Primers away!
Quote from Reloader on October 11, 2010, 7:55 pmHi all,
So here I am new to reloading and after reading book after book I'm now respectful of primers. Who am I kidding, I'm scared of 'em...
So after reloading a few hundred rounds I found that every once in awhile while decapping a primer it (the spent one) will not drop into the cup, instead, it will fly off somewhere. The first time it happened I thought it was a new primer and nearly wet myself when I saw it shoot across the room..
Any ideas, am I alone here?Thanks!
Hi all,
So here I am new to reloading and after reading book after book I'm now respectful of primers. Who am I kidding, I'm scared of 'em...
So after reloading a few hundred rounds I found that every once in awhile while decapping a primer it (the spent one) will not drop into the cup, instead, it will fly off somewhere. The first time it happened I thought it was a new primer and nearly wet myself when I saw it shoot across the room..
Any ideas, am I alone here?
Thanks!
Quote from Reloader on October 12, 2010, 7:14 pmIt happens sometimes. Don't sweat it. You'll get used to it. Check to make sure that the flap on the primer catch is moving freely and keep your movements steady and smooth. A healthy respect for the primer is a good thing. You'll get used to it.
It happens sometimes. Don't sweat it. You'll get used to it. Check to make sure that the flap on the primer catch is moving freely and keep your movements steady and smooth. A healthy respect for the primer is a good thing. You'll get used to it.
Quote from Reloader on December 18, 2010, 9:56 pm".......every once in a while....." ????
I'd say about 10 percent of the decapped primers go flying. While it may happen "sometimes", I find it to be a royal pain. This is most common with 9mm/small pistol primers. 10 out of a hundred primers wind up on the floor, in the top of the strong mount bracket, and more frustratingly in the primer feeding/slide area where it frequently disables the primer feed from moving properly and fully. It breaks up the rythm of reloading and often requires stopping the process and cleaning out all the spent primers where they have landed on the reloading frame, brackets, primer slide, and other nooks and crannies.
Don' get me wrong, I love my 550, but I consider this a design flaw, and suggest that this be corrected with a revised design of the primer catch. JMO
-ppknut
".......every once in a while....." ????
I'd say about 10 percent of the decapped primers go flying. While it may happen "sometimes", I find it to be a royal pain. This is most common with 9mm/small pistol primers. 10 out of a hundred primers wind up on the floor, in the top of the strong mount bracket, and more frustratingly in the primer feeding/slide area where it frequently disables the primer feed from moving properly and fully. It breaks up the rythm of reloading and often requires stopping the process and cleaning out all the spent primers where they have landed on the reloading frame, brackets, primer slide, and other nooks and crannies.
Don' get me wrong, I love my 550, but I consider this a design flaw, and suggest that this be corrected with a revised design of the primer catch. JMO
-ppknut
Quote from Reloader on December 19, 2010, 10:55 pmWell, I am going to have to retract some of my comments in my previous post. I've discovered what was causing, in large part, the flying spent primers, in my case.
I just spent alot of time messing around with this. The spent primer catch chute and bracket was bent out to the right, causing a number of problems. First, because it was bent away (out) from the roller bracket shell platform, it was allowing spent primers to "miss' the chute, as it was not positioned directly below the deprimed shell and hole in the shell plate and platform.
Additionally, because of it's improper (bent) angle, the chute was severely impacting the primer slide, causing scrapes across the slide. These scrapes were raising metal on the slide which then caused the slide to bind in the primer housing and shield. This led to two problems. First, sometimes the primer slide would not fully extend back to pick up a primer. Second, if it did pick up a primer, it would hang up on the return, resulting in a sling shot effect, sometimes launching a new primer out of the cup.
Whew!
Aside from the cotter pin through the primer slide chute, which will sometimes/eventually deform and cause the chute to bind (a straight pin helps out here), it would be a good idea to manufacture the bracket that holds the chute out of sturdier material/steel. The bending of this piece was only discovered by inspecting my second 550 and noting the chute was out of place. Had I not had a second 550, it would have been much more difficult to diagnose.
-ppknut
Well, I am going to have to retract some of my comments in my previous post. I've discovered what was causing, in large part, the flying spent primers, in my case.
I just spent alot of time messing around with this. The spent primer catch chute and bracket was bent out to the right, causing a number of problems. First, because it was bent away (out) from the roller bracket shell platform, it was allowing spent primers to "miss' the chute, as it was not positioned directly below the deprimed shell and hole in the shell plate and platform.
Additionally, because of it's improper (bent) angle, the chute was severely impacting the primer slide, causing scrapes across the slide. These scrapes were raising metal on the slide which then caused the slide to bind in the primer housing and shield. This led to two problems. First, sometimes the primer slide would not fully extend back to pick up a primer. Second, if it did pick up a primer, it would hang up on the return, resulting in a sling shot effect, sometimes launching a new primer out of the cup.
Whew!
Aside from the cotter pin through the primer slide chute, which will sometimes/eventually deform and cause the chute to bind (a straight pin helps out here), it would be a good idea to manufacture the bracket that holds the chute out of sturdier material/steel. The bending of this piece was only discovered by inspecting my second 550 and noting the chute was out of place. Had I not had a second 550, it would have been much more difficult to diagnose.
-ppknut
Quote from Reloader on January 17, 2011, 11:00 pmI was surprised to see you are getting primers flying around the room. I purchased my RL-550 on 11-19-1998, and haven't yet had a primer fly out of the spent primer catcher. Maybe I've just been lucky and got everything adjusted right the first time.
I was surprised to see you are getting primers flying around the room. I purchased my RL-550 on 11-19-1998, and haven't yet had a primer fly out of the spent primer catcher. Maybe I've just been lucky and got everything adjusted right the first time.
Quote from Reloader on September 29, 2012, 3:10 pmRelace cotter pin with .060 drill rod which is harder. A small piece of rubber with 1/16 drilled hole placed on each end will keep the rod in place. Catch unit will function correctly everytime. Soft cotter pin does not make a good pivot point.
Relace cotter pin with .060 drill rod which is harder. A small piece of rubber with 1/16 drilled hole placed on each end will keep the rod in place. Catch unit will function correctly everytime. Soft cotter pin does not make a good pivot point.