Lee Turret Cases Spilling Powder

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Jhlewis10

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I loaded up 150 rnds of 9mm for the second time and noticed that when coming down from dropping the powder the case sticks, then almost comes out of the shell holder. A few times it fell out spilling powder on the floor.

I am trying to keep my stroke even and the same each time.

Any fix for this problem?
 
9mm cases are pretty short. it would not surprise me if a grain or two jumped out of the case now and then.
 
1. Make sure your powder die isn't trying to put too much of a bell on the case mouth.
2. Make sure you're using the right shell holder; a .40 shell holder will work for 9mm, but it's loose.
3. Make sure your dies are clean and move freely.
4. If nothing else works, you might want to consider changing to a powder that takes up less room in the case, like Titegroup.
 
I am using Win 231, eyeballing it, it looks to be just a little more than half the case. I will check the bell, it is not real easy for me to place the bullet in though already.
 
You are trying to bell the case too much...Readjust the die a few turns up. Actually you should start over. Place the ram all the way up and adjust the die down until the die just barely touches the shell holder. Run a case to make sure it doesn't stick too bad. Adjust the die up until you can just barely feel the case stick. You should be good to go. My Lee 9mm X 19 die is adjusted to just touch the shell holder...Yours may need to be just a bit higher...
 
You may be running the case up too far into the powder measure. (I am using the standard Lee unit on my Pro 1000.)
Try backing out the powder measure a bit. The case doesn't have to go real far into the measure to properly dump powder.
 
Lee expanders tend to be very rough. New brass, especially, tends to hang. When the case jerks free, powder flies. I've polished my expanders with a dremel sanding drum. Just a smoothing job. Makes a world of difference. Much smoother operation.
 
You can lube the brass. Put just a small touch of lube on your fingers and lift about every 5th or 10th round out of your loading block and roll it in your fingers. Helps a bunch with resizing and belling 9mm.
 
I reinstalled the powder through expander from scratch. The instructions say, lower it till it touches the shell holder and back out one turn. I did it till it barely touches and it bells way to much. When I back it out enough for it not to stick it is not belling enough to hold the bullet.

I will try to polish the expander, maybe a little lube.
 
I get a little bit of sticking with my 9mm dies too... some brass does it worse than others. Some sticking is ok as it agitates the powder measure. Mine has never stuck so much to jolt powder from the case. I've used Titegroup, Universal, and Power Pistol.
 
I had the same problem to a lesser extent, I never had the case come out of the shell holder.

Lee powder through expander dies are intended to be rough, the instruction manual says this is to help make sure powder isn't jamming in the die.

I wound up getting rid of my Lee dies for more than I paid for (gotta love auction sites) and for $8 more getting either RCBS or Hornady dies and I've found them too be much smoother.
 
I have discovered that one contribution to my problem is my work bench. I have some flex in it as the wood is getting old. So when I pull the shell out of the expander the sticking is causing some flex and moving the shell out of the shell holder.

So, my work bench is 2 base cabinets. What replacement top should I get? Plywood or OSB? How thick?
 
If you know a countertop shop, have them make a nominal 1 & 1/2" thick top from MDO, and make it about 6" deeper than your base cabinets. The cost will be reasonable, and unless this countertop does double-duty as a workbench top with chiselling, gluing, etc., etc. (which might damage it). it does just fine for reloading.

The overhang can be adjusted, but 6" overhang gives you enough clearance to mount the presses IN FRONT of the base cabinets, and more real estate on top to lay out your components. The one downside to this feature is increased leverage, so make sure the top is well-secured to the base, and the base to the wall. I also store about ten boxes of bullets or so along the back edge, and that helps to dampen chatter.

Jim H.
 
I got around this by bolting my presses to a piece of 3/4" oak planking, and that way I can move the press to wherever I want on the bench just by moving some C-clamps.
 
It is bolted to a 2*6 right now. My top is old and the overhang has some play. I will first cut the over hang close to the door and move my C clamps to the inside of the cabinet so they are supported by the top frame also.

If that dont work then I will try to shore it up or replace the top.
 
I'd go with plywood since it makes for a nicer work surface, especially with some light sanding and a quick finish (Water-based polyurethane). 1/2" should be good if you have sturdy supports and a lot of anchor points. Otherwise I'd go 3/4".
 
Ok, thanks for all the help.

Once I get it mounted rock solid I will see if that takes care of the problem.
 
Ok,

I cut off the 3" lip of my bench and put 5 more screws into the top. and mounted my Lee (bolted to a 2x6) to the frame of the cabinet with some bigger C-Clamps. This seems to have really helped. I will continue to test it.
 
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