I've got two of the new Lee Auto drum powder measures........one is on a set of .38 dies and seems to be working fine.
The second is on a set of 44 mag dies, installed on a 4 hole Lee Classic Cast turret press. I installed it after setting up the dies and removed the disconnector since I didn't want to use the down stroke verification device. I loaded up 50 rounds and double checked the charges on a scale every 5 rounds, everything was fine, it was dropping 10g almost right on every time. I took the first 50 rounds to the range and shot two dozen rounds, they were right on, accuracy was great and everything was fine. Came home and loaded another hundred rounds and then changed to another die set, but left the Auto drum installed and simply pulled the turret out.....this was two weeks ago.
This weekend I reinstalled the 44 mag turret into the press to load another couple hundred, nothing had been touched or changed. When I go to double check the weight of the first drop there's nothing in the case.....at first I thought that I had just left the hopper closed but that wasn't the problem. After examining what was happening I wasn't getting complete rotation of the drum, hence the powder wasn't dropping at all or just a little was trickling through. The clamp knob and o-ring were both in place and didn't seem to be too tight or too lose. I did a google to see if anyone was having a similar problem and I found this thread over at the castboolit forums from a couple of months ago:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?303759-Possible-issue-with-Lee-Auto-drum
However, after reading it would seem my issue is totally different. My problem seems to be that the connecting rod that actuates and rotates the drum isn't fully rotating the drum because it's disconnected or there's some slop where it connects to the slider. When I go to charge the case the slider moves up but the disconnection or slop between the slider and the connecting rod let's the connecting rod move out of the way enough to not rotate the drum. I compared it to the other one installed on the .38 die set and the connector rod and slider on it seems to be more solidly connected.
Anyone else seen or heard of this problem or have any idea what could have caused it?
I can't remember if this was the first auto drum I bought or the second.....I think it might be the first and that means it's got about a thousand rounds of 9mm on it.
At this point I don't trust the 100 rounds of .44 mag I did.....tried to pull some down to check it but my crimp is too much for my Frankford inertial puller so I may have to just trash it all.......or just shoot it and see if I get a squib so I can save the brass.
I'm going to call Lee tomorrow and see what they say. I was so excited about these as compared to the auto disk after I bought the first one I bought three more, two are still in the boxes but I may have to re-evaluate using these.
Any advice is appreciated.
The second is on a set of 44 mag dies, installed on a 4 hole Lee Classic Cast turret press. I installed it after setting up the dies and removed the disconnector since I didn't want to use the down stroke verification device. I loaded up 50 rounds and double checked the charges on a scale every 5 rounds, everything was fine, it was dropping 10g almost right on every time. I took the first 50 rounds to the range and shot two dozen rounds, they were right on, accuracy was great and everything was fine. Came home and loaded another hundred rounds and then changed to another die set, but left the Auto drum installed and simply pulled the turret out.....this was two weeks ago.
This weekend I reinstalled the 44 mag turret into the press to load another couple hundred, nothing had been touched or changed. When I go to double check the weight of the first drop there's nothing in the case.....at first I thought that I had just left the hopper closed but that wasn't the problem. After examining what was happening I wasn't getting complete rotation of the drum, hence the powder wasn't dropping at all or just a little was trickling through. The clamp knob and o-ring were both in place and didn't seem to be too tight or too lose. I did a google to see if anyone was having a similar problem and I found this thread over at the castboolit forums from a couple of months ago:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?303759-Possible-issue-with-Lee-Auto-drum
However, after reading it would seem my issue is totally different. My problem seems to be that the connecting rod that actuates and rotates the drum isn't fully rotating the drum because it's disconnected or there's some slop where it connects to the slider. When I go to charge the case the slider moves up but the disconnection or slop between the slider and the connecting rod let's the connecting rod move out of the way enough to not rotate the drum. I compared it to the other one installed on the .38 die set and the connector rod and slider on it seems to be more solidly connected.
Anyone else seen or heard of this problem or have any idea what could have caused it?
I can't remember if this was the first auto drum I bought or the second.....I think it might be the first and that means it's got about a thousand rounds of 9mm on it.
At this point I don't trust the 100 rounds of .44 mag I did.....tried to pull some down to check it but my crimp is too much for my Frankford inertial puller so I may have to just trash it all.......or just shoot it and see if I get a squib so I can save the brass.
I'm going to call Lee tomorrow and see what they say. I was so excited about these as compared to the auto disk after I bought the first one I bought three more, two are still in the boxes but I may have to re-evaluate using these.
Any advice is appreciated.