Lee PM Question On Turret

[Lerk]

So looking at picking up a Lee Classic Turret to speed up my reloading a little bit without breaking the bank. Have a question on the Pro Auto Disk powder measure. What do I all need to run the powder measure on the turret without using Lee's powder through expander dies? Just to be clear, I want the case to actuate the powder measure I don't want to have to manually do it otherwise I could just do it off press on my Hornady PM. I already have RCBS 3-Die sets for all of my current cartridges and didn't want to have to buy a lee powder through expander for each of my calibers just to be able to use the powder measure on the press.

All I can really find anything about is the rifle charging die and the Auto Disk Riser, but that doesn't solve my question for the pistol. Is there something additional I need to run it with my current dies or am I just overthinking it. Or do I just have to pony up and buy lee powder through expander dies for all of my current calibers?

Just a note, current calibers are 10mm Auto, 45 ACP, 9mm, and .223 Rem.

 

[kutter]

You have to have some sort of die to charge through. Do you have any dies like that?

Otherwise you have to charge off the turret press and that will negate any speed advantage of upgrading. You can buy all 4 of them for less than $60 directly from Lee, maybe less from either FS or Kempfs.

 

[dragon813gt]

Lee makes a Universal Charging Die.


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[Lerk]

Does that work with the turret? Only see it advertised for the progressive presses.

 

[kingmt]

There is a universal charge die. You need the 4 hole to use it. To me I would rather have a 3 hole & buy the powder through expander dies.

I bought one for each set of RCBS dies then I started replacing those sets with Lee sets. I wish I would have just bought the sets at the time. Money was a factor tho.

 

[Jeff H]

The universal charging die is only advertised to work with the PPM. Are the bottom half of the two measures the same? I don't have a PPM at this time to compare.

I already have RCBS 3-Die sets for all of my current cartridges and didn't want to have to buy a lee powder through expander for each of my calibers just to be able to use the powder measure on the press.

Sorry, but that is how the press is usually set up and it does work very well with the powder through expander dies.

I would call Lee and see for sure if the Universal charging die will work or not. If it works, you will still need to expand the cases though so you can't crimp separately with only 4 stations.

 

[kingmt]

If it is a 3 die set the crimp can't be done separately any how.

 

[dragon813gt]

I jumped the gun and forgot the Universal charging die only works with the PPM. They make a rifle charging die for use with the auto disk. I know someone makes an adapter to make a PPM work with the rifle charging die. I'd imagine you can get someone to make an adapter to make an auto disk work with the universal chargine die.


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[kingmt]

I just went & looked at the universal. It doesn't look like it will work.

 

[Lerk]

Well that's unfortunate, guess I'll keep looking into it. Wouldn't be so bad if I already had a pro powder measure, shouldn't be hard to whip something off the lathe that would work but didn't want to take a chance with it if it wouldn't work.

But on a good note was talking with a coworker about this and he has a brand new Hornady LNL AP that he'd be willing to sell me for $300 if I wanted to go that route instead. Tempted with that offer.

 

[mackg]

You will run into two problems with the PPM and one Universal Die on a Turret: having to adjust it to each caliber with a different case length, and the fact that it is not intended for the Turret and therefore not fully automatic (LEE used to say that customer could "devise some way to make it work". Not so perfect eh !)

When I had a 3-hole Turret, I managed to use regular LEE expanding dies for Magnum (1.3") cartridges with a PPM. It would dispense the powder but I had to refill the rotor each time. I went through the trouble because my old Auto-Disk leaked with spherical powders and fell a little short for 44 Magnum.

I haven't used the PPM since I got a Pro Auto Disk, and updated the old one.

By any means both are very expensive for what they are (cheap), but the "PAD" with a return spring will save you lots of headaches and possible squib loads due to manual actuation.

The limitations of the Auto-Disk measures are small volumes of flake powders which bridge in small cavities, and large volumes of any powder above 1.57 cc (I never tried the double disk kit).
http://leeprecision.com/cgi-data/instruct/AD2302.pdf

 

[kingmt]

I really like the Pro Auto disk. So well I have bought 3 & my buy more in the future.