Lee pro auto powder drop issue.. help

[roc_my_tims]

thanks for the info guys, depending on how cheap it is in stores I might try the graphite

[Grunt81]

Unfortunately I dont have a rifle die just 45 and 9mm.
So it will be a slow process to cycle tthrough a lb of powder.

Side note question. What 223 dies do you suggest to use with the lee classic turret press

I've recently purchased the Lee Pro Auto Disk powder measure for reloading 9mm. I watched the you tube videos and researched it and in the end, I came to the decision that, "if smokeless powder is already covered in graphite, why buy some?" So when it came in from amazon, I cleaned it with rubbing alcohol, let it dry for ten minutes, rubbed it with an anti-static dryer sheet, then I ran about 6lbs worth of powder through the hopper only. It's silly to think that you need to do 1,000 charges to cycle the powder through. I just simply turned the hopper to the "off" position, topped it off with powder, put bottom of the hopper back into the original bottle the powder came in, and turned the hopper into the on position. I think about 10 charges should be sufficient to actually get the disks coated well enough. I did that after the process above. Keep in mind that powder is in the disk the entire time until you raise a case into the expanding die.

I tried this Lee Pro with Unique and it metered well for me. It was pretty consistently with 60% of the time right on the money and the other 40% being 0.1grains light. I can live with that. the 0.49cc disk was spitting out 3.9 and 3.8 grains of Unique under 147 grain Xteme 9mm bullet.

As others have mentioned before, The key to consistency is to agitate by revolving your turret!

I don't have to tap the hopper at all. I use a Lyman T Mag 2 Turret press and the agitation caused by manually rotating the turret by hand, is all the agitation I need. When your Auto Index moves, do it aggressively enough (don't slam the lever or anything) for you to physically see the powder move a little. That's how you know it's settling properly into the disk, the same way every time. The Lee Pro Auto disk will not be consistent with large flake powders unless you help it settle. Since it sounds like you've been doing single stage so far, this could explain the inconsistency. Try it with the auto index installed. Go through the motions of the turret moving, even if you don't feel comfortable yet loading ammo in turret mode. Weigh ten charges, with the turret doing a full revolution in between.

I check my consistency by using a primed case that has been tumbled. Eventually, powder will stop sticking inside the case as it gets coated with graphite. Remember, you have to weight the case first while it's empty, then tare the scale and remove the case so that it gives you a negative reading, revolve the turret, charge the case, then weigh the now-charged case.

Report back your stats for 20 charges to let us know if it's more consistent for you.

[Grunt81]

If you want consistency from the Lee powder measure you will have to run the press through all four stations before weighing your powder charge, as the vibration from handle movement and die holder indexing will settle the powder in the hopper. If you just drop powder and weigh vs indexing a complete cycle and weigh, you will see the difference.

This.