Hi chrisward3
Sorry I'm chiming in a little late with this.
1) Order yourself a 3 pack of the shell plate retaining springs. They're cheap,
and delicate, and IF you screw one up you're out of business till a new one arrives. Warranty covers em but its good to have a spare handy, for all the suckers cost.
2) You
may have trouble with your small rifle case feeder plate binding. I did and though Hornady were quick to send a replacement plate, (I now have 2), that didn't work either. If you encounter this, watch the plate as it rotates. You'll see the cases begin to wedge themselves between the plate and the sides of the bowl. The fix for this takes about 20 min with an 8" bastard file. Widen the plate notch by filing the notch about 1 mm wider at the lower end, (left end looking at the top of the plate) and tapering it to original width at about 1/2 way along the notch. Do this to each notch and problem solved ,, if you need to ,,
after you order a replacement in case you f**k up
.
3) If you find the odd pistol case toppling over as it drops from the drop tube onto the feeder arm, this too is simple to correct. Cut a 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" piece of clear plastic (as from a zip lock bag) and scotch tape it to the bottom edge of the drop tube extension so it extends about 1" below the bottom of the extension tube, opposite the pusher. It makes a nifty little
curved case steadying guide. Problem solved. Tape it in place with the ram up and you can adjust the plastic so its lower edge nearly touches the feeder arm in this position. You'll find that as you lower the ram, arm and case, the case behaves itself for the rest of the trip.
After these minor tweaks, my press works great for a leisurely 500 rds/hr, as someone mentioned above. I use the RCBS Lockout die for pistol and Hornady Powder Cop for .223. As others have mentioned, powder tosses consistently within spec and is never a concern.
I use my single stage press to resize/de-prime cases as they come back from the range. When I've accumulated a suitable batch of these, I tumble em clean and run em through the AP. This keeps lubricating guck out of the AP and opens a station for the factory crimp and lock out dies. Not everyone's idea of how to do it but it works for me
.
Great press,,enjoy!
