I have a Lee PPM and overall it works fine with flake and stick powder. The problem I am having is when I use ball powder such as Accurate AA#7. The ball powder will bind the action and when I loosen the action to make it work, it leaks powder from its side. I have contact Lee and they stated that this will happen when using ball powder in their PPM. It does not leak much, but it drives me crazy to see that I am wasting powder, especially if I am reloading 200+rds at a time. Does anyone know of a good alternative to Lee that can handle ball powder and not cost too much?
Powder measure and ball powder problems
- Thread starter jr45
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Marlin 45 carbine
Member
mine does the same. I started useing dippers to load with the fine ball powder.
dardascastbullets
Member
hi JR,
I know what you are experiencing and it is frustrating when you purchase a product and it does not perform to expectations. The Lee is infamous for not being able to handle ball powders due to the sloppy fit. If you can get your hands on an old Hollywood drum powder measure (with micrometer head) you will be well served. They are made of cast iron and the drum is fit very snuggly. Ball powders move through these measures without any difficulties whatsoever.
I have even run shotgun powders through my old Hollywood just to test it.
I hope that you find a working alternative for your reloading needs.
I know what you are experiencing and it is frustrating when you purchase a product and it does not perform to expectations. The Lee is infamous for not being able to handle ball powders due to the sloppy fit. If you can get your hands on an old Hollywood drum powder measure (with micrometer head) you will be well served. They are made of cast iron and the drum is fit very snuggly. Ball powders move through these measures without any difficulties whatsoever.
I have even run shotgun powders through my old Hollywood just to test it.
I hope that you find a working alternative for your reloading needs.
paperpuncher49
Member
jr45,
You may want to consider an RCBS Lil Dandy with the appropriate rotor; they are not overly expensive. Since the measure uses fixed sized rotors, they will throw fairly consistent charges, and they are not too expensive. I have even enlarged the capacity of a rotor's chamber (with a Dremel) to customize it if a load I desired was in between the sizes sold by RCBS. If you can afford it, get a Redding (is adjustable out of the box) or an RCBS (you have to purchase the micro adjustable part separately). Either of them should be somewhere around $125. Both work with any powder and do not leak.
You may want to consider an RCBS Lil Dandy with the appropriate rotor; they are not overly expensive. Since the measure uses fixed sized rotors, they will throw fairly consistent charges, and they are not too expensive. I have even enlarged the capacity of a rotor's chamber (with a Dremel) to customize it if a load I desired was in between the sizes sold by RCBS. If you can afford it, get a Redding (is adjustable out of the box) or an RCBS (you have to purchase the micro adjustable part separately). Either of them should be somewhere around $125. Both work with any powder and do not leak.
rcmodel
Member in memoriam
Just about any brand of powder measure will work perfectly with ball powder.
Except the Lee.
A powder measure that won't handle ball powder would be pretty worthless indeed.
rc
Except the Lee.
A powder measure that won't handle ball powder would be pretty worthless indeed.
rc
The Bushmaster
Member
Excuse me...But I solved the problem on my Lee Auto Disk with a little simple re-engineering of the unit. I no longer have a problem with ball powder leaking between the hopper and the disk. And that includes AA #7. But who cares how I did it. I mean...You do have to have some engineering expertice to handle a bastard (mill) file correctly to accomplish the task...
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