What powder drop for Classic Turret?

[WestKentucky]

Let's start this off by saying I like Lee but I'm not married to Lee products. I have been reloading for 20 years on single stage and Lee whack-a-mole kits. I have a plain Classic Turret on order, none of the kit crap as i already have a lot of it and dont use it. I can manage the rest of the process, but my experience with drops is limited, and I have never mounted one on a press. I had a couple uniflows and liked them but found them overpriced and kinda bulky for a shallow bench. I have used a Lee Perfect Powder Measure for a long time though and like it for its simplicity and value. The Auto Drum looks like it is a derivitive of the PPM so would inherit both good and bad traits from the PPM. The Auto Disc looks like a poor design to me with its chains and revolving charge trays and such, leaning away from this pretty quickly, but im open to thoughts on it.

Would you recommend one of the Lee auto measures, or would you recommend some other offerings from another manufacturer? New, used, new with mods, even open to homemade. I don't really care manufacture, but I would greatly appreciate any recommendations you might have to help me start turning out ammo reliably and quickly.

I will be loading from .270 and 30-06 down to .32acp and 32sw so it's a big spectrum. Some ball, some flake, some cylindrical powders. Mainly pistol rounds (32acp, 32sw, 32swl, 380, 9mm, 256winmag, 38spl, 357 mag, 40sw, 10mm) but also decent volume in light rifle rounds (223, 6.8spc, 30 carbine) and heavier rifle rounds (308, 30-06, 30-30, 270, 7-30w).

A drop is the most critically reliable part as it controls squibs, double charges, and load variation when trying to make accurate rounds. Pricetag on a drop is not a huge concern.

 

[kcofohio]

My vote would be the Auto Drum. It is better than the PPM, in that it hasn't leaked for me with some of the finest powders. and it should be able to weigh out for the 30-06. I just ran Titegroup though mine at 3.1 gr. and it was holding steady weight.
The Auto disc doesn't require you to use the chain. I think that is for the Lee 1000 progressives. But it leaks slightly and without the charge bar, you can't dial in the weights in the finer fashion.
You may want to get a riser or two, just to get the measurer out of the way when indexing.

 

[WestKentucky]

You may want to get a riser or two, just to get the measurer out of the way when indexing.

I have seen that in videos and came to the conclusion that it's not a big deal for me right now. I will probably continue priming as part of my inspection process in the living room while watching tv, and without the priming mechanism it looks like it will clear pretty easily.

 

[thomas15]

Premium ammo requires an premium powder measure so look no further than Lee

 

[1KPerDay]

You can't use the chain on the LCT. The turret rotates. I use the pro auto disc with the spring return. Works great.

 

[Jonesy814]

The disk doesn't rotate either. You put it in the position you need for the correct cavity and it slides forward and back

 

[HDMontana]

The 2 auto drums that I am currently using are working well.

 

[ewlyon]

Another vote for the auto drum here. Works awesome for me in a variety of calibers with a variety of powders. adjusting takes a little longer than i'd like because of the effect of the turret movement but the quick change drums are cheap so it's no problem

 

[Varminterror]

I smashed my Autodisks with a hammer.

The Autodrum isn’t the measure the Uniflow is, but it’s very good for its price. It’s certainly not derived from the Perfect Powder Measure, other than both are drum type measures... I also smashed my PPM... The Autodrum, I don’t mind recommending as a budget option. The disk or PPM, well, I’d feel more honest recommending you pay someone to kick you in the nuts.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I have been using a Pro Auto-Disk on my Lee Turret Press for at least 12 years now for handgun cartridges. It works well enough for me.

For rifle cartridges since you already have several RCBS uniflow powder measures use one of them. All you need is the $20 Lee Powder Charging Die kit and you are done. (short and long charging dies)
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/318047/lee-powder-charging-die-kit

 

[santacruzdave]

Lee Auto Drum works well for me. I got 4, each mounted on a turret for .44, .357, 9mm, and .45 acp. With the Lee Classic Turret press, caliber changes take me 30 seconds. I use CFE pistol, BE-86, Unique, W231, and Sport Pistol powders. All meter just dandy. Cheap, reliable and accurate and repeatable powder drops.

 

[Dudedog]

Happy with my Lee auto drum.
Happy with my Lee Pro Disk as well but need the double disk kit for larger charges.
I would say give the auto drum a try good value for the money. Comes with a small and a large powder rotor.
Mine came with instructions on how to remove the "safety" lever you would need to push every time to throw a charge. I tried it with out it for 10 minutes then took it off.
I believe the new ones omit the removal instructions but if you get one and need it I can post them again. ( I posted them here some where just don't remember where)
Lee pistol dies come with a flair powder drop tube, For rifle you ned the you need the Lee Powder thru die for rifle.short or long depending.
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/318047/lee-powder-charging-die-kit $19.99 for short and long, sold seperate 12.99 ea

"The long die is used to charge small capacity rifle cases ranging from 22 caliber to 30 caliber with a minimum case length of 1.403" to a maximum case length of 2.015" (Ex: 22 Hornet to the 308 Winchester) using the Auto-Disk Powder Measure.

The Lee Short Charging Die is for use with the Lee Auto-Disk, Pro Auto-Disk and Auto-Drum Powder Measure. Designed to work with cases .860 to 1.760 inches long (22 Hornet to 223 Rem), and bullet diameter .223 and larger due to powder bridging"

 

[warnerwh]

I very much like my Pro Auto Disk also and have been using it forever. It sounds like the newer drum type measure is working well for people though. You are going to wonder why you waited so long to go from a single stage to the Lee Classic Turret. It is a great little press especially for the money. Using the powder through die speeds things up considerably and works well.
The Safety prime sure can speed things up also. I know you have decided to not go that route but if you load a lot of ammo it sure makes things much quicker. You are going to be a very happy camper.

 

[RON in PA]

I only use my lee turret press for loading pistol cartridges and use the pro auto disk with powders like win 231/HP38. Works fine for me.

 

[drband]

The ProAutoDrum is the way to go on a Lee Classic Turret. I have 3 of them and am completely satisfied. It comes with two drums but you may want the extra drum pack (4 drums) allowing you to keep a drum pre-set for each favorite powder. Makes switching calibers trouble free.
Enjoy.

 

[NWPilgrim]

Great thread and info. I use the Auto Disc Pro for handgun cartridges, but gave up on the PPM (leaking) for rifle. Since I already do a lot of case prep fir rifle anyway I end up using the classic turret press more like a single stage for rifle loading. So I use my bench mounted Uniflow measure for rifle. It is too heavy to mount onto the powder through die. One drawback to the smaller size of the Lee turret press compared to Lyman, Redding, RCBS. You pretty much have to use a Lee measure that is lightweight and compact, or use a heavier measure off the press mounted to the bench. At least in my experience.

I saw the Auto Drum measure advertised and it looked interesting. Based on the good comments here I'm going to pick one up and try it out. It would be nice to have the measure mounted on the powder through die and charge without taking the cases off the press again. And if it is easy to use and accurate for handgun throws as well as rifle then even better!

 

[kidneyboy]

Another Auto-Drum user here. Very consistent. I took the safety off of mine too.

 

[Cemetery21]

I have Auto-Drums mounted on the pistol die plates that I load most often. I rarely change the settings. I bought a set of extra drums, but I decided to just buy Auto-Drums for my common calibers and leave them set up for quick change. For rifle, I use the turret for batch loading and powder goes thru a uniflow mounted on the bench.

 

[ATLDave]

I have both Auto-Drum and Auto-Disk units. I like them both. The auto-drum is superior, IMO, although the ability to instantly recreate prior loads without having to pile up a whole bunch of different pre-adjusted drum inserts is nice. I plan on keeping both of mine. As others have noted, ignore the chain. Both units have return springs and neither requires use of the chain.

 

[GBExpat]

For automated drops, I upgraded from Lee Auto-Disks to Auto-Drums. In my experience, the former is good but the latter is outstanding.

 

[egd]

I've now moved to a progressive, but I did load on a classic turret. I used a product called "the perfect adapter" and mounted it on the Lee powder thru die and put an RCBS uniflow on top of that. I only loaded for 9mm though and therefore just used the small rotor in the uniflow. If you have two powder measures, one for pistol charges and one for larger rifle charges that would save changing rotors.

 

[Dill]

I'll buck the trend, I use a Uniflow with the case activated linkage kit. I load a lot of 300 BLK using H110, and I couldn't keep the Lee Auto Drum from leaking all over, it was just a constant irritation. The Uniflow has been perfect!

 

[tranders]

I used the Auto Disk on my LCT. I thought the Auto Disk was consistent,but leaked powder all over the top of the press. This was with pistol powders(Titegroup,Bullseye,HP38,etc.).
I have since moved on to a Lyman T MagII turret and use my Uniflow on the turret. Much better set up in my opinion.

I do miss the spent primer tube on the Lee.

 

[RealGun]

I smashed my Autodisks with a hammer.

The Autodrum isn’t the measure the Uniflow is, but it’s very good for its price. It’s certainly not derived from the Perfect Powder Measure, other than both are drum type measures... I also smashed my PPM... The Autodrum, I don’t mind recommending as a budget option. The disk or PPM, well, I’d feel more honest recommending you pay someone to kick you in the nuts.

I spill a bit of the finer powders, but the autodisk works fine and especially with the adjustable charge bar. I think the answer was covered well in post #2. Finer powders leak less in the autodrum.

 

[Bartojc]

I've used and have both the disk and drum. Bothe work fine, and I have never leaked powder from either. I prefer the drum due to the adjustability vs finding the right disk. They are reasonably priced you could buy a few of them and leave them on the turrets that you use most.

They don't look to be the best, but I've used mine since they first came out and others discussed them here. Mine is very consistent and so far so good.

-jeff