@@julianlaustsen1991 many people prefer to seat and crimp in separate operations. I do this with autopistol ammo but with revolver ammo I seat and crimp in one operation.
@@julianlaustsen1991 my .45 ACP and 9mm dies have a taper crimp die that is separate from the seating die. Dies for revolver cartridges usually impart a roll crimp. It’s personal preference at the end of the day.
Thank you, operator error solved. I sent my Bearcat 22 back to Ruger for the transfer bar upgrade. I received it back from Ruger and everything was working fine until I took the cylinder out of the gun, then, evidently, didn't reinsert the base pin fully. I went so far as to disassemble the pistol to look for the defect. After that I found this video. Doh! Thanks again.
I love my new vaquero. Glad I went with the 357 mag/ 38 sp rather than the 45LC I already reload for 357/38 and the cal is a lot cheaper than the lc. It shoots great and I have a super cowboy rig I carry it with. Might get a belt holster if I can find a nicely done black custom
They were intentionally more complicated than what we usually do. The Bushwhackers do this every March but that match was rained out so we shot the nutty stages in May. This stage featured a mandatory "on the clock" pistol reload which is quite uncommon these days.
Thanks for the video. My son just experienced this with an old Ruger Single Six 22 Magnum. Ruger converted this revolver with the safety parts in the late 70's. Dad also had Ruger fit a 22LR cylinder. How cool that Ruger returned all the original parts (to return to original condition).
I had the exact same issue on a new Ruger Super Wrangler. Took it to the gunsmith and he showed me that I did not have the base pin fully seated so the tranfer bar was hitting the firing pin and the hammer would not cock. Once the base pin was fully inserted, it would cock. Simple fix.
Very nice. I just acquired my 3rd firearm in 44WCF. I enjoy the caliber. My favorite powder for years has been Trail Boss, but I’m down to my last 4 lbs or so. I’ve been looking at other powders and am currently working with 700-X. I’ve used Unique as well. My go-to bullets are an RCBS 44-200-CM and the Lyman 427666. I also have the H&G #44 and a couple others that I’ve used. It’s good to hook up with you. 🤛🏻🔫🇺🇸
Thanks! One reason for my purchase of a .44-40 is to load ammo for “Frontier Cartridge” for SASS competition. I don’t cast so I use American Pioneer Powder (a black powder sub) which does not require a soft lube. I worked up a smokeless load to the same velocity using Hodgdon Universal but I’m out of that. The last batch of smokeless ammo was charged with Red Dot, an old standard of mine.
Did you ever work up a load that worked well with the Winchester powder , I just picked some up and have been looking to do some load development for the 44-40 as well. If you don’t mind me asking did the powder work out for you and were you pleased with the results. Thank you in advance.
I worked up two modest loads with W244 as a replacement for Universal which has gotten scarce. Velocity was comparable but 244 seemed “snappier”. Seems like it may have a higher nitroglycerin content. It did seem to burn clean.
After having a .44mag Blackhawk with both factory loads and hand loads ‘jump’ the base pin past the base pin plunger several times, I’ve put in heavier release pin springs or most often, Belt Mountain Base Pins with the lock screw. A common problem even with a properly inserted base pin.
Excellent explanation. My Interarms Virginia Dragoon (circa 76,77), will have the same issue as the Rugers. I can only assume their mechanism has a very similar lockwork with its transfer bar system as the Ruger.
I remember reading a review of the Virginia Dragoon when it came out. That one did not have a transfer bar ignition although it seems like it had a frame mounted firing pin. It did have the “Swiss Safe” system from the Hammerli revolvers, a two position base pin. In the rearward position the base pin prevented the hammer from going all the way forward. It helps them import the revolvers but it’s clumsy as a manual safety.
How would one go about fixing a cylinder catch malfunction. I can open the loading gate, turn the cylinder out of the groove, cock it and shoot it. But it will not cock with a closed loading gate.
So I have a Pietta single action Colt army clone and it has an actual firing pin on the hammer. I’m having a problem with the bullets sliding backwards while in the cylinder and then the cylinder gets stuck after firing and trying to turn to the next round but it can’t cause one of the bullets slid backwards. how do I stop that from happening?
There could be a couple of things causing your problem, including excessive headspace, a rough spot on the recoil shield, a burr on the firing pin bushing or the bushing coming out of the frame. Another possible cause, since you find that it happens after firing, is that your primers are backing out but your ammo has insufficient pressure to push the case back against the recoil shield to reset the primer. People who load blanks or wax bullets have to enlarge the flash hole in the case to prevent the primers backing out.
This press is for the budget reloader. It is no where the quality of the Lyman Apex, Dillon 1050 or 750 or the Hornady LnL. It will not make it past the 10,000 round mark without failure.
This is an amazing press at any price but around $300 (kit price), it is a steal. I have used almost all the multi-station presses on the market, and many of them for tons more money and a whole lot more complexity (that I struggled with) do not allow you to do what this one will: station #1 case feed, sizing & de-priming #2 triple function of primer insertion, case expansion and powder drop #3 powder check #4 bullet feed #5 bullet seat #6 bullet crimp. No, it does not have a case collator but the four-tube gravity feed system it comes with will allow you to do batches of about 100 which matches my testing trays. It does come with three dies, but does not include the crimp die unfortunately. It does come with the shell plate in the caliber you originally purchased and additional shell plates are about $25. It does include the sizing/de-priming die, the expansion die that inserts into the powder system and the seating die. You will have to buy a bullet feed die and system which you could do for as little as $50 or just manually insert bullets to start. The powder check is a must regardless of your experience in my opinion. I use the RCBS lockout die and I test it frequently. I am going to add the Inline Fab ergo handle and the quick attach system in the future as I wanted to make sure I liked this first and I more than like it, I love it. It looks like you may want to add a little spring door attachment to the case feed system for about $10 or build one yourself, although I have not experienced problems with case-feeding using 45 ACP brass, which is all that I have loaded so far. There are also more automated collator case feed systems and bullet feeder systems that will work with this press. I am all in for around $500 not counting the quick attach system and ergo handle that I may add. I hope this dissertation helps someone considering this purchase. This baby is just fun to play with.
Midway has the Lee Inline Bullet Feeder Kit available for $55. There are three sizes I think, so you have to match the bullet size to the die, but the kit comes with a 4-tube system and the die, so you can't beat that. I have been using a Hornady bullet feeder for 45 ACP, and tubes I designed, but I went ahead and bought the Lee Inline kit for both 45 and 9mm "35 caliber group". So, for $55 you have a batch automated bullet feeder capability.
@@diaperjoeisaped1723 I agree. But, what I like about it vs others costing a lot more, is having four stations after powder drop so as to allow a powder check, bullet feed system and separate seat and crimp. The jury is out whether it will hold up with any kind of volume production.
yeah... my BH in 30 carbine did just that.. Biggest clue was that the gun would cock if pointed up but would not (most of the time) if pointed down. The 30 carbine is the only tapered barrel and it can be a bear to get the base pin in correctly. I would disagree with you tho on the original Colt SAA not having a safety. The fire notch or 'click' is the safety notch. It is the most robust of the notches Not sure it can even be broken without destroyin the hammer/trigger.
My buddy half cocked my Vaquero squeeze the trigger and the cylinder was not aligned with the barrel halfway touching the side of the barrel at the forcing cone and it exploded like a grenade straight up completely blowing apart the top of the cylinder luckily didn't blow his hand off
The transfer bar was incorporated into many revolvers in the early 70’s as another safety mechanism. Before this time pistols like the cowboy style would have an empty chamber and the hammer would be sitting on this chamber thus only loading 5 rounds instead of 6 in the cylinder., To avoid any hit on the hammer which could cause the pistol to discharge if a live round was sitting on it. Even today there are still pistols that don’t have such a device and may be using a ‘hammer block’ as their safety. You look at some S&W they will have a ‘spur’ on the hammer and that is your firing pin that strikes the primer. The transfer bar I feel at the time of introduction was a great idea for safely loading 6 rounds into a revolver handgun.
Been reloading for quite a few years now, I started out with an older RCBS Rock Chucker I bought second hand then later picked up a Lee single stage press which I use as a companion press. I don’t often load bulk amounts, I do long range shooting primarily. I’ve always liked the Hornady LNL AP but as we know, they aren’t cheap so, I found one on TGT and did a horse trade for the complete press, the Hornady case feeder, all the case feeder plates and 12 sets of dies all with the LNL bushings installed and tons of other precision parts and accessories for it. So I have about $700 total into the press that would retail for over $1,300 easy (press and everything it came with, the press alone is around $550, case feeder is $490, each of the 4 plates is $45 each, etc.). Loading .308 and 5.56 can be troublesome with lower end presses and I prefer a more solid design but I didn’t want to pay retail and I finally reached my goal. We can all see that press wobbling around like a cheap Chinese toy but I agree that it’s a fine first press and in a pinch, it will crank out loads as long as it’s not abused. This Lee press is a lot lighter than higher quality progressive presses which is a plus, and slightly smaller in overall size.
Good video with a clear explanation of how the transfer bar works with the base pin. However, I've found that I usually encounter this problem after fully disassembling the gun for cleaning and I've installed the hammer strut upside down. I seem to do it every time.
I just bought one online. Did you have to polish the powder measure much? I have an old Lee precise measured and had to just give it an ol rub with some emery cloth to meter consistently.
This is not my press in the video but I have a Lee Auto Drum powder measure that I use on my LNL-AP for certain applications. I have not polished mine and I get good results with it. It has the reputation of leaking very fine powder (mine does when I use H110); some people lap or polish to make this better.
Sarcasm, of course. But he'll never admit fault. Back to the Ruger. You can safely load six because of the slide bar. A Colt or clone (one with firing pin in hammer) if dropped can and will fire.
How's the primer feed? that seems to be an issue on nearly every press out there, my Hornady AP took quite a bit of tweaking , polishing, and cussing to get the primer feed to run reliably.
The owner prefers to prime off of the press. I also have an LNL-AP and had been forewarned that I needed to polish the primer shuttle out of the box. The priming system works well after a little break-in period.
