Had a strange situation at the loading bench last weekend. Read the instructions and resolved it, but I have no idea why the solution worked.
I'm setting up the press for 30-06 using the lee auto drum powder measure, the powder measure riser with swivel, and the long rifle powder die. I set it up by raising the ram full, screwing the long rifle powder die to just touch, and then screwing in the powder measure with riser attached. With a case in place, the ram was very hard to raise, to the point where the case mouth started to peen over and I feared I would break the powder measure casting or plastic parts. The drum only rotated a third of its stroke, and it stuck in that position when I lowered the ram. Read the directions ( duh) and screwed the powder through die up a dozen turns. Fixed the problem, but I have no idea why. From the powder measure's point of view, it has no idea here the powder through die is in relation to either the shell case or the turret. What I did should not have made a difference, which means I don't fully understand how the measure works. I have previously reloaded 308 with the same powder die with no issues. I understand that the 30-06 case length exceeds the travel of the long rifle die and expect to actuate the powder drops by feel, not by full stroke of the ram.
I'm setting up the press for 30-06 using the lee auto drum powder measure, the powder measure riser with swivel, and the long rifle powder die. I set it up by raising the ram full, screwing the long rifle powder die to just touch, and then screwing in the powder measure with riser attached. With a case in place, the ram was very hard to raise, to the point where the case mouth started to peen over and I feared I would break the powder measure casting or plastic parts. The drum only rotated a third of its stroke, and it stuck in that position when I lowered the ram. Read the directions ( duh) and screwed the powder through die up a dozen turns. Fixed the problem, but I have no idea why. From the powder measure's point of view, it has no idea here the powder through die is in relation to either the shell case or the turret. What I did should not have made a difference, which means I don't fully understand how the measure works. I have previously reloaded 308 with the same powder die with no issues. I understand that the 30-06 case length exceeds the travel of the long rifle die and expect to actuate the powder drops by feel, not by full stroke of the ram.
