Lee Perfect Powder Measure problem.

Got to the range early Saturday morning and I shot an array of loads for my 7mm-08. I had some good groups and finally got to see how my new seater die was grouping.

I was shooting the last of the "tried and true" loads my rifle likes with H380 and 139gr Hornady sp. With the whole lot shooting just as I suspected, I had put the last 3 rounds in the mag. When the first round was fired it had a bit more recoil than the others. The brass flowed into the ejector hole and was barley visible and the primer was flat as a pancake. I used 46.1 grains of H380 and the bullet was at 2.853 OAL and was off the lands a good bit.
The second round fired caused smoke to come out the vent ports and was a bit sticky to remove. Upon removal the primer fell out of its pocket. This once fired Hornady 308 match brass had a good bit of brass flowing into the ejector hole. I stoped shooting, packed my gear, and left for home!

All my H380 loads were thrown using the Lee powder measure. These loads where also not weighed as H380 meters very good.

After I'd made it home I inspected the powder measure and noticed the fine spherical powder stuck in the hub area. I took the measure apart and got a good bit of powder from around the hub. I put it back together and threw a few charges and noticed powder leaking out of the side after about 5 cycles. I took it apart again and laid the hub flat on the table and noticed it was racked. I guess I have stuck a granule of stick powder for so long that it will be warped for good. I suppose after 8 or so years it's time for an upgrade!

Yes, it has always worked fine for Varget and RL17 but not as accurate. The H308 is usually spot on every time.

I got my eye on a Lyman double nickel, if I fix the Lee I can't buy a new 55

Thats pretty slick Jack!

Quote:
Originally Posted by ironworkerwill
These loads where also not weighed ...

Wow. Really? If that's a common practice of yours, you may want to question any and all of your existing handloads.

Click to expand...

Yea, really! I usually weigh every so often: the first, every five, and the last. I've thrown H380 so precise with the PPM I really didn't need to. This time I only weighed a few of the first throws to make sure, like I always do, and no I didn't measure the 5th or the last. There was only 10 rnds in the whole batch.

Stubby and Gloob are going to make my frugality kick in.... Ok, I'll try to lap it.

@ PJSprog: it dinged up my ejector, ejector retainer pin, and spring. It's all fixed up now.

I did not find my lapping compound, so I fit lapped it with fine grit sandpaper. It worked a LOT better! I saw some small voids where the drum was not making contact with the rotor. Oddly, one void was between the feed and discharge areas. After the lapping H380 didn't leak a single granule. Thanks guys!

As a side note: Anything mechanical is will fail eventually. Complacency and overconfidence caused the most danger. I did not follow through on my S.O.P.