I've just started reloading pistol ammo for 5 months. I use Unique powder, but I have to go up several sizes on the disk to get the correct grains. Does anyone else have this problem? Is there a better powder that I can use to load pistol ammo with? Thanks in advance for your help.

Large flake powders don't meter well, especially in small amounts, from any measure. Ball powders and short sticks do much better.

Jerry Liles

Brad, I think you should consider getting a different powder measure.

What cartridge are you reloading?

I load 38, 9mm, 45 acp for now.

That why they make powder scales I find lee auto disk throw ligher then listed. that why I measure the charge and use the proper one. Not always the one listed.

I have 4 lee 1000s and use them to load 10s of thousand of rounds pistol ammo. Pick the powder you want to use pick the disk they recommend and go from there. Weigh the charge thrown go up or down from there.

I use redot, green dot, herco, bullseye ect with no trouble. The powder the gave me fits I stopped using it was 800X very big flakes did not throw a charge well at all

Thanks p dog , that's what I have been doing is just making a note of the disk I use and then checking the weight of every fifth case that is loaded.

Buy the micro adjust charge bar for the auto disk and ditch the disks. Adjust it to throw the charge you need with a scale and trickle the rest in to be perfect. The disks throw different amounts with different powders. I have heard a few people say the micro adjust was inconsistant but i have not found this to be but before i ever used it i softened all the edges and deburred and smoothed it with light emery paper and it is quite accurate for me.

In my previous post i meant to say (for pistol)If i am reloading for rifle i stack 2 disks and the micro adjust for a 3 stack. This gives me the ability to fine tune it to what i want without the limitations of 42ish grains. I use the 2 disks as the primary slide and the micro adjust as the secondary to fine tune. You need longer screws for the hopper though to accomidate 3 disks. This works great for me for plinking ammo and casual shooting ammo.For serious ammo i still use the Pro disk but i weigh each charge and trickle it to perfect. I am useing reloader 15 in it right now.

Iceman
Interesting use of 3-disks. I have used 3 regular disks to load .30/06 with H4895. ES was usually .4 to .5, once .7.

Thanks Iceman, I bought the pro disk update kit and will try the micro charge bar.

quote:

Originally posted by Oldcoyote:
Iceman
Interesting use of 3-disks. I have used 3 regular disks to load .30/06 with H4895. ES was usually .4 to .5, once .7.

Mine works really well like that. I threw 50 charges in a row and measured every one and the most it was off was .2 of a grain with about 90% within .1 or spot on. If i make a change to the charge it does take about 4 throws to stabilize or maybe it just takes me 3 or 4 to get back in my routine, but I was impressed with it for the price. My lymann 55 can be off that much. If i get a chance i'll snap a few photos of my disk setup so you can see it with the longer screws i added and the shims i used.