Light charges of Li'l Gun and W296 through Lee PAD

[1KPerDay]

You said you are skipping two steps are you sizing on the press?If not since your cases are primed put the sizing die back in without the decapper and try it..Most powder measures work best solidly mounted the Lee seems to work better with some movement of the powder.I've used Lil gun 110/296 in mine without problems I never prime on the press but use unsized primed cases.If you are just moving the turret ahead by hand do it by the handle that might be enough movement to get better charges.

Skipping 2 stations meaning no sizing/decapping die and seating/crimping in one step, so 2 stations are empty. I am using the handle and the indexing rod is in place. The PAD is moving. The routine is the same as loading handgun (which produces very consistent throws of powder) except I'm not sizing/priming on the first stroke.

I am using Lee's powder through expanding die for .30 Carbine. Thanks to all for ideas.

What I can't figure out is what's different about this particular combination that's producing inconsistent throws, where for handgun (.380, .38, 9mm, .40, .45 ACP) it has produced more than 20K rounds very consistently as long as I stay above about 3.8 grains of powder.

 

[tcoz]

I had exactly the same problem with my PAD and it also didn't start to appear until after many thousand rounds. The disk wasn't consistently traveling the full length therefore not fully uncovering the drop hole. It would happen maybe 10-20% of the time. i would tear the whole thing apart, lubricate with graphite and reassemble. It would then be fine for 100-200 rounds then start inconsistently dropping charges again.
I finally figured out a solution......buy a Chargemaster. It's a big investment but it's the best investment I've made in reloading equipment. The whole process is so much less stressful now.

 

[Mad Chemist]

1Kperday,

I'd check the expander plug in the die. If it's too short it may not be fully actuating the measure. Have you run cases through while the hopper is empty? Do the disks and drop tube align correctly when you do? I had a .38S&W die ship with an incorrect plug from Lee. It happens sometimes.

 

[tcoz]

If that was the case, it wouldn't be an intermittent problem, would it?

 

[1KPerDay]

Chemist, with the standard rifle charging die that was indeed the case, but it was CONSISTENTLY not moving the disc holes fully over the drop hole. The .30 carbine is too short to activate the rifle charging die fully, which is why I ordered the one specifically for the M1 Carbine from Lee. It seems to get the charge holes pretty much aligned.

Til I get this resolved I'm just throwing each charge with Redding measure and batch loading. I'd rather load "semi-progressively) though as it's much faster. I just don't trust my setup enough right now.

 

[Mad Chemist]

If your pistol dies are working fine then I think the problem must be with the interface between the powder die and the drop tube. I'm really curious about this one.

 

[1KPerDay]

Me too.