What the hell just happened with my Lee Drum?!

S

Shivahasagun

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Joined
Jul 12, 2021
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915
I set my Lee Drum, that I've been using for a couple years now and have loaded thousands of rounds on my Lee 4-hole Turret press, and fill the hopper 1/2 way with HP38 to spend a couple of hours reloading .40 S&W. I made an adjustment to the little wheel so the drum arm wouldn't bump the Lee press-mounted primer feeder.

The drum insert I'm using I've already used for loading .38 special with the same 4.4 gr of HP38. I hadn't taken it out of the drum since the last time I used it. I had previously trimmed the "stem" of the drum, filed actually, to get a tighter fit and reduced leakage. This worked great!

I'm about to start. I tighten the drum, to be sure it's tight of course, with my fingers. Then I back it off just a little so it isn't too tight. Done this many times.

I turn the hopper to start the powder flow....and powder starts POURING out of the drum all over the press! I didn't know this was possible! It took me a couple seconds to try to figure out what was happening. I turned the hopper back quickly but it kept pouring out! (Because it was in the drum) In my confusion I turned it back the other way, then closed it again when I realized why the flow didn't stop the first time.

I dumped 1/4 of a hopper of powder and it took me an hour to clean up this huge mess! And I lost most of the that powder!

When I tried to remove the drum and figure out what went wrong, the screw came out but the drum was in tight. I poked it out from the other side but it had been pretty tight.

I'm not sure what happened, and I can't use it until this is figured out!

What did I do?!
 
Shivahasagun said:
What did I do?!
Click to expand...
This is my guess based on what you posted:
Shivahasagun said:
I had previously trimmed the "stem" of the drum, filed actually, to get a tighter fit and reduced leakage. This worked great!

When I tried to remove the drum and figure out what went wrong, the screw came out but the drum was in tight. I poked it out from the other side but it had been pretty tight.
Click to expand...
index.php

Powder is held by elastomer wiper against black plastic cone surface.

It could be that wing nut stripped the plastic thread and cone moved away from the wiper when case actuated the gear that rotates the plastic cone which could have allowed powder to pour through the body and down into the drop tube - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/50-drops-lee-auto-drum-powder-measure.924637/

Check to see if wing nut can be screwed back in to hold the plastic cone without the cone popping away from the wiper/body and while actuating the Auto Drum with case, check to see if plastic cone is moving/tilting away from the body to leak powder down into the drop tube.
 
Last edited:
Taking a look this morning everything seems fine.

Screw / drum insert threads good, wipe looks good, drum insert doesn't pull away when actuated.

What about this: Is it possible I removed the drum insert before I started and reinserted it 180 deg off? I just noticed it was possible to do that. Although it's harder to tighten and the drum insert gets a little stuck, and it was when I removed it after what happened last night.

I haven't put powder in it again. Maybe later.
 
As described, is it possible the drum was cross threaded? Felt firm, but was not being pulled tight against the cone. Only way I can think of for powder to "pour" out of the drum. There is no other way for it to escape except for it to be standing off from the cone.
 
Howa 9700 said:
As described, is it possible the drum was cross threaded? Felt firm, but was not being pulled tight against the cone. Only way I can think of for powder to "pour" out of the drum. There is no other way for it to escape except for it to be standing off from the cone.
Click to expand...
It's possible, although I've re-installed it about 4 times since & it's not trying to cross thread now.

I'm thinking either I cross threaded it or put the drum in 180 deg off. I didn't think that was possible but maybe that's what I did.

I was more concerned with cleaning up all of that powder safely without starting a fire.
 
I'm struggling to understand how this could possibly happen if the drum was fully seated. Even if the drum is out of position it will not line up to allow a straight drop thru. One or other of the drum cavities will be covered. Then I would think if the drum was not fitted fully seated it would leak all around the drum.
 
kmw1954 said:
I'm struggling to understand how this could possibly happen if the drum was fully seated. Even if the drum is out of position it will not line up to allow a straight drop thru. One or other of the drum cavities will be covered. Then I would think if the drum was not fitted fully seated it would leak all around the drum.
Click to expand...
I'm thinking I installed the drum insert 180 off.
 
kmw1954 said:
take it out and look again. one or the other holes will be covered.
Click to expand...
Maybe not if started a case up into it and the drum rotated to that big gap?

I can't remember when it happened exactly. It was either when I opened the hopper or after that when I sent the first case up.
 
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