So, yesterday was a good day for me. My new toy arrived from from Mark 7 Reloading. Trust the Canadian shipper to be lazy and not want to deliver to my residential address because they only send 45ft trucks to Chilliwack, and they figured they couldn't get it down my driveway and back out. I offered to do it for them as I backed a 48ft in years ago. This of course wasn't MK7's fault, their shipper got it to the Canadian depot in good time, with no hassles at the border, something I was worried about due to the End User Certificates required to send this Canada. So instead I went in and picked it up from the depot myself, 2hrs there and back, no big deal. Got to race a Vette, he won, but we made some good time between areas that the cops usually don't sit and watch.
Now for a little bit about me, I'd intended to wear my hat cam and do a big fancy unboxing of the unit, but.....f#ck that, I was like a little kid at Christmas. My buddy came down to help me get this out of my Volvo.
First impressions, they did a damn good job with the boxing, short of someone dropping it from on high this thing will survive all the normal shipping idiots, it's bolted directly to the pallet and the box contains the main unit and some accessories. There are two other boxes strapped to the pallet that contain the case feeder and the bullet feeder.
Getting the box open was a bit of a challenge but my buddy did that while I looked for wrenches to remove the lag bolts from the unit inside the box.
Once out of the box we took it into my kitchen for a quick look over on the dining room table, it was very very tempting to just leave it there, with the nice rubber feet it wasn't going to hurt anything, and really, at most I usually have 4 people over, so it could take one spot, but no, we carried it downstairs where I set it up on an old school desk (until I decide what height to build the dedicated bench for it and the Mk7 1050). To say this machine is gorgeous is like saying the landing of the SpaceX Falcons back on the ground is, meh. This thing is amazingly well machined and put together. Smooth to hand operate (you can do that off a bolt on the front) and it's rock f#cking solid. The primer collator and delivery system is super well thought out, and works like a charm right out of the box. No more f@cking primer tubes, just dump and go.
One note I should mention, prior to them releasing this I had started working on a 10 station rotary press design of my own, I'd done about 200hrs worth of sketches and notes, but thankfully never really spent any money on it before I found out about the Revolution. With a few minor differences this machine does all the things I wanted my design to, and it is a helluva lot more inventive in how it deals with a lot of the challenges one faces with a reloader. I'm glad I never went any further with my own design.
Then I set to installing all the bits and pieces. The new case feeder is impressive, the new super duper DAA/Mr Bullet Feeder large bullet feeder is also impressive, but they both pale in comparison the Powder Measure. H.O.L.Y.F.@.C.K.
This powder measure is a beast and is as nice as the main unit itself in machining. And, it's servo powered, not case/linkage powered (more on that later).
Lining up the various bits and pieces took me about an hour all told, running wires, double checking the right ones went to the right spot etc. I didn't want to burn anything out or otherwise ruin the new machine. And, so far, it seems like I did okay.
Once I got everything connected I powered it all up and turned on the tablet, a nice welcome message from Mk7 greets you and the start page comes up. Something familiar to those of us with Mk7 1050s. Press the "Reloader" button, then skip reading the legalize and hit "Accept" knowing I could die simply pressing that button, and we are in the main page of the reloader itself. Press calibrate to let it zero itself and then I hit Start. I started at the slowest speed, 1000 rounds an hour and worked my way up to 3500 watching how everything moved and worked in conjunction with each other. No brass or bullets yet, as I needed to set the decapping die (@Mighty Amory for the win there) and the case flaring die (a cool little hack that Mk7 has come up with, a Lee case expander with the Mr Bullet Feeder expander/powder funnel inside. This only took a few minutes after I watched the machine run for about 15 minutes, it's mesmerizing to watch and it's just a beautiful piece of equipment. I'm an old school machine operator, having grown up on a farm running all the machinery (and fixing it, also known as "bandaiding") right up to my becoming a Power Engineer and running big ass machines powered by steam. I truly appreciate well made stuff, this is well made.
Once I got the dies adjusted I ran some brass through at various speeds to see if there was any wobbles or weirdness that would throw bullets off. At 3500 I had a few fall off, so the new bullet sensor is going to be a good addition once it's ready. I messed around with the case flare a bit more and that did seem to cure it, but I really can't see myself loading at that speed, processing yes, but loading no.
I then loaded up the powder hopper with Tightgroup and dialed in the measure. As previously noted it's servo powered, not case powered. When a case is in the powder station and the press goes down, the case contacts the powder drop, pushing it up until it lifts the powder measure, it only needs to move maybe 1/4 of an inch, and the servo puts the powder drum (not a slide like a Dillon, but a drum like an RCBS or Hornady) into the halfway point (not throwing, not receiving more powder), once the machine is at full bottom, it then throws the powder. For large charges you can set a bottom dwell so it can all drop into the case, and a top dwell as well, to fill the hopper. There is a fair bit of movement available to the measure, so you won't need to be adjusting the height when you switch between pistol cases, not sure about rifle stuff. I'll figure that out later. A huge benefit to this setup is that if you get interrupted due to a jam or something, the powder measure is communicating with the machine itself, and won't throw a second charge into the same case if the machine goes to full bottom again. Frickin GENIUS! Even at 3500 rounds an hour I wasn't seeing any powder fling out, but I'm only loading 3.2grs of TG right now, so it's not a very full case.
But why doesn't it fling out? you ask. Well, because of the ingenious method they use for case retention. Many of us have done the zip tie hack on our 1050s, to stabilize the cases on rotation, but Mk7 have simply done away with the buttons completely and instead wrapped a nice solid coil spring all the way around the shellplate. This spring keeps good tension on the cases and also allows you to remove or add cases in any station. Again, GENIUS. (apparently Hornady does this too, just found that out) I got a couple spares with the machine, but I wouldn't expect to see them wear out very quickly, more likely I'd do something stupid and wreck one. Good thinking to send me extras....
A similar spring is also a part of the case feed arm, this replicates another zip tie hack I had done on my 1050, it prevents upside down cases from advancing and wrecking your decap die. If a case isn't in the shell plate it's not held onto by anything and doesn't have enough force to push past the spring and mess #### up.
The primer seater and swage adjust the same as the 1050, so that was a quick setup too.
As expected the machine has a ton of sensors, decap, swage, low primer (right on the primer feeder), powder checker and powder measure.
Wait did I say powder measure? As a sensor? Yup, it works as described above, but can also be turned off, which means no powder will be thrown when a case is under the measure. This means you don't have to remove the measure if you're processing brass. I know I am repeating myself, but GENIUS, FRICKIN GENIUS.
So, so far I am incredibly impressed with this machine. There is only one thing I'd like to see created for it and that would be a micrometer metering screw setup for the measure, like the RCBS Uniflow has (hmmm I wonder if they are the same bore and thread size...I have a spare RCBS one sitting around somewhere I think).
Later on after I get up, I'm going to run off the last 50 rounds on my 1050 and then swap the dies over to the Revo and load a couple thousand rounds. I'll take some video of that happening once I get settled in. I still need to figure out a loaded round chute as I intend to case gauge everything as it comes off the press, and the included setup is more for the guys doing industrial runs at high speed into a bucket on the floor.
Now for a little bit about me, I'd intended to wear my hat cam and do a big fancy unboxing of the unit, but.....f#ck that, I was like a little kid at Christmas. My buddy came down to help me get this out of my Volvo.
First impressions, they did a damn good job with the boxing, short of someone dropping it from on high this thing will survive all the normal shipping idiots, it's bolted directly to the pallet and the box contains the main unit and some accessories. There are two other boxes strapped to the pallet that contain the case feeder and the bullet feeder.
Getting the box open was a bit of a challenge but my buddy did that while I looked for wrenches to remove the lag bolts from the unit inside the box.
Once out of the box we took it into my kitchen for a quick look over on the dining room table, it was very very tempting to just leave it there, with the nice rubber feet it wasn't going to hurt anything, and really, at most I usually have 4 people over, so it could take one spot, but no, we carried it downstairs where I set it up on an old school desk (until I decide what height to build the dedicated bench for it and the Mk7 1050). To say this machine is gorgeous is like saying the landing of the SpaceX Falcons back on the ground is, meh. This thing is amazingly well machined and put together. Smooth to hand operate (you can do that off a bolt on the front) and it's rock f#cking solid. The primer collator and delivery system is super well thought out, and works like a charm right out of the box. No more f@cking primer tubes, just dump and go.
One note I should mention, prior to them releasing this I had started working on a 10 station rotary press design of my own, I'd done about 200hrs worth of sketches and notes, but thankfully never really spent any money on it before I found out about the Revolution. With a few minor differences this machine does all the things I wanted my design to, and it is a helluva lot more inventive in how it deals with a lot of the challenges one faces with a reloader. I'm glad I never went any further with my own design.
Then I set to installing all the bits and pieces. The new case feeder is impressive, the new super duper DAA/Mr Bullet Feeder large bullet feeder is also impressive, but they both pale in comparison the Powder Measure. H.O.L.Y.F.@.C.K.
This powder measure is a beast and is as nice as the main unit itself in machining. And, it's servo powered, not case/linkage powered (more on that later).
Lining up the various bits and pieces took me about an hour all told, running wires, double checking the right ones went to the right spot etc. I didn't want to burn anything out or otherwise ruin the new machine. And, so far, it seems like I did okay.
Once I got everything connected I powered it all up and turned on the tablet, a nice welcome message from Mk7 greets you and the start page comes up. Something familiar to those of us with Mk7 1050s. Press the "Reloader" button, then skip reading the legalize and hit "Accept" knowing I could die simply pressing that button, and we are in the main page of the reloader itself. Press calibrate to let it zero itself and then I hit Start. I started at the slowest speed, 1000 rounds an hour and worked my way up to 3500 watching how everything moved and worked in conjunction with each other. No brass or bullets yet, as I needed to set the decapping die (@Mighty Amory for the win there) and the case flaring die (a cool little hack that Mk7 has come up with, a Lee case expander with the Mr Bullet Feeder expander/powder funnel inside. This only took a few minutes after I watched the machine run for about 15 minutes, it's mesmerizing to watch and it's just a beautiful piece of equipment. I'm an old school machine operator, having grown up on a farm running all the machinery (and fixing it, also known as "bandaiding") right up to my becoming a Power Engineer and running big ass machines powered by steam. I truly appreciate well made stuff, this is well made.
Once I got the dies adjusted I ran some brass through at various speeds to see if there was any wobbles or weirdness that would throw bullets off. At 3500 I had a few fall off, so the new bullet sensor is going to be a good addition once it's ready. I messed around with the case flare a bit more and that did seem to cure it, but I really can't see myself loading at that speed, processing yes, but loading no.
I then loaded up the powder hopper with Tightgroup and dialed in the measure. As previously noted it's servo powered, not case powered. When a case is in the powder station and the press goes down, the case contacts the powder drop, pushing it up until it lifts the powder measure, it only needs to move maybe 1/4 of an inch, and the servo puts the powder drum (not a slide like a Dillon, but a drum like an RCBS or Hornady) into the halfway point (not throwing, not receiving more powder), once the machine is at full bottom, it then throws the powder. For large charges you can set a bottom dwell so it can all drop into the case, and a top dwell as well, to fill the hopper. There is a fair bit of movement available to the measure, so you won't need to be adjusting the height when you switch between pistol cases, not sure about rifle stuff. I'll figure that out later. A huge benefit to this setup is that if you get interrupted due to a jam or something, the powder measure is communicating with the machine itself, and won't throw a second charge into the same case if the machine goes to full bottom again. Frickin GENIUS! Even at 3500 rounds an hour I wasn't seeing any powder fling out, but I'm only loading 3.2grs of TG right now, so it's not a very full case.
But why doesn't it fling out? you ask. Well, because of the ingenious method they use for case retention. Many of us have done the zip tie hack on our 1050s, to stabilize the cases on rotation, but Mk7 have simply done away with the buttons completely and instead wrapped a nice solid coil spring all the way around the shellplate. This spring keeps good tension on the cases and also allows you to remove or add cases in any station. Again, GENIUS. (apparently Hornady does this too, just found that out) I got a couple spares with the machine, but I wouldn't expect to see them wear out very quickly, more likely I'd do something stupid and wreck one. Good thinking to send me extras....
A similar spring is also a part of the case feed arm, this replicates another zip tie hack I had done on my 1050, it prevents upside down cases from advancing and wrecking your decap die. If a case isn't in the shell plate it's not held onto by anything and doesn't have enough force to push past the spring and mess #### up.
The primer seater and swage adjust the same as the 1050, so that was a quick setup too.
As expected the machine has a ton of sensors, decap, swage, low primer (right on the primer feeder), powder checker and powder measure.
Wait did I say powder measure? As a sensor? Yup, it works as described above, but can also be turned off, which means no powder will be thrown when a case is under the measure. This means you don't have to remove the measure if you're processing brass. I know I am repeating myself, but GENIUS, FRICKIN GENIUS.
So, so far I am incredibly impressed with this machine. There is only one thing I'd like to see created for it and that would be a micrometer metering screw setup for the measure, like the RCBS Uniflow has (hmmm I wonder if they are the same bore and thread size...I have a spare RCBS one sitting around somewhere I think).
Later on after I get up, I'm going to run off the last 50 rounds on my 1050 and then swap the dies over to the Revo and load a couple thousand rounds. I'll take some video of that happening once I get settled in. I still need to figure out a loaded round chute as I intend to case gauge everything as it comes off the press, and the included setup is more for the guys doing industrial runs at high speed into a bucket on the floor.
