Post
by rickhem » Fri Sep 20, 2024 9:33 am
That minimal flare at station two will have a big impact on the lifespan of your brass @5shot. Make it just wide enough to set a bullet in place at station three, and keep that bullet in a vertical orientation. Had one buddy ask me for help with his SDB, loading .45acp, and he had a 185 SWC smushed up in that seater station sideways. He said he thought it would self-align. It might most times if there is a slight angle, but in my mind, the extra 0.5 seconds it takes to position each bullet, saves the 0.5 hours disassembling the toolhead and clearing the smushed bullet when it doesn't.
I've seen the LED lights on some YouTube videos and think those are a great idea. They make lights specifically for a wide variety of presses. I know that I positioned the lighting in my loading areas (a few different houses through the years) so the presses got good light and I could see what was going on. I have a clamp on LED book light that I'm going to use for that purpose. Older eyes need that extra light.
As you get comfortable, there are senses that you'll develop for the reloading process, and when something doesn't "feel" right, or when it sounds different, stop and find out why. On the SDB, you'll be cranking out ammo quickly, and eventually develop your own routine, almost like a repetitive dance, and those little senses become very good at noticing something different. I find split cases by having them go too easily through station one, and don't feel that same resistance while resizing.
And one last thing, if/when you have something go awry doing a run, and end up having to stop to adjust something or check if a primer is seated properly, or anything that breaks your rhythm as your pulling that handle, double check all the other cases on the shell plate to be sure things are where they're supposed to be. Maybe even remove all the cases from the other stations, and finish them at the end of the run. That stop-fix-restart part is when most double charges happen.
Quick tip, put a women's knee-high stocking over your shopvac tube, and let the bulk of it get sucked up inside the tube. Then, when you're vacuuming up those incidental spills, it acts like a filter to catch the powder granules so they don't end up going into the hopper of the vacuum. When you're done, remove the stocking and empty it in the trash, or whatever safe way you want to dispose of that powder. I always was worried about having too much powder inside the vacuum. I doubt it would ever happen, but if that ever ignited, you're not putting that one out.
I've made a couple of rookie mistakes getting this thing running and certainly don't need a double charge. Old sausage fingers dropped one of the pins in front of the shellholder and had to remove the priming assembly to retrieve it 
Also had a powder spill from forgetting to prime one case. So...I got the bright idea of using one of wifeys vacuum cleaners to keep those couple of grains from getting down in the clockwork. 
The vacuum inhaled the primer from station 2 and almost got the pin! 
It was like watching a scene from "Ernest T. Worrell takes up handloading".... 
I had to reduce the flare a quite a bit though. I'll mostly be using cast bullets sized at .357" and I think the flare is about right. Just enough that bullets stay put and no lead shaving. I shot the first 100 SDB rounds today with the Ruger PC9 and a couple of 1911's. My plinking and plate rack load is the Lee 125 gr. RN powder coated over 3.7 grains of 231 and using WSP spark. Function and accuracy were fine. Velocity was 1124 fps average from the carbine and 1019 from 5" 1911. I'll load up a few hundred of these and then the Lee 120 gr. truncated cone and 124 gr. RCBS. Maybe after the rocky start I'll take a liking to this press. 