AutoDrum came out of the box locked up solid as a rock

[LinuxJack]

I am hoping I am just missing something here, but so far discussions with Lee support have been frustrating (they are on about round 4 of asking 'did you install the plunger in the powder-through die'; which I clearly stated in my first email when I opened the ticket that I had done so), so I thought I'd ask here.

The powder measure design looks to be a fairly straightforward affair, the AD plunger gets actuated via the case mouth expander (also called a plunger in Lee's terminology) that sits in the powder-through die which runs the drum which causes it to drop the charge. That looks simple enough, sure. However, the part of the AD that should get actuated is locked up rock solid and will not move, at all, not even the tiniest hint of a wiggle - this feels like steel-on-steel contact - as if the AD plunger was one piece with the body of the powder measure.

I've applied as much force as I felt would not break the thing (which is to say, enough force to crush a piece of pistol brass, but not so much as if I took out a claw hammer and beat on the plunger).

I did some searching, but this does not seem to be a common problem. So, my presumption is something is wrong with my AD - if they all came out of the box like this, it would be in a FAQ somewhere that "oh, don't forget to do X, or the whole thing will be locked up and not move" - but so far I've found nothing mentioning anything like this.

Any suggestions?

[GasGuzzler]

Take the drum off and have a look at the gears.

[LinuxJack]

Take the drum off and have a look at the gears.

Nothing looks amiss. Also, if those gears were locked up, the plunger itself would not be seized hard the way it is. There is some give in the arm that does not translate through to the plunger at all.

[larryw]

Did you back off the drum retaining screw or, remove the drum completely?
Just grasping at straws here????

[LinuxJack]

Removed the drum completely. I too am just grasping at straws. This presumably is not a common problem, or I'd see lots of forum posts by people having the same issue.

Lee just sent me (for the 5th time now) instructions on how to install it into the powder through die and adjust it so the travel isn't excessive. Apparently nobody has read the part where I said "I got 0 travel, I can crush a piece of brass with this thing, and there is 0 travel, it won't move - the fact that it won't move is the problem". At least they said I can send it back to them if it doesn't work this time (and I presume it won't).

[larryw]

Wow ????? I can't figure Lee giving you the run around like this??
Guess at this point I would be calling & politely asking for a supervisor??

[Ranch Dog]

The best thing might be to send it back to Lee.

[LinuxJack]

Well, that's annoying. They offered me to send it back, but I'd have to pay shipping. Looking at USPS website for a shipping quote, it looks that's going to be around $17 (presumably plus tax, so $18 and change). So almost half the price of the powder measure if I bought it separate/standalone, for something I don't really expect to use, but I did want to play with and see how well (or not) I liked it. Maybe I should just bigger-hammer this thing and see what happens.

edit for clarity - when I say I'll likely not use this - I got this as part of a Pro 1000 380 ACP reloading kit - I really just intend to use the Pro 1000 press as a prep-station for brass - size+prime (+flare for pistols or + trim for rifle) and keep powder drop+seating on my single-stage setup. That ups my production volume by like 4-5 times, while retaining the inherent quality control in single-stage loading. So I am not overly interested in full progressive reloading with this thing - though I did want to try it out one time to see if it could change my mind about that.

[Ranch Dog]

All I can add is that with handgun cartridges, the setup rests entirely on the setup of the Powder Through Expander Die. Raise the shell plate, bring the Powder through Expanding Die down to meet it, and then back it off one complete turn. I've got a bunch of these and felt the setup was very simple.

Wish we could figure it out as I understand sending it back is not a win.

It is a little different for rifle cartridges depending on the use of the rifle cartridge charging dies, two different sizes.

[LinuxJack]

Well, it seems that sometimes a Bigger Hammer(tm) is all you need, LOL.

Since I was over my compunction to not to use an unreasonable amount of force on this thing, I decided I was going to make a video of me crushing a piece of brass into a tiny little smashed pop-can looking lump to send to Lee support and ask them why it should cost me 1/2 the price of the gadget in question to send it back to be fixed. Lo and behold, just as the case mouth was starting to buckle as expected, something broke loose and the powder measure now seems to be working correctly. I presume some kind of manufacturing slag in some place it shouldn't be or somesuch and I finally used enough force to break it loose.

To prove it was all good to go - I dialed it to 4.0 grains of BE86, tested the charge weight about a dozen times to see about what my variance was (+/- 0.1 grain is what my scale said), and once I was convinced that it was going to be decently in the ballpark, I progressively loaded a couple dozen 380 with it (with the sizing die removed and no primers, since I had already sized+primed all my 380 brass). It does still seem to take more force than I think it should to actuate the drum, as I am getting very hard case flares - quite a bit more than I would do if I was just loading single-stage. But, it does seems to be working - so yahoo!

Still not convinced I want to go completely progressive with my loading (certainly not for my match grade stuff), but at least now I have a working auto measure if I decide I want to.

Thanks everyone for the support and listening to me ramble.

Cheers!