Lee Auto Drum Issues

your probably already doing the same but I also fill the hopper to about 2/3 full and refill it when it gets to about a 1/3 to keep some weight on the powder.

lpsharp88 said:

When I first ran powder through it, I didn't rotate the turret each time, but when I weighed the 49 individual charges, I did. I was loading ammo at the point so I was using every station. I did a test run of 10 charges of TiteGroup. Had it dialed in at 4.1 and weighed 10 to get an average. I rotated the turret each time as well. I was getting around 41.3 or so (I forget exactly), so I definitely call that good. I'll continue testing with 700-X as it is my preferred powder.

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Do you mean 4.13 or 4.3? Too many decimal places are insignificant, and a large flake powder will struggle within just one.

OK, I found a powder weight made for the Lee round hopper powder measures on ebay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LEE-Powder-...485302?hash=item21213bc276:g:y1UAAOSwI2dXFW~c
Adding something like this could make for more consistent throws.

Tilos said:

OK, I found a powder weight made for the Lee round hopper powder measures on ebay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LEE-Powder-...485302?hash=item21213bc276:g:y1UAAOSwI2dXFW~c
Adding something like this could make for more consistent throws.

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Since that powder hopper is pretty precarious just perched on the top, there is something to be said for only partially filling it and using a weight instead of a column of powder to achieve a good flow.

Tilos said:

OK, I found a powder weight made for the Lee round hopper powder measures on ebay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LEE-Powder-...485302?hash=item21213bc276:g:y1UAAOSwI2dXFW~c
Adding something like this could make for more consistent throws.

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That looks interesting. I would like to see if anyone here has tried or will try it.

Here's some discussion on a PM weight:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...de-use-chart&p=3970520&viewfull=1#post3970520

It shouldn't leak at all. Have you played with the tension on the screw?

someguy2800 said:

It shouldn't leak at all. Have you played with the tension on the screw?

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^^^This^^^
It's all in the screw tension. Don't be afraid to tighten it up. As long as the drum rotates, you're good. I get no leakage with AA#2, Red Dot, Unique, W296, or W231.

The plastic screw that holds the drum in. Should be tight enough to give a resistance when the drum rotates

Put a piece of painters tape on the outside of the drum over the cavity so you can tell how far it rotates.

If the autodrum unit is screwed down properly into the powder through die or the powder through riser it will rotate the drum fully through its intended travel. Take a look at the Lee autodrum setup and operation videos on the Lee Precision web site.

lpsharp88 said:

Just an update. I ordered a 3D printed baffle from Titan, and tightened down the screw on the drum as tight as it goes. Dialed it in for 4.1gr and threw 10 charges (letting the turret do a complete rotation between each throw), it came out to 41.08gr and it didn't leak at all. I'm cautiously optimistic that it is ok now.

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Try it w/o the baffle. I bet it's just as good.

Seems to me that once you get some powder leaking (by having the drum screw too loose) then tightening the screw will not always stop the leaking. I think powder granules get trapped between the drum and the body of the measure and leave gaps for leaks. If I get any leaking, I remove the drum and brush out any granules in the body and on the drum before setting it up again. Then, the leaking can be stopped.
This may have been mentioned above or in other strings because I didn't figure it out myself.

Ghost In The Fog said:

That looks interesting. I would like to see if anyone here has tried or will try it.

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Powder Measure weight:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LEE-Powder-...13bc276:g:y1UAAOSwI2dXFW~c&afsrc=1&rmvSB=true

Well OK then, I've tried it...
Being a cheap bastage (I'm a reloader) I thought I'd make a weight and test it in a Pro Auto Disc, to see what affect it had on consistency.
The inside of the Pro Disc hopper tapers smaller from top to bottom so I cut a wooden disc that would slide all the way to the bottom, as a weight to place on top of the powder.
I didn't make a cover or guide rod like the one in the link, so my concern is the smaller disc can tip/get stuck when it's near the top, have yet to have a problem with the simple wooden disc.
If it does tend to tip in use, I'll add a wooden cap and brass guide rod.

I tested using the weight, with my method of throwing/weighing 10 throws to get an average to establish what a disc is throwing with a particular powder type.
So I threw 10x, weighing and recording the weight, 10 times for a total of 100 throws!
It was HP-38 with the 0.43 disc.
So of the 10 thrown/weighed charges, 7 weighed 44.4 gr, 2 charges weighed 44.5 gr and one weighed 44.3 gr.
I would say that is about as consistent as I have ever gotten from a Disc!!

I use this weight all the time now, along with another add-on I'll detail soon in another thread, but have yet to test it in the Auto Drum

There is an old saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" I have the Titan Reloading 3D printed baffle for the powder hopper. I've ran with and without on many thousands of rounds. Weight checks of powder drop and chronograph shows no difference with or without the baffle in my testing. I see no reason for one or for adding a weight.

Load Master said:

There is an old saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" I have the Titan Reloading 3D printed baffle for the powder hopper. I've ran with and without on many thousands of rounds. Weight checks of powder drop and chronograph shows no difference with or without the baffle in my testing. I see no reason for one or for adding a weight.

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I wonder if it would depend on the powder used.

RealGun said:

I wonder if it would depend on the powder used.

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It might. So far I've only tested, H-335, Win748, IMR4198, CFE223, Accurate #5, TiteGroup, Unique, Silhouette, PowerPistol, and Win231. So it might be powder related, but I haven't found it as of yet.

What I have learn, I have had slight leaks with some of the fine ball powders like CFE223. My fix to this is to thoroughly clean with a fine brush any powder residue from inside the housing where the drum goes and the drum itself before switching from one type of powder to another. Following this I have not experienced any powder leak.

Load Master said:

There is an old saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" I have the Titan Reloading 3D printed baffle for the powder hopper. I've ran with and without on many thousands of rounds. Weight checks of powder drop and chronograph shows no difference with or without the baffle in my testing. I see no reason for one or for adding a weight.

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In the original post @lpsharp88 was talking about metering 700X. I have struggled with 700X myself for quite a long time and some of us can't get it to measure no matter what we do.
Like @Load Master and @Tilos I couldn't agree more- if it ain't broke... My Lee meters AutoComp, Silhouette and BE-86 perfectly. I set it for the charge ant it does not vary + or - anything. Very consistent. Many people here have no issues with metering 700X but others of us just can't figure it out and are looking for ways to make it work.

I am skeptical, because Titan didn't invent putting baffles in powder hoppers. My Hornady (s) have one also. I have assumed they served a purpose, which I thought I understood. I plan to keep using them, unaware of any problem. My powder weight checks are so consistent that I have to be very disciplined to even bother doing them.