18 thoughts on “Lee Classic Turret Loading .223 Remington Part II”

  1. I use Varget for loading .223 and use a Lyman 55 powder measure. I am not able to get accurate drops due to the extruded powder and must use a powder trickler on every round because of the variation from drop to drop. The Lyman 55 operates differently than the Lee, the Lyman cuts the powder vs. Lee’s disc systsem. Is this Lee powder measure able to drop Varget and other extruded powders so accurately so one does not have to worry about drop to drop consistency?

    1. Believe it or not the cheap plastic Lee Pro Auto Disk meters large grain extruded powders like varget better than all the expensive powder measurers.

  2. G.A.

    Varget measures very poorly in the Auto-disk. Drops routinely vary by 3/10 of a grain, and it’s not uncommon to get all way to to 1/2 grain. I only use Varget for bullets that are above 69 grains, and then I dip and trickle my charges manually. I use W748 in my auto-disk for standard 55 grain plinking rounds, and I must say that it flows like water.

    Question about the video:
    I notice you are putting the finished .223 rounds in the case after you’re done. Are you going back later and wiping the lubricant off? Also, are you full length resizing or are you neck sizing? I assume you are full length sizing since you are using lube. I find that my cases grow a bit after a full length resize. My process for full length sizing consists of the following:

    1.) Tumble
    2.) Lube
    3.) Size / de-prime
    4.) Measure / sort
    5.) Trim over-length brass
    6.) Clean primer pockets
    7.) Tumble to remove lube
    8.) Prime
    9.) Powder
    10.) Seat
    11.) Crimp

    Thanks for the videos!

    1. I’m with you Andrew. I don’t see where any trimming was done. You steps are exactly like mine.

      I too have challenges with Varget and the Auto-disk, so I “dip and trickle” for my 75 and 77 grain loads.

      W748 is a great standard powder, I have left it for CFE223, amazing that the “copper fouling eraser” part actually works. I always end a session by firing 10 rounds of the CFE to “start” my cleaning process.

      Gavin, Thanks for the videos and your great site! Oh and congrats on the new cabin!

  3. Just wanted to let you know that according to Lee instructions you have your powder hopper installed incorrectly on the the auto-disk the wrong way. If you take off the two brass nuts holding the hopper on and then spin the hopper 180 degrees it offers a much better view to see if the powder did in fact drop in to the case. It seems like that is a common problem with the auto disk… which way to install the powder hopper.

    1. Thanks, I’ll take a look. Anything that goes on both the right way and the wrong way is not the best design 🙂 Perhaps I’ll send that feedback to John Lee.

  4. Gavin: I just got my Lee Classic Turett Press. I want to use the press for 308 British caliber but it doesn’t seem that the powder through die can accomodate greater than 30 caliber or the Lee Auto Powder measure can accomodate loads over 42 grains. How do you address that issue?

    1. Not sure about the diameter issue, but you may want to try the auto-disk double disk kit to increase the charge capacity. I’ve used it for .308 Winchester with good results. Let me know how it goes…

  5. would love to see you load a large caliber rifle load usign the Lee Classic Turret press. Any chance a video might be forthcoming? Also I have heard of reloaders using 3 stacked Lee powder disks and longer screws to load larger amounts of powder, such as 56 grains, etc. Any thoughts on this?

  6. Of course I meant .303 (.311), which I reload for the 7.62 X 54 for my Mosin Nagant. That is a bit larger than the maximum round recommended for the Lee Auto Disk powder measure. The recommended load for the Sierra HPGT 174 grain bullet is 52 grains of IMR 4350. My thought was to stack three disks using longer screws. Three things come up:
    1. will this setup work?
    2. from the above discussion it looks like the 4350 powder might not flow well through the Lee disks due to the fact that the powder is extruded. Can you suggest a similarly performing powder that is not extruded?
    3. is there any reason the Lee rifle powder through die won’t work in this setup?

  7. My Lee pro disk powder measure arrived and I answered my own question. I’m sure Lee doesn’t approve of this but if you stack three disks, adding up to 3.90 CC’s (two 1.57 disks and one .76 disks), which equals 53 grains of IMR 4350, it works just fine. The 7.62X54 case fits nicely in the Lee rifle case activated die and correctly AND accurately measures out 53 grain of powder into the cartridge.

    1. Doesn’t look like it- it’s a simple bench mounted unit. You need something with 7/8″ x 14 threads, or something that screws into a die (like the auto-disk (LEE) – RCBS Uniflow, Hornady Powder Measure, etc).

      1. Thanks Gavin,
        I am looking at the RCBS powder mesure it has a case activiated kit for their powder mesure. Keep up the great work..

  8. Do you have a video on setting up the Lee classic reloader and accessories (powder measurer – primer feed etc.) for rifle reloading. I am reloading 30-30

  9. Hi Gavin, have you had any difficulty with using Varget in the Lee Pro Auto Disk Powder Measure? Some folks have said that extruded (stick) powders do not meter well in it.

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