Lee Autdrum experience

R

roadcarver

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Ontario
I just received my Lee Autodrum which was purchased from Higginson Powders.

I've so far tried two types of powder, one for pistol and one for rifle which are Titegroup and IMR 4064.

I must say that this powder measure is very accurate. I can get powder drops of 5.4gn of Titegroup fairly consistent - out of 10 drops, one or two may be off by +0.1 or 0.2 gn

Similar to the IMR 4064, loaded 48gn, I can be off by +/- 0.1 gn.

The minor downside of the this is that it is not as fast to clean the residual powder from the thrower. There is a channel in the drum and metal funnel area that needs to be cleared out from residual powder. This is only an issue if you use the thrower with different powders in order to avoid cross contamination.

The manual that shipped with the unit doesn't really show how to disengage the double charge protector. A quick search online of the manual in pdf will show how to properly set it up without the double charge lever/button contraption.
 
I've been using one for a little while now, and am really pleased with it. No binding on extruded powders. Quite accurate. I bought the spare powder drums set/4, so now can preset for up to six powder/weight combinations. Which is really handy.
Although I have to say it is pretty fast to reset the drums anyway. Not sure if any other measures have this feature, but you can weigh out the appropriate charge, then remove the drum from the measure, pour the powder into the drum, and adjust the drum until the powder is level with the opening. Pour the powder out of the drum, replace the drum back into the measure, and it usually will throw within a half grain of what you need. A few minor adjustments and you are good to go. An excellent feature.
 
I bought a second Load Master not so long ago and ordered an AutoDrum to go with it (from Higginson Powders). I was so impressed, I ordered another AutoDrum for my other Load Master.
Which reminds me, I need to list my now defunct AutoDisk units on the EE...
 
I'm still using the Auto disk on my Pro 1000, and using the Auto Drum on the turret press. I use mostly 231 for pistol, and the Auto disk does well with it.
 
I just tried mine for the first time last night and was very impressed with the accuracy. I was loading 38 special with TiteGroup and started out by testing 5 or 6 charges; all of them came in at 3.8 or 3.9 grains. I then loaded 50 rounds, testing every 10th one, and again each measured 3.8 or 3.9. This was my first powder measure, so I have nothing to compare it to, but I'm pretty happy so far. It'll really speed up my production - until now I had been using the dipper that comes with the Lee die sets and weighing each charge individually.
 
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