The long awaited Lee AUTO-DRUM POWDER MEASURE is available

[snuffy]

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

148797

Titan reloading now has this measure available for sale. Mines ordered, should be here Tuesday. Can't wait to try it out, will post a review.
(http://http://www.titanreloading.com/lee-autodrum-powder-measure)

[Love Life]

I'm looking forward to the review. I've had the perfect powder measure since 2010 and have been quite satisfied with it, but an upgrade would be nice.

[snuffy]

I'll put it right to work loading 7-08. My son brought the dies, brass and some bullets by last Saturday. he has no place to set-up for loading, AND no time what with finishing his last year of college. The newlyweds have a small apartment, but little extra room. So dad gets the job of loading for the Browning A-bolt.

It should work well, we'll see.

[Elkins45]

If that thing allows me to throw accurate and consistent charges of 800-X on a progressive press it would be worth its weight in gold. Or at least silver. I need a replacement for my "squib-o-matic" auto disk anyway.

[dragon813gt]

Mine should be here this week. If it doesn't leak H110 like a sieve and throws a consistent charge I will be very happy. Bought some extra drums w/ it since I have particular loads worked up already. They correlate to the PAD but that thing leaks to much.

[Love Life]

Haha!! Leaking like a sieve makes me think of my Dillon measure and AA#5, AA#7, and AA#9.

I'll be looking for the reports as this one actually has me pretty excited. I may buy for my mom as well.

[Duster340]

If that thing allows me to throw accurate and consistent charges of 800-X on a progressive press it would be worth its weight in gold. Or at least silver. I need a replacement for my "squib-o-matic" auto disk anyway.


Mine should be here this week. If it doesn't leak H110 like a sieve and throws a consistent charge I will be very happy. Bought some extra drums w/ it since I have particular loads worked up already. They correlate to the PAD but that thing leaks to much.

X2 on both! Will definitely be watching for updates.

Thanks,

[xacex]

I have been waiting to hear if this one fits on a charge die. Everything I have seen it is a bench mount only. It would be nice to move things around on the loadmaster since I do not prime on it.

[dragon813gt]

I have been waiting to hear if this one fits on a charge die. Everything I have seen it is a bench mount only. It would be nice to move things around on the loadmaster since I do not prime on it.

You're talking about the classic cast powder measure. The auto-drum is case activated.

Here is the description of it:

Auto-Drum Powder Measure



Automatic case actuated drum powder measure. Accurately and automatically dispense powder in your favorite cartridge. Includes a down stroke verification device that will help prevent a double charge. Progressive press ready, nothing else required.

Two infinitely adjustable drums included, one large and one small. These Quick Change drums will accurately and reliably drop charges from 1 to 80 grains of powder. Can be preset to your favorite cartridge and swapped out in seconds. If you are reloading multiple cartridges, an accessory Quick Change Drum Set is available. CLICK HERE

Precision machined body with labyrinth groove provides a leak free fit with the finest powders. Includes an elastomer wiper that prevents powder shearing. Works great with difficult metering extruded powders. Modern look and design with all springs and levers are inside the die cast housing.

• Case actuated; never spill a charge.
• Exclusive elastomer wiper prevents powder shearing, works great with difficult metering extruded powders.
• Machined body with labyrinth groove mates to the precision molded nylon drums providing a leak free fit with the finest powders.
• Drum is actuated by a steel sector and pinion gear train.
• Quick-change hopper has on/off valve to quickly change powders.
• Sleek modern design, all gears springs and levers inside the die cast housing.
• Same swivel adapter as our famous Pro Auto-Disk powder measure. Makes moving measure fast and convenient.
• Double charge disconnector reduces the chance of a double charge on progressive presses. (Press must have a fixed tool head or turret to use this feature.)
• Handgun and rifle drums included.


And a pic of it mounted on a press
http://www.titanreloading.com/image/data/D2g/90811onTP.jpg

[xacex]

Ahh, see the last I heard when they announced this product they did not have that information, or picture posted. Thank you.

[snuffy]

That LCT press in the picture is set up to load rifle, that's a rifle charge die that it's sitting on top of. The destructions don't mention that you would also need that rifle charge die to load rifle. I suspect the powder-through die in a pistol die set would work with that measure.

[A pause for the COZ]

Have mine coming on Tuesday.
As for the photo, That does look like a rifle charging die. I would suspect for pistol you may also want the riser that raises the measure up a bit to clear the other dies.
Not a issue for me. i have two of those.

[snuffy]

Have mine coming on Tuesday.
As for the photo, That does look like a rifle charging die. I would suspect for pistol you may also want the riser that raises the measure up a bit to clear the other dies.
Not a issue for me. i have two of those.

Coz, yeah the riser is needed for the disc measure when using the safety prime so it can be turned to clear the safety prime as the turret turns. The more compact stature of the drum measure may make that UN-necessary. I'm like a kid at Christmas time, I can't wait to get mine and try it out! Titan reloading is just down the road from me, I go within 20 miles every time I visit Milwaukee for the VA, like today. Hmmmm, I just may swing by on the way home, I'd like to see the Titan store. Maybe I could pick another one up, I'll be buying 2 anyway, perhaps more if they work like I think they will!:drinks:

[dragon813gt]

Just read the email that mine shipped today. Going to have to squeeze in a test run somehow. Archery opens on Saturday. And I'm going to an all day gun raffle, free food and beer, on Sunday :)

[Hogtamer]

Ditto on the 800x.....

[DLCTEX]

Updates please when you can.

[Mk42gunner]

Hope it works out for you guys. The thing that jumps out at me is the
Precision machined body with labyrinth groove provides a leak free fit with the finest powders. For some reason that spells powder bridging to me.

But what do I know, I use an RCBS Uniflow and a couple of Lyman 55's, (not at the same time), and a single stage press. Although I did buy a Lyman T-Mag turret last weekend.

Whatever equipment you use, be safe.

Robert

[TheDoctor]

Looking at the two videos linked from titans page, it looks like that puppy just might work. Might have to try it out for my next measure.

[snuffy]

Well, true to form for me, I couldn't wait to get mine in the mail. So I proceeded to get lost in the Kettle Morain rural farm lands of e. central Wisconsin. Didn't realize HWY 60 follows HWY 41, had to get gas, stopped at the Mobil station that's on 60 where you get off the go to Cabellas. Thanks to google maps, I got on the straight and narrow to find Hartford, the nice lady on the Android phone got me UN-lost. Anyway it was a fantastic early fall day, not a cloud in the sky, got up to 80 in the afternoon, great day to see the rolling hills of the KM.

Titan Reloading is a nice small storefront , well kept, clean, and full-of-Lee-products. In a strip mall just off the main drag. Young fella started to sell me on Lee products, I said I probably have more Lee stuff than you have on display here. Bought the Auto Drum and a spare 4 hole turret so i could set-up the 7-08 dies in a fresh turret.

Well when I got home, I dove right into setting it up. It comes with the small drum for handgun already installed, with the large drum packed alongside the measure. So I immediately switched to the big drum. Installed on top of the rifle charging die I already had, it didn't work. I then put the riser on top the rifle charging die, then I found I had the wrong pusher inside the charging die, the one that's inside the riser was inside the charging die. Then I started to get Varget leaking from somewhere, traced it down to find that the measure had some sort of lube inside the casting, and all down the drop tube. Varget sticking to everything.

Out come the bottle of DE-natured alcohol, gave it a good bath. Then I've had a can of micro-fine graphite around since the beginning of my reloading hobby. A Q-tip dipped in it, smeared around on all the surfaces that powder touches, and anywhere the drum slides/turns on made everything work better.

A trip to the Mil. VA means I have to wake up 4 hours before the appointment, that was at 10 AM. So this old retired vet had to get up at 6AM!!! Then sure as the sun came up, I couldn't get to sleep the night before. SO I was tired, not in the right frame of mind to reload. I did run some Varget through the measure, checked on the RCBS digital, it seemed to be on within +- a couple of tenths. Set the way it came, it threw 35.7 which is a starting load for a 139 Hornady BTSP.

The adjustment is made with a key that fits in the end of the plug that sits in the cavity. The key has .01 CC cast into the flat, meaning each half turn adds/subtracts approximately .01 CC to the power drop. There's no graduations on the side of the plug, there couldn't be because the plug is mostly inside the drum.

I ended up switching back to the small drum, then putting the measure on my 45 ACP turret. I don't have a third Auto Disc for those dies, so that Auto Drum will likely stay there. I plan on using some WW-231 for some MP 200 SWC loads, so we'll see if it leaks with fine ball powder. More to come!

[Tom Myers]

My Auto Drum measure arrived in yesterday's Post.

I had purchased it anticipating being able to load Black Powder Cartridge 45-70 with a duplex load on a Lee Loadmaster progressive. In order to dispense enough black powder in one throw, the old Lee Auto Disk measure needed to be modified to work with a stack of 3 disks. That Rube Goldberg setup worked but the charge weight variation was not acceptable for the precision needed for long range competition.

I simply unscrewed the old Lee Auto Disk with the three disks and threaded in the new Auto Drum, installed the Down-stroke Verification Device Chain then dumped in 1/2 pound of Old Eynsford FFG powder. Following Lee's suggestion, I weighed out 52 grains of powder and selected the large capacity drum, backed out the charging meter to full capacity and then dumped the 52 grains into the charging hole of the drum. Then the charging meter was screwed in until the powder was just level to the the top of the drum, the powder was then dumped from the drum into the hopper and the drum installed back into the measure.

Using my Hornady scale, I tared out an empty fired 45-70 case, placed the case in the shell holder beneath the meter, clicked the cutoff release button on the measure and raised the ram. The powder-through-expander die that was set up for the old Auto Disk worked perfectly for the Auto Drum.
Setting the charged case back on the scale showed a charge of 51.6 grains.

I proceeded to throw and weigh ten more charges
1. 51.6
2. 51.8
3. 51.8
4. 51.8
5. 51.8
6. 51.5
7. 51.6
8. 51.9
9. 51.8
10. 51.6
Not perfect, but a whole lot better than the old Auto-disk.

I adjusted the charge bar out to get my 52 grains and then proceeded to throw another batch of test charges.
That is when things began to really go South.
The charges would start dropping by one tenth grain per throw down to 50.5 grains and then reverse the pattern, increasing by one or two grains per throw back up to 52.5 grains.
Not good.

I Rotated the cutoff valve, removed the hopper and set it in the mouth of the Olde Eynsford powder container and opened the valve to drain the hopper. The reason for the variable charges was soon evident. Static electricity was causing the powder to adhere to the hopper walls in a solid 1/4" thick layer. It was no wonder that the charges were varying so much.

I ran a ground wire from my electrical wiring to the measure and ran another batch of test charges. All was well with only about 0.4 grains variance for 20 or so charges then the charge values started walking down by one or two tenths and then back up again. So that wasn't going to work. I emptied the hopper and called it a day.

This morning I removed the Down-stroke Verification Device as I will only be loading at over 75% of case capacity and then raided the laundry room to confiscate a couple of dryer sheets.
The hopper and drum assemblies were completely disassembled and, using the dryer sheets, all surfaces, inside and out, including the interior of the charging hole were wiped down with a dryer sheet.

The parts were reassembled, the hopper filled and a new test run was commenced with the following results

3 @ 51.8
8 @ 51.9
6 @ 52.0
3 @ 51.2

20 Average of 51.945

Variance of -0.155 and + 0.145 grains from the average.

I ran a whole buch more throws with no more than a variation 0.15 grains on either side of average so I can live that.

There are two things that I noticed that need attention:;
1. Experiment with the drum adjustment knob to make sure that the drum is loose enough so that it will be rotated to the maximum drop angle. (Max is not vertical and the powder doesn't dump, it pours into the final drop.
2. Be sure to keep the ram at the top of the stroke long enough for the powder to completely empty from the metering chamber. Failing to do this with the metering chamber adjusted out to the maximum will cause light charges.

Olde Eynsford powder is somewhat dusty and usually leaks powder dust from all my other measures. The annular groove milled into the drum chamber appears to trap all the dust and re-direct it into the final dump chamber. I suspect that powder leaking may not be an issue with the usual leak prone powers.

I am well satisfied with the Auto Drum measure and will probably purchase another to dispense the duplex charge on the progressive as the Down-stroke Verification Device works well and will go a long way toward preventing a double charge of less than 50% case capacity charges.

The only issue that I might have is with the heavy return spring in the measure. I am concerned that, with the thin, annealed necks that I use on my 30-30 loads, the heavy spring pressure may collapse the case necks. We shall see later on this week after I finish the reloads for the 45-70.

Tom Myers
(218) 472-3226
Precision Ballistics and Records (http://www.tmtpages.com/)
The Precision Software Store (https://secure.tmtpages.com/catalog/)
tom1@wcta.net

[snuffy]

The one I ordered online came today. So I switched it to the big drum, cleaned it first with alcohol, and put a goodly amount of graphite on all surfaces. Put some Varget in the hopper up to about ½ full, proceeded to try it out.

This one was set almost to the same point as #1 was. I wanted 39.5 grains 2 full turns brought it up from 37.3 to just about where I wanted it, 39.3 A couple of tweaks got me 39.5. I decided to weigh each drop, wow, monster swings! as low as 39.0 to as high as 40.5!!??¿¿ I took it apart 3 separate times to see if there was powder bridging, clinging to anything. Nope it looked/looks like it should. It's clear I can't trust it for Varget at that setting! I'll try it again tomorrow with some H-335. Varget has been problematic for me forever. (139 Hornady spire points BTW in 7-08).

Now back to the first one. I began today loading some 200 MP SWC, the #68 copy. I dumped the hopper about ½ full of WW-231. The drum was set to 7.---something so 2 turns again brought it down 5.5 which was what I wanted. I weighed every charge over about 30 rounds, it was boringly constant, one charge was 5.4, one other as 5.6. Bout half way through a box of 50, I took the gadget that demands you press it before it will actually drop powder OFF. I'm using it on a LCT with the auto advance engaged, so it's just a speed thing, now you don't need to reach up to press the button. No leaks by the way. So nice and clean nothing to clean up after.

I'm going to try some unique and some 800-X, two notoriously difficult to throw consistent charges with a powder measure. That should show just how good/bad it is.

[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?

[TheDoctor]

I used to use IMR 4064 and 4320 when I loaded 7-08. Need to get me another in that chambering, love that round.

[dragon813gt]

I have to see these initial reports have me a little worried. That's way to much of a swing in charge. Not so bad w/ large rifle loads. But completely unacceptable if it's the same way w/ small pistol charges.

I'm used to the PAD dropping an exact charge every time. It never deviates. Even the PPM is very consistent. The proof will be in the performance once I start using it. But I'm underwhelmed at the moment.

[Gunslinger1911]

Mine came today, I'll get some testing in tomorrow.
Hopefully a good cleaning and a wipe down with a dryer sheet works.

[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.

[Gunslinger1911]

Hello all,
Got in a little T&E on the new measure.
All in all, I like it.
Clean it well, a little "oily" in the guts.
LOTS static - drier sheet fixed that.
The little collar that you turn to attach to the die is smaller than the one Lee sells for the Pro auto disk.
For me, the "disconnector" has to go (on a Dillon 550), easy to remove, I may play with the chain activator in the future.
The powder shutoff is a nice touch, but it leaves about 70g 231 in the measure (Pro auto disk leaves maybe 10g).
Tried it with 231 and WC820 (very fine pull down powder), no leakage anywhere I could see.
See results below.

Conclusion ? I think like most of Lee's products it's about 95% engineered - screw collar too small, 70g left when removing the reservoir.
Don't get me wrong - I love Lee products, I use their dies exclusively, have lots of their stuff, you just need to be willing to tinker with some of it.

I like it, I may leave the Pro on the 45 acp tool head and use this for most everything else.


231
5.8
5.8
5.8
5.8
5.7
5.8
5.8
5.9
5.8
5.8

WC820 Cranked on the volume adjuster quite a bit
14.8
14.8
14.8
14.7
14.6
14.8
14.7
14.8
14.8
14.7

Not bad !
These are after 3 cycles to "settle" everything.
I tried to cycle the press as if I was loading - ie the same "bounce" every time.

[RayinNH]

An interesting test would be to pull a box of commercially loaded rifle or handgun loads and see how much variance there would be to compare to an equal number of charges thrown from a measure for hand loads.

[dragon813gt]

An interesting test would be to pull a box of commercially loaded rifle or handgun loads and see how much variance there would be to compare to an equal number of charges thrown from a measure for hand loads.

That's all well and good. Until you're near max load for 9mm or 380 in general. It's easy to spike pressures and your powder charge has to be very consistent. .1 grains can put you into an overload situation. The variations in rifle charges don't concern me. Benchrest shooters load by volume and not charge weight.

[snuffy]

That's all well and good. Until you're near max load for 9mm or 380 in general. It's easy to spike pressures and your powder charge has to be very consistent. .1 grains can put you into an overload situation. The variations in rifle charges don't concern me. Benchrest shooters load by volume and not charge weight.

Reality check! There's just no measure out there that' going to have .1 accuracy. Not that we can't make such a measure, we just would never pay for what that accuracy would cost.

This Lee measure answers a need for something that's fast and accurate enough. Most of my testing so far has been with handgun powders. I'm going to switch over to rifle now, and load some .308. I would still do the 7-08, but I'm out of empties!:roll:

[dragon813gt]

Reality check! There's just no measure out there that' going to have .1 accuracy. Not that we can't make such a measure, we just would never pay for what that accuracy would cost.


I will disagree because the PAD delivers this accuracy for me. You're obviously limited the charge weights but it throws the same charge every time, w/ the powders I use.

And in my examples I would weigh the charges manually. When playing close to maximum it's best to take it slow instead of risking a potential disaster.

[MaryB]

PAD? Clue us in...

[snuffy]

I will disagree because the PAD delivers this accuracy for me. You're obviously limited the charge weights but it throws the same charge every time, w/ the powders I use.

And in my examples I would weigh the charges manually. When playing close to maximum it's best to take it slow instead of risking a potential disaster.

What's a PAD? If it's that accurate, I want one. If it's case activated and infinitely adjustable.

Just finished a box of 45's using AA #5. Actually 54 of them, only a scant amount of spilled powder. Maybe a dozen flakes like fly poop. That's about a fine a powder I have. My 296 is coarser than that stuff. I do have some WC-820, but it's way too slow for 45 auto. I'll switch over to .357 soon so I can see if that leaks.

#5 metered very well.

Target charge was 8.3.
8.3
8.3
8.4
8.3
8.3
8.5
8.3
8.4
8.4
8.3
.2 variation is totally acceptable for me.

[RayinNH]

That's all well and good. Until you're near max load for 9mm or 380 in general. It's easy to spike pressures and your powder charge has to be very consistent. .1 grains can put you into an overload situation. The variations in rifle charges don't concern me. Benchrest shooters load by volume and not charge weight.

But are you getting your best accuracy at those near max loads?

[pretzelxx]

I want something better than a half a grain difference per throw for titegroup. Maybe I'm doing something wrong LOL

[dragon813gt]

But are you getting your best accuracy at those near max loads?

That question is irrelevant to my point. Typically no, but that doesn't mean you're not going to or shouldn't load to that level.

PAD is the Lee Pro AutoDisk. As we all know you're limited in charge weights which is why I said it in a previous post.

[snuffy]

The more I use this new measure, the more I like it. Today I was loading some 7-08, I was using IMR 8208, which is a fine short cut stick powder. Set to 38.5 it was very consistent within +or - 1 tenth of a grain. I was batch loading on a lee classic turret, just charging powder, nut running the turret through each station.

The main reason for this post is I noticed that consistency was right on if I was REAL careful how I approached the pusher funnel inside the rifle charge die with the case to be charged. If I ran into it hard, the charge would be overweight, sometimes by as much as .5 high. Then, if I was real gentle on the approach to the pusher so as to not bump it at all, the charge would be light by as much as .4. Just a gentle bump would result in the target weight or just a tenth above or below, or right on.

This is NOT a new thing, any volume-metric measure with a cavity that's held in an upright position to fill will be affected by vibration. The variation in my case was held to +- one tenth or exactly on 38.5. If it was either side of that I tried again, never had to re-do more than once.

[leadman]

If I need an amount of powder that the disks for the Pro Measure don't throw I melt a little candle wax in a cavity to reduce the volume. I do put a little graphite on the wax to start but the powder will cover it also, just takes longer.
I will check this new measure out since one of my Pad measures is getting pretty worn.

[opos]

Got mine a week ago...so far it's been used with my lee 4 die set in .45 acp...loading W231 and it does not leak at all...sits on my expander die after removing the little chrome "powder bowl"...drops a charge that is accurate as my old way of weighing each charge...I loaded 50 rounds and to see where I was dropping charges I weighed every one on my 5-0-5 and they were all within 1/10 of a grain...I seem to have read or understood there is some "procedure" necessary to insure a full drop on rifle loads but not sure....

I've not been one to use a measure at all...always loaded with dippers into the scale pan and trickle the load to the amount I wanted..figured the new measure was cheap and looked ok so I got it...I'll continue to use it for pistol loading and see how it goes.

One thing that I was surprised at is the amount of powder left in the unit when you decide to empty it out to clean up or change powders...the red tube shuts off and you empty it but there is a significant amount of powder left in the body of the measure...got to be careful not to tip it up and spill it all over (don't ask how I know). Also since I'm not on a progressive press I have to cock a little trigger each time before dropping the charge...the little "trigger" is there to work as a preventative for dropping a double load on a progressive but on a single stage or a turret press it is not "hooked up" and you have to manually cock it before it will drop a charge...one more reason to really be cautious about a good look in each case before setting the bullet...looks to me that on a turret press the "look see" step might be a little cumbersome and the chance for missing a load is very real...The feeling and sound of the unit being activated is the same whether or not you have
"cocked" the little trigger and actually dropped powder or not and you can't see it unless you look directly into the case with a bright light. (should be normal practice anyway)

[Navahojoe]

ordered one today for my pistols! Hope it works out as good as the other Lee power measures that i already have. I have always been pretty much satisfied with the Lee products that i have purchased. Later