quick review-new lee auto drum powder measure

[dave333]

Got a chance to play with the new auto drum last night for a few minutes. Didnt load any ammo, just wanted to get a feel for how this new powder measure was going to work. Currently I use the pro auto disks and a modified adjustable charge bar and they generally work fine but they leak some powder and dont meter larger flake powder worth a crap in small charge weights. Setup of the auto drum is straightforward, unscrew the auto disk measure and screw in the auto drum to the powder charge/case flair die. No adjustment was needed, ran a piece of brass up into the measure and it activated the drum and flaired the brass exactly as the auto disk was adjusted to. I removed the safety reset feature for now while I am evaluating and will probably leave it off as I dont think of it as a necessary safety item, I ALWAYS look in every case before placing a bullet, but will decide later on that after loading with it some. For test powders I used titegroup, e3, and Accurate #2 as this gives me a broad range of physical size to try. The auto drum was exceptionally consistent with all three powders and NEVER SPILLED A SINGLE KERNAL OF POWDER. I believe there is a very small "break in" period needed to get all the inside parts, especially the elastomer wiper, well coated with graphite powder residue but once thats done it is scary consistent. I started with titegroup figuring it is pretty dirty stuff, should coat the inside well, plus it meters good. I got +/- .2 gr variance for the first few pulls, and as it started to tighten up I started weighing 10 throws to get an average. The weights slowly crept up a few tenths of a grain for the 10 pull average until it leveled off after 4 or 5 of these, and from that point on I got within a +/- .3 grain variance for 10 pulls. I thought that was pretty good until I started messing with the e3. It only got better. I got a +/- .1gr variance on 10 pulls several times. Okay, thats great but how does it meter small charges, thats the part Im mainly concerned with. I got the same +/- .1gr 10 pull variance all the way down to 2.5gr of e3, in my book thats pretty awesome. For the leak test I used Accurate #2, if you are not familiar with this powder its about as fine as powdered sugar, if anything is going to leak it should. But it didnt, not one single kernal could I find anywhere.

I believe the auto drum is a much superior metering design for larger flake powder for one main reason. The pro auto disks are a constant depth and change volume by having much smaller or larger diameter holes. The auto drum has a much larger diameter fixed hole and change volume by depth thereby making powder bridging much less likely. The cavity also slants verses being perfectly vertical like the disks, an Im sure that helps as well. If this thing will hold up and stay consistent you may see it on top of a lot more than just lee presses. Its super easy to set up, adjust, and take down, and its pretty cheap, right now I like it a lot. We will see how the long haul goes.

Edit to add:

*Let me clarify one point, when doing 10 pulls to get an average I wasnt weighing each separage charge, I dumped 10 into the pan and weighed them all together, and was getting .1 and .2 gr variances for the 10 together. Another words if the charge weight was 3.3 for a single charge, I would weigh 10 and come up with 33.4, 33.3, 33.4, over several tries. This was also verified with two different scales. To me thats awfully consistent.*

 

[straight-shooter]

Thank you for taking the time for a great in depth review. While I'm happy with my Dillon measure on my progressive I'm seriously considering the Lee auto-drum for my single stage and it sounds like it may just be the ticket.

I like the removable drum kit they sell separately which would make quick change outs for different calibers.

Again, thanks for your time doing the review for us all.

 

[BigBore45]

just ordered one for my lee classic turret and my lee loadmaster. one thing i hate is when i do any rifle i had to used a reamed out disk with the adjustable charging bar on top to get enough powder, 80 grain max will be a welcome sight for the .243-308-3006- and so forth.

THANKS FOR THE REVIEW, DIDN'T EVEN KNOW LEE CAME OUT WITH THIS>

 

[Rule3]

Thanks for the review.

The new measure was mentioned on another forum also and I just ordered one tonight along with the extra drums. I also plan on disabling the safety button, It is no different than using the discs for that aspect. I would think on the turret I would actually end up worse and forget to press they thing every time and have no powder!,

 

[drband]

I also plan on disabling the safety button, It is no different than using the discs for that aspect. I would think on the turret I would actually end up worse and forget to press they thing every time and have no powder!,

Let us know how that works. I have a turret, too.

 

[straight-shooter]

The one negative I've read so far on another forum is there was a 1.5gr variance when using Varget averaged on 10 powder drops. This may be a deal breaker since I use Varget. I'd be curious if anyone else experiences the same.

Presently I use my RCBS Chargemaster for dispensing Varget for this very reason.

 

[kcofohio]

I'm with BigBore45. I hadn't heard of this until I read your review. Thank you, BTW!

I wouldn't mind retiring my Pro Auto for this product.

Again, thank you for sharing!

 

[Rule3]

Here it is videos and the instructions also.

Heck for the price, why not?

http://www.titanreloading.com/powder-handling-equipment/lee-autodrum-powder-measure


http://leeprecision.com/cgi-data/instruct/90811.pdf

 

[Fatelvis]

Wow, another good idea from Lee at a nice low price. You gotta hand it to Lee, they did carve out a unique niche in the reloading world with their ideas and low cost. Gotta love it!

 

[snuffy]

The one negative I've read so far on another forum is there was a 1.5gr variance when using Varget averaged on 10 powder drops. This may be a deal breaker since I use Varget. I'd be curious if anyone else experiences the same.

Presently I use my RCBS Chargemaster for dispensing Varget for this very reason.

That was me, either on cast boolits or TFL. I plan on re-visiting the Varget loads after I try some other powder types in 7-08

Wow, another good idea from Lee at a nice low price. You gotta hand it to Lee, they did carve out a unique niche in the reloading world with their ideas and low cost. Gotta love it!

Exactly! a solution to an existing problem, at least with the Lee classic turret. We always have the pro disc measure, but it leaks and the steps between disc cavities are too big and seldom match what the loader wants to load. There's the adjustable charge bar, but it too leaks and in my experience is not consistent. Also it's maximum loads are too small for most rifle rounds. The 80 grain max of the auto drum will load most rifle rounds except the big magnums, for those there's always the double hit with ½ loads.

Get it here;
http://www.titanreloading.com/powder-handling-equipment/lee-autodrum-powder-measure

My experience with W-231 was spot on and it did NOT leak any powder. 5.5 was 5.5 through 30 rounds of 45 auto except for one 5.4 and one 5.6 I stopped checking after that! I have yet to have it leak any powder I've used so far. One guy said he tried the ultra fine ACC #5, no leaks.

I'll report back with what I find when trying the big drum with H-4831 SC and H-335 for some 7-08.

I have 2 of the new measures, one I got Monday over-the- counter at Titan. The other I ordered online from them on Saturday. I was going to Milwaukee for a VA appointment. Interstate 41 goes by Hartford within 7 miles, so I stopped to get one direct. Couldn't wait ya know? Got the other one in the mail Tuesday.

 

[Mad Chemist]

I think my LM would look good with one of these on top.

 

[dave333]

Quick follow up to the original review:

Spent close to an hour messing with it last night. Still havent loaded any ammo using it yet, probably will do that tomorrow night, but the consistency is absolutely amazing me. I set it up to meter 3.1gr of Clay Dot. If you are not familiar with Clay Dot it is a larger flake powder that meters OK in the pro auto disks at larger charge weights but not so good at lower ones, in the low 3 grain range for example. Time after time I got no variation in individual throws or the total of 10 combined throws. The worst string of 10 individual throws only varied .1gr twice and the most variation I got on the total of ten throws only varied by .3gr once. I hope this consistency lasts. Oh yea, it still hasnt leaked even one single kernal of powder.

 

[GBExpat]

Thanks for taking the time to provide us with the review, dave333!

As an FYI ... I (and others) find it difficult to read huge (in this case, 400+ words) monolithic blocks of text. Breaking such blocks up into multiple paragraphs would make it much easier for everyone to read.

 

[Mad Chemist]

Dave333,

Run it with Unique at a low charge weight. That's the ultimate test of any powder measure.

 

[Toprudder]

Dave333,

Run it with Unique at a low charge weight. That's the ultimate test of any powder measure.

No, I think 800x would be the ultimate test.

 

[straight-shooter]

I'm wondering if this powder measure requires the obligatory tap, tap, tap on the side in between pulls like the Lee Auto-Disk ?

 

[dave333]

Dave333,

Run it with Unique at a low charge weight. That's the ultimate test of any powder measure.

Ive never used Unique before so cant do that one. E3 is a pretty big flake powder and it metered like water down to 2.5gr.

Toprudder, you are probably right. Never used 800x but looked at it in a store one time. Saw how big the flakes were and went . Put it right back where I found it.

 

[dave333]

I'm wondering if this powder measure requires the obligatory tap, tap, tap on the side in between pulls like the Lee Auto-Disk ?

I specifically made sure I didnt give the measure any bangs or bumps of any kind to see just how well it would do. Besides, the auto drum is going to sit atop of my Loadmaster, and the only way to load consistently good trouble free ammo on it is going slow and smooth.

When I have loaded in the past using e3 or clay dot in smaller charge weights I had a pretty good rhythm, two quick smacks on the measure, pull the handle, place a bullet, two quick smacks on the measure, pull the handle, place a bullet etc etc. Pain in the butt, but it worked.

 

[snuffy]

I just finished loading some 7-08 with 2 powders that could be/are used for it, H-335 and H-4831-SC. Procedure was to size and prime a shell, place it on RCBS digital scale platen, then hit the zero button. That tares the case to zero so whatever is in the case after charging shows up as the actual charge weight. That eliminates dumping the powder in the scale pan, and the chance some of it may/will cling to the inside of the mouth,( sprayed with Midway case lube gets some on the inside of the necks). You’re never sure you got it all out of the case.

The 335 is as follows. Target was 39.0 grains
38.8
39.0
39.0
39.1
39.4
39.1
39.0
39.0
39.4
39.1
39.4
That’s a .6 grain swing over 12 charges. Not as good as I expected for a fine ball powder. I also noticed a bit of leakage on top of the turret and press top, which was clean before starting.

H-4831 SC weight selected was 47.0 grains
47.0
46.6
46.7
46.9
46.5
46.9
46.9
47.3
46.8
47.1
47.1
46.9
46.9
47.1
46.7
46.8
So 17 charges again .6 grain variance. No leaks

Anybody have any ideas for some other powders? Suitable for 7-08?

 

[straight-shooter]

Thank you Snuffy for the upfront honest output. This is exactly what I feared since with all the chrono testing I've done, it's more than proven that with just a .1 or .2 swing will significantly change extreme spread and standard deviation not to mention point of aim.

That's just too much of a swing to make the auto-drum a viable option in my reloading routine. As much as I wanted this new gizmo I'll have to continue using my RCBS Chargemaster for all my rifle fodder.

Sometimes more convenient or faster isn't always better.

 

[snuffy]

SS, I suspect that after some time and mostly more use the measure will "settle in" or break in to be more consistent. I tried to be as consistent in my movement of the ram as possible. The turret was turned by hand with 3 holes used. The vacant hole was simply turned past. I mention that because what ever vibration was present was as consistent as possible.

One thing I realized was how much variance was in the brass when tared from one to the next. I used some Federal nickle plated and the rest was all R-P plain brass. Swings up to 8 grains for all nickel plated and the brass was no better.

This ammo is being loaded for my son's A-bolt synthetic blued rifle, boss equipped. Just plinking ammo with 139 spire points I had laying around. The H-4831 was at 105% load density, not the best powder for a 7-08. In fact I had to look in the Lee manual to find both of the Hodgdon powders, Hornady must think H-335 does not exist. No loads for the 4831 either.

 

[snuffy]

2 more tests with the pistol drum in measure #2. With 2 notoriously difficult to meter powders. Unique and IMR 800-X

First Unique, target charge is 6.5
6.5
6.6
6.4
6.6
6.7
6.6
6.6
6.5
6.5
6.5
6.6
6.5
6.7
6.8
6.5
6.6
6.5
6.6

Wow, .4 grain variance for unique? This was for my 45 again with the MP 200 SWC
Now for the 800 X target charge is 7.2
7.2
7.3
6.9
6.9
7.1
7.2
7.1
7.1
7.5 tossed it back, max is 7.9
7.2
7.2
7.2
7.1
7.2
6.9
7.0
7.1
7.0
Well, one high at 7.5 otherwise pretty darn even for such a hard powder to get to meter well. .6 under the 200 SWC is probably better than these old eyes can see to shoot. Pretty happy with the performance for pistols, I can see a couple of more in the future.

 

[Toprudder]

800x is a real biotch for a powder measure. The best I could do was with my Dillon measure, with an aquarium pump strapped to the hopper to settle the powder. That was about +/- 0.25gn, total 0.5gn range, dumping IIRC somewhere near a 7.0gn target.

I'm probably going to get one of these new Lee measures, as I have a Classic Turret that is just begging for a measure to sit on top. I'll definitely try the pump trick if I do.

FWIW, one of the more accurate loads for my 45acp was 6.6gn 800x behind RMR 230 HC, I got 0.85" at 10 yards with it out of my steel frame Witness. I worked up the loads using my Chargemaster weighing every drop, and worked up in 0.2gn increments. The POI and group size at 10 yards did not change significantly in the 6.4 to 6.8gn range, so the +/- 0.25gn tolerance should not affect the accuracy significantly. Maybe shooting at 25 yards would show a difference in POI though.

 

[Zendude]

Is the drum able to throw lighter charges than the Autodisk? I reload alot of 380.

 

[Rule3]

Thank you Snuffy for the upfront honest output. This is exactly what I feared since with all the chrono testing I've done, it's more than proven that with just a .1 or .2 swing will significantly change extreme spread and standard deviation not to mention point of aim.

That's just too much of a swing to make the auto-drum a viable option in my reloading routine. As much as I wanted this new gizmo I'll have to continue using my RCBS Chargemaster for all my rifle fodder.

Sometimes more convenient or faster isn't always better.

Have you determined just how accurate you Chargemaster electronic scale is? Have never seen a electronic that does not vary a little.