Hornady LnL powder drop problem

[owaindav]

Hey all. New to this forum (any reloading forum actually) and I apologize if this has been asked before but it's pretty daunting going through all these posts.

I've got a Hornady LnL (obviously) and I've loaded hundreds of .40 and .44 mag and I'm trying to set up to load .38 sp. My problem is when I hit the powder drop, all the powder doesn't drop into the case. Some falls around the sides and makes a mess.

Is there something I'm doing wrong? I haven't done anything different than what I did with the other calibers.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Walkalong]

Sounds like the funnel isn't down on the case, leaving space for the powder to escape from, but I don't use the LNL powder measure/funnel expander for any pistol calibers, only .458 Win Mag, and even then I expand prior to dropping powder. You must have something slightly out of adjustment.

I am sure someone more familiar with the setup can help more.

Welcome to THR.

 

[beatledog7]

Exactly how are you lining up the case mouth with the drop? Raising the case up to the drop tube?

There are two drop tubes with a LNL press, each having a different size opening. The large opening works for 45 ad 44 but might be too big for the .38SPL case mouth, so when you raise the case to the bottom of the drop the hole extends past the case mouth at some point.

I use the small one pretty much all the time.

 

[Furncliff]

Welcome to the forum.



The powder sleeve is the part that moves up and down inside the drop tube and makes contact with the case mouth. Change to the sleeve with the smaller opening.

 

[owaindav]

That was exactly it. I don't know why but I had it in my mind that was for a different caliber.

Thanks so much for your help folks. 1000 .38 special bullets coming up!

 

[cfullgraf]

I made a series of drop tubes for the Hornady L-N-L powder measure for different cartridges that allow me to change the drop tube and not have to readjust the powder drop die.

The part that enters the case is cartridge/caliber specific..

See the attached link

http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=8008584&postcount=954

The Hornady drop tubes do the same except you have to adjust the drop die for each change in drop tube.

Hope this helps.