Lee Loader

My SIL brought me home a used PPM that a guy at his job gave him. Said it was a worthless piece of crap. Well he is a Dillon user so sadly he will never think anything else. It actually came in it original box but is missing the lid and the drop tube.

As I'm in Texas for awhile I just ordered the replacement parts. I took it apart and noticed 3 high and low dips in the main body and cone rotor where they fit together. Some lapping will remove those. I took a HF T-handle reamer to remove the stop in the housing body opening of the metering chamber. That done the CC measuring rod can be removed. Actually it will only be removed while the lapping is done. I notice the largest "dips" were around that opening and around the elastomeric nylon wiper. I think these distortion were caused by the manufacturing process. What ever the cause they need to be removed by lapping. For lapping I'll be using a 120 followed by 220 grit valve grinding compound I found in my SIL garage. I'm freezing the parts tonight hoping it might reduce the cutting time if the surfaces are harder? Just a thought.
Well I'm just thinking out loud about this project. Can you tell I needed to do something while the grandkids are in school?
One last thought is using a 223R case for the drop tube. I wonder if that is possible.
Ok I'm going to bed so I'll shut up, for now.

daboone wrote:I took a HF T-handle reamer to remove the stop in the housing body opening of the metering chamber.

Would you have a picture of that as I've been wondering how that was done? What size reamer did you use?

It's listed as a t-handle reamer on HF. This is a pic from there site. The upper end is 1/2in which is the perfect fit. I cut this $3.00 reamer in half because it is to long to insert into the metering chamber. If you want I'll send you mine. Unfortunately it is still to long to fit into the powder edit hole in the main housing chamber.

The biggest "dipps" on this one are around the metering tube entry and the wiper. So I'm not concerned about the exit port.

Thanks, I actually have several irrigation tools that would work now that I see this.

I just got back to Phoenix yesterday. The PPM I worked on in Sugar Land is working perfectly with H110 and IMR4895. It took over an hour of lapping to get the dips removed. I did notice that this PPM's stand was of a much heavier gauge steel than my other PPM. This must be a recent upgrade Lee has made for the PPM.

I'm setting this one up for Harris's "universal load" for some of my milsurps.

daboone wrote:I just got back to Phoenix yesterday. The PPM I worked on in Sugar Land is working perfectly with H110 and IMR4895. It took over an hour of lapping to get the dips removed. I did notice that this PPM's stand was of a much heavier gauge steel than my other PPM. This must be a recent upgrade Lee has made for the PPM.

I'm setting this one up for Harris's "universal load" for some of my milsurps.

Good to hear! I looked at the stand on via the PPMs part link and it does look heavier than the two stands I have.

I did the same thing on a PPM I received with a used LM press I bought couple years ago. I used the inside neck champher tool on my case prep center. Looks just like your picture dB, but smaller. I need to get the parts to be able to change the PPM I have over to a bench mount also. I don't really need it to run on the LM because I don't reload any rifle rounds on them. Hmmmm, however, maybe using an RCBS X die, running 223 might be a really good option for higher output. I'll have to investigate that a bit. That could really be interesting. :ugeek:

The adapter I use to bench mount the PPM is made by Gun Guides found here: Perfect Powder Measure Adapter® for Rifles (& Handguns)

Not real sure how long I've had my PPM but it definitely has a lighter weight mount than the current catalog shows. Mine has spent the last year doing duty with Goex 2F with very consistent results, staying easily in a 0.1 grn of desired. I drop into my scale pan and pour into a 30" drop tube so it's no big deal for me to check each charge.

I also have a bench mounted Disk measure that I'd really like to use for small case pistol loads, but my powder choices don't play well with it.

Make smoke,

Ohio3Wheels wrote:I also have a bench mounted Disk measure that I'd really like to use for small case pistol loads, but my powder choices don't play well with it.

No doubt press "rattle" helps make the Auto Disk consistent. It would be really cool if you could hook up low speed rattle to it, like something battery powered from a small toy.