WC820 & Lee progressive press

[StanDahl]

While looking over the CastBullet.com reload section dealing with WC820, [http://www.castbullet.com/reload/wc820.htm], there was a caution about that particular powder and the Lee Auto Disk powder measure due to powder leakage. The author decided to ignore the problem, but if I was to use this with my Pro 1000, the powder leakage could gum up the primer feeder, causing all kinds of mischief.

I had to use all the bad words I knew to help me work the kinks out of the new Pro 1000 with 2400 powder falling into the primer feeder. I think that there was a coating of light oil on the Adjustable Charge Bar, and powder would stick to it and then fell into the primer feeder. Once it got cleared up and the primer feeder got cleaned out, everything was fine.

Last week I had two squib loads that got by my obviously faulty troubleshooting methods. Lucky for me, the primer didn't send the (358156) boolit much past the end of the case, so I couldn't chamber another round and ruin the barrel.

So, if I'm going to buy 8 - 16 pounds of this stuff and it will leak all over the place, am I going to have to forget about using it with the Pro 1000? Stan

[Junior1942]

Howdy. I wrote the article mentioned. I've never even seen a Lee Pro 1000 press, so I can't answer your question with certainty. However, I can take an educated guess and say, Yep, you're gonna have little kernels of WC820 everywhere.

I installed the update hopper, etc., on my lee Auto Disk and while it lessened the leaking a lot, it didn't eliminate it. As I really like both my Auto Disk and WC820, I'll just quit griping and clean up after each loading session.

[Oldfeller]

Old square hopper auto disks can leak some fine ball powder out of the slide motion gap. The newer round top units have a soft foam "O" ring at the hopper opening to take up the clearance slop and cut down on the powder loss.

The new round top assembly can be purchased as an upgrade kit to fit any Auto Disk bottom unit.

If you have a round top hopper, call up LEE, explain the Pro 1000's bind up issue due to powder linkage and ask for some spare "O" rings. Rather than take a possible return on the entire Pro 1000 unit because it isn't working out for you they generally may give small parts away for free (completely voluntarily on their part). If not, the rings are cheap enough. I'd also try removing your "O" ring and flipping it over to expose the unused side as a temporary fix.

Oldfeller

(also, in looking down my tapered hole in the bottom unit I got a grain or two of powder dust build up in the hole -- you may want to clean yours out too)

[RayinNH]

I also use the Lee Auto Disk Kit. And yes WC820 is a PITA with it. If you take the whole thing (hopper, disk and base ) off of your press and hold it up to the light you will see a gap of a few thous. off an inch. Take a piece of sandpaper, 100 grit or so and mount it to a flat surface. Now take the hopper and disk off and invert the base on the sandpaper and take down the two side rails that supports the hopper. Go slowly and check often so that you have a light friction fit between the O ring and the disk. Also be careful that you take the sides down evenly. I did this about a year ago and virtually eliminated the powder leakage...Ray

[buck1]

That WC820 gets everywhere! But it shoots well. ...Buck

[Headstamp]

I also use the Lee Auto Disk Kit. And yes WC820 is a PITA with it. If you take the whole thing (hopper, disk and base ) off of your press and hold it up to the light you will see a gap of a few thous. off an inch. Take a piece of sandpaper, 100 grit or so and mount it to a flat surface. Now take the hopper and disk off and invert the base on the sandpaper and take down the two side rails that supports the hopper. Go slowly and check often so that you have a light friction fit between the O ring and the disk. Also be careful that you take the sides down evenly. I did this about a year ago and virtually eliminated the powder leakage...Ray

Ditto Ray,

That mod works perfectly. VERY little needs to be taken down.

Regards, Headstamp (another Ray)

[Junior1942]

I tried the modification to my Lee Auto Disk measure, and it worked wonders! It now leaks maybe 5% of what it leaked before!

[StanDahl]

Thanks for the help, I'll have to try the modification posted above. I'm still wondering if anyone has used this powder in a progressive press like the Pro 1000. Are the powder grains fine enough that they don't cause problems with the primer feeder? Thanks, Stan