omgb
07-21-2006, 08:31 PM
I received my Dillon Early Warning device today. It looks simple enough. A plastic box that clamps around the primer feed shield. There's a plastic follower rod that drops down the primer feed tube. It has a weighted plastic knob on top and when the primers get low, the knob bears down on a thin plastic lever that in turn, presses a recessed button in the unit. A warning buzzer then sounds until the rod is lifted back up.
Fitting it to the Hornady press was simple. Dillon uses a knurled metal knob to cap the primer shield and hold the primer tube in place. Hornady uses a split poly plastic cap that fits down into the shield and captures the tube in the middle. All I had to do was (1) wrap tape around the Hornady cap until it was big enough in diameter to snuggly accept the Dillon warning device. Then, (2) as the Dillon primer tubes are shorter than the Hornady, I had to snip 1.25 inches off the end of the follower. This was easy since Dillon makes it out of plastic. Simple as pie and now I've got an early warning device letting me know when primers are low. Total cost with shipping was $29.00
I had previously been using a length of 1/8" piano wire with a rubber O ring slid down. When the O ring was flush with the top of the Primer Shield Cap, I knew I had 5 primers left. I set the Dillon unit up the same way. There are five stations on the press so when the buzzer sounds, I turn off the case feed and run the tool head dry.
This was a slick fix and I heartily recommend it. It sure beats heck out of cleaning up dribbled powder when I run out of primers.
Fitting it to the Hornady press was simple. Dillon uses a knurled metal knob to cap the primer shield and hold the primer tube in place. Hornady uses a split poly plastic cap that fits down into the shield and captures the tube in the middle. All I had to do was (1) wrap tape around the Hornady cap until it was big enough in diameter to snuggly accept the Dillon warning device. Then, (2) as the Dillon primer tubes are shorter than the Hornady, I had to snip 1.25 inches off the end of the follower. This was easy since Dillon makes it out of plastic. Simple as pie and now I've got an early warning device letting me know when primers are low. Total cost with shipping was $29.00
I had previously been using a length of 1/8" piano wire with a rubber O ring slid down. When the O ring was flush with the top of the Primer Shield Cap, I knew I had 5 primers left. I set the Dillon unit up the same way. There are five stations on the press so when the buzzer sounds, I turn off the case feed and run the tool head dry.
This was a slick fix and I heartily recommend it. It sure beats heck out of cleaning up dribbled powder when I run out of primers.