Lee Loadmaster for 380 acp

I have a couple LLM presses that I use for pistol and rifle(223) loading. I recently acquired a Ruger LCP2 for myself and a Smith 380 Shield EZ for my daughter, so I also got the Lee 102 gr bullet mold for them. The only problem I'm running across, so far, is that I can't throw a small enough charge with the Auto Disc powder measure. The smallest size in the discs is .30. The Lyman cast bullet book lists a load for Power Pistol at 2.1 - 2.4 grains and .30 on the disc throws 3.??? something grains. I can't remember exactly. Any ideas on how to get a smaller charge to meter?

I hear the lee auto drum will meter small amounts. And that is the measure Lee includes with the loadmaster for 380s.

If you're willing to do a bit of work (very little) and have drill bits and some taps, is to take the smallest cavity on the disc, drill a hole into it, tap it for whatever size bolt you wish, thread the bolt into the disc and into the cavity to whatever depth you need for the proper charge.
You could also try a putting some tape (however many layers required) around the inside edges of the small cavity. The bolt is much neater and is adjustable.

Heres one option or do what I did. Drilled and tap for 10-32 and used a plastic set screw to close the powder charge hole off a wee bit.

https://www.titanreloading.com/lee-p...n-micro-charge

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Originally Posted by Misery-Whip

I hear the lee auto drum will meter small amounts. And that is the measure Lee includes with the loadmaster for 380s.

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That is the measure that I got with the 223. I’ll have to see if I can get that small a charge. I didn’t get the whole LLM for 380, only the dies. I just figured I’d swap out the parts when I was going to load them.
Live and learn.?.

If you can come up with a second of the smallest disc. Apply tape to the bottom and gill with jb weld epoxy. drill them out to what you want and add to the list. Start small and work up. Leave a little extra top and bottom to clean up with a file. Also lightly rough up the cavity before filling.

Another route is to find some plastic round stock to fit the largest size opening and make bushings with the desired hole size to fit in it. If I remember the discs are around 1/2" thick so a foot of the plastic would make a lot of bushings. These may be able to be changed by extending the disc forward even. Would be like a cross between the auto disc and a lil dandy.

Last would be a dipper made to drop the desired. a 25 acp or 32 acp case and a handle soldered on then trimmed to needed length.

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Originally Posted by hollywood63

Heres one option or do what I did. Drilled and tap for 10-32 and used a plastic set screw to close the powder charge hole off a wee bit.

https://www.titanreloading.com/lee-p...n-micro-charge

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Are you saying you drilled into the side wall of the disk and ran a screw in there to block some of the volume? Doesn’t that make the charge weights erratic?

Check the picture here in post 23; http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...-Measure/page2

A couple other options;
Lee Auto Drum measure will measure down that light.

Change of powder. I have been loading a lot of 100gr plated Xtreme and a lot of that 102gr Lee cast bullet and I really like that cast bullet.
I have been have great success with both AA #2 and Ramshot Silhouette powders and both will measure starting loads thru the Lee Auto Disk measure.

With the AA#2 I have bee getting 2.8gr with the #.30 cavity and 3.0gr with the #.32 cavity.
With the Silhouette I was dropping between 3.9/4.0gr in the #30 and 4.3/4.4gr with the #.32 cavity. The 4.3gr is a Max load and Western doesn't list a +P for the 380. My notes show out EZ shot best with the 102gr cast and the AA#2 powder.

I wound up drilling and tapping the side of the .30 disk with a 1/4-20 set screw. It worked great. I was able to adjust the weight just by turning the set screw in and out, and it was repeatable. I was really hoping to be able to use Red Dot for the 380 but it doesn’t meter well in that small of a charge.

Thanks for the help.

Good deal, I think you will like that bullet and I hope that powder works well.