LEE classic turret setup and impressions

Thanks guys for all the tips and feedback. I actually have a powder drop adaptor that would allow me to use My RCBS or Lyman manual powder throwers with powder drop type dies. I may retrofit one of those and see how I like them. I'm not liking all the mess (wasted powder) that I'm getting with the LEE unit.
 
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I'm not liking all the mess (wasted powder) that I'm getting with the LEE unit.
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I'd suggest you contact Lee on the problem - my bet is that you have something wrong with your used stuff. Although many people say these powder measures are prone to leakage, in my opinion, it just ain't so. Some might have a problem, but mine sure do not. But there are several articles in the Lee Support center that deal with the problem, so it obviously does exist for some.

I have two Lee auto-disk measures used on a Pro 1000 press, and one Lee Pro auto-disk measure used on my turret press. I load a LOT of ball powders (296, H110, HS7, HS6, Accurate No. 5 & 7, 2400, WW473, and WW452), and my leakage from any of them is absolutely minimal. I never see any flakes or grains on top of the turrets unless I slop a little when changing the discs.

I have always been real impressed that the two standard auto measures are as tight as they are, since there is nothing special in them to seal the joint between the disk and the hopper (one is relatively new, and one is from the 80s). The Pro auto disk does have a soft rubber wiper in the base that is specifically intended to seal any gap and prevent cutting of larger flakes. You might have a problem with that.

But since your unit is used, it may have another easily fixed problem - some measures were shipped a few years back that did not have the base fully inserted into the body. In these units, the disk actually is pushed too far out and overshoots the drop hole. When using large diameter disks, the edge of the disk hole will actually go clear past the base of the measure and dump some powder out below it! The easiest way to tell if this is your problem is to just empty the hopper and look down at the base where it opens over the hole in the disk. Is the hole centered under the hopper? If so, all is fine, but if the hole seems a but off-center, then you need to fix it. See this support article: http://leeprecision.net/support/ind...forward-beyond-the-face-of-the-powder-measure

The fix is quite simple and does not take any significant effort at all to seat the drop tube properly.
 
Mauser69, thanks for the good info, i'll disassemble the discs and verify the position, but im pretty sure I adjusted the depth of the die so that at full ram up would allow the disc orifices to be centered over the base exit hole. While I have it apart i'll look for something wrong. I shined a flashlight through the body and the powder looks to be leaking between the bottom disc and the body. The spinning motion of the turret is causing powder kernels to fall out and land on top of the turret.
 
Road_Clam,

Another thing to do is polish the priming arms on the sides
to help them travel smoother and DON'T apply oil to the
sides...leave them dry.
 
but im pretty sure I adjusted the depth of the die so that at full ram up would allow the disc orifices to be centered over the base exit hole.
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Nothing you can do to adjust anything to affect how far the disk moves in the Auto-Disk measure - this is 100% controlled by the motion of the floating expander plug and the fixed length of the drop tube on the measure (the riser you use to clear the Safety Prime also has a floating plug, so it does not change the fixed length of the drop tube). When you adjust the die position, you are only adjusting how much flair you put on the case mouth at the top of the ram stroke.

When the drop tube is not fully seated in the base of the measure, it is effectively a little longer than it should be, and this causes the disk to stay a little too far out towards the drop position.
 
I'm glad that things are going better for you, Road Clam.

I am enough of a novice to reloading that I will not presume to offer you advice, but I wanted to be another to say that, as a novice, I found the Lee Classic Turret to be easy to set up and use.

I don't mean that as criticism of you, only another opinion for other readers who may be considering reloading in general or the LCT in particular.
 
I'm not liking all the mess (wasted powder) that I'm getting with the LEE unit.
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The wiper should sit flush on the disk if you notice daylight between the two that's the source of the spilled powder,there are a number of fixes for that
issue depending on how wide a gap there is,I think Lee has a video on how to solve it.
 
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