Lee Perfect Powder Measure gritty pull

[DJ Skillz]

It seems like after every few pulls with my Lee PPM it gets clogged up with powder and has a gritty, hard pull. I've taken it apart multiple times and blown it out with compressed air, and it will work great for a little while, and then it happens again. It happens a lot worse with ball powder (W748) than with flake powder (Unique), but it does happen with both.

Is there anything that can be done (short of testing my reloads on it and buying an RCBS) to get it to run a little smoother?

[stilly]

Interesting. I ran the disks ONCE and immediately switched over to the micrometer charge bar. I have a group of powder that hangs out on the lever itself and I am uncertain as to how it got there but everything seems to be find and I have no gritty hard pulling. Maybe a photo tomorrow. My advice is to leave it be but what do I know? I have only reloaded 500+ rounds of 44 mag. Can you post a photo of the offending powder? Also, if you run it with the case activator then you prolly will not feel it since it is part of the press.

[DJ Skillz]

Interesting. I ran the disks ONCE and immediately switched over to the micrometer charge bar. I have a group of powder that hangs out on the lever itself and I am uncertain as to how it got there but everything seems to be find and I have no gritty hard pulling. Maybe a photo tomorrow. My advice is to leave it be but what do I know? I have only reloaded 500+ rounds of 44 mag. Can you post a photo of the offending powder? Also, if you run it with the case activator then you prolly will not feel it since it is part of the press.

I think you may be talking about a different powder measure. This is the one I'm using:

http://leeprecision.com/perfect-powder-measure.html

[j.primo]

The lee pro auto disk works great for me. OP is talking about the PPM. I have one of those.... My solution was to hold it over the trash can and drop it in. I then got an RCBS Uniflow powder measurer, works great.

Uniflow for rifle cartridges and lee pro auto disk on the progressive press w/ the caliber(s) I have lee dies for.

[DJ Skillz]

So, no magic fix out there, huh?

Well, first I'm going to try some dry lube in there. If that doesn't work, I'm going to call Lee and try to get them to replace it.

If the replacement still sucks, RCBS it is.

[G38xOC]

mine does that too . i use tite group n bullseye . but it doesn't do that with varget .
but it doesnt change weight of the powder on mine . i just deal with it . i spend 100bucks on the whole kit so i cant complaint much

[bohoki]

its a fine line on how you have the screw tight i got lucky at least its easy to clean it just turn the valve on the hopper and pump the remining in the lid pour it back in the hopper then tighten the screw a tad

also do you do a up down pump motion

i prefer the down up motion

but i load each individually and leave the micrometer measure full as i seat the bullet that way its ready to dump the next instead of having to rapidly fill then dump

i really only use 2 powders

bullseye for 9 and 45 and 748 for 223 and 308

[DJ Skillz]

its a fine line on how you have the screw tight i got lucky at least its easy to clean it just turn the valve on the hopper and pump the remining in the lid pour it back in the hopper then tighten the screw a tad

also do you do a up down pump motion

i prefer the down up motion

but i load each individually and leave the micrometer measure full as i seat the bullet that way its ready to dump the next instead of having to rapidly fill then dump

i really only use 2 powders

bullseye for 9 and 45 and 748 for 223 and 308

I think I've messed around with the screw tension as much as I can, and it still doesn't help. If it's too loose, it leaks powder everywhere. If it's too tight, well, it's too tight and too hard to pull. Anywhere in the middle, it gets gunked up with powder.

I'm going to give Lee customer service a call tomorrow and see if they will replace it.

[Bill Steele]

I wish I could help you, my Lee PPM has always worked great.

I would just call Lee and ask.

[G-forceJunkie]

I wish I could help you, my Lee PPM has always worked great.

I would just call Lee and ask.

Same here. Meters a notoriously difficult powder, Varget, amazingly accuratly.

[Sputnik]

I bought one when I started loading for the Garand. I've only run IMR4895 through it so far except for the dose of powdered graphite lubricant I worked through it first. I've had no problems as yet. I've seen others recommend the graphite lube and Lee says something similar in the instructions .

[FMJBT]

Same here. Meters a notoriously difficult powder, Varget, amazingly accuratly.

I've had good results with Varget out of mine too. I didn't notice the gritty effect the OP is talking about until I tried it with ball powders like Ramshot TAC and Hodgdon CFE-223. I think the smaller grained powders have an easier time getting into the gaps between the halves of the rotary mechanism.

[ejhc11]

Yeah, better contact Lee for a replacement, I have two and they don't have the problem, maybe once in a blue moon but the next pulls it goes to be smooth.

They are so cheap and I don't have time to fiddle and re-adjust powder I bought two so I can keep one adjusted all the time for my favorite load, I may jbuy one for each caliber I reload since I only own three calibers.

Check our ammo/sale for people selling them because they always get one in a kit.

[chknlyps2]

Mine feels gritty and leaks a little but for the price and how consistent it is I like it. Before I got mine I thought I read that you could take it apart and hand lap something to get it to seal better. I wish I saved or remembered where I saw that.

[Bupkus]

This was an answer to another post: I have a Lee PPM and there is a fix. I was having the same problem so I did an internet search and found a guy that took his apart and used lapping compound to lap the conical parts. I didn't have any lapping compound so I used rubbing compound and finished with polishing compound, both of which are found at auto parts stores. In any event your not out much money if you want to try this. Just take it apart, smear some rubbing compound between the two conical parts, rub them together until your hearts content, polish, lube with dry graphite, also available at an auto parts store, clean residue out, and reassemble. Mine still leaks a little but not much and it works a lot smoother. Good luck.