Press Still Hinky

I spent an hour making .357 ammunition for tomorrow, and I am super annoyed. I think I know why I had all those .38 Super squibs.

It turned out that the little sleevy thing on the powder measure occasionally hung on the way back down. So presumably, it wasn’t filling completely on the way up. I hosed it with One Shot and watched it carefully, and it seemed to work okay after that. I hope I didn’t miss any screwups.

I also had five or six cases which didn’t get primers. No idea what the explanation for that is. It has to be the feed. I used to think the press was rocking, causing things to align wrong or whatever, but it’s not rocking now.

In the past, spilled powder seemed to be the main problem with the primer feed. If I am remembering things right. But I’m not spilling much now.

I have a rod resting in the primer feed tube (coat hanger segment) to add weight and shove the primers on through. I thought that would solve the problem. No dice. Maybe I need to check the pawls and make sure everything is kosher.

I also have an occasional problem with the ejector wire. Sometimes a round will get stuck in it for no apparent reason.

Anyway, I have fifty rounds done, and I think I can crank out another fifty without losing my mind.

I’m a little nervous about shooting these. What happens when you have a squib in a revolver? I have this terrifying vision of a bullet stuck between the cylinder and forcing cone, refusing to come out.