PLZ HELP with lee pro 1000

[ZMAN7928]

reloading for the first time. I bought a lee pro 1000 45 acp set up.has a auto disk powder measure.Im using 230 gr remington fmj rn bullets with hodgdon clays powder and cci primers. I dont understand the disk set up on the powder mesure. right now have the disk set at .57 can any one help withthis or know the right auto disk to use whith this bullet and powder.rounds will be shot with a glock 21 if it matters.

thank for any help

[Unclenick]

Welcome to the forum.

Clays is a faster powder than normally is used for full weight ball. Bullseye or 231 are more typical. That said, what you've got to do is figure the maximum safe charge, then work out what disc brings that about.

Here is how it's done:

First, find out how much powder you want to throw?

Go to Hodgdon.com and look up the lowest and highest charge. I prefer to look the charge up in three places or two places and calculate it on one program and to use the lowest starting load and work up, but the Hodgdon site is a good place to start. They say 3.7 grains to start and 4.0 grains maximum. From personal experience, unless you have a short barrel gun, 3.5 grains will work as a starting load, so there you have two of your sources. You want to through between 3.5 and 4.0 grains, leaning toward 3.5 grains to start.

Next, look up the VMD number for your powder.

Go to Lee site's instruction page, which includes a link to the volumetric measure density (VMD) numbers. These numbers are the portion of a cc that one grain of the powder occupies. For Clays, that table gives 0.1462 cc/grain.

Multiply that VMD number by your powder charge limits.

Multiply 3.5 grains and 4.0 grains to get the range of CC's you want your disc choices to fall into.

3.5 grain × 0.1462 cc/grain =0.5117 cc
4.0 grain × 0.1462 cc/grain =0.5848 cc

Note that grains cancel each other out in the above calculation, leaving cc's. So, you want discs between 0.5117 cc and 0.5848 cc.


Choose the disc.

Lee makes its discs in 7% steps, so the next step down should be 0.53 cc. The 0.53 and 0.57 discs are both within the above range. One 7% step above or below those numbers is not. I recommend you start with the smaller disc first, just to be sure your loads work OK. If you have no problem with pressure signs (flattened primer or badly bulged cases), then try the 0.57 disc.

The 0.53 disc will throw:

0.53 cc / 0.1462 cc/grain = 3.6 grains


The 0.57 disc will throw:

0.57 cc / 0.1462 cc/grain = 3.9 grains


Note that Hodgdon uses a COL of 1.200" for their 230 grain bullets. If you use more like the normal 1.27" COL for hardball, you will have a little extra room in the case and the larger disc should then be plenty safe.

Do check that your powder is Hodgdon Clays, and not Hodgdon Universal Clays or Hodgdon International Clays. The latter two will need more powder. Hodgdon Universal Clays would be a better choice for full power performance. It burns more slowly, so you can use more before reaching the same pressure. It will give you more velocity for that same pressure in turn.

[ZMAN7928]

thank you very much, i now understand. the instructions i was reading made it hard to understand. i double checked powder, it is the clays, thats what they recomended at cabelas.figure i will try some different powders as i get better at reloads. will try the 2 u refeered to

[fishluv]

i shot 50 of that very same load ( well 48 if you don't count the squibs)

its a good load

3.9 gr clays
230 reiner plated
cci lp

[GP100man]

Lee`s got a couple of videos for set up & operation .

The 1000 is a tinkerers wet dream !!!!!!!

[Scorch]

Your Lee Disk powder measure came with a chart. The chart is set up with the powder listed on the left side, the disk orifice size on the top, and the intersection shows you the charge of that specific powder in that particular orifice.

It is quite simple. Using your loading manual, find a suitable powder charge for the proper bullet weight. Open the Lee Isk powder charge chart. Go down the left side until you find the powder you intend to use, go right on that line until you find a charge close to the charge desired, go up to find the proper orifice size to use to get that powder charge with that powder. Place the disk on the powder measure base with the desired orifice next to the drop chute. Attach the powder hopper. Make sure the powder measure is properly set up to give a full stroke when a case in in the 2nd station. Start loading.

[GP100man]

& always verify the drop of the disc !!

[Real Gun]

Originally Posted by GP100man

always verify the drop of the disc !!

Yes, seriously, come on people. As a matter of fact, the VMD is understated with the powders I have used and invariably one needs at least one size larger disk orifice to achieve the desired weight, verified on scales with repeated test drops.

I think we know that powder specs are a moving target, that some of these powders are not the original formulas but rather those with similar performance. As companies merge, the brands are bought up, but the exact powder formulas may be retired in favor of something close, preserving a user base. Everybody lies. Always verify.

[l98ster]

I had a pro 1000 with the auto disc. Look at the chart that came with the press. use that as a reffernce point for the weight that you are trying to achieve. I say reference point because you still need to weigh the amount of powder that it is dropping. You WILL find the chart and the actual weight somewhat different.

The problem with the lee system is that the set orifices in the discs do not allow fine tuning. For example, if you want to drop 3.9 grains, you may find an orifice on one of the discs that will drop 3.7 and then the next biggest will drop 4.1 grains.

Midway sells a micrometer adjustable "disc" that will allow you to fine tune. It is very cheap (I recall about 12 bucks), that will allow you to drop ANY amount you want. It completely replaces the discs under the powder drop, and allows you to turn a knob for all of your adjustments.

Thank god I have a dillon now!!

-George

[sonnycrockett]

^^^^ That adjustable piece is JUNK,I bought it and it would
load all over the place - when you pull the hopper off its all loaded up with
powder ,no way it can work well ...I tossed it in my junk pile......
I may give the double stack disk kit A try,but your right
I can only get close to the loads I want.....If I want to load 5.7g of Unique for 40SW Im stuck with 5.4 or 6.0 - So I load the higher ....

I also find Lee's charts to be way off for me He says .53 for load of Unique and I end up with a .73 for the same load

[Real Gun]

Originally Posted by sonnycrockett

^^^^ That adjustable piece is JUNK,I bought it and it would
load all over the place - when you pull the hopper off its all loaded up with
powder ,no way it can work well ...I tossed it in my junk pile......

I have my adjustbale charge bar under the box-shaped hopper with the spring return option, and it works great. For 9mm I am dead on the 6.0 gr load with just the disk. I use the charge bar on a dedicated powder measure left on the turret to dial in the .45 ACP Bullseye load exactly (5.0). It is very accurate, at least with a compatible powder.

[noylj]

Of all the powder measures I have ever used, I like the Lee PAD.
You have fixed cavities and the range has always been enough to work up a couple of loads. Once I find a really good load, I may fine tune. Also, when my Dillon gets temperamental, I switch to the Auto-Disk.
Here is all the data I show for 230gn FMJ and Clays. Please be careful—I have found that in my guns, N310 and Clays are very sensitive to pressure spikes as I get up to Max.
FMJ 230 Clays 3.7 670 Start
TMJ 230 Clays 3.8 Bullseye Start
FMJ 230 Clays 4.0 732 Max
FMJ 230 Clays 4.0 668
FMJ 230 Clays 4.0 732
FMJ 230 Clays 4.2 751 Max
The VMD I get for my bottle of Clays is 0.1527 Lee'sCC/gn.
I agree with the above comments—my experience is that the cavities are slightly smaller than the designated cc and the VMDs are slightly off so you will throw a lighter charge than the VMS says you will.
Also verify the charge weight.

[Lost Sheep]

Originally Posted by sonnycrockett

(edited for brevity and focus)
I can only get close to the loads I want.....If I want to load 5.7g of Unique for 40SW Im stuck with 5.4 or 6.0 - So I load the higher ....

I also find Lee's charts to be way off for me He says .53 for load of Unique and I end up with a .73 for the same load

Originally Posted by l98ster

(edited for brevity and focus)
The problem with the lee system is that the set orifices in the discs do not allow fine tuning. For example, if you want to drop 3.9 grains, you may find an orifice on one of the discs that will drop 3.7 and then the next biggest will drop 4.1 grains.

You can always buy an extra disk, find the next smaller cavity than you want, and ream it out so it drops the correct load.

Lost Sheep

[bullspotter]

Im with sonnycrockett, I also use unique and found the paper that came with the disk set to be off on the charge weight, make sure you weigh each charge when you start to make sure its what you want, I reamed one of the disks to get the charge i wanted, I needed 5.7. I took the disk that was the closest on the light side (5.4) and reamed it out a small bit at a time till it gave me the drop weight i wanted.

[Unclenick]

I think Lee tries to use the highest powder bulk density for safety, but you can't count on it being low. I've had good agreement with one lot of Varget, for example.

Your actual powder can be less dense, and that results in a lower dispensed charge weight. I don't think Lee has a choice in this. If you look at Accurate's web site, for example, they publish a bulk density range for each of their powders. Some of them run +/- almost 4%, IIRC, so this varies lot-to-lot, powder to powder, and varies with transportation shake-down and, to some extent, it varies with how tall a case you load is, because, for the bottom of the case, the rest of it acts like a short drop tube, increasing the charge density at the bottom.

So, as mentioned, you need to use a scale to check your actual charge drop.

[sc928porsche]

Lee makes an adjustable charge bar that you can use in place of the discs if you wish to split the difference between the charges thrown by the disc.