|
I use the Lee Auto-Disk. If it's limitations work for you, it works quite well. The hopper screws onto the base with steel screws into plastic threads... bad idea.
There is a solution. Use a small open-end wrench (I use a 10mm, the same that fits the plunger locknut on my RCBS bullet seating die) and slip it over the end of the little actuating arm. Lever the arm downward, which moves the disc forward. There's enough overtravel in the arm to push the disc out far enough so that you can grab it and slide it out of the unit. Grab your new disc, slide it into the tracks in the base, and push it back until the slots in the bottom of the disc line up with where the tab on the actuating lever come up through the base. Slowly release the wrench. The disc should slide back into the podwer measure and return to it's rest position under the hopper.
This will make more sense once you've tried it. I haven't removed my hopper since my loadin' and shootin' buddy figured this out.
Mine is consistent to within the uncertainty of my scale, with powders it likes. With Bullseye, it was around +/- .1 grain. With Green and Blue Dot, I'm getting more like +/- .05. My Hornady scale only reads in .1 increments, so that's a bit of a guess, but I'm very happy with Green Dot as a .38 Special powder, and as a 12 gauge powder, so I'll keep using it. 3.3 grains under a 158 LRN Bear Creek bullet. Oddly, my best Green Dot load with this bullet is lighter than my favorite Bullseye load, even though Bulleye is faster. Go figure. 10.3 - 10.6 Blue Dot makes for a nice midrange .357 Magnum load with the same bullet. The Blue Dot loads have been a bit more variable across loading sessions, but just as consistent within a session. I assume that that's because, with more total powder, the same % variation (due to humidity and such) shows up larger on the scale. 10% of 10.x > 10% of 3.x, ya know.
In any case, I like mine. With small-flake powders like Bullseye, it leaks a bit, but with the Dot powders' larger flakes, it's less of a problem. The newer versions have improved wiper seals and threaded brass inserts in the hopper, so some some of the issues I've seen may well have been fixed. Older units are upgradeable, and I'll either do that, or buy another one.
I hear ya about the no-man's-land issue, but I've always picked the lighter of two options, and that's worked well for me. If I was pushing max loads, like fast-n-heavy .357 deer loads for my Marlin, I'd trickle them one at a time anyway, so it hasn't bothered me much. The adjustable charge bar might be the solution there, but the consistency of a fixed cavity has some advantages for more normal loads.
It's not perfect, but it works for me. For the loading I do, I'm not sure spending more money would get me much more. YMM, as always, V.
--Shannon
|