Best powder check for Lee Classic Turret

[sbsyncro]

Unfortunately I have not finished building my workshop yet so I have to set up in a spare room of our house. This means I get interrupted a lot when reloading, which means, you guessed it, more squibs than I find acceptable.

Ive tried sorting and weighing cases but with pistol calibers the variance in case weight can exceed the powder charge.

I've tried clamping a light to the press, but the angle on some cases (like .357 mag) just doesn't offer a good view unless I'm sitting in an uncomfortable position. Setting up primed and resized cases on a loading block and then hand-charging the is incredibly tedious and I find I knock a lot of them over because I'm such a klutz.

So, I'm wondering what people have found to be the most effective powder check system. I can free up a die hole since I often de-prime and resize as a separate step, and with rifle cartridges I often do them in a single stage workflow just to increase accuracy and to keep from getting sloppy (I'm not as focused on saving time).

Thanks!

[drkphibr]

The three choices I can think of off the top of my head are:

1. Use a powder that is clearly visible (fills the case) where a double charge is obvious. Problem with that is if there is no powder and you miss that fact, you'll still have a squib.
   
2. Use a Hornady Powder Cop die. This is only a visual check and you still have to pay attention to the white ring to know if there is too much, too little or no powder.
   
3. My personal choice is the RCBS Lockout Die because when it's set up correctly, the only for brass to pass the die's check is for the correct powder charge. Too much powder (double charge) or too little (no powder) will for the die to lock the press (the brass will not seat in the die, essentially locking out you processing any more). This is about 25% (at ~$50 when not on sale - Midway actually has it on sale right now) more expensive than the Powder Cop die but COMPLETELY worth it in my opinion.

There are plenty of videos on YT for each of these choices.

[al123]

I do not know what is the most effective check system, but I've used the RCBS Powder check die when using the LCT/indexing with 357 cases.

It has caught a squib case due to the autodisk not moving completely forward during dispensing. A little graphite lube in the appropriate surfaces solved that problem. However a powder check die still means you have to pay attention and not go on auto-pilot.

Hope this helps.

[sbsyncro]

The three choices I can think of off the top of my head are:

1. Use a powder that is clearly visible (fills the case) where a double charge is obvious. Problem with that is if there is no powder and you miss that fact, you'll still have a squib.
   
   
   
2. Use a Hornady Powder Cop die. This is only a visual check and you still have to pay attention to the white ring to know if there is too much, too little or no powder.
   
   
   
3. My personal choice is the RCBS Lockout Die because when it's set up correctly, the only for brass to pass the die's check is for the correct powder charge. Too much powder (double charge) or too little (no powder) will for the die to lock the press (the brass will not seat in the die, essentially locking out you processing any more). This is about 25% (at ~$50 when not on sale - Midway actually has it on sale right now) more expensive than the Powder Cop die but COMPLETELY worth it in my opinion.
   

There are plenty of videos on YT for each of these choices.

It looks like the RCBS lockout die is only for straight-wall pistol cases, so for versatility it sounds like either the RCBS powder check or Hornady powder cop are better if I want to do both rifle and pistol cases. (But have to still pay attention, which I'm ok with - it's timed to a pull of the lever so it's probably easy to ingrain in the brain...

[tonyjr]

I set up a mirror , then tried a light shining on mirror to see in case . I have not come up with a system I am happy with yet .
Lee is suppose to come out with a new press that MITE have a 6 or 7 die .
I am using a load master and all 5 die holes are used

[slayer61]

I use a slow burning, case (almost) filling powder and look into every case before setting the bullet in the case. I had several squibs (about 3-4) from the time my wife came into the shop while I was loading. Now I give 100% attention to only 1 at a time. If my wife comes in, I stop loading and don't start until she's gone again.

[sghart]

I have a small bore light with a magnetic attachment and a light on a flexible "hose". I stick it to the top frame of my LCT and bend the light to shine down in the case.

These lights are sold every where, Sportsman's Warehouse, etc.

Works good for me.


Steve in N CA

[mmesa005]

Consider upgrading to the new Lee Autodrum powder measure. I have found it to be accurate and consistent. It has a "Down Stroke Verification" function that provides the added safety of reminding you to check your powder drop before charging the next case.

http://leeprecision.com/auto-drum-powder-measure.html

[SixPointEight]

The best powder check on any reloading system is your eye ball. I visually check as I load

[stilly]

Unfortunately I have not finished building my workshop yet so I have to set up in a spare room of our house. This means I get interrupted a lot when reloading, which means, you guessed it, more squibs than I find acceptable.

Ive tried sorting and weighing cases but with pistol calibers the variance in case weight can exceed the powder charge.

I've tried clamping a light to the press, but the angle on some cases (like .357 mag) just doesn't offer a good view unless I'm sitting in an uncomfortable position. Setting up primed and resized cases on a loading block and then hand-charging the is incredibly tedious and I find I knock a lot of them over because I'm such a klutz.

So, I'm wondering what people have found to be the most effective powder check system. I can free up a die hole since I often de-prime and resize as a separate step, and with rifle cartridges I often do them in a single stage workflow just to increase accuracy and to keep from getting sloppy (I'm not as focused on saving time).

Thanks!

Dude, you do NOT run a powder check on your Lee Classic Turret.

OMG the hurts to much right now...

JUST saying...

Powder Checks and Powder Cops are for rich people with zero patience and large wallets that claim to believe in blue red or green but yet don't have the faith in reality to put their money where their mouth is. You run a powder check/ powder cop on a progressive press (that is why it has so many stations) so you can see at a glance from across the room that your **** is locked up or not hitting correctly...

Progressive users need that kind of die. **** man, what is next? Quick change bushings ordered so you can put a powder cop on your Rock Chucker? What next? Bullet feed dies for Rock Chuckers?

Come on now. Stop trolling the noobs.

If you can not see how high your powder is and you do not trust your dropper, then pour it into a pan and weigh it. THAT is better than any powder cop/ powder check.

[sbsyncro]

Dude, you do NOT run a powder check on your Lee Classic Turret.

OMG the hurts to much right now...

JUST saying...

Powder Checks and Powder Cops are for rich people with zero patience and large wallets that claim to believe in blue red or green but yet don't have the faith in reality to put their money where their mouth is. You run a powder check/ powder cop on a progressive press (that is why it has so many stations) so you can see at a glance from across the room that your **** is locked up or not hitting correctly...

Progressive users need that kind of die. **** man, what is next? Quick change bushings ordered so you can put a powder cop on your Rock Chucker? What next? Bullet feed dies for Rock Chuckers?

Come on now. Stop trolling the noobs.

If you can not see how high your powder is and you do not trust your dropper, then pour it into a pan and weigh it. THAT is better than any powder cop/ powder check.

Okie dokie, so I'll take that as a vote against this idea. :-D

You missed my comments regarding visual checks, but I understand the point you're trying to make. Thanks for the input.

[stilly]

Okie dokie, so I'll take that as a vote against this idea. :-D

You missed my comments regarding visual checks, but I understand the point you're trying to make. Thanks for the input.

No. As I was putting that reply together, I went back and read it all and then was about to say, This question does not match...

Okay so let me give you the easy solution for your situation. BTW, I have a 48" or so dual tube Fluorescent shop light hanging above my reloading bench. Yes it throws the scale WAY off... Yawn. But it showers light down on me and the press as well. I do not really need more light, but I will hang a tiny flashlight sometimes if I feel like it. It dangles from the dropper and points down through the 4th die hole so I can see the powder in the .44 mag shells. I have no issues seeing the powder.
I bet even if I took some photos it would show the powder too...

Lee Classic Turret? The one with the spinning silver thing on top with 4 big holes right? Long twisted bolt down the middle? Wooden ball and black handle? Red base with 3 black corner supports for the turret?

Yes?

1. You need to believe in your powder dropper.
2. Your powder dropper needs to be on the press.
3. Your priming should be moved to the press, but THAT does not have to be there and by priming off press ahead of time you have saved yourself time...

Now, the way to be efficient is to understand that you have the world's fastest turret at your finger tips. It wants to go fast, but it can go a little slow as well. Remember that. You are trying to take the worlds fastest turret press on a slow walk around the block. Naturally it is going to have issues. Build it and run it like it is designed to run and your loads will be much smoother.

I just got done making 24 .44 mag ladder loads with Enforcer. I had three charge weights for the 240gr Pill using all new starline brass: Starline brass does NOT all weigh the same...

So you get your scale setup next to the press, about a foot or so away on the left side. In my case I was using my digital American Weigh Gemini 20 that does Milligram counts and cost me $23 from Amazon. It has been a trustworthy scale for the past 5+ years. 2 AAA batteries seem to last FOREVER. So I placed a shell that was primed on it and tared it out, ran the shell under the dropper on the press and then pulled the shell off and weighed it again. If there was too much powder, I poured some into the trickler, if too little, I trickled some in, all while adjusting my LNL dropper. Finally I had it hitting just right. Expansion, charging and all was hitting within .04 +/-. I am not complaining. Put the bullet back on and put the cartridge under the seater and bam, I got a .44 made for a Deagle. 1.610 was the target length, but I hit it in at 1.6065 and then again at 1.6070. and that was about the average length. I did not care to keep dialing any closer.

Since this was a ladder load I was making with 3 sets of 8 rds and 3 different charges, on 19.00, 19.30, and 20.00 (max is 21.3) I weighed each round to make sure the charge was correct. But it is so easy to do that, just simply pluck it from the press. Nothing to move or unscrew or nothing, just remove it. Remove and weigh, charge, weigh again, return to press and seat and crimp...

Now I have faith in my dropper. I am not thrilled that it is a LNL dropper, but it works excellently for me. SO, when I need to start cranking out these loads in masse, then I will start weighing every one for the first 5, then maybe every third one, then every tenth, then every twentieth or so until I am satisfied that the dropper is NOT going to stray and it will drop true. Then I will weigh the last round I make to make sure that it is still at the proper weight. But I have to build that trust. I build it by plucking and testing several rounds here and there. Then I pluck and test less and less...

You should consider the same thing. There is no reason why ANY shell should go empty of powder if you have enough powder in your dropper to start with and keep it filled up a bit to give CONSISTENT drops. That is what it is all about, consistency. Same thing, same speed each and every pull. No squibs. If you get distracted, look at what station you are on, look in the shell and continue.

The LCT batch size is 1. If you load up all three dies then you will be able to pull the handle four times or less and have a single cartridge that is loaded. Keep your powder on your press and that removes the squibiness of oopsing your case with powder in it because you are not having to touch it unnecessarily. Then it will all just come together for you... Have faith and if you fail to have faith in your dropper then you should buy a dropper that you can have faith in. I got tired of having to trickle H-110 into each round so I ended up getting the rotary drum dropper that I got. It works great, but the RCBS QC Uniflow is much better in execution and maintenance.

Now go forth and make rounds!

[wbunning]

If you are doing rifle ammo, you may not be doing all that many cases at once? Would that be correct? Here's one solution ( from one of those arrogant, filthy rich progressive-press people that often uses a lock-out die that Stilly mentioned): you can prepare your cases in one pass on the press first. That is, size, prime and expand. That goes fairly quickly if you've mastered the priming system on that press. Then use a bench powder dropper.. the RED, GREEN OR BLUE kind, to charge the cases in a tray. Then light them up with a small LED flashlight as a check. Then back to the turret to seat and crimp (if you crimp).

[sbsyncro]

Consider upgrading to the new Lee Autodrum powder measure. I have found it to be accurate and consistent. It has a "Down Stroke Verification" function that provides the added safety of reminding you to check your powder drop before charging the next case.

http://leeprecision.com/auto-drum-powder-measure.html

Yes, this is the powder measure I'm using.

My problem is that I have a bit of ADD AND my wife/kids tend to interrupt me while I'm "working" so I'm looking for a "belt" to add to my "suspenders" so to speak.

I think the Lee Autodrum is pretty reliable and it seems to throw most powder fairly accurately (thought getting it dialed in for each new weight takes forever)

I'm honestly not sure why I've been getting batches with so many squibs (like 1 in 12) the last couple of times I've loaded 9mm and 38.

[mmesa005]

Then in your case I would switch to an RCBS Chargemaster so you know each powder charge is measured and is the exact weight as specified in your load data. Charge and place each case in a loading block then seat and crimp your bullets. A lower cost alternative would be a Lee Precision Powder Measure kit and a digital scale.
Much better to take more time than risking injury and needing a new barrel.


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