I have been looking at the Hornady progressive on line. One question I do not find an answer to is if the Hornady powder measure will work with Lee powder through the expander dies. Any one tried this combo?

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Revolver luvin' Mountaineer

I went through a similar debate when I was deciding on what progressive press to go with. The Hornady powder measure is very nice, and the 'inserts' are a quick, easy, and cheap way to change out for different loads, and keep your load settings in tact.

To answer your question, to my knowledge, you cannot use the Lee Powder Thru Expander dies with the Hornady powder measure. This is really too bad, as the LEE PTE is really a great die.

I ended up going with the Hornady, and they have their own powder through inserts that you can use with their powder measure. These are caliber specific (you buy one for each caliber you use). I've had mixed results with these inserts. They are not adjustable, and if you don't get the right flare/belling to your case for the bullet that you are using, then it does not work well. So, I ended up buying a universal (one size fits all calibers) after-market powder through insert for the Hornady measure. This insert works pretty well; you just adjust the caliber specific powder die/lower to the depth that bells the case the amount that you need. It's definitely not as easy and precise as the Lee PTE, but you can get it to work.

This being said, I actually still use the Lee powder dispenser/PTE setup on my Hornady LnL press (just use it in place of the Hornady powder measure). The Hornady powder measure is a very nice piece of equipment, but the Lee setup is really a great solution (perfect/adjustable case expansion, and accurate powder throws...). I understand that Dillon has the same limitations (I have friends with nice Dillon presses, and use Lee Powder measures...) as the Hornady powder measure, but I'll let someone else speak to that, as I have not used that equipment...

I really love my Hornady LnL, and would buy it again.

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NRA Life Member

Just my 0.02...This is some advice given to me whn I was looking at a reloading setup..........Whether a single stage or progressive, you are going to spend so much time pulling on the handle, It doesn't matter how the dies are held in place. A "QUICK CHANGE DIE" doesn't matter a bit.

But then you asked about powder measures...so I'll shut up now.

I use the Lee dies with the Pro Disc powder measure, been working great for years!

Just get the Hornady dies. You won't regret it.

You should be able to use the Lee PTE die as an expander-only die though I've never tried. That would work if you set up your 5 stations as decap/resize, expand/bell, powder drop, and the last two stations as seat and debell/crimp, or as powder check, seat/debell/crimp.

I preferred to use a powder cop die and separate seating from crimping so I didn't have an extra station for a separate expander.

The Hornady PTX system works fine once you learn how all the parts interact and get it set up right. But whether you use the Hornady caliber-specific expanders or a Universal one, you will find yourself doing a fair bit of PTX-fiddling during every caliber change.

To avoid that, I bought a separate Quick Change Powder die and a PTX expander bar for each caliber. Changeover is put in the correct Quick Change Powder die, drop in the correct expander, attach the PM, and attach the PTX linkage bar. After the initial setup for each caliber, no further adjustments are necessary.

Any of these methods works. It's just a question of cost, time, convenience, and your personal preference among them.

The short answer is NO. However, you can elect to use both the Lee powder through expander die and the Lee powder measure of your choice. I did that until I was ready to deal with learning the new powder measure, then comfortable enough with the rest of the press operation.

Lee die nuts are too bulky at their corners to fit in a tight LnL AP die cluster. You can use the round Hornadys, but I like the slim or minimalist Dillon die nuts.

I wonder if he waited 4 1/2 years for an answer?