LEE Auto drum Finally out!!

I ordered one myself yesterday for my Lee LCT only for the fact that you don't have to mess with disc to change or adjust charge weights. From what I'm reading on this thread its going to be $40 well spent.
 
I really like Titan Reloading's prices.

But when you factor in shipping, it's the same price for me to get the stuff through Amazon.
 
I ordered one myself yesterday for my Lee LCT only for the fact that you don't have to mess with disc to change or adjust charge weights. From what I'm reading on this thread its going to be $40 well spent.

I think that would be a step backward, unless you ordered the set of extra rotors to preserve your load settings and save time and frustration in changeovers. Changing disks or dedicated adjustable charge bars is just not a big deal on the regular case-activated powder measures.
 
I just did a run of 38 specials last night.
Just for a test I dropped and checked every load.

I checked all 100 loads. Set at 4.1gr CSB-1 ( Small flake powder)
The differences are not even worth noting.
LEE has a winner with this.

I have a few hundred more 38's to do then I will out it on the LNL AP and run some 308 win cast loads ahead of A5744.
 
It figures Lee would release this a few days after I broke down and got an adjustable charge bar so I can fine tune my loads. I'll probably pick one up anyway, especially if I decide to set up my pro 1000. I too stole the pro auto disk from the pro 1000 to use on my LCT. Never used the pro 2000, but I did pick it up cheap at a swap meet at the gun club.
 
Mine came today.

The hopper is removable. Interesting. Handy.

Mine came without the instruction sheet. <scowl>. Oh, well, easy enough to download from Lee.

---edit to add--

Ooop, found the manual. Fell off to one side when I opened the box.
 
Last edited:
Aaaand, got mine set up. If you've ever set up a Pro Autodisk, this is trivial.

Mounting the measure in place of the Autodisk, on the Classic Turret, was trivial. Unscrew the one, screw on the other.

Yes, I took the cutoff off. It's detailed in the manual. I don't think I need it. I do a visual check on each case anyway.

You ought to have a scale. I charged a case with the Autodisk, dumped it into the chamber of the Auto Drum, and turned the adjusting key until the measured charge was flush with the drum face. Doing it that way (suggested in the manual), the Auto Disk measured high. So, tweaking might be required.

And, yeah, I can see keeping a couple extra pre adjusted, drums around. Otherwise it's the old, tweak and weigh, tweak and weight.

I like it.
 
Got mine in the mail today and the timing was perfect because I was planning on reloading some .300bo ammo. From the looks of it and the reviews I've read it looks like Lee hit a homerun with this one. I did notice something they could have done to make it a grand slam though. Why in the world didn't they put marks on the charge bar to indicate how many cc's it is? Lee has a great slide scale that lists most powders and a range of cc's that converts to grains. This would have been a great feature especially when changing powders or charge.
Tomorrow will be a true test because I plan on making some loads with H110, A1680, and Lil'Gun.
 
Got mine in the mail today and the timing was perfect because I was planning on reloading some .300bo ammo. From the looks of it and the reviews I've read it looks like Lee hit a homerun with this one. I did notice something they could have done to make it a grand slam though. Why in the world didn't they put marks on the charge bar to indicate how many cc's it is? Lee has a great slide scale that lists most powders and a range of cc's that converts to grains. This would have been a great feature especially when changing powders or charge.
Tomorrow will be a true test because I plan on making some loads with H110, A1680, and Lil'Gun.

Where would they put such marks? When the metering plug is screwed all the way in for small charges, the marks on that metering plug/charge bar would disappear inside the drum. Lee did it the way it is to make the measure slimmer, take up less room. Other measure with that arm sticking way out to the side hit things/get in the way when mounted on a turret.

It doesn't take long to calibrate your mind that one revolution of the "key" equals 1 grain of powder. (more or less depending on powder density) So changing from one load to the next is as simple as keeping track of how many turns to make.
 
It doesn't take long to calibrate your mind that one revolution of the "key" equals 1 grain of powder.

That will be handy for me. One full turn of the key, to change from my .38/9mm charge of Bullseye to my .40S&W/.45ACP charge. Verifying with scale, of course.
 
I know one turn equals 1cc but when you load for a dozen different powders a marked scale on it would still be helpful
Oh and I got to use it with some A1680 this morning which is about as fine ball powder as H110. No leaks and only .1 Difference was the most I measured. Well worth the $ for this one.
 
Wow!! Finally got a chance to try the Auto-Drum (AD) on my Lee Classic Turret. I left the disconnector on, at least for now. This thing was scary accurate with Win 231 Powder. I did do my usually graphite powder prep on it, that i do on all new measures. I got it dialed in, in a few tries to 4.1gr and WOW, it wouldn't deviate much more than 4.08-4.12 while I was just testing.

Now, once it got moving and the the turret was indexing it did creep up to 4.2. But to be honest most of the measures I've tried with the Turret do this from the shaking. So I adjusted it back down a grain and it stood steady at 4.12 from then on, when i did spot checks.

I did notice that the hopper seemed to empty more on the hole side than the other measures, and it didn't even out as easily. I guess I'll try the Titan Baffle one of these days with it.

So far I'm really liking the AD. The quick change drums seem so darn convenient too... The spot to write your info on is just perfect. Now I can switch calibers and just change the drum, in seconds and do a quick verification weighing.
 
Wish I would have clicked on this thread a few weeks ago when I saw it . Long story short , I just ordered one . I'll be loading 9mm and 45acp , does this auto drum fit right onto my flare dies or do I need something else to make it work ?
 
Got my baffle today. Nice product, no documentation. I hope I have it in facing the right direction. It makes sense the way I did it, but I had to study it for a minute.

The powder measure fits the powder through expander die the same as the other two case-activated measures. You need that Lee powder die and a riser to clear the primer dispenser. The powder die is included with the Lee die sets. You take off the funnel nut that retains the expander plug and screw in the powder measure.
 
My first impressions

I like it . It seems to meter the only powder I tried ( HS-6 ) really well . It was very consistent when I was consistent .

I'm using the Lee classic turret press . I like the auto disconnect "idea" but not sure if I actually like it . I don't like the idea of having to push the button to engage the actuater every time I want to charge a case . One obvious reason is inconvenience but the main reason I've already noticed . If I forget to push the button and I run the case up into the measure . That jarring is enough to have the powder settle enough to throw the next charge .2 higher . It then goes back to measuring correctly as long as I remember to push the button . FWIW I put my baffle from my Hornady powder measure in it for now . I did order the correct baffle that should be here in the next few days .

So far and my limited test , I like it quite a bit . It's going to be nice to actually charge my cases to what I want rather then charging them to what the auto disc allows me to . Last night I had to use my Hornady powder measure and throw the charges in 50 round batches because the disks would not give me what I wanted . :(
 
Last edited:
Back
Top