Hornady Powder Measure - Help dropping Clays consistent

[nass]

I just got a new Hornady Lock and Load progressive press all setup and started to get the case actuated powder measure set for where I want it. I am having difficulty dropping a consistent 4.3 grains of Clays.

My measured drops run 4.9-4.0 and no consistency at all. I cleaned up the whole works prior to starting out. I am using the "standard" rotor and insert that came with it.

SO, is there any hope for this measure? Does it NEED the pistol sized rotor and insert (I have read that there is more issues with this though)? Maybe it's just that this measure doesn't like flakes (but my Lee measure was pretty consistent).

Thanks in advance. Hope I can get this running good soon.

 

[GP100man]

powder measure wooos

nass
i put a little graphite in mine after a good alcohol cleaning , just enuff to make everything grey .
all my powder measures are dead nutts with pistol powders.

GP100man

 

[LHB1]

Nass,
I use ball powders in both my Hornady LNL powder measures but found the following steps improved consistency greatly:
1. Clean rotor assembly and housing with alcohol to remove preservative applied during manufacture.
2. Replace std rotor insert with pistol insert for small charges.
3. Insert RCBS or Redding baffle in powder hopper about midpoint to maintain more consistent weight of powder on rotor cavity.
4. Operate press handle smoothly and consistently (speed) with small bump at end of down stroke and up stroke.

Using these steps my .45 ACP charges of Win 231 run 5.0-5.1 gr. The other measure runs with similar consistency with Win 296 for .44 Mag charges.

Good shooting and be safe.
LB

 

[Shoney]

Did you follow the insructions and procedure in the LNL manual about cleaning the powder measure before using it????????

 

[nass]

I have cleaned the whole works with brake cleaner, so I thought it was nicely degreased... I'll go back and hit it with some alcohol and give it a shot.

Anyone using flake type powder with this measure? Clays is my preferred powder for 45. I'll get the pistol rotor if it is the trick.

 

[Sevens]

I use a Hornady measure (not sure of the name of it... it's tall and red!) and I've found that it drops flake powder much better with the rifle insert than with the pistol insert, even if you are only dropping small charges. For example, I get better consistency using 5.8 grains of Green Dot with the rifle insert. The pistol insert is a really small tube by comparison.

I am now going to do the alcohol and graphite job that seems to be helping for you guys... good tip!

 

[nass]

I talked with Hornady today, and they recommended the pistol rotor for sub-10 grain loads. He did say that the standard rotor and insert starts dropping consistent loads somewhere in the 5-10 range. This supports Sevens' experience...

I'll order the pistol rotor, but may continue to monkey with it. Any other thoughts? For now, I'm running my Lee autodisk (super consistent) to get by.

 

[shepherddogs]

I had trouble with mine too. Got a couple of squibs. I think it is more of a measure for rifles as delivered with the press. You can buy smaller measure inserts for it and that would probably fix it. You may think I'm crazy but I put a Lee auto-disk on mine and it works great. The Hornady measure is nice but a lot of trouble to fine tune. Leave it set for your favorite rifle load.

 

[Sevens]

Tell you what I found in my recent experience... when I was still using the beam balance scale, the Hornady measure seemed more consistent. When I got a digital scale, it shows me that it's a little less consistent than I like!

Also, when working with pistol cases and large flake powder, the visual test only gets you so far. With your eyes scanning all of your loaded cases, you can make for sure that you have no squib or double charges, but if you weigh them (even when they "look" similar) you'll see there can be a .3 or .4 grain discrepancy. Doesn't sound like much, but in a 4.0 grain charge, that's 10%! That's consistent enough for safety... but not consistent enough for accuracy!

 

[Cloudpeak]

I've had good luck with the Hornady powder measure on my LNL. I just finished loading 400 rounds of 45ACP using 3.8 grains of Clays and the measure is accurate to .1 of a grain. I'm using the pistol insert (the lower cost one, not the micometer.) I don't use a baffle in the hopper but generally keep about 5-6 inches of powder in the hopper. You might try wiping the inside of the hopper with a used dryer sheet to help with static.

Cloudpeak

 

[nass]

thanks Cloudpeak! That's the confidence I need that with the pistol rotor, it will be a good measure.

The Lee measure is a good measure, but I'd rather have the extra capacity and the more robust hornady measure that came with the press operational.

 

[LHB1]

Nass,
Just for clarification, it is not the pistol rotor; it is the pistol metering insert. The rotor is the same for both inserts. The pistol metering inserts come with or without a micrometer adjustment on them. Both can be adjusted. The micrometer adjustment just makes returning to previously used settings easier. I lock my pistol metering insert down and seldom/never change setting so I did not get the micrometer adjustment insert model.

Good shooting and be safe.
LB

 

[nass]

The measure that came with the press came with the standard rotor and insert. According to Hornady, the pistol insert only fits the pistol rotor. I am getting the non-micrometer version (pistol rotor and insert) to start with...

 

[LHB1]

" The measure that came with the press came with the standard rotor and insert. According to Hornady, the pistol insert only fits the pistol rotor. I am getting the non-micrometer version (pistol rotor and insert) to start with..."

Nass,
That sounds very strange but I won't argue. I just bought two new LNL's last year and for each of them I bought a pistol insert that fitted into the rotor that came with the measure. Doug Derner (Customer Service) at 1-800-338-3220 extension 206 was most helpful to me in getting my machines set up and tweaked for best operation. Good luck.

Good shooting and be safe.
LB

 

[Cloudpeak]

My press came with the insert for large doses of powder. I bought the non-micrometer pistol insert and it fit in the existing rotating drum of the LNL powder measure. Perhaps something has change but I doubt it.

Cloudpeak

 

[nass]

Well, now I'm stumped... Pictures are worth a thousand words, so here's what I have...

And here's what I was planning on buying



What do you guys have??

 

[LHB1]

Nass,
My rotor and insert cavity looks like yours as best I can recall. I think my pistol inserts had a large sleeve around the adjustable stem to take up the extra space in rotor as compared to the larger metering insert. I see what you are describing (Pistol Rotor and Std Metering insert for pistol rotor) on the bottom of pg 59 in the 2007 Hornady catalog. The pistol insert shown does NOT have the larger surrounding sleeve as mine do. This appears to be a change in design. Doug should be able to answer any questions you may have. Good luck.

Good shooting and be safe.
LB

 

[Cloudpeak]

It does seem to be a design change. It looks like, from the lower picture, that the metering stem of the new insert would have to fit into a new rotor that is machined to accept the stem. If you put this new style insert into the old rotating drum, you'd have a "stick" poked into a cavity full of a lot of powder.

I assume they changed design to improve metering at the expense of costing the customer more. Hope it's worth it.

Cloudpeak

 

[nass]

Well, here's what I found out... The older pistol insert had a "sleeve" attached to the insert to remove the volume difference between the metering pin and the rotor hole. The old design has been removed from circulation in lieu of this new system of small rotor hole and small metering pin. This new design removes the potential binding of the rotor due to the sleeve with flake powder.

Long and short of it, I have to pay a bit more, but should be in good shape. The metering inserts are available seperate(P/N 050116), so I can have a couple for different "set" loads.

Doug was SUPER helpful and knowledgeable! Thanks for the contact LB.