Lee Powder Measure Pro users- How do you empty the hopper?

[stilly]

So I have the powder pro (the ROUND red one) and I have run powders through it and all but I found that tonight I was done with the AA#7 but I know that there is always a small amount of powder left even after you turn it off.

SO what do you do about it?

I found a small self tapping screw and inserted it into my 44 mag shell from the inside and screwed it in just a tad so that it did not move nor stick out the bottom, then proceeded to throw three more charges and each time afterwards I dumped the powder into the hopper. The last time I tapped all over the charge bar and so forth and when I was done, I lifted the hopper up and there was about 0 powder there. I pretty much cleared it all out.

But before I did that I was wondering if they sold cups to mimic shells to put there and insert up to get the remaining powder out. Don;t need to now, Now I have a shell with a slightly threaded flash hole... Sweet. I bet it will be outlawed tomorrow.

Anyways, wanted to share and see what others did.

[Don the savage]

I may have a different powder measure but I just pull the hopper out of the black octagon fitting and pour it back into the bottle.

[killshot44]

Ditto what Don is doing.
Just rotate the hopper to the left, that closes the chute. Then run the charge bar up and down to remove what powder was in there (about 3 times), then just lift the whole hopper off and empty into your powder bottle.

Please post how you feel after you realize how simple it was.....

[stilly]

The Lee does not allow me to do that unless I have a shell in the plate. I do not want to keep a primed shell around for each caliber to do that with.

SO basically it seems that once again I should be looking at getting a different hopper so I do not have to deal with messes that mine creates.

Mine has a really tight spring on it and unless I have a case the charge bar STAYS where it is.

[bigdrunk92037]

Turn the hopper to the "off" position. Charge an empty shell case until no power comes out. Done. You can use a case with a spent primer in it.

[NotEnufGarage]

If you disconnect the chain, you can lift the whole powder measure by hand and it will dump the remaining powder (after you twist the hopper to close it).

I set mine up with a spring return because I kept breaking chains using the double disk setup for 5.56mm and .308 loads, so it's a little more difficult to lift, but it still works.

[stilly]

I would never use any spent primer cases because I would not want to contaminate my powder with whatever was in those shells be it whatever little amount is in there. When I reload I take out enough primers and bullets for my reloading session and then they are put back up top and I only prime the shells that I will be using since they are on the turret. It is a pain to me to screw and unscrew the hopper off of the riser on the top and I have no chain- only a spring that will actuate the charge bar.

I was under the impression that (since I am new) that there was a trick to doing it other than dropping a good charge, setting it aside, turning it off, clearing out the remaining powder charge and a half and then recharging the last shell and continuing.

I did not realize that I needed to turn off the powder until I was finished. I needed a shell but I had no primed shells so I just did the screw thingy. That worked but I thought that there had to be a better way to do it.

[j.primo]

I just leave it on the on position, remove the whole turret and empty it back into the container.

[rsrocket1]

The only thing in your spent cases is burned powder and primer compound. There is nothing in there that won't be in a round you load up. If you are so anal as to think you must either ultrasonically clean or stainless pin clean to get every speck of burned powder out of your empties, you are barking up the wrong tree.

Most reloaders don't insist that the insides of their cases are spotlessly clean and I don't think any that do insist do it out of fear of contamination.

Just use a spent case to catch the powder. If you are paranoid that someone else might have loaded up their cases with a powder killing substance, just use your own spent rounds, you know what was loaded in that and you will be safe.

Otherwise, just fill the primer hole with hot glue or epoxy. You'll sleep better and only waste one case.

[stilly]

The only thing in your spent cases is burned powder and primer compound. There is nothing in there that won't be in a round you load up. If you are so anal as to think you must either ultrasonically clean or stainless pin clean to get every speck of burned powder out of your empties, you are barking up the wrong tree.

Most reloaders don't insist that the insides of their cases are spotlessly clean and I don't think any that do insist do it out of fear of contamination.

Just use a spent case to catch the powder. If you are paranoid that someone else might have loaded up their cases with a powder killing substance, just use your own spent rounds, you know what was loaded in that and you will be safe.

Otherwise, just fill the primer hole with hot glue or epoxy. You'll sleep better and only waste one case.

LoL. Yeah I guess that is possible. I have smaller spent cases but I am just anal paranoid because I am new and still not knowing what I should and should not do with things like that. I am unfamiliar with stuff like that so I will shy away unless I know for certain that it is okay to do that. After my first WHOOPS with the powder dispenser I only put in about 1/10 of the hopper with powder now so anyways.

I have now done the empty case with spent primer twice now. I hope you are correct in this.

All good info to know.

[killshot44]

Just drop the powder into a pan, jeebus who said you had to put it in a case?

Stilly, I recommend you find an experienced reloader in the I.E. to show you what to do and what not to do. You're making simple errors. One is loading the hopper with a tenth of it's capacity - you'll get more consistent drops with the hopper loaded. Give it a tap every couple of charges to settle the powder.