ive been trying to deal with this for the last hour or so. the powder dispenser in my lee kit is giving me a different amount of powder each time. lowest was 28 gr, highest almost 60 gr, without any adjustments being made to the unit. i found tapping on the side of it to give me the best results but they still arent consistent. the book isnt showing me anything in regards to this, the lee powder manual thing isnt much help either, so im turning here, hopefully someone can shine some light on this. ive got a couple dozen primed cases ready to go and im just stuck with this issue now.
powder dispenser acting up?
- Thread starter uchi
- Start date
saskgunowner101
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- middle of Sask
That seems odd. Which powder dispenser? And have you run a bunch of powder through it to give it a coating? Which powder?
- Location
- Eastern Ontario
Wow! That's all over the place!
Mine hasn't too good either but there are some tricks:
- Be consistent. Tap the same spot the same number of times. Find a rythym.
- Wipe everything down with a sheet of Bounce then using elastics, cover the tank with a sheet of bounce. This will eliminate static cling.
- Do a search for "powder baffle". There's a recent post on this here. Apparently, newer models are shipping with baffles and I've seen competitors' powder charges also using baffles in the tank. The baffle eliminates the weight of the powder as a factor. I'll be trying out a homemade baffle this week and I'm really hoping for improvement.
Mine hasn't too good either but there are some tricks:
- Be consistent. Tap the same spot the same number of times. Find a rythym.
- Wipe everything down with a sheet of Bounce then using elastics, cover the tank with a sheet of bounce. This will eliminate static cling.
- Do a search for "powder baffle". There's a recent post on this here. Apparently, newer models are shipping with baffles and I've seen competitors' powder charges also using baffles in the tank. The baffle eliminates the weight of the powder as a factor. I'll be trying out a homemade baffle this week and I'm really hoping for improvement.
im using the lee dispenser that came with my breach lock challenger kit, ive run about 20 bullets worth of powder through it, maybe closer to 30, i figured it was getting jammed up, grains going in sideways, that kind of thing. using an imr powder i dont recall the number of it. ive got the powder holder almost full, would it make sense to fill it 1/4 full so that it i can get more grains circulating as i tap it?
ill try the bounce trick, im jsut leaving the house for a bit but ill try wiping her down.
the weird thing is i was playing with it the other day when i first tried it out and it seemed consistent and now that ive got it mounted its all over the place.
ill try the bounce trick, im jsut leaving the house for a bit but ill try wiping her down.
the weird thing is i was playing with it the other day when i first tried it out and it seemed consistent and now that ive got it mounted its all over the place.
Make sure the powder hopper is turned to the full open position. Your powder may be restricted to flow freely. For mine, each throw of the charge handle I wait about 3 seconds for the powder to refill the powder metering tube (or whatever it is called). These are 2 simple issues that can surface with the Lee powder measure.
- Location
- Eastern Ontario
You might also have a flaky scale. The powder measure shouldnt be as off as your's seems to be. But a flaky electronic scale can do that. I was pulling my hair out with an MTM scale until I relized the scale was NFG. Fortunately I had another scale and it's reliable. The powder measure at worst should be +/- a few points of a grain.
NShunter1254
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Nova Scotia Canada
That is huge,there has to be a serious problem inside the dispenser,The adjustment would have to turn itself out a mile to add 30 grains.I would email lee they are really great to deal with and you may be able to resolve it by sending a video of the problem.
NShunter1254
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Nova Scotia Canada
I agree if your using the lee safety scale stop,open window and throw as far as possible.My lee is never out more than.20 even using unique powder.
1. what powder are you using, stick or ball, stick power can give problems.
2. are you filling the powder dispenser to at least 3/4
3. did you run a powder through the dispenser (full load) before you started loading.
4. Make sure the scale is level surface and that the pivot is clean.
I had same probs with mine but not that extreme. I did the steps above but was still getting strange results so I ended up getting hornady electronic power scale/dispenser for peace of mind.
For some it works great and they swear by it, i wasn't happy so i tried something else.
i got it figured out, im using a hornady scale. im ####en retarded i didnt notice that you could close the container and open it up again, the part that holds the powder. i removed it and no powder came out, then i looked through it and noticed it was only 1/4 open. smacked myself in the head for being a dumbass and opened it up, ran 4 loads they were all very close. with the dish 189.2 -189.4 grains. didnt bother to zero with the little dish on because it weighs the same every time and i just wanted to make sure i was getting the right numbers.
this is a case of walking away from something that frustrates you, going back to it a couple hours later and watching how simple it was to get resolved.
feel like a dumbass, lol
thanks for taking the time to help guys.
this is a case of walking away from something that frustrates you, going back to it a couple hours later and watching how simple it was to get resolved.
feel like a dumbass, lol
thanks for taking the time to help guys.
Rory McCanuck
CGN Regular
- Location
- Middle of Manitoba
I marked the hopper on mine so that I know when the valve at the bottom
is turned on or off. Partly open will do strange things.
If you have some graphite, lube up the two cone surfaces. The smoother
it operates, the more consistent the charges will be.
Operate the lever exactly the same each time. How hard the lever
hits the stop can greatly vary the charges.
Try to keep the hopper close to a consistent level.
It will work, and work quite well, once you have conquered
the learning curve.
is turned on or off. Partly open will do strange things.
If you have some graphite, lube up the two cone surfaces. The smoother
it operates, the more consistent the charges will be.
Operate the lever exactly the same each time. How hard the lever
hits the stop can greatly vary the charges.
Try to keep the hopper close to a consistent level.
It will work, and work quite well, once you have conquered
the learning curve.
NShunter1254
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Nova Scotia Canada
Huh?
The idea of zero is to be sure the scale says zero with just the little pan and no powder.
yeah thats what i did, i had a hundred things on my mind while typing out that reply. everything worked out good, i weighed each bullet just for my own piece of mind, a few of them i had to remove or add a little powder to because they were off a little bit from what they were supposed to be, but as mentioned above it was likely the way i turned the flow on, getting better at it, near the end of the 20+ i loaded, other than that everything loaded successfully and tomorrow they go down range, lets hope for the best
