Lee Autodisc for Small Charges

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pbryant

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Good evening, guys! I finally started reloading 38 Special not too long ago, after just buying it for years. Now I have a substantial supply of brass to use.

I've been reloading it on a single stage press so far, my old RCBS Rock Chucker, but to speed things up I was thinking about setting up my Lee Loadmaster for 38 Special so I can make it quite a bit faster.

I've never been a big fan of the Lee Autodisc powder measure that comes with the Loadmaster press, but it's worked pretty well overall for 5.56mm, but that uses quite a bit more powder than the 38 Special.

Have you guys had any luck getting the Autodisc dialed in to such a small amount of powder, like 2.7 or 2.8 grains of Bullseye that I would use for my 38 Spl.? I wanted to see if anyone had any success with it before I spend the money on setting up the Loadmaster for it.

Thanks for any pointers!
Phillip
 
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I've loaded the charge of Bullseye you list with the auto disc but to be honest the auto drum does a better job with that load for me. I'm using a Lee classic cast turret press. The auto disc seems to do it's most accurate work with charges over 4 grains using the adjustable charge bar. Set up that way the a-disc works quite well. On smaller charges, not so much.
The auto drum is the way to go for what you are wanting to do and they don't cost all that much. IMO
 
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My Pro 1000 is set up for 38 Special and my auto-disk is set up for just that charge of Bullseye. I have an auto-disk set up on all my die sets for my classic turret press and all my pro 1000's have them. I've never had an issue with any of them. Set up your Loadmaster and check your results, I think you'll find it'll work out okay. :-)
 
According to Modern Reloading (2nd edition) the smallest cavity on the Auto-Disk is 0.3cc and delivers around 2.8 grains of Bullseye. Each larger opening delivers about 0.2 or 0.3 grains more than that. It looks like you can deliver charges in the area of what you want. Others will probable chime in with their experiences.

I have the AutoDRUM powder measure and have tested it with WW231 powder. With it adjusted down as small as it will go it delivers 1.5 grains. which is less than half of the 3.2 grains that the Auto-disk will deliver on its' smallest opening. Opening it 1 turn increases the charge to 2.6 grains. If you are looking at getting a new powder measure you may want to consider the Auto-Drum.
 
I have been reloading for almost 50 years now. I bought a Lee Autodisc the very first year they became available. I DID buy the adjustable charge bar as an option.

I use several different powders for handguns. The first thing I did was to generate a calibration curve for each powder, and then do a MS Excel spread sheet with a best fit curve. In each case the confidence factor (R squared) was 0.9999, which assured me that the equipment was as reliable as could be.

Forty years or so later, when I need to develop a new load, I look at my curves, set the brass digital knob appropriately, and drop a charge. (99% of the time it's spot on.

A few years ago I bought a brand new Autodisc just so I'd be safe for life in case the old one broke. So far, all is good.

Some of the best reloading equipment I ever bought.

The lowest set point on my curve will reliably deliver 2.7 grains of Bullseye.
 
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I used a Lee Autodisk to charge 38 Spl cases in an RCBS Rock Chucker for about 3 years and 30K rounds. I was using Winchester 452 powder and the smallest cavity. No problems.
 
I would only use it with ball powders. I have seen too much variance with flakes.
 
cfplinker said:
According to Modern Reloading (2nd edition) the smallest cavity on the Auto-Disk is 0.3cc and delivers around 2.8 grains of Bullseye. Each larger opening delivers about 0.2 or 0.3 grains more than that. It looks like you can deliver charges in the area of what you want. Others will probable chime in with their experiences.

I have the AutoDRUM powder measure and have tested it with WW231 powder. With it adjusted down as small as it will go it delivers 1.5 grains. which is less than half of the 3.2 grains that the Auto-disk will deliver on its' smallest opening. Opening it 1 turn increases the charge to 2.6 grains. If you are looking at getting a new powder measure you may want to consider the Auto-Drum.
Click to expand...

I keep a spreadsheet of what each cavity throws with each powder. The .32 cavity throws 2.8 gr of Bullseye.

I use Autodisks exclusively. Mostly because it's the only automatically actuated fixed disk powder measure, and that's what I want. They work fine and are inexpensive.
 
Thanks, guys! I'll definitely give the Autodrum a shot. It doesn't sound like it would hurt anything to get one and get it set up, especially if it can run loads less than 2.7 gr. That would give more up and down adjustability if needed.

-Phillip
 
pbryant said:
Now, do you guys like a roll crimp or a taper crimp on 38 Spl?
Click to expand...

Roll if it's got a crimp groove. Taper if it doesn't. I always crimp separately from seating. In .357 full power loads I've been known to do both, or use a Redding Profile Crimp die. But those aren't necessary in the .38 Special.
 
pbryant said:
Thanks, guys! I'll definitely give the Autodrum a shot. It doesn't sound like it would hurt anything to get one and get it set up, especially if it can run loads less than 2.7 gr. That would give more up and down adjustability if needed.

-Phillip
Click to expand...

It varies by powder. My chart says the .32 cavity also throws 2.0 gr of 700X and 2.2 gr of Titewad. So you can see weight can change a good bit even with the same volume.
 
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glenwolde said:
It varies by powder. My chart says the .32 cavity also throws 2.0 gr of 700X and 2.2 gr of Titewad. So you can see weight can change a good bit even with the same volume.
Click to expand...

Its a volumetric measuring device. The mass of the charge depends upon the density of the powder.

What I have found so curious is that the density of Bullseye and Unique is exactly the same as it was 30 years ago.
 
glenwolde said:
Unfortunately, that has been discontinued for years. I've been looking for one forever. They never even come up on eBay.
Click to expand...

D'OH! Yup... says right in the link I posted... "Discontinued." :o

I "heard" that the mold was destroyed in a fire & they didn't bother to make another.
 
Fishslayer said:
D'OH! Yup... says right in the link I posted... "Discontinued." :o

I "heard" that the mold was destroyed in a fire & they didn't bother to make another.
Click to expand...

The work around is take a spare disk, fill the cavities with JB Weld, and drill them out. Or drill in from the side of a cavity and put a set screw in. You can run the screw in and out to adjust the volume.

Still rather have one of the originals.
 
glenwolde said:
The work around is take a spare disk, fill the cavities with JB Weld, and drill them out. Or drill in from the side of a cavity and put a set screw in. You can run the screw in and out to adjust the volume.

Still rather have one of the originals.
Click to expand...

I actually bought another set of discs with the idea of filling/enlarging some of the cavities when I settled on a pet load. Haven't done it yet but haven't abandoned the idea.

The charge bar is just about maxed out at 24gr of H110.
 
Fishslayer said:
The charge bar is just about maxed out at 24gr of H110.
Click to expand...

Does Lee still sell the Double Disk kit? Years ago I altered two charge bars to use together or one charge bar with a disk. Much more adaptable.
Care must be taken to insure the larger cavity is always on bottom.
I have a Micro Disk kit but it hasn't performed well for me.

Add:
I have used the Auto Drum kit for successful, accurate charges down to 32ACP, but I'm not used to the system quirks, yet.
 
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