Progressive Press and Powder Check Die

jcuffe6240

jcuffe6240

CGN Regular
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Location
Central Alberta
Just got a Hornady LnL AP press and was going to start setting it up for 9mm to start. Does anyone use a powder check die on a progressive? And if so, which one would you recommend?
 
I have been using the RCBS lockout die in station 4 on my loadmaster. Once set up the lockout works great. Loading 40S&W minor for IPSC. Light charge of 3.2 grains of Clays.
Now I am hooked.
 
never saw the need . but i've only had a progessive for 10 yrs & 100,000+ rds . the primer beeper on the dillon , on the other hand is worth it's weight in gold .
 
I go relatively slow and visually inspect every case in the 3 rd stage of the 550b before seating the bullet. Not the fastest but it works for me.
 
nada said:
never saw the need . but i've only had a progessive for 10 yrs & 100,000+ rds . the primer beeper on the dillon , on the other hand is worth it's weight in gold .
Click to expand...

I never saw need either until I was present when a couple of hand guns became shrapnel and the range I belong to aquired a # of shrapnell holes in the wall from an exploding rifle. None of the guns or loads were mine and I don't want them to be neither. No one was hurt in either of the hand gun demolitions, one the shooter was left holding just the frame of a 1911, the mag was blown out the bottom and the slide and barrel each whent their own ways. T he other hand gun, a revolver, had the topstrap and 1/3 of the cylinder removed, never found either piece, they were just gone.

My wife and I shoot my handloads regularly in a croud of 100 or more other shooters, it would be irresposible to cut corners on an $80 dollar powder checker seeing as it's available.
 
Out of curiosity, are there any 550 owners using powder check dies? I guess it would go in the 3rd stage and use last stage to seat the bullet? Then I couldnt use the lee FCD though? I am not about to move to a 650 just to use a pcd.
 
short stroking a progressive sucks....and thats what a lock out die will cause you to do....

visually inspecting the case is fine, but hard on the neck after a while, the powder cop is at a comfortable height to watch as you hit the top of the stroke, if it is off either high or low then don't put a bullet on the case........take the case out and dump the powder back into the hopper, insert the case into postion 2 as it already has a primer in it.....

I used to load on to 650's with all the bells and whistles.....now I doing it on a hornady LNL........I have the powder cop installed just because its a new foreign machine to me and it has to build my trust, I have also loaded on many square deals and never checked the powder..............still have all my fingers...........
 
I had the RCBS lockout die for a year before I used it.
The reason I started using it is that I had a squib load in my 1911.
I didn't notice it so I put in another mag and dropped the slide.
Fortunately for me it didn't go into battery. It still didn't click so I dropped the mag and inserted a 3rd one.
When that didn't work I stopped and disassembled the pistol and found the squib.
The base was so black that I couldn't see it at all and fortunately I didn't lose any fingers or an eye.

My guess is that a small primer .45 may have gotten mixed in with the large primer and I somehow indexed the press.
 
Mikeyman said:
Out of curiosity, are there any 550 owners using powder check dies? I guess it would go in the 3rd stage and use last stage to seat the bullet? Then I couldnt use the lee FCD though? I am not about to move to a 650 just to use a pcd.
Click to expand...

I use an RCBS lockout die, exactly as you described in my 550, in the third stage. It means I have to seat and crimp in one die, but I like having the mechanical check as well as the visual of powder levels.

It took a few rounds to get used to setting the bullet on stage 4, but no trouble with it now.
 
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