lee autodrum leaking h335

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ericuda

ericuda

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I am almost done with this measure. Today I set it up on my turret looking to load 25.0 h335 in 223. I got it set and had decent consistency but it was leaking more than I could handle. I tried tighter, loser but nothing slowed the leak down. I switched over to a lee ppm and continued on charging cases off the press. The ppm leaks a few grains but not bad. Has anyone else tried h335?

Day before i was trying to load 5.0 bullseye and got variance of 4.4 to 5.2. If I held the press ram in full extension and jiggled the drum i got more consistent 4.9 charges everytime. Got tired of that and put autodisk on and problem solved, got charges of 4.9'to 5.1.

I am a full lee supporter as 90% of my equipment is lee but this powder measure is killing me.

Sorry but are small grain powders like 335 just not suited for this measure?
 
I use H335 in mine without issue. However, I originally had some leakage with CFE223. My fix, I cleaned the inside well and sprayed the inside with a dry graphite spray. I picked the spray up at our local home improvement store for about $4.

I have two Lee Auto Drums. One I purchased when they first became available. The other, about a month ago. The pocket that the drum is seated in has a labyrinth machined surface. The newer unit has a deeper cut labyrinth compared to the older one. If yours is leaking really bad and if it is one of the early models, I would contact Lee to see if you can have the body of yours replaced.

This is my early one after spraying this.

24341855844_4741c43a5f_c.jpg

This is what I use.

24345585273_d1c01e53b2_c.jpg

One last thing to check, make sure that the drum is fully rotating to the stop when dumping. I have marks on the body that line up with the drum that shows me that it hits both the fill and dump stops. The little red marks. The photo below shows the drum in the full dump position.

26151482123_f289774dca_c.jpg
 
dont have the auto drum but do run h335 out of the PPM and it leaks bad. so bad I had to put a plastic bowl under the measure and screw it down like that.
 
You need to call Lee support. There is definitely an issue. I load H-335 for .223 through my Auto Drum and it is very consistent and doesn't leak at all, not a granule. I have two Auto Drums and they both work very well. The other one I use for pistol loading and use HP-38. Again, very consistent and no leakage.
 
I have used H335 with no issue. Make sure the inside is clear of any granules when you put the drum in. I've really had zero leaks from the Lee drum. Since I've gone with the drum measure on press my disk measure hangs on the wall.

-Jeff
 
I have 4 of the autodrums now. I experienced a similar issue with 300MP on one of them.

I cleaned the inside well and sprayed the inside with a dry graphite spray.
Click to expand...

I didn't use any spray but I cleaned the entire unit (including the riser I was using) after completely disassembling everything. When I put it back together, the problem was resolved.

If that doesn't fix it, contact Lee. They will take care of it.
 
Thanks, I think I'll disassemble and clean and if that doesn't work, I have some graphite spray to try. Seems like everyone has multiples of these so may just be mine. I'll throw another one in the cart on my next order from midway and try my luck again. If the new one works well I'll call lee.
 
If you don't tighten it up enough and it starts to leak, you have to start over and take the whole thing apart. If there's stray powder in the works, it's going to leak... Just my experience.
 
I recently bought the new Lee measure specifically for loading .223 with H335 powder. I haven't had a chance to try it yet, and now I'm a little concerned after reading your post.

I have the Lee PPM and it leaks like crazy. I bought an RCBS measure to replace it and the RCBS works great as a stand-alone measure but I wanted something to use on my turret press, so thought I'd give the auto-drum a try...
 
judgedelta said:
If you don't tighten it up enough and it starts to leak, you have to start over and take the whole thing apart. If there's stray powder in the works, it's going to leak... Just my experience.
Click to expand...



This is the key point in using the LAD. ^
I usually dust out the drum chamber with an old paint brush when changing drums. Dust off the drum before inserting as well. Even a few granules of powder can make other powders leak. If you always start clean, you should not have much leakage at all if you tighten the drum down adequately. It will take a fair amount of torque on the tightening knob-- just make sure the drum will still rotate. Hope this helps!
 
David4516 said:
I recently bought the new Lee measure specifically for loading .223 with H335 powder. I haven't had a chance to try it yet, and now I'm a little concerned after reading your post.

I have the Lee PPM and it leaks like crazy. I bought an RCBS measure to replace it and the RCBS works great as a stand-alone measure but I wanted something to use on my turret press, so thought I'd give the auto-drum a try...
Click to expand...

Don't be. It works fine with all powers I have tested it with including H335
It is dead nuts accurate.

Maybe to OP got a dud. The place to call is LEE if there is an issue.
 
Ok tried the new measure last night, had interesting results.

The good news: No leaks! Yay! Super accurate when it sits still

The bad news: Getting variance when it spinning around on top of my turret press.

Not sure why motion would make a difference but it does. Without the indexing rod I was getting 25.0 gr every single time, very consistent, awesome! But with the indexing rod in, my charge weights would vary between 24.9gr and 25.2gr

Is there a fix for that? I'm I just working the handle on the press too aggressively and jarring something in the process?
 
David4516 said:
Ok tried the new measure last night, had interesting results.

The good news: No leaks! Yay! Super accurate when it sits still

The bad news: Getting variance when it spinning around on top of my turret press.

Not sure why motion would make a difference but it does. Without the indexing rod I was getting 25.0 gr every single time, very consistent, awesome! But with the indexing rod in, my charge weights would vary between 24.9gr and 25.2gr

Is there a fix for that? I'm I just working the handle on the press too aggressively and jarring something in the process?
Click to expand...

Not supposed to spin around. Tighten the thumb screw on the swivel adapter.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/547368/lee-auto-disk-powder-measure-swivel-adapter
 
I think those above saying disassemble/thoroughly clean the whole apparatus (to include the rifle charging die, and the riser if you use one) are correct.


Today I had a new small problem with the LAD. Powder is 4064. On a few throws, there was a small shower of leaking powder that followed the charging of the case (powder came out of the die).

Not 100% certain, but I think what happened is that powder got between the moving sleeve and the body in either the die or the riser, interfered with the normal action (the throws were light), and then spilled some of this "out of line" powder when the case was taken down and away. Both times, I disassembled everything and cleaned the die, riser, and the sleeves in each.

The variability problem with 4064 continued, though perhaps a bit less than before. The measure works with near perfect uniformity with pistol powders, but not with stick (at least 4064). An exchange with Lee seemed to come down to 1) use it in indexed mode (with motion), single stage doesn't provide enough vibration to settle the powder, and/or 2) live with it, for stick powders. But that's another issue, addressed in some length on another thread here from last week or so.
 
Last edited:
On the recommendations of users on this site and others, I bought the auto drum to replace the pro disk. After using it to reload approx. 400 rounds, I do not have confidence in this unit. I have been experiencing a "small shower" of leaking powder similar to the above user, and unacceptable variances in throws.

My last reload session it appeared to be working fine throwing 5.2 grains of AA#5. After I was done I cleaned the the drum and unit. Yesterday I installed the same drum and it was throwing 5.4gr and I hadn't touch the adjustment key. One thing I do not like is the way the drum is tightened into the unit. You have to go by feel and it always seems to be either too loose or too tight and if too tight, the drum does not return all the way back to the feed position. For now I'm back to the Pro Disk...
 
@those getting the powder shower: Are you allowing adequate time for all the powder to fall through the drum and throat, and also through the smaller shell throat? That's a lot of powder to go a progressively smaller channel. Allow another second or 2. Might also try giving the drum a little tap before lifting your handle.
 
David4516 said:
Ok tried the new measure last night, had interesting results.

The good news: No leaks! Yay! Super accurate when it sits still

The bad news: Getting variance when it spinning around on top of my turret press.

Not sure why motion would make a difference but it does. Without the indexing rod I was getting 25.0 gr every single time, very consistent, awesome! But with the indexing rod in, my charge weights would vary between 24.9gr and 25.2gr

Is there a fix for that? I'm I just working the handle on the press too aggressively and jarring something in the process?
Click to expand...

Fwiw your max swing is .2gr from center on a 25gr charge...that's less than 1%! Not bad at all. Tighten that booger down as suggested.

I'm ordering one next week. Was going to do some catch up loading but i think I'm going to wait on the Auto Drum.



Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk
 
I have an original, when they first came out and one purchased a couple of weeks ago. The two changes I can tell, they shorted the user manual, removed the part about deactivating the deconnector, and the labyrinth cut on the later model seem to be more pronounced. I think this is in response to some really fine powders leaking. In the manual they also added a photo of the up stop on the units main body showing not to allow it to fully bottom out. I have read where some have broken the stop by having the Auto Drum screwed too far down onto the press.
 
Load Master said:
I have an original, when they first came out and one purchased a couple of weeks ago. The two changes I can tell, they shorted the user manual, removed the part about deactivating the deconnector, and the labyrinth cut on the later model seem to be more pronounced. I think this is in response to some really fine powders leaking. In the manual they also added a photo of the up stop on the units main body showing not to allow it to fully bottom out. I have read where some have broken the stop by having the Auto Drum screwed too far down onto the press.
Click to expand...
That explains a lot...thanks!

Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk
 
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