Tom488
Member
I've been using a Pro2000 for a few years now, and really like it. The one thing that's bothered me is the speed at which it auto-indexes. With short pistol cases, and a light flake powder (like Bullseye), some powder would spill out of the cases if I moved the handle too fast. I also plan on adding a bullet feeder in the near future, and didn't like the idea of having to over-bell the cases so that the bullet wouldn't fall out from the violent indexing.
So, I decided to make some new brackets to manipulate the auto-index pawl. With a taller bracket, at a less-severe angle, the speed of the auto-indexing is slowed down. These two new brackets, combined with cutting about 1.5 coils off of the ball detent sprint (under the shellplate), has really improved things.
To test it out, I powder-charged a 9mm case, and pulled the handle up about as quick as I ever would, and no powder spilled out. I belled a case (normal amount of belling - just enough to hold a bullet), and sent it around the merry-go-round. It didn't fall off. This means when I add the bullet feeder, I can advance from station 4 to station 5 without having the bullet topple over.
Here's a couple of views of the new brackets:
And here's a comparison with the stock bracket. Notice how much steeper the angle is on the new bracket. That means that the index pawl moves approx. 1" horizontally in almost 5" of ram travel, as opposed to the stock bracket, which moved it the same 1" horizontally in less than an inch of vertical travel. So, with the same ram speed, the shellplate is turning about 5x slower.
I may have to switch back to the stock brackets to load rifle cartridges, as the ram would need more down-travel before beginning to index, to allow the cases to clear the dies. But, for pistol cartridges, this works nicely.
So, I decided to make some new brackets to manipulate the auto-index pawl. With a taller bracket, at a less-severe angle, the speed of the auto-indexing is slowed down. These two new brackets, combined with cutting about 1.5 coils off of the ball detent sprint (under the shellplate), has really improved things.
To test it out, I powder-charged a 9mm case, and pulled the handle up about as quick as I ever would, and no powder spilled out. I belled a case (normal amount of belling - just enough to hold a bullet), and sent it around the merry-go-round. It didn't fall off. This means when I add the bullet feeder, I can advance from station 4 to station 5 without having the bullet topple over.
Here's a couple of views of the new brackets:
And here's a comparison with the stock bracket. Notice how much steeper the angle is on the new bracket. That means that the index pawl moves approx. 1" horizontally in almost 5" of ram travel, as opposed to the stock bracket, which moved it the same 1" horizontally in less than an inch of vertical travel. So, with the same ram speed, the shellplate is turning about 5x slower.
I may have to switch back to the stock brackets to load rifle cartridges, as the ram would need more down-travel before beginning to index, to allow the cases to clear the dies. But, for pistol cartridges, this works nicely.
Last edited:
