Making small charges with a Lee (pro) auto disc?

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john92awd

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Does anyone have experience with making small powder charges with the lee auto disc? I don't need super small but 3.0 grains titegroupe would be nice.
I see there used to be a micro disc kit available from lee but it has been discontinued...

Any good ideas out there?
 
i believe lee sells a micrometer adjustable "disk".

Maybe ask a machinist friend to make a bushing for the volume you desire and slide it into one of the holes you don't use often?
 
It's called an adjustable powder charge bar. You can dial in the charge volume/weight needed. An alternative is to epoxy one of the disc holes and drill out an appropriate cavity....yeah kinda bubba.
 
Switching over to the micrometer measure will save you tons of annoyance. Flake powders (ie-700-X) <4.0gr seem to cause issues with the measure, whether you're using the disk or micrometer.
 
Okay. I was just afraid of the reliability of the very small diameter holes being drilled but if it's a commonly done trick then I may just have to try it for myself and see.
Just don't really want to get a squib
 
Flake powders (ie-700-X) <4.0gr seem to cause issues with the measure, whether you're using the disk or micromet.

I read this as well a while ago but using 700x I have been dropping 4.2g for 9mm really consistent with my auto disk . I check about every 25 th drop and no squibs yet. Also washing the disk with soap and water will stop those flake powders from sticking to plastic. But haven't tried anything smaller than 4.2
 
I was faced with the same problem, I needed a disc with a hole in between two numbers. I did a search and I found this on Thingiverse or Yeggi, it has a pre-drilled hole but it could easily filled in and then 3D printed, and then a smaller hole drilled in it.
20160411_165109_zpsjddgbwse.jpg
 
With the standard autodisk, which I beleive is 0.452" (1.15cm) and titegroup VMD = 0.0847 cm³/gn you would need a 5.3mm diameter hole to deliver 3gn titegroup (in a perfect world). I like the bushing idea or fill a hole with epoxy and drill your own.

standard drill bit sizes
5.3 mm = 5.3000 mm
#4 = 5.3086 mm
 
john92awd said:
Okay. I was just afraid of the reliability of the very small diameter holes being drilled but if it's a commonly done trick then I may just have to try it for myself and see.
Just don't really want to get a squib
Click to expand...

It's a guarantee that if you use the Lee disk or charge bar to throw low charge weights with flake powders you're going to get squib loads. I've found that about 3.5-3.6 gr. is about as low as I can go with the disks and flake powders to avoid partial powder drops. Fine granular powders like Bullseye or 231 will give very consistent powder charges even down to 2 grains or so but the flake powders just don't meter consistently from the Lee Pro thrower.
 
I never managed a squib load yet loading bottom end loads in 9mm or 40 S&W with Titegroup. Keep the powder hopper quite full, make sure the powder thru expander fully engages (both holes line up), and power through that stage like you mean it, to settle the powder.
 
saskgunowner101 said:
I never managed a squib load yet loading bottom end loads in 9mm or 40 S&W with Titegroup. Keep the powder hopper quite full, make sure the powder thru expander fully engages (both holes line up), and power through that stage like you mean it, to settle the powder.
Click to expand...
That's a good description of my technique too, I also tap on the side of the hopper after each cycle. I don't know if the tapping does anything but I know it doesn't hurt and I have good results. The smaller charges of flake powder do not meter great in any of the powder measures I have tried. 3.0 gr is getting close to the absolute minimum I feel comfortable with.
 
I used to load .32acp with a lee pro disk using a micro disc. Loads as small as 2.0gr. Was always accurate to the .1. The micro disk is half as tall so the holes are still big enough.
 
AHiltz said:
http://leeprecision.com/auto-drum-powder-measure.html

I bought one of those from Higginsons and bought a jewelry scale from Amazon to replace the auto disc I had. I load 3.1 grain of 231 in my 9mm loads without issue. There is also less powder thrown everywhere by this measure.
Click to expand...

Did not know about these - thanks. Only $54 at Higginson's. I have an RCBS Uniflow that I was thinking of teaming with a Hornady case activated linkage to drop extruded powder for 223 reloading but the Lee unit is much more economical.
 
kodiakattack said:
Flake powders (ie-700-X) <4.0gr seem to cause issues with the measure, whether you're using the disk or micromet.

I read this as well a while ago but using 700x I have been dropping 4.2g for 9mm really consistent with my auto disk . I check about every 25 th drop and no squibs yet. Also washing the disk with soap and water will stop those flake powders from sticking to plastic. But haven't tried anything smaller than 4.2
Click to expand...


4.0 gr. seems to be the cutoff for accurate (flake) powder throws.
 
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