Lee Challenger with Uniflow

[Boats]

Someone (maybe someone here?) told me about an adapter that allows a Uniflow Powder Measure to mount to a Lee Powder Through Die.

I found the beast on eBay for a few bucks and bought one, even before I had bought the Uniflow.

Yesterday I got it all together, put together the Uniflow with a large micrometer attachment, and went to bed.

Today I mounted the Challenger on the bench, and the Uniflow on the Challenger, and everything seems to work fine. I did a bunch of powder drops with the little bit of RL-15 I have, and was able to quickly calibrate the Uniflow to drop a consistent 24gr of powder.

Then I actually tried it with some .223 brass in the press, and it at least minimally puts powder in the brass.

Unfortunately, I don't have any IMR 3031 on hand to do some real testing. Tonight after work I'll go buy some and try to build some .223 rounds in batch mode with the Challenger.

Here's what it looks like so far:

[Boats]

I got a chance to play around with the Uniflow for a while and wasn't real happy with the results.

I use RL-15 for my .223 and it has to kind of get chopped up in the Uniflow while cycling. More of an annoyance than anything.

The real problem was that I would drop a load and when I lowered the ram, a bunch of powder would fall out of the drop tube. Not sure what's going on but about half the load is going in the shell, and the other half on the floor.

I'm thinking it's something I can fix, but didn't have the time tonight.

Tomorrow is another day.

[Boats]

I got to fiddling with the Uniflow & Breechlock Challenger tonight and discovered that I hadn't put either of the green translucent drop tubes on the Uniflow.

So I selected the larger of the two and screwed it in. It still fit the adapter that fits it to the Lee press just fine.

Now the system drops really precise measures of powder and I have no problem adjusting it by .1gr increments. All of the powder is now going in the case.

This is great for me, as the slowest part of loading for my rifles was measuring out the powder. Now it's the quickest. i bet I can charge 8 cases per minute or better now.

For anyone using a Lee Challenger press, this is a great way to charge cases.

[Lane]

I use the Challenger Breach Lock press for small quantity batches - such as self defense loads. I use my Dillon 550B for mass producing range ammo and squibs.

I agree, charging the loads is painful. Did you need a special adapter to mount the Uniflow to the expander die? I'm wondering if this would work with my Lee powder measure...

Lane

[DaFadda]

Pitlog, below is my uniflow in a dedicated stand. For the life of me, I can't figger out why you're using the Lee single stage to hold the uniflow for charging cases. The way this is set up, you'll have to handle each and every round for the charging process.


I think the additional stand is about 20 bucks on Ebay and allows me to batch load a fifty count loading tray at one time. I think I'd go nuts if I had to handle each round to charge. Here's a couple of pictures of what I'm talking about. Hope this helps...







Da

[Boats]

Originally Posted by DaFadda

Pitlog, below is my uniflow in a dedicated stand. For the life of me, I can't figger out why you're using the Lee single stage to hold the uniflow for charging cases. The way this is set up, you'll have to handle each and every round for the charging process.

I think the additional stand is about 20 bucks on Ebay and allows me to batch load a fifty count loading tray at one time. I think I'd go nuts if I had to handle each round to charge. Here's a couple of pictures of what I'm talking about. Hope this helps...

Da

Thanks, . I'm not too sure how to answer except to plead ignorance.

So what do you do, load up a tray with primed brass and then use a funnel under the Uniflow? I'm trying to figure out what you do if you are not touching the cases.

There was a stand up for bid on ebay, but for just a hair more I found it on Midway and bought one.

Thanks for the reply. This is my first experience with a single stage press and also with the Uniflow. Up till now, everything has been done by hand and on a Classic Turret Press.

Tom