RCBS Lock-Out Die - Win!

Yesterday I was loading up some 9mm over lunch and for the first time I had the lock-out die lock up the press.The die in question is the RCBS Lock-Out Die from the rockchucker folks.This die detects both over and under charged cases and in either case stops the motion of the press with some authority.In this case I think the powder drop got stuck in the up position and didn't charge a case as it was going around. The press stopped and when I looked around to see what was the cause sure enough I found an empty case.That was a squib load in the making.I typically check the cases for powder as I place a bullet on the case at the seater, but there's no guarantee that I'll see it. You get in a groove building up the cartridges.In any case, it's a good safety net.If you have a spare position on your press I highly recommend picking one up. It's a cheap investment that might save your butt. (A squib load is only so bad assuming you catch it before sending another bullet down the bore... a double load can cause some damage all by itself!)Here's how I understand it to work (no, I didn't take it apart):The case hits the yellow sleeve (RCBS calls it the "Die Case Lock"). At it sits the ball bearing is pressed wedged in to the die body (the outer part). The yellow part can't move at all so it locks the upward motion of the case (and the press that's pushing it up).However on a properly charged case the plunger (green) will move up and the cutout in the plunger will match up with the hole in the die case lock. At that point the ball bearing can slide over and unlock the yellow part and the whole assembly of the lock, the plunger and the bearings can all move up.But if there's too much powder in the case the plunger will once again interfere with the bearing and again lock the case.Such a simple design, but it works so damn well!