Time to make the donuts....

[D Coots]

My motorcycle lift works great. Infinitely adjustable. And solid. Just re-purposed it.

 

[AlNyhus]

My motorcycle lift works great. Infinitely adjustable. And solid. Just re-purposed it.

Smart idea...wish I had the room.

 

[D Coots]

I've got plenty of room....just not many smart ideas Al....

 

[JoeDuke]

Looking forward to your results, Joe. I left the ram pin unbushed for the time being. I think...but don't know...that it likes a bit of looseness for self centering. With the ram pin bushed, the pin fit in the ram should still allow this. -Al

A relatively small sampling indicates I have improved the precision of the press.
As it was originally except iI had replaced the pins with precision shoulder bolts. I made 60 cores aiming at a core weight of 74.24 grains as weighed on my fx120. Of those, ten weighed in the teens and nine weighed 74.30 or more. An es of close to .2 tenths.
After bushing the pins, I again made 60 cores. Of those, six were in the teens with one as light as 74.14 grains. There were none as heavy as 74.30 and only three that weighed 74.28 grains. So an extreme spread of .14 grains with the bulk clustered between 74.20 and 74.26 grains.

I will take that. Before I was struggling to stay within .25 grains.

Note that the fx120 accuracy is .02 grains so you get no odd number weights. So my spreads could be another tenth or two. But it looks like an improvement.

 

[Fuj]

My small prototype is mocked up for the first time. This RCBS JR3
has quite a bit of iron in it, and it was a $15 find at a gun show years
ago......Just for a different look, I went and bored thru the frame for
the knock out assembly. The ram's pivot pin will break before the
frame does......Ram I made from a scrap barrel, and knock out rod is
some 4130 moly tubing i have on hand for repairing off road, and
mower steering linkages. Needs some tweaking but its close......If I
were to build a real serious model, I'd bypass the Lee and go with
the newer RCBS Rebel with the steel toggles......And instead of set
screws for the knock out, I had knob lying around. Seems like it
would be handy for the initial adjustment then lock it down with the
screw......Just thinking out loud......

 

[JoeDuke]

I was pointing up some bullets today and this one felt noticeably different so I set it aside. That was a good move.

 

[jackieschmidt]

I was pointing up some bullets today and this one felt noticeably different so I set it aside. That was a good move.

View attachment 1646116

What caused that.

 

[liljoe]

It just seems to happen with some lots of jackets. They just fold over.
Joe

 

[JoeDuke]

What caused that.

I dont really know. It was the only one that did that. It started pointing up normal pressure. Suddenly it just sort of gave way. Obviously just folded rather than pointing.

 

[Fuj]

A slightly longer then normal jacket get mixed in ??

 

[geo.ulrich]

A slightly longer then normal jacket get mixed in ??

No

 

[RGRobinett]

I was pointing up some bullets today and this one felt noticeably different so I set it aside. That was a good move.

View attachment 1646116

Mixed with some good bullets, that one will probably , "go right into the group" - usually, they don't get too wild until the fold gets close enough to the bore diameter, to engage a land . . . even iffin ya can't see what's at issue, set the "funny feelers" aside for fire-forming. Oh, after you've "pointed-up" a few bullets, your tactile judgement will kick-in and you'll be able to feel even the 1/64th"-1/32nd" long folds . . . RG

 

[JoeDuke]

A slightly longer then normal jacket get mixed in ??

It definitely was not a longer jacket.

Felt like the jacket just crumpled rather than pointing up. And sure enough.

 

[tom]

It's just a collapsed jacket to my eye from to picture. My long 30s aren't the greatest lot, and if I exceed 2.7 grains per bucket (650) the percentage goes way up. Should be easily discernable by pressure required.

Tom

 

[geo.ulrich]

It's just a collapsed jacket to my eye from to picture. My long 30s aren't the greatest lot, and if I exceed 2.7 grains per bucket (650) the percentage goes way up. Should be easily discernable by pressure required.

Tom

Yes the handle pressure is quite a bit less

 

[liseo]

I received a batch of J4 jackets with 1,200" for 168 grain 30 caliber bullets.
I had a high percentage of folded.
With Sierra jackets, practically no folded.
My impression is that this occurs with harder jackets. Maybe annealing will solve it, but I'm not sure that it can't cause other problems, such as low adhesion between core and jackets, due to the lower spring back. Even the sound generated when shaking the jackets is different when they are softer or harder.

 

[AlNyhus]

There's probably a lot of things at play when we get those folds. The feed back from the handle is an instant red flag...that's a good thing.

Some jacket lots show more prominent pleat lines, too. With those lots, the pleats look similar whether I point then on my multiple Blackmon steel point dies or my carbide Robinett die.

Thank goodness we have the boundary layer workin' for us.

 

[geo.ulrich]

I was waiting to see what was said about them, anyway they are caused be an uneven pinch trim. if its not square you will get folds.

 

[AlNyhus]

I was waiting to see what was said about them, anyway they are caused be an uneven pinch trim. if its not square you will get folds.

Thank you, George! -Al

 

[geo.ulrich]

Thank you, George! -Al

anytime