I've been having trouble recently with my LNL powder measure; as I lower the press handle, it drops the powder correctly. However, when i raise the press handle the powder measure will return v-e-r-y slowly to its original position.
This means that if I'm loading with any speed at all, I'll outrun it -- it won't have time to refill itself between rounds, and I'll get rounds that don't have powder in them, or don't have a full charge. Yes, this happened to me several times this past week. :(
I took the powder measure apart multiple times and cleaned it. Every time I did that, it would run better for a short period of time. I messed with the drum, I adjusted the linkage, I played with the drop tube, etc. I called Hornady and asked for advice, and they weren't able to help me.
I finally concluded that the problem is the friction between the drop tube and the housing it rides in; every time the powder measure is activated, it actually tilts to the side a little and causes the drop tube to rub. I noticed that the Hornady instructions say to put dry lube on the drop tube, which is the area indicated by the red arrow in this pic:
I've never put anything on there, so I tried some moly dry lube. Again, it worked better for a short time.
So, I tried just a little dab of
Gun Butter (which I got compliments of Nitro_Guns, thanks Randy!) on the outside of the drop tube. And man, it slicked it right up! The powder measure has been running like a champ for about 500 rounds now.
This powder measure has about 90,000 rounds on it . . . maybe it's just tired? Needs a little more lube than it did when it was young? I dunno. But I thought I'd share.