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Anybody using a Lee Auto-Drum with Black Powder


Thunder Creek Kid

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If the drum capacity is like my pistol caliber Hornady or others I've seen the hole is way too small to hold enough BP even for 38s. The drum I use for BP has a hole near bout as big as yer thumb. I'd stick to double disks or get a drum feed made for BP. Good Luck :)

 

Jefro :ph34r: Relax-Enjoy

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What ever you use - if it has any metallic parts which come in contact with the powder you are going to need to keep an eye on them. They will corrode over time if not cleaned regularly. Maybe once a month inspection.

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Edit..didn't notice you are asking about the drum....

 

I used to use the auto Disk before I got a Dillon

Used the double stack accessory to put in 2 disks.

worked well enough

Me too.

Edited by Noz
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I bought two with the hopes of using them on my Dillon 550. (with a price of $29.99 each I couldn't help myself) Here are my results.

 

1) I seemed to get varying powder charges with the first one. There seemed to be a lot of play in the lever that wouldn't give a me a consistent weight. (part of that was the way I had the powder funnel flaring the case mouth.) I hot glued the arm to remove the play.

 

2) I set up the second one to weigh grits. Worked fine for that.

 

3) Tried to install both on Dillon tool head. No Go, they won't fit. Put second one back in the box and put it on the shelf.

 

4) Ordered a Dillon powder measure for the Black Powder set it up and installed one Dillon and one Lee.

 

All is good in the Black powder loading world for me loading 44-40. One note, put in the large powder bar in the Dillon. The volume needed for the 44-40's with grits filler maxed out the small bar and with it opened all the way up it seemed to always spill some powder and make a mess.

The large bar works much better. I have only loaded about 150 rounds but it look like it will work fine.

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I bought two with the hopes of using them on my Dillon 550. (with a price of $29.99 each I couldn't help myself) Here are my results.

 

1) I seemed to get varying powder charges with the first one. There seemed to be a lot of play in the lever that wouldn't give a me a consistent weight. (part of that was the way I had the powder funnel flaring the case mouth.) I hot glued the arm to remove the play.

 

2) I set up the second one to weigh grits. Worked fine for that.

 

3) Tried to install both on Dillon tool head. No Go, they won't fit. Put second one back in the box and put it on the shelf.

 

4) Ordered a Dillon powder measure for the Black Powder set it up and installed one Dillon and one Lee.

 

All is good in the Black powder loading world for me loading 44-40. One note, put in the large powder bar in the Dillon. The volume needed for the 44-40's with grits filler maxed out the small bar and with it opened all the way up it seemed to always spill some powder and make a mess.

The large bar works much better. I have only loaded about 150 rounds but it look like it will work fine.

Did it make a difference with what size black? 2f or 3f.

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Did it make a difference with what size black? 2f or 3f.

 

I'm only using, and only tried 2f.

Like I said, I think the problem was with the way I had the case belling die (powder funnel) set up. The measure operator rod needed to make a full stroke to get a consistent charge weight. With the Lee dies, using a full stroke would bell the case mouth more than I was used to so I backed it off. I'm sure I could have worked out the bugs but when they both didn't fit the press tool head, I gave up and purchased the Dillon Measure for the black and the disk measure for the grits. It does look and feel cheap but then again it's only $29.99

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They will corrode over time if not cleaned regularly. Maybe once a month inspection.

Yusta - very good advice. I clean all my metal powder chargers - once I am finished with a session. Exception is the aluminum parts in the Dillon. And the nice thing about the plastic Lee Perfect Powder Measures ... they never have to be cleaned

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I've been using the Lee Auto-Drum for a little over a year. It works great for both Real Black Powder and Smokeless Powder. I don't use black powder subs, so I can't comment on those. It's very accurate with smokeless, but for some reason, with black powder I will get very slight differences. Nothing that affects the load. I always get enough in the case to get slight compression. I load .45ACP and some .45 Colt with smokeless and .38WCF, .45 Schofield and some .45 Colt with Black Powder. I've never cleaned the Auto-Drum and I use the same plastic powder reservoir for both smokeless and black powder. Before I got the Lee Auto-Drum I had used the Lee Pro-Disk for about 10 years with smokeless and black powder. Never cleaned it, never a problem. The Lee Auto-Drum works as well as the Lee Disk set up if not better. For me, it's a quicker change when doing different loads. All black powder that I use is 2F.

Edited by German Jim
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