Best Powder for Lee Pro Auto Disk

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Triumph

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Is there a powder that is recommended for the Lee Pro Auto Disk Measure. I assume some powders may work better with the disks.

I am loading 45 ACP & 9mm for starters.

Thanks
 
+1 on W231 (mild-midrange loads), Unique for mid-range up, and power pistol for pretty hot loads (usually with jacketed bullets for me).

W231 and PP meter fantastic, unique is reasonably well.

I mainly use Unique and W231 with MBC 230gr LRN Softballs.

WST works really well too.
 
Hi,
Short answer: ball and small flake powders work very well, stick powders can work o.k. depending on your method, large flake/wafer powders not so much.

In the Lee Pro Auto Disk I've had good consistancy with any and all ball powders I've tried (H414, BL-C(2), AA#7, Hunter) and small flake powders (Bullseye and Power Pistol). The stick powders (IMR4064, H4350, RL19, etc) do well but have a tendancy to bridge. I tried Blue Dot (a large flake or wafer powder) and I did not like the results.

The stick powders I've tried are all rifle powders and since my method for rifles is to throw a light charge and trickle up to the desired weight any minor inconsistancies don't bother me here.

Also, in case you haven't read or experienced it before, the Lee Pro disk system can be very consistent with the right powders but it not necessarily accurate. My disks, and similar results are reported by many others, throw lighter charges than shown on the chart. Use the chart as a guide, find the disk that acutally throws the charge you want by double checking the thrown weight with a scale, and periodically check (every 5th or 10th is common) while reloading using the disk you've found works best.

Good Luck.

Dan
 
Once on get it right I never look at it again. It never drifts. Bullseye & Red Dot work great also.
 
I use unique alot with my pro autodisk. I think it is great, it meters well and doesn't leak at all. W231 meters well also but does leak a little bit.
 
All the Accurate Arms and Western powders that I have tried work very, very well.

As others have said, I have found little relation between what the chart predicts a given disk apeture will throw and what actually gets thrown. When trying a new powder/weight, I'll do 8-12 test throws. If you have the measure mounted on a turret, make sure to cycle the turret through all 4 stations; just throwing without moving the thrower around will get you lighter charges than you'll actually see. Make a note of what aperture you actually use, and you won't have to do a bunch of test throws in the future.
 
I borrowed the $500 lab scale at work (Acculab model V-123) just the other week. This scale is rated for .001 gram (equivalent to .015 grain) and displays grains to the nearest hundredth.

I was setting up my new load master for .45 acp and weighed several of the initial charges....

According to my notes, a.46 cc disk gives me 4.9 gr. of W231.... so I thew three consecutive charges on the scale and got exactly 4.93 grains on all three. I loaded up 300 rounds and checked approx. one every 50 rounds with none going outside of .05 grains.

So... yeah, I'd say the PAD like W231....

Later, I set up for 5.3 grains (published max load for 230 gr Jacketed) and had to use the adustable charge bar. Though all the charges were still within .1 grains, the spread was notably larger than with the disk.

So that's my story... and I'm stickin with it ;)

FWIW, I've loaded 230 gr. JHP to 5.5 gr. and they were no where near as hot as 200 gr. +P Remington factory ammo.
 
Hodgdon "CLAYS" family....Universal Clays, Clays or International Clays.
Any specific ones you like. I don't know anything about powder so I don't know which ones these would be.

W231 (mild-midrange loads), Unique for mid-range up
Is W231 a model number or brand name. Also, which Unique powder would I use?

(H414, BL-C(2), AA#7, Hunter)
Can you give me any detail on the brand names or model #s for these powders?

Hi,
Short answer: ball and small flake powders work very well,
Which of the above are ball vs. flake?

It sound like Unique is a good bet. Which Unique would I need?
 
Universal works good for me with PAD. I reload 9mm Largo (124Gr RN), .40S&W (180Gr FN), and .45ACP (230Gr RN) using the .57 hole on the disk which according to the manual should throw 5.2Gr of powder. Mine throws 5.1Gr of powder all day long. I reload all the above using Berry's plated bullets.
 
Universal works good for me with PAD. I reload 9mm Largo (124Gr RN), .40S&W (180Gr FN), and .45ACP (230Gr RN) using the .57 hole on the disk which according to the manual should throw 5.2Gr of powder. Mine throws 5.1Gr of powder all day long. I reload all the above using Berry's plated bullets.

Can you give me the exact Universal to buy?
 
Bullseye is very accurate in both 45acp and 9mm. I have also started using WST for 45acp and WSF for 9mm.
 
Is anyone else concerned that OP knows absolutely nothing about powders. OP you have to do some more research this is not something that you can just go out and buy a setup and crank out ammo. It can be very dangerous!! Not busting your balls just very concerned for your well being.
 
Is anyone else concerned that OP knows absolutely nothing about powders. OP you have to do some more research this is not something that you can just go out and buy a setup and crank out ammo. It can be very dangerous!! Not busting your balls just very concerned for your well being.

Agree 100%. I don't know anything about powder. That's why I don't understand all the acronyms.

Thats why I'm asking. I have a separate thread started on reloading manuals and I will read them before starting.

Just looking for a good "starter" powder for the Lee Pro Auto Disk.

Heck - I've got plenty of time to read & ask questions since the Lee Classic Turret is on 4-5 weeks backorder.:)

Thanks Much
 
Triumph, I get Hodgdon Universal Clays powder. With plated bullets, it is recommended to either use lead bullet loading data or just the low/starting charge for metal jacketed bullets. All my loads are at the starting charge for metal jacketed except the 9mm Largo. Read all the reloading manuals you can and ask questions, it's better to be safe than sorry.
 
I like to use Accurate Arms powder in mine. AA#2 and AA#5 primarily. I cant bring myself to walk away from 2400, so I dont use AA#9, though its still pretty darned tempting. All of those powders work great in the Lee Auto Disk Pro.
 
Unique is a powder manufactured by Alliant. It is a flake powder, as are all of the popular Alliant pistol and shotgun powders. There is only one variety of Unique: it is a specific 'model' of powder.

All of the pistol powders manufactured by Winchester, Accurate or Hodgdon are spherical or 'ball' powders. This actually refers to the shapes of the powder grains, although some of them have the balls somewhat flattened to they somewhat resemble flakes. Winchester 231 is an example of this.

Ball powders generally flow very well through powder measures, although some of the faster burning ones with very small grains (like Accurate #9) can leak a bit from under the hopper of the Lee powder measure. Some of the flake powders don't flow quite so smoothly. One of the worst offenders is IMR 800-X. It's a flake powder that is used mostly for shotgun loads but can be used for pistols. It has very large flakes that can cause metering problems.

All of the Clays family are ball powders made by Hodgdon. That's all I know about them. With one exception, if a pistol powder wasn't on the market prior to the early 90's I haven't tried it. I don't have room in my life for any new powders until I use up more of the ones I already have.
 
Ball powders generally flow very well through powder measures, although some of the faster burning ones with very small grains (like Accurate #9) can leak a bit from under the hopper of the Lee powder measure.

Lots of great information in the above post, but AA#9 is a slow pistol powder, not a fast one. AA#2 is very small and fast.
 
Another vote for Win231/HP38.

I have been very impressed with the Pro Auto Disk. When I first got it, I thought, no way this thing drops consistently accurate charges. I had fits at first (due to static cling), but once I got that sorted out, it drops 5.1gr of W231 +/- 0.1gr all day long.

I even finally tried the pro auto disk with Varget and the double disk kit. For a powder that is notorious for not metering well, I was still getting my target drop +/- 0.2gr, which I think is good enough for the light .223 loads I was making.
 
Winchester 231 is my #1 powder for 230 grain FMJ's out of my lee auto disc. It's a great powder to start with for your .45 ACP.

Have some W231 on availability notification with Natchez shooter supply.
 
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