Possible issue with Lee Auto drum

[opos]

I contacted Lee after this thread went on and John Lee sent me the attached response and said if I chose to post it that it would be fine. I've used the auto drum since it was announced and have never had one issue...I figured if there was a potential problem I'd ask Lee and see if there was anthing in the works. It seems that Lee was watching the thread here and on another forum concerning this issue (same o/p in both forums) and here is a cut and paste from his e mail to me...it appears that the "problem" that was discussed is, in fact not a problem if the operation is "standard" and uses standard dies and so forth for the caliber involved...I am often amused at how fast folks try and "pile on" if there is a "problem" and blame the equipment manufacturer...in this case it appears Lee is making a very minor change to overcome issues that can arise if there is any mis use of the equipment...Piling on Lee about this is like blaming a powder company for a double charge..I'm a fan of Lee equipment for the most part and have used it for a long time...I also have a couple of items that are not Lee as their "ergonomics" fit my personal way of doing things better...In this case I feel comfortable that the Auto Drum is one heck of a nice measure for around $40 and is head and shoulders above some of the other measures on the market..Here is his e mail to me:

I was made aware of the thread on cast boolits and I am concerned that
users are thinking that the square lug on the sliding drop tube must
rise to contact the top of the slot in the die cast body. Some
responders are actually making spacers to drive the drop tube higher
than it is supposed too. This modification will cause an excessive
amount of pressure to be applied to the retaining ears in question. The
pressure in fact will be limited only by the column strength of the
brass case! The powder measure is designed so that the expander plug is
to stop its upward travel against the threaded end of knurled adapter
bolt. The square on the sliding drop tube SHOULD NOT CONTACT THE TOP OF
THE CASTING SLOT. I believe they are making this modification with the
thinking that the drum needs to rotate further than it was designed to.
Or they are trying to use an expanding die/plug that was not designed
for the case they are reloading . Example using a 357 mag expanding die
on a 38 special case, a Hornady 45/70 leverloution case with a standard
45/70 expander die, a 44 mag die on a 44 special case. In these
examples one would need a spacer and if you left the spacer in place and
switched to a proper combination of plug and die the measure would now
over stroke and the expanding pressure would now be against the subject
ears.

So to make the powder measure a little more tolerant to the "modifiers"
we will increase the knurled adapter bolts flange diameter to engage the
"ears" with a little less overhang.

Using standard Lee expander plugs and dies there is never more pressure
on the ears than the load that the glass filled nylon connecting link
can exert. So if you are using the measure with standard accessories you
won't have any problems.

Sincerely,

John Lee, President

[daboone]

"So to make the powder measure a little more tolerant to the "modifiers" we will increase the knurled adapter bolts flange diameter to engage the "ears" with a little less overhang. "

When will this knurled adapter bolts flange part be available? It not as yet listed on their site. So far I haven't had problem but the increased size sure would make it easier to tighten or remove this measure from to/their powder dies.

[ryokox3]

Interesting, Maybe there should be a mark on the measure showing where it should rotate to. I spent a while thinking the drum was not rotating enough and weighing many charges. Eventually I realized it was simply working no matter the powder / quantity. It earned my trust.

As a side note, I've used the lee autodisk pro, and the perfect powder measure and now the auto drum with promo and light loads. I gave up on < 3 grain loads of promo with the prior two measures due to too much inconsistency. I gave the auto drum a shot with a 1.7 grain load in .380 and it performed flawlessly over about 100 rounds. I foresee replacing my autodisk's with these in the near future.

[romukom]

Another update: So far I have not experienced the issue again. I have loaded 100 rounds for testing without any issue. My Auto Drum performed as designed. Prior to that I did a batch of 50 rounds and weighted each charge to see if things are repeatable (without the zip tie). So far Most of the charges were within +- 0.1 grains; there were two that were -0.2 grains. I decided to use the zip to secure the tabs before starting to reload my test rounds as a precaution.

Again, not bashing Lee or any manufacturer. I am just putting my findings out there to be aware off. I like their products. There might be some quirks but for me is part of the hobby. Yeah, I even have a Loadmaster

[romukom]

Interesting, Maybe there should be a mark on the measure showing where it should rotate to. I spent a while thinking the drum was not rotating enough and weighing many charges. Eventually I realized it was simply working no matter the powder / quantity. It earned my trust.

As a side note, I've used the lee autodisk pro, and the perfect powder measure and now the auto drum with promo and light loads. I gave up on < 3 grain loads of promo with the prior two measures due to too much inconsistency. I gave the auto drum a shot with a 1.7 grain load in .380 and it performed flawlessly over about 100 rounds. I foresee replacing my autodisk's with these in the near future.

Oh yeah, I did make some marks with a Sharpie when I first got it. I also put some painters tape on the Drum to help see the movement. You know, anything helps when you have to keep an eye with a lot of thing going on a progressive press.

[meeesterpaul]

Just moved my one-week-old Auto drum from my Pro 1000 feeding 45 Colts to my brothers loadmaster on top of 357 mag dies. I just ran a string of cases through to get some measures some weights of the powder drop here's the string that I just got 2.9, 2.9, 3.1, 2.9, zero, zero , zero, 3.5
it has to be me

[ryokox3]

Any chance those zeros were from not tripping the "doublecharge safety" on the measure?

[Moonie]

I used mine last to load about 50 357Sig rounds with 125gr Lee RNFP powder coated over 10.2gr AA#7. I weighed every 5 and the loads ran from 10.1gr to 10.2gr. All were visually inspected and appeared to have the same level of powder in each one.

[Silverboolit]

Has anyone taken the AD apart? I would like to try a lighter spring and check to see if it still functions. THe spring in there seems to be very heavy for what it is supposed to do.

[Kenstone]

Has anyone taken the AD apart? I would like to try a lighter spring and check to see if it still functions. THe spring in there seems to be very heavy for what it is supposed to do.

I have, with mixed results.
Just slide out the drop tube and move the nut/washer sideways out from under the spring, as I recall.
I lubed all the moving parts that don't touch powder and re-assembled it with a lighter spring.
The tightness of the drum nut and the pressure it puts on the elastomer wiper becomes critical...too tight and the measure hangs up because of the lighter spring, too loose and it leaks powder.
So it's a trade off, leakage or hanging up.
Put it aside and went back to the auto disc,
jmo

[meeesterpaul]

I look forward to getting my auto drum to live up to its promise. I appreciate all the details that people are posting here and I'm going to revisit this thing and see if I can get mine to work. I've never had so many squibs. I'd like to avoid things like this triple stack

[Grmps]

meeesterpaul

I have found that IF you set the die in too deep-- The square on the sliding drop tube SHOULD NOT CONTACT THE TOP OF
THE CASTING SLOT. your measure will get goofy and the slider drop tube will get jammed up AM3041 B You should have at least a 1/16th inch of more gap.



The plastic "hook" that ride on the body will lock up.


I ended up having to send 1 back to Lee to be replaced.

LEAKING

Lee has discovered that many of the molded plastic drums are NOT uniform in size and have started machining them even/smooth.
If your drum leaks powder and it doesn't look like it has been sanded/uniformed Lee will replace it.

I have a borescope hooked to a tablet & wired to my press, pointing into the case before the boolit gets inserted. Glancing at the tablet I can easily see if there is powder in the case

[kmw1954]

I have all but given up on my Drum. It has been back to Lee twice already and I really haven't used it since I received it back last time. Until yesterday that is. Put it on to try and make some test rounds for my 380 using AA#5. Disk cavities wouldn't go small enough. Anyways within the first 20 cases I had 5 that the top of the case was chipped out plus it was leaking powder all over the place.

Sure the Auto Disk measure might not be as convenient to use but it does not leak and so far I haven't broke one!

[meeesterpaul]

After talking with attack at League I disconnected the disconnector. It now feeds reliably so now with the risk of a double charge.
By the way hit meters small ball powders nicely tries to do a consistent job with E3 which is sort of flake powder that I'm using in 40sw sometimes I'll get eight or nine charges in a row that'll be 2.9, 2.9, 2.9, but then think 2.8 or 3.1 might pop up

[fralic76]

What is the wire and zip ties for?

Sent from my SM-T560NU using Tapatalk

[milprileb]

All I see is pistol powder reviews. How good / bad does this measure do with Varget and other "stick" powders ?

[kmw1954]

Best I can do for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQazETXEOM4