Any lasting success with the Piggyback?

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ironhat

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I bought the PB II on closeout when they were introducing the model III so it has been a few years. I don't use it very much because I have frequent problems with the primer not seating and I don't discover it until the powder drop station. Have any of you sorted out the issue with this? I just can't tell why it's not seating? The carrier *looks* like it's traveling the whole way... Of course, checking this on each case would be a real PITA and negate any time savings. Maybe a mirror and a light so that I can inspect the bottom of the case thru that tiny hole in the shell plate?

TIA, folks!
Chiz
 
Chiz, I've had a PiggyBack II for years but have never had the problem that you describe. In fact, it spits out loaded rounds without any trouble at all. When you say "primer not seating", are you picking up a primer from the primer tube and getting it to the base of the case and once there the problems begin? Or are you unable to reliably get a primer to the case? The primer "carrier" is adjustable as you know.

:)
 
Maybe not exactly, I do have a early 90's vintage RCBS 'Auto 4X4' though. I think it is of a related nature. I am a relatively low count reloader that switches rounds fairly often. For that reason I disabled the auto indexing on my reloader & use it as a multiple die 'turret' type press. I move the shell around by hand & prime & powder charge away from the press. I just didn't feel like doing all the setup to get everything just right to load 50 rounds of ammo. Anyway thats what I did & am very pleased using it this way.
 
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Thanks for the comeback, folks. As for the primer carrier, 1858, the primary issue is that the ability of the carrier to make the traverse from pickup to shellplate is variable. I was considering the use of silicone on the carrier. I'd prefer not to add contaminants to the priming mechanism. I'm thinking that I'll call RCBS again later today and request a new spring and carrier. They too had me adjusting the carrier which I did while I had them on the phone. That was a couple of years ago but there must be something wrong -a tiny something but it shouldn't be this difficult to use.
 
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Iornhat, RCBS sent me enough parts to rebuild the Piggy Back with upgrades to go from Piggy Back to Piggy Back 11 with a case lock out, I should have been happy and would have been if anything worked, I sent them parts and two Piggy Backs, this was about the time they could only give advice because replacement parts were no longer available, I started to case prep, size and seat primers first then finish with belling, powder, seating and crimping in the press. Getting away from the primer system on the Piggy Back is a good ideal, the primer tube does not have a safety shield, the shield will force the 100 primers in the tube to decorate the ceiling in an accident, an accident without the shield/safety tube is something no one wants, to me it was a good trade off.



F. Guffey
 
Point well taken, fguffey. I had already gone to hand seating the primers but find the RCBS hand priming device to be a pain as well. I think that I'll start another thread about it.:uhoh:
 
I have been using my Piggyback II on my old Rock Chucker since the 80's. I occasionally have issues with it but for nearly 20 years it has served me well enough to keep it around.
 
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