Squib loads

P

Prayerst6

Member
Rating - 100%
4   0   0
Location
Mississauga, ON
I have a problem with my Lee Progressive 1000. Apparently my powder measure isn't working properly because out of 100 loaded rounds I fired, I had 5 squib loads and 2 light charges!! Before I get flammed about not checking each round, I know and believe me I will be powder checking each round from now and on. I took the precaution of not rapid firing them, and when there was a problem I didn't tap/rack/bang, I checked the bore on each failed round.... so I avoided having a kaboom in my barrel.


Now here comes my question: Is it common for a Lee powder measure to fail throwing a load or throw a light load? Or is mine just broken and not functioning properly?


Thanks in advance
 
what gun powder, and what amount of it?

calibre?

i find it hard to feed very small amounts of powders as well as flake powders in my pro 1000's.
 
I don't know for LEE products but on my Dillon, you have a butterfly nut to tight to make sure the powder bar travels "fully" back & forth when I move the ram, once it was too loose and I experienced variation, yours may have a system that does approx the same that you can adjust
 
My experience with Lee powder throwers has not been good. I have found them to be somewhat
erratic when it comes to delivering powder. Like yourself, I have had the occasional light
charge or sometimes worse, no powder at all.
I switched to Dillon about 10 years ago, have loaded many rounds without a single
problem with powder.
My opinion is that there are several makes of powder systems & Lee is at the
bottom of the list.
 
I have a Lee Pro 1000, fairly new one and have found the powder thrower to be very reliable. I also load tight group for 9mm and my only issue is that a small amount of powder bounces out of the case as the press progresses.

They way mine is set up it is all but impossible for powder not to be dispensed, that is of course unless it runs out.

Check the tension on the chain that toggles the powder drop (I am presuming you are using the lee Pro Auto-Disk Powder Measure), if properly set up it should be very reliable.
 
I don't have a progressive but do use a Lee Perfect Powder Measure (LPPM). It doesn't work worth a damn for any flake powders. I tried and got erratic weights (including charges of only a few flakes) and powder got into the mechanism and made it incredibly hard to move the handle. Using only extruded powders in my LPPM I have had no problems and find it delivers within +/- 1% (so +/- 0.5 grains on a 50 grain charge). Far from the most accurate but good enough for my plinking loads. For everything else I measure charges individually.

Since the Lee Auto-Disk powder measure used on the Pro 1000 also uses a plastic-on-plastic friction system I wouldn't be surprised if it has similar issues.
 
If you are using the powder measure with the chain, then it might be something in your procedures, as Titegroup should meter quite well. If you are not using the chain, but relying on the spring return, I found that it would do exactly what you describe. I upgraded to the chain measure and I have loaded 1000s without a problem.
 
W231 is a flattened ball powder. I was finding the titegroup would bridge in the hopper and some times no powder was dispensed or too little was dropped. I tried a baffle in the hopper but that didn't help. Tapping the hopper after each round was the only way to get a consistent powder drop.
With W231 the same amount each time, very consistent.
 
From what I see in my reloading manual, if your loading 115 grs you should be using a start charge of 4.1 of titegroup. If your loading 124 grs you should start at 4 grs. So by you loading at 3.8grs is the first problem. Second would be not getting an accurate powder drop. You may get more or less, which causes squids.

I found using 4grs of win231 on my 9mm was like firing a 22. I bumped it up to 4.5 and it feels almost like factory.
 
Many thousands of rounds loaded with my Loadmaster (same powder system) doing 9 and 40 with Titegroup. Had powder issues once due to bridging. I believe the humidity level in the house played a huge role in that problem. Since then, nothing (knocks on wood)

(E) :cool:
 
with mine i tried something i found on the net and it worked just fine ( for the rare occasion the internet tips works... :) )

try to sand a little off the side bars on the top portion of the powder measure, it will let the rubber portion go low enough to rub a little more on the disc and permit more ''efficiency''
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom