/8"-14 dies and the regular RCBS/Lyman type shellholders.

The primer assembly is screwed off the toolhead and then the primer tube is screwed off the assembly. There is a o-ring that holds 2 halves of a primer feed that allows a primer to be feed to the cup on the swingarm when you push the primer assembly down to deposit the 3 primers into the cup. The top end of the primer tube has an idented spring in it like an RCBS or Dillon primer tube so you can push it down on the primers to load the tube. I'll see if I can add some pics!