Lee Pro Auto Disk with Unique ?

[Black Dog]

Has anyone found a system to get anything close to consistent measures with Unique in this system ?

Trying to get 5.2 Gr of Unique in Starline .45ACP Brass with a Hornady 230 Gr. FMJ bullet.

I`ve cleaned the hopper with warm water & dish washing solution and let it air dry.

Cleaned the die and through tube with denatured alcohol, let dry and then ran some graphite dry lube through the bottom of the measure and die funnel.

Installed the 6.1 disk. ( they seem to throw much smaller then marked )

Filled the hopper 3/4 full, let sit for 3-4 hours and do 20 + throws.

After that I load a case and measure the throw, in 30 trys I get any where from +/_ 5.2 to 4.9 with no consistent pattern.

[Jim243]

My understanding is it is the nature of the beast (Unique powder). I don't use flake powder because of this, Win 231 (HP-38) measures extreemly well as does Power Pistol.

This might solve your problem with Unique

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct...tnumber=703838

Jim

[Tacoma]

Haven't tried unique but I've had consistent results with other flake powders.
( In fact, Clays is MY go to 45 acp powder.)

You migth have a static electricity problem which is not uncommon . Static causes teh powder to bridge and not fill the cavity fully/consistantly. Try rubbing the inside of the disk with a pencil tip or coat everything with graphite lock lube. One treatment usually fixes any issue.

[Citywaterman]

I use a dryer sheet under the hopper cover. I get good powder drops with Unique. I heard the dryer sheet helps reduce or eliminate static and seems to work for me.


Citywaterman

[warnerwh]

All the talk about Unique not metering well has me stumped. I've never had a problem. When I bought my first single stage press I bought the old auto disk and Unique metered fine. My current Pro Auto Disk is also very consistent. Easily the majority of the time the loads are right on. Being off sometimes .1 grain either way. I'm curious as to why so many people have their charges vary .2 or .3 grains.

[Qtiphky]

I just finished loading up 400 rounds of 9mm with Unique and every one I weighed had the same weight. I used the .66 disk to achieve 5.6 grains. I used a used dryer sheet and rubbed the outside and inside of the hopper and made sure the screws were tight. I weighed the first 5-6 shells and then about every 20th just to make sure nothing had changed.

[GP100man]

I don`t use unique but do use 800x& Herco & I put a 1/4 teaspoon of graphite in the powder & mix well , have been known to place the tumbler on the bench while chargin .
Also I let the ram alltheway down & bump the press ,these alltogether help me throw very consistent weights!

& I chronographed the powder before & after treating with graphite no difference in FPS .

[WESHOOT2]

I was gonna write something about choosing powders that meter easily, like W231 or Universal or Power Pistol or HS6 or 3N37 or N350 instead of Unique, but I decided not to.
And then I was gonna write some disparaging remarks about the LEE measure, but didn't want to sound like I was dissing your gear, so I didn't suggest a RCBS or Redding or Hornady measure.

So just rub some dryer sheets on your precision reloading equipment.

I still have some Unique, but I use dippers and a trickler, because none of my once-sixteen-now-only-eleven measures meter it consistently. I blame the powder.

[Black Dog]

The ideas of coating of the interior of the measure and the disk, especially the drop holes, with powdered graphite made a huge difference. I think the dryer cloth on the hopper helped as well since no grains sticking there now.

Getting very consistant 5.2 gr. with Unique using the 6.6 disk opening.

Thanks for all the help ..

[Don P]

All the talk about Unique not metering well has me stumped. I've never had a problem

.

This from the Lee web site,




































Perfect Powder Measure Consistency

Bumping against the stops when dumping and filling the metering chamber usually causes inconsistent loads with the Perfect Powder Measure. Be gentle at both ends of the stop when charging powder.

Also failure to condition the measure by running a pound of powder through the unit will cause inconsistent charges. You can speed the conditioning by dusting the metering surfaces with powdered graphite.

Lastly some powders do not meter well, Unique powder is one example that meters with "casual uniformity".






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[farmall]

I use Unique in these measures atop Pro1000 presses to load 357's and have always been impressed with consistency. I think I have 6 of them, as I keep them set up with the turrets for fast changovers. That said, I'm pretty sure I bought all but 1 used, and they were already broken in. For a new one, I'd think the graphite would help a lot.

The discs don't ever seem to throw their rated weight, so here's what I do. Set things up and throw 10 charges and average their weight, then do that again, for peace of mind. Then write the cavity size, and actual weight thrown on an adhesive label, and affix that to the back of the can of powder you are using.
That will give you a fast and easy way to determine ACTUAL charge weights for a given size cavity.

Tip # 2: The screw holes on the bottom of the hoppers will strip / crack easily, so to change discs, just unhook the spring off the side and slide the disc out, and re-attach the spring.

Andy

[Jumping Frog]

Take a look at the standard deviations listed in the linked table called "REPEATABILITY, THE STANDARD DEVIATION OF SETS OF THIRTY CHARGES", comparing powder measures across certain powders.

LASC Chapter 6.4 Powders And Powder Measures

It compares CH4D, Redding, Harrell, B&M, RCBS, Lee, Hornady, and Lyman 55.

The mean standard deviation for AA#9 across all powder measures, for example, was 0.014 grains.

The mean standard deviation for Unique across all powder measures, for example, was 0.140 grains. The standard deviation is 10X higher -- Unique is inherently less accurate in all powder measures.

Here is what they say about Unique:

Unique has an average SD of .140 for all the measures tested. Five percent of the time a set of five charges or shots will have a range or spread of .5 or half a grain. For ten shots, five percent of the time the range will be .6 grains, for twenty shots the range will be .7 grains.

In my opinion, based on these results, no measure tested will dispense charges of big-kernel extruded powders or Unique repeatably enough for bench rest match shooting or load testing. Weighed charges are required for any powder-powder measure combination that dispenses charges with a standard deviation above .1 grain.

[Black Dog]

That link and the info therein answers many questions and is really invaluable ! Thanks Jumping Frog

[ir3e971]

5.2 Gr of Unique

and

+/_ 5.2 to 4.9 with no consistent pattern.

Black Dog,

Exact same load and issue I have had loading unique. However, after much internal fretting, and wringing of hands, I persisted using this load (4 lbs of Unique on hand) and accepted the inconsistency. I did use graphite, and that helped tighten up the inconsistency.

However, I don't know how well you shoot, but I have not been able to see any difference in these rounds accuracy wise between the Unique loads and rounds I have loaded using other powders that meter better.

This may be a factor with some types of shooting, but for general purpose punching holes in paper for practice, this has been a successful, accurate load for my purposes, variance and all.

This is of course premised on the high and low of your load variance falling within safe, acceptable load data for your type and weight and bullet.

[doctruptwn]

By Qtiphky
I just finished loading up 400 rounds of 9mm with Unique and every one I weighed had the same weight. I used the .66 disk to achieve 5.6 grains. I used a used dryer sheet and rubbed the outside and inside of the hopper and made sure the screws were tight. I weighed the first 5-6 shells and then about every 20th just to make sure nothing had changed.

Interesting. I loaded slightly over 1000 rounds of .45 ACP using .66 disk and mine was a very consistant 5.1 gr of Unique.