Anyone else buy a NEW Lee Auto Drum powder measure?

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Rule3

Rule3

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I have used LEE products for a long time went from the PPM, to the Auto Disc to the AUTO DRUM
Purchased a new Auto Drum from Brownells. (for a backup)At the time it showed a picture of the regular powder hopper (Red with the Lid) So did Midway

Anyway, when I got it, is has the "new" clear plastic bottle?? I wrote LEE and they say yep that is the way they all are.
Can not really say if I like it or not. ?
First I will never screw a factory bottle into it. But the big thing is it has no lid. So If you want to add powder you have to shut it off and then unscrew it. OK, that I can get used to but when setting up the drops, I normally drop a charge into the case, check the weight, adjust the measure and dump the powder back into the top of the measure.
Now that can not be done, so need to leave the open powder container on the bench until I get the charge set correctly.

I guess I do not understand why they changed to this? If anything they should have fixed the lid on the old red one to get one that fit snug and didn't fall off. (I found a black spray paint cap that fit perfectly

https://leeprecision.com/auto-drum-powder-measure.html

Please no need to get into bashing, or leaking. Never had one leak in many many years. It is spot on accurate.
 
I have the original red hopper and also do as you do by directly dumping back into the hopper. Been doing that for so long it's a force of habit!. I suppose we could just by a second clear bottle and cut the bottom off. Guess sometimes and improvement isn't much of one as they believe.

This is actually the same setup they are using on the APP press for primer catching and bullet and shell catching.
 
kmw1954 said:
This is actually the same setup they are using on the APP press for primer catching and bullet and shell catching.
Click to expand...

That sounds like the reason to me. Lee has always been good at keeping the prices reasonable on quality equipment. Anytime you can have parts compatibility across product lines, you can keep the cost down. Although, I have to say, not being able to drop my test charges back in the top of the hopper would be annoying. A few times I have forgotten to take the lid off and dumped a case full of powder onto the lid:oops:
 
I keep a small clear bowl, the type one might serve a small dish of ice cream or dessert in, near my powder scale. In fact it serves to hold the powder scale tray and whatever ever the tray holder is called. Anyhow this bowl serves as the dump for the charges until the end of the session then emptied back into the original powder container along with the unused powder in the hopper.
 
I am glad my Lee Auto Drum bought last year came with the red hopper with the lid. I dump a lot of drops back into the hopper when setting up.

Just because Lee is smart and makes some good stuff does not mean that they do not aggravate the crap out of me sometimes. Like those new triangular primer launchers that do not even fit the older single stage press or the bench primer that breaks.
 
Rule3 said:
I have used LEE products for a long time went from the PPM, to the Auto Disc to the AUTO DRUM
Purchased a new Auto Drum from Brownells. (for a backup)At the time it showed a picture of the regular powder hopper (Red with the Lid) So did Midway

Anyway, when I got it, is has the "new" clear plastic bottle?? I wrote LEE and they say yep that is the way they all are.
Can not really say if I like it or not. ?
First I will never screw a factory bottle into it. But the big thing is it has no lid. So If you want to add powder you have to shut it off and then unscrew it. OK, that I can get used to but when setting up the drops, I normally drop a charge into the case, check the weight, adjust the measure and dump the powder back into the top of the measure.
Now that can not be done, so need to leave the open powder container on the bench until I get the charge set correctly.

I guess I do not understand why they changed to this? If anything they should have fixed the lid on the old red one to get one that fit snug and didn't fall off. (I found a black spray paint cap that fit perfectly

https://leeprecision.com/auto-drum-powder-measure.html

Please no need to get into bashing, or leaking. Never had one leak in many many years. It is spot on accurate.
Click to expand...
I too like to have the option of taking the lid off while I get the charge tuned in. And most of my load sessions are on average 100 rds. before I change over to another cartridge/recipe.
I wonder if this will adapt with the newer mounting?
https://leeprecision.com/hopper-cov-round-red.html
Or would you need to get this also?
https://leeprecision.com/drum-molded-parts.html
 
kcofohio said:
I too like to have the option of taking the lid off while I get the charge tuned in. And most of my load sessions are on average 100 rds.
Click to expand...
.
I agree with you on this. I'm glad I have the red hopper with my two Auto Drums and Auto Disk.

I don't like to be an old guy hating the new stuff so I guess I'll hold my tongue until new users give their feedback.

Dave
 
My auto drum looks like the one in post 6, going from an auto disk I forgot the powder hopper on my is not attached like it is on the auto disc.
Remembered this while staring at powder all over the bench top once......

So it might be nice if was attached to the measure.
If it has no lid I would be tempted to make a hole in the top and plug it with a big cork/something so I could add powder.

From the pic it looks like the old powder part might work, I don't see them changing the casting on the measure, maybe see if the old ones are still available someplace.
 
I'm glad to see that Lee has NOT changed the hopper on the Auto Disk and Pro Auto Disk, they still have removable lids. I too like to dump charges back into the hopper during setup. I'll stick with the Auto Disks since they have been very reliable with the powders I use.
 
kmw1954 said:
https://leeprecision.com/powder-measure-bottle-adapter.html

Looks like we need one of these.
Click to expand...

Thats what the new ones come with. The original Red hoppers will fit the new ones. Al that has changed is the hopper bottle.

I have an original which I can just put that Hopper one. Lee wants people to BUY a Red Hopper if they don't like the new clear bottle. I still can not fhatom why they did this.

I buy 4 or 8 pound containers. Even with the one pound containers I would not screw it on. You can not see how much powder is in one of those??
 
I seem to recall a few months ago looking at Lee's site for parts so I could upgrade another old Disk measure from the square hopper to the round hopper and that all those parts were disco'd and would have to upgrade to the new screw-on bottle hopper. So I don't know if I was dreaming or if Lee changed there minds. I much prefer the round red one myself.
 
Sounds to me like some Einstein(s) at Lee Precision decided to fix something that "wasn't broke" ... again (remember them disappearing the round primer trays for those terrible folding ones?)

It always dumbfounds me when I see a MFR doing such a silly thing with a product that works so well.
 
I routinely pour charges back into the hopper, but I now realize I do not need to do that. It is a habit. I would not leave a powder container sitting open on the bench, but I could use a cup for discarded charges and pour that back in later. I too do not envision ever having a powder jar screwed into the measure. That top end is just perched loosely on top of the autodrum lower assy waiting for some accidental spill, although with no lid I suppose the spill would be mostly contained. That could happen with their clear bottle too. A full powder jar would have too high and heavy a center of gravity. And no, you would not be able to see the powder level inside.

One thing I would like to find a report on would be how readily their clear bottle can be refilled. I am picturing something real tippy, begging to make a mess and needing some weighted thing, say a tin can with lead bullets in the bottom, to provide a stable bottle able to support a funnel.
 
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