Trouble with Lee Pro Auto Disk

[tkcomer]

Had a problem with my Lee Pro Auto Disk powder measure yesterday. I was loading 357 mags with 4.7gr of True Blue powder when I did a check on the weight. I was shocked when very little powder came out and measured .04grs. That's all it would put out on the next several loads. I took it apart and could see nothing wrong. Powder flowed out of the hopper when I turned it on, disk was clean and no obstruction on the powder through die. Put it back together and the same thing, .04grs. Took it back apart and poured the powder out. Checked for obstructions and found none. Put back together and even tried larger disks, still .04grs. Took it back apart, dumped the powder, put it back together and inspected the plastic wiper to make sure it wasn't collapsing. Put the powder back in and it started working again. I checked the last ten rounds I made to see if they had powder and they checked out. Fired the last three I made just to be sure. They fired and felt great. I loaded an additional 22 rounds checking every 3rd load. It ran perfect, but now I'm leery of this powder measure. I can't duplicate the problem at all. It just started working. Any idea on what happened?

 

[Linear Thinker]

Do you use the spring-retracted Lee measure or the chain-retracted one? Is it possible that you did not cycle the press fully at some point? The Lee system is sensitive to short-stroking the press.

I don't think you had a bridging problem - where the powder clumps together and obstructs the drop. This usually happens with rifle-speed stick powders, I've never seen it with either flake or ball powders. Ramshot powders are all ball-type, if I remember correctly, True-Blue included.

Yours is a frequent problem, so frequent that there are tools out there to deal with it. Hornady and Dillon both have powder check dies, Hornady's will jam your press (might work only on Hornady presses, I am not sure), Dillon will beep when it senses under - or over-charge. I use Dillon's die on all 4 of my progressive presses.

Dillon has redesigned their powder measure about 10 years ago to incorporate a positive powder bar retractor, to avoid partial retraction and resultant under-charging. I use that also.

If you suspect that some of your already-loaded batch may be undercharged, weigh the rounds. You should be able to see if some of them are missing the nearly 5 grains of powder - pull those apart.
LT

 

[tkcomer]

I use the spring retracted method on top of the powder through expanding die. You have to use the full stroke or else the case won't be belled to put a bullet in. After changing disks around, and throwing the same charge, I came to the conclusion that one, the disk wasn't traveling far enough back to get powder or something was not letting the powder flow into the disk. I was leaning toward the latter when it started working again. I've played with it and can't make it stop working now. It's flawless again. But that incident troubles me.

 

[philbo]

I haven't experienced that problem yet, but it sounds like your reloading habits are such that you caught a potential problem before you went to the range. That's what's should happen in my book. Good job.

If you ever figure it out, be sure and post.

 

[BigMikeUSMC]

Hello tkcomer,

One question - did you make any good loads before finding the short loads? If not, I'm inclined to think the activation bar wasn't properly situated in the correct slot of the auto-disk.

Just a guess, and I could most assuredly be wrong, but I've made a few K rounds with my relatively recently acquired LoadMaster (with the chain-retracted Lee pro powder measure) and I'm amazed at how consistent the throws are.

Short-stroking will definitely cause problems. Hope you have it 'solved' anyway, as that's one of the really major thing one needs to be certain of.

All the best,
Mike

 

[The Bushmaster]

It is highly possible that some powder was between the disk and the hopper causing it to bind. I have a rather old Lee Auto disk that will not return because of a granule or two between the disk and the hopper. I have remachined the hopper base with a fine file to take the warp out of it and have almost eliminated the problem. For me it isn't that much of a problem as I know it may happen and pay a little more attention to insure it has returned. Only certain powders seem to cause this...

 

[tkcomer]

I've loaded a lot of bullets with this setup. If you short stroke it, you can't load a bullet in it. Or at least the wadcutters I was loading yesterday. I had just loaded 30 rounds when I caught the problem. I check every 10 rounds but was building up enough confidence in this setup that I was planning on checking every 20 rounds. It's never gone more than +or- .1gr on any of the pistol calibers I load. Until yesterday. I fooled with it today and can't figure out what went wrong. I really like this turret setup. A lot faster than my single stage press. I put the load data and the disk number on my boxes. When load again, I just look at the disk number on the box, grab that disk and go. It's always the same. But now my confidence is shot. Unless someone knows what happened. I made one squib load one time. When I first got it, I was weighing every powder charge and I think I stuck the brass back in and rotated it and seated a bullet without any powder. Maybe this was just a one time glitch. But glitches aways seems to come back and bite me.

 

[jfh]

I've been updating my Lee gear,

including my powder measures. I did the last one yesterday--an old Deluxe (chrome base) to the latest version update kit, including the chain pullback; it will typically be used on my Load-Master.

This measure had been updated a little while ago--first with the long dump tube and the swivel adapter. It had an old aftermarket adjustable charge bar, and I 'upgraded' that to the Lee bar. I've used it on my Turret, on top of a riser, with no issues whatsoever. This measure has been 'dedicated' to 231 for years.

So, yesterday I fine-tuned the Load-Master bullet feeder, then converted the powder measure. As I was adjusting dies, tweaking this, tweaking that, etc., etc., I started having short or no powder dumps--and at first I couldn't figure it out.

Here's what happened:

1. The long dump tube was loose in the measure housing. I was still fine-tuning the expander setting, and the whole assembly apparently had some 'slack' in it that would develop when the long dump tube 'dropped' down a bit.

2. The new powder container, with the shutoff was not entirely open (or closed)--and I do not have a new habit ingrained yet for the startup routine. For now, I will leave the the container "on" and turn it off only after I upend to the measure to change containers.

As you may know, the Loadmaster keeps you busy--watching the primer feed, the case feeder, eyeballing the powder measure action (and the actual load), and now the bullet feeder. It takes more than a bit of tweaking to get the machine running smoothly. FWIW, the key to it for me was to do separate decapping (die 1) and resizing (die 2) over the primer; that locates the case for consistent primer insertion, leaving only the problem of the primer feed vibration routine.

I never had big problems with the spring return system. Yes, it can bind and cause an occasional squib load. However, the chain return worries me too. You have to have the expander die set up properly. Update: I did not have the small chain 'tension spring' installed. With it installed, there is enough 'back tension' to fully retract the charge bar to get the next load.

Jim H.

 

[tkcomer]

I get the part were you have to have the powder measure screwed on tight to get it to work. That wasn't my problem. I've actually caught it trying to loosen up as it spins around. I'm using the Lee Classic Turret press with 4 holes. I do use the riser tube to clear the Auto Prime. That was clean as a whistle when I looked down through it. Maybe, just maybe, the powder had a lump in it that I didn't catch. It did start working after I emptied and cleaned everything for inspection that 3rd time. But the powder did seem to flow great when I turned it on over the powder jug the first time and the disk was clean. Starting to wonder if the disk was going all the way back to the load stage.

 

[jfh]

I finally figured out that using the swivel adapter was the key to getting the powder measure set properly on the Turret presses (I have a Turret upgraded to 4-die as well).

Orient the powder measure so the measure body is 'inside' the turret, not outside. Put the disk / bar centerline on the turret radius. Now tighten it down.

This location creates the least momentum to the measure when the turret indexes. It also eliminates the measure body from bumping the Safety Prime setup, if you have that installed, and thus no annoying click.

FWIW, whenever I change turrets, I also lube the bottom side of the turret upper lip with oil--makes for much smoother operation.

Jim H.

 

[870pilot]

gotta second the poster above me, all true... all true

damn that annoying click... i fixed it

and its also possible to set it up so that the brass nuts holding down the powder hopper hit the primer tray on its orbit, thus causing the nuts to escape (along with a few flakes of powder)

 

[The Bushmaster]

Damn...Now I know why I have never replace my ol' Lee Auto Disk powder dispenser. It works no matter where it indexes on the die on my ol' Lee turret three hole...

 

[tkcomer]

Could some sort of static have caused this? I ran into that a while back. Static was causing the powder to stick in the brass making it impossible to find out exactly what the charge was. The powder measure was throwing correct charges, but the static was making it hard to figure out what it was throwing True Blue is a very fine powder. Could a static charge have held it up?

 

[dannyabear]

Could it be that you did not have the disk oriented in the correct position on the lever and it was not moving enough?

 

[RidgwayCO]

It's easy to install the top of the Lee Auto Disk Pro backwards (the assembly held on by the two thumbscrews). Obviously, doing this can mess up your powder drops.

 

[davinci]

I had a problem with mine at one point... I was using the wrong spring for it. Ooops. it was actually a spring off of a hinge and was too long.

They're such simple devices, I'm amazed that you had any trouble with it.

 

[Eagle103]

Starting to wonder if the disk was going all the way back to the load stage.

That's where I'd put my money. If the expander die isn't set deep enough it won't grab the case well enough to fully cycle the powder measure. With practice you should be able to feel if this occurs.

 

[pinkymingeo]

The same thing happened to me once. Loading 3.2 Bullseye in 38 special. The Pro Autodisk was so reliable, I had gone to checking each 25th round. Things were fine, then the next 25th case was empty. I pulled the bullets from those 25 rounds. The powder drop gradually slowed over about ten, then stopped altogether. That was a while back, and to this day I don't know what happened. Many thousands of rounds later, the problem has not recurred. Beats me.

 

[tkcomer]

Well, at least I know I'm not crazy. I can't duplicate the problem at all. Expander die has not been touched. It's still set correctly. It's cranking out the correct powder load with every disk I try. If it ever happens again, I won't be so quick to tear it apart. I'll try to figure out if everything is working right before I do. But it's going to take a long time before my confidence level comes back.

 

[jfh]

My guess for what happened is what The Bushmaster described--e.g., the disk (bar) got hung up by a powder granule. It happened in such a way as to allow the disk to progress to dump, but did not allow it to fully retract to pick up another load.

Then it either crushed and went away, or fell out as you disassembled it.

I guess the key to using the spring return version is to watch the entire cycle to see the disk / bar returns completely. IOW, the 'back edge' lines up with the measure base.

Changing the habit one has developed for watching this will be tricky--it'll slow one down; I know it would / will for me.

Jim H.