quick review-new lee auto drum powder measure

[dave333]

I have the loadmaster and have been using the Drum for a little while now, and it occurred to me that it might be possible to run the drum on station 2 (the priming station). Yes there will be no primer in it initially, but on the upward stroke there is little powder falling prior to the primer being pushed into the pocket. Has anyone tried this yet? This might free up the 3rd station for a powder cop to be installed. Thoughts?

I run a loadmaster, would only do this if running pre primed brass. My press actually primes just fine but I dont trust it enough to be dropping powder right over top of it. Really, the press puts the case right in front of you at station 4 for an easy visual inspection, I trust my eyes before I trust a powder cop die.

 

[horsemen61]

I know I want one i'll add it to the list

 

[SARuger]

I have one, well worth the money. I bought extra drums for each of my calibers/powder/bullet combos. The drums are cheap!

Very easy to fine tune a load and it is very consistent. For a newb like me, I like the manual reset feature to prevent a inadvertent double load.

 

[greyling22]

I'm going to get one or 2 once they start showing up in stock. Every place I see is oos.

 

[dragon813gt]

In stock at Amazon. Titan Reloading's site is currently down. But Amazons price is usually only a little more than Titan's which is usually the lowest over all.

 

[SARuger]

I ordered mine direct from LEE

 

[Gillie Dog]

Titan has 150 of them. (Site came up as I was looking for dies.) Same price can be found at Midway and Larry's shipping is $8 less for some odd reason on the two I bought a couple weeks ago, but out of stock now. First purchase from Midway in years because of shipping pricing was so high.

GD

 

[rmelchiori]

I have the loadmaster and have been using the Drum for a little while now, and it occurred to me that it might be possible to run the drum on station 2 (the priming station). Yes there will be no primer in it initially, but on the upward stroke there is little powder falling prior to the primer being pushed into the pocket. Has anyone tried this yet? This might free up the 3rd station for a powder cop to be installed. Thoughts?

I'm new to reloading, but this would be a bad idea. If a primer were to go off during insertion, you definitely don't want any powder there, especially a whole hopper full.

 

[greyling22]

titan has good prices too. up until you hit the $12 shipping. boo.

 

[dragon813gt]

titan has good prices too. up until you hit the $12 shipping. boo.

Yeah, their shipping can be high. Which is why I typically order from Amazon. Free two prime shipping

 

[Toprudder]

First purchase from Midway in years because of shipping pricing was so high.

Midway changed their shipping in the last year and the prices have gotten much better. BUT, for the smaller packages, they now use that two tier shipping where UPS delivers to you local USPS post office and your local postal carrier delivers to your mailbox. Some things like ammo still have to come UPS, though.

 

[wbrco]

Try FS Reloading..

 

[2011redrider]

Try FS Reloading..

FS Reloading is out of stock like the rest of them and Titans site is down right now. Titan is usually where I order Lee parts.

 

[drband]

Check eBay, too. Titan also sells them on eBay at a slightly reduced price.

 

[Gillie Dog]

Somebody must like them as Dennis at Titan is selling about 30 a day right now.

Maybe because he has stock????????

And yes, his Ebay store has its shipped cost for $4.00 less to the left coast for one measure.

GD

 

[Elkins45]

I still can't get mine to work with AA#9. It's either too tight to turn or it leaks all over the place. It seems to be OK with flake or small stick like 4227 but fine ball powder locks mine up tight.

Everybody else seems to be having great success. Leave it to me to be the one guy who can't get it to work.

 

[dave333]

I still can't get mine to work with AA#9. It's either too tight to turn or it leaks all over the place. It seems to be OK with flake or small stick like 4227 but fine ball powder locks mine up tight.

Everybody else seems to be having great success. Leave it to me to be the one guy who can't get it to work.

Mine works perfect with AA#2, AA#7, and Clean Shot D032 which is an older version of AA#2, no leakage at all. Try taking it apart and cleaning the rotor real good, clean the rotor body also making sure the inner groove is free of any powder. Before you put it back together mark where the holes for powder pickup and drop are with a sharpie or other marker, tighten it up to where it doesnt quite make full range of motion and then start backing off the screw in very small increments until you get the full range of motion you need. I have found there is a very small line between too tight and too loose where it will leak. Hope you get it to work, it really is a very good powder measure.

 

[AV8TOR]

On your Auto Drum when you tighten the knurled lock nut on the measure tight can you rock the measure by pushing on the hopper? Mine has done this since new and it does not seem to affect anything but tonight after cleaning my dies I decided to try and installing it without the riser and it still does the same thing.

Also just curious how many power drops you run before you start loading?

 

[dave333]

There is definitely some play in the drum body, and the hopper itself sits very loosely on top of the measure but it doesn't seem to effect anything. In my experience Lee Precision products aren't all that precise, there seems to be a bit of tolerance built into them. It generally all works together pretty good though.

As far as running the measure my typical routine is to fill the hopper with whatever powder I'm using for that session, run about half a dozen charges and discard back in the hopper, weigh one to see where I am and adjust the amount as needed. When I'm close I will run 10 charges and weigh the total to see what the average is, then run a half dozen or so and put back in the measure, then run another ten and weigh them to check the consistency. Once dialed in its rare to get more than a couple tenths variance between the ten charge weights, and more times than not they are the same, especially with easy metering ball powder.

 

[Schwing]

Finally back to this.

I am using unique. I am fully aware that it doesn't meter very well but without the riser, I see +-.1. With it I see +-.3.

Rule3 asked about whether I was using a rifle or handgun riser. I am not aware that lee makes both.

I do think that there is some play in the parts that contact in the riser. Based on some of the recommendations I am reading, I am probably going to need to tear it all apart and see if there are some rough spots or something along those lines.

I also have multiple toolheads. Frankly, I regret buying more than one Dillon powder check. They take up too much space which is the only reason I even need the riser with the Lee powder drum. I have a lockout die that works better so I may just use it... Problem solved!

 

[rivraton]

I am trying to set-up the Auto drum for 30-06 on a Lee Classic Turret, I have the long charging die and with the die backed out as far as it will go and still secure to the turret, I can't get a full stroke on the ram (without crushing the case). Am I missing something?

 

[kcofohio]

I am trying to set-up the Auto drum for 30-06 on a Lee Classic Turret, I have the long charging die and with the die backed out as far as it will go and still secure to the turret, I can't get a full stroke on the ram (without crushing the case). Am I missing something?

Lee Long Charging Die is for use with the Auto-Disk, Pro Auto-Disk and Auto-Drum Powder Measure. Works with cases 1.760 to 2.620 inches long (223 Rem to 300 Win Mag).

From Lee's site. Your cases are about .720" too long for the charging die. You could call Lee and see if you can get a modified drop tube that would allow the 30.06 case to be charged.

http://leeprecision.com/drop-tube-22-cal.htmlThe description is a bit confusing in this link.

 

[rivraton]

From Lee's site. Your cases are about .720" too long for the charging die. You could call Lee and see if you can get a modified drop tube that would allow the 30.06 case to be charged.

http://leeprecision.com/drop-tube-22-cal.htmlThe description is a bit confusing in this link.

The 30-06 case length is 2.494" well short of the 2.620" that the die is supposed to work for...

 

[SARuger]

My long charging die works just fine with the LEE Auto Drum and 30-06 cases. Something sounds amiss.

 

[rivraton]

I just watched a couple of Auto Drum videos on the Lee site, maybe I'm trying to get it to do something it can't. They demo it with what looks very much like an '06 case and it does not full stroke. I am so used to the Pro 1000 press where you have to full stroke at every station for proper operation, I guess I'll just have to learn to use only enough movement to cycle the drum on the charge station when loading 30-06.