Lee Auto Disk - sticking

[flgolfer29]

I have a new Lee Classic Turret press with Auto Disk measure. I loaded 16 rounds initially (couple days ago) and was gonna try a different recipe this evening.

I cycled the Auto Disk several times to ensure a consistent load was thrown prior to any ammo being loaded. However, after about the third or fourth attempt, I noticed it wasn't throwing a charge. It turns out the Auto Disk was sticking in the up position and not releasing to throw a charge.

The Auto Disk was removed and I applied a very light coat of Hoppes Elite gun oil on the shift it rides up and down on. Initially I thought that had fixed the problem, but after two or three more throws it began sticking again.

Has anyone had this issue with the Lee Auto Disk and if so what did you do to fix it?

Thanks in advance,

joe

 

[nvbirdman]

Mine sticks too. I just got in the habit of slapping the top of it every time it drops a load.

 

[Scott]

I haven't used mine very much, but it does the same as yours. It helped mine to coat the flat surface of the discs (where they ride on the hopper) with graphite - I used a pencil lead.

 

[Mobuck]

Do you have the spring return or the pull chain return? I had to convert to the pull chain return on one of my LEE auto measures when using a very small granule powder. A few granules of the powder would cause the slide and/or actuating apparatus to bind just enough to prevent the spring from returning the measure to the fill position. After some usage, the graphite from the powder will slick up the disk and slide area nicely. The polymer "wiper" may also be dragging as the disk returns to the fill position which will ease after some use. I've run thousands of loads through the auto measures with very few problems so they do actually work OK after getting broken in.

 

[GP100man]

I have 1 that is chromed & it stiks !!!

What I did is coat it all with graphite (powder or pencil) then loosen the hoppermounting screws & slide a peice of notebook paper between the frame & hopper to "shim" the hopper up a tad , you may even have to double the paper .

I don`t remove the hopper to change discs ,I remove the spring & lift up the frame to slide the disc forward to disengage the actuation arm .

Also check the surfaces where the discs slide to ensure that there flat , especially around the drop hole , I had 1 where there was a raised spot & I dressed it down with a wide file .

Also check the discs for flatness , but I`ve only found 1 out of 4 measure sets.

Hope this helps !

 

[flgolfer29]

Thanks for the valuable information everyone, I am going to get a little powdered graphite asap.

joe

 

[flgolfer29]

UPDATE: For any of those that may have the Disk Measure sticking issue, I offer the following.

I ended up getting some powdered Graphite Lubricant and applying it to the top flat surfaces of the Disk Measure, the frame that the disk rides on, and the lever that actuates the disk back and forth.

At first it looked as though that fixed the sticking issue. However, after a short while it started sticking as bad as previously.

Earlier, I loosened the screw that holds the lever to the frame. So I loosened it some more with no improvement. I ended up tightening the screw tightly back into the frame and low and behold the disk measure operates (by hand at least) the way it was designed.

Hopefully this evening will prove to be a productive effort with the Auto Disk powder measure. If this hasn't fixed the problem I'll let others know.

Thanks,
joe

 

[GP100man]

Thanks for keepin us in the loop flgolfer29 !!!

This is what the Forum is all about !!!

 

[MADISON]

Loosen the screws "a little".

 

[M'BOGO]

Try hitting the "rubber wipe" at the bottom of the hopper with some graphite.

Don't recall ever having any proble with mine, and I run two of them, had one for about 13 years.

 

[patcannon]

I had this issue too. The graphite powder worked for me, I hose down the whole cast plate wherever anything slides. I still watch it like a hawk to make sure it goes the full stroke every time.

Does anybody know if the micrometer adjustable charge bar has the same issue? (It's the next thing I want to buy... I think.)

 

[GP100man]

pat

I`ve read some feedback on the adj. bar & they were addressing the issue of it`s accuracy when measuring very small charges , like for 25acp or 32 short & 38S&W .

Probably they had all exchanged loads & using the same powder & most being a flattened ball or flake powder it just jams up when things get tite !!

So far I`ve been good with the discs , except I did modify 1 to throw 13.5grs. of 2400 .

 

[Donaldjr1969]

Sorry for the bump, but I just reloaded my very first rounds in .44 Magnum today. Since I am an unemployed shooter, I went with the Lee Classic turret kit as well. Once I get re-employed after schooling, I can always move up to a better turret press, such as a Lyman T-mag, if need be.

Anyway, I too am seeing the sticking that others here have. I am using the adjustable charge bar rather than the disks. I will take the dry graphite approach first as others have mentioned. But...what about possibly using some Remington Dri-Lube? Also, the plug inside the Lee Powder-thru expanding die, would that area where it rides inside the auto-disk's drop tube to dump the charge be a decent area for some dry graphite? Or should I stay away from that and merely concentrate on the area where the charge bar slides?

 

[M'BOGO]

Also, the plug inside the Lee Powder-thru expanding die, would that area where it rides inside the auto-disk's drop tube to dump the charge be a decent area for some dry graphite? Or should I stay away from that and merely concentrate on the area where the charge bar slides?

Personally, I've never needed any lube of any kind in the expanding charging die.

 

[Donaldjr1969]

Also, the plug inside the Lee Powder-thru expanding die, would that area where it rides inside the auto-disk's drop tube to dump the charge be a decent area for some dry graphite? Or should I stay away from that and merely concentrate on the area where the charge bar slides?

Personally, I've never needed any lube of any kind in the expanding charging die.

Gotcha. I thought it was not an issue, but I wanted to ask those with more experience.

Earlier today, I had 12 bullets (240g JSP) left. They were intended to be loaded over 23.5g Lil'Gun. I was considering W296 for some hot loads as Iron Mike Golf has let me shoot some of his W296 loads. But after reading Jeff Quinn's article on Lil'Gun being easier to meter in the Auto-Disk, I figured I would give that a shot. Well, it too started to hang up to where I required the "Auto-Disk Tap." The powder that gave me the binding when I made the earlier post was 2400.

But then, something interesting happened! When I pulled the lever to charge a case, I held it all the way down for an additional second or two before lowering the ram. When I did that, the charge bar returned to its resting position with no binding. So I kept doing that and the charge bar never stuck. Once again, I was using Lil'Gun which appears to be a teeny bit coarser than 2400. When I get some more bullets and start making some more 2400 loads, I will have to take note if there is any binding when I hold the lever all the way down for a second or two as it drops the charge. I wonder if this is giving the powder more time to fall down rather than leave a granule or so in the cavity to bind the slide? But when I also did this, I was getting far less variance in my charge weights as well.

After I loaded all my bullets, I was checking for consistency in charge weights by dropping 30-40 or more charges into a case that was not yet decapped. Just taking a rough guess, I would say most of those successive charges were +/- .1g (maybe .2g at the most) of what I desired. Being a newbie, I weighed all my charges when I made my loads earlier. But if I can get consistency like this, if not better, i will feel comfortable weight every 5th charge or so.

 

[exavid]

Might be just the difference in powders. I've never had a disk stick so far using Hogdon HS6 for 9mm. So far I've loaded about 1000 rounds for the 9mm with no problems using the Lee four hole turret press.

 

[MADISON]

Some time ago I complained to Lee Precision that "it was sticking".
They sent me a small apparatis they use on Lee presses.
I use the Auto-Disk on a Hoornady "Projector". Lee can not invision
that their Auto-Disk works equally well on other press systems.

 

[exavid]

I Just tried "Pistol Power" for my .380 LCP yesterday and had no problem withe the Lee disk sticking. It does throw a lighter weight than listed in the Lee die instructions for the size of the disk hole. I had to go one size up on the disk to get the weight of powder I wanted.

 

[M'BOGO]

I Just tried "Pistol Power" for my .380 LCP yesterday and had no problem withe the Lee disk sticking. It does throw a lighter weight than listed in the Lee die instructions for the size of the disk hole. I had to go one size up on the disk to get the weight of powder I wanted.

Keep an eye on that. If the powder has a very small charge variance, say 5.5 gr-5.8 gr that could cause some problems. If there is a wider margin, say 5.5 gr-7 gr then it is not such a concern. The only reason this worries me is ambient humidity and location could factor in.

I'm not one to push the red line, and not afraid of it. But when you are talking faster powders like power pistol it does matter.

 

[exavid]

I've been loading .380 and 9mm pretty conservatively for indoor range use so there's a large margin of safety in these loads. I was suspicious of my Lee scale and compared it to another brand of scale and found the Lee scale to be acceptably accurate with good repeatibility. Both HS6 and Power Pistol powder are coming up a bit short using the Lee table that comes with the pistol dies. In both cases for the 9mm and the .380 it took a one step increase in the powder loader disk to get to the starting point load as measured by the scale. I ran many tests to check how accurately the powder loader worked. The weight of powder was within a tenth of a grain from a full hopper to an empty hopper with these types of powder which has a grain structure of a flattened disk.
Today at the range I shot 50 rounds of 9mm with HS6 and another 50 rounds with the Power Pistol powder. I have no chronograph so going by feel the different loads felt pretty much the same with perhaps a bit more bang to the Power Pistol powder. Both batches used the same Berry's plated 115 gr. bullets.
I also fired 50 rounds of .380 ACP using Nosler 90 grain jacketed bullets loaded with the Power Pistol powder. I fired 14 rounds rapid fire in my LCP with no malfunctions. Slow firing seemed to have about the same accuracy as best as I can determine with a minimally sighted pistol.