Bench mounted powder measures

Well then . . .
Good luck with that!::p
My old, orange Lyman #55 not for sale in ew-Bay..It handles flake powders very well, AFTER you master the three different adjustments. Hint: Flakes like shallow, flat cavities.
 
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Used a 60 yr old Lyman 55 from the beginning for rifle and pistol; weigh every 5th drop on pacific balance (60+ yo)
 
TruthTellers,

You said you are using the Lyman M die. I use the Lyman Multi-expander die, which has multiple pistol caliber adapters with the M profile that are short and hollow and install in a die body with a female thread at the top to screw a powder measure into.
 
I use a Lyman #55 for all pistol reloading. Had it since about 1980. There is a learning curve on how best to use it for ball, stick, and flake.
 
Like others have said, if all you’re worried about is price, get what you want. If you still want a quality powder measure, go on eBay, check estate sales, and local sportsman auctions. I have three uniflow measures all set up for my most common loads. I do think I’ve paid over $40 for any of those three.


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Save your money and get a Uniflo or Redding ,or Lyman. Plastic stuff usually doesn't do well for me. A good one will last forever.
 
Nothing throws charges better than a Lee

There was an article in Precision Shooting around the year 1998 (I regularly re-read my ~20 years of them.) The author was a benchrest shooter, Frank Murphy, I believe. He gathered up, begged and borrowed every kind of powder measure you can imagine and tested the consistency of all of them. I don't recall what scale he used to measure the throws, though, and that is sort of important.

At any rate, he tested them all, and by a very small margin the Lee threw more consistent charges than the Harrel, Jones, Redding BR-30, RCBS, Lyman etc. measures. Probably not statistically significantly better, but still, better.

Surprise! It ain't purty, but it runs with the big dogs. I'd been lusting for a Harrel or Jones, but they did no better than my BR-30. Ho hum, another $250 saved.

As I load for more and more calibers, I'm tired of paying $200 or more for a set of dies. My last five or six sets have been Lee, and they work just fine, thank you very much. I esp. like the rifle sets that have FS, NS collet, seat and factory crimp dies.
 
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I have two. I bought them twenty years ago because the powder shutoff feature in the hopper together with a rubber band to keep the lid on will let me leave powder in the hoppers and lay them on their sides in my range box for load development. One of them works great, the other not as well. That's perhaps the risk associated with the inexpensive construction method; they may not all work exactly alike. The patented elastomeric wiper is supposed to prevent grain cutting, an action that shakes an entire measure when it occurs, causing a degree of powder settling that causes the next throw after the cut to be thrown heavy, and, to a diminishing extent, sometimes the two throws after that. My better Perfect never experiences any catching that approximates the bump caused by cutting in a metal drum. The Perfect that doesn't do as well gets a hesitation every few throws that approximate a cut and causes the overweight charge problem.

I probably could return that less successful copy to Lee, but I haven't bothered because I seldom do range powder dispensing now. I now usually dispense a series of incrementing charges in a series of primed cases at home and transport them to the range where I only seat the bullets, stopping when I am seeing more pressure than I want. This is so any settling of the powder that transportation vibration is going to produce gets a chance to happen. With stick powders, settling tends to lower the effective burn rate.

But the bottom line is the Perfect in good condition does stick and large spherical grains, like H380, as well or better than most if you get it anchored rigidly enough. Nothing I had actually beat it with stick powder until I got the JDS Quick Measure. It does stick powders best, often staying within 0.1 grains of nominal charge, but it's not cheap or as convenient to set and use.
 
For $25, I'm going to get the Lee. I was loading .32 on Sunday using the Hornady dispenser and it was painfully slow. Accurate, but slow. Again, I'm not demanding superior consistency, I just want something that works well enough. If being plastic to some people is the dealbreaker, they should really try before they judge.

It's probably got more to do with that "Everything I buy must be made of metal so my grandchildren's grandchildren will be using it thinking about how their great-great grandfather bought this 100 years earlier and now it's a family heirloom: a powder measure."

Yeah, a mass produced piece of equipment is a family heirloom. Shoot, I should endeavor to keep the Scott's push mower in the garage so I can give it to my son believing he will pass it on when in reality he's going to pawn it for $20 to buy beer.
 
The Lee PPM is a good measure. One hint to help with leakage on fine ball powders, take some plastic polishing compound like used for cleaning up cloudy car headlight lenses and lap the disc to the body. This doesn't eliminate all the leakage but takes care of most of it. I also have their newer more deluxe model that accepts the drums from the Autodrum and it works great right out of the box. For a few bucks more I would go with this one over the original.
 
I use the Lee Perfect Powder Measure it doesn't cost much & works great with stick powders. You will need some graphite lube to lube the moving plastic parts before you start the first time.
 
The PPM instructions say to cycle a hopper full of powder through the measure, prior to reloading. This coats all internal surfaces with graphite already in the powder. That powder can then be used for loading.
 
USSR says:
While I use a Redding powder measure at home, in the NRA Metallic Cartridge Reloading course I teach, we use a RCBS Uniflow. It works great with both flake and ball powders, but with extruded rifle powder you will get some hangups that happen when some of the extruded rods are getting cut. The Uniflow can be found used for less than $50 and I recommend it for someone on a budget.
Click to expand...
Plus one...and get the smaller micro measuring chamber for handgun use along with the rifle sized one, while you're at it. I've had mine since the early 70's...ie. before the turn of the century...sounds neat that way, eh Komrads? Best regards, Rod
 
I don’t have a perfect powder measure but my auto drum meters accurately and replacement parts are cheap as dirt if you need them. The negative is it leaks fine ball powder with every pull of the handle.
 
I set up the Lee PPM and cycled through maybe half a hopper of powder before weighing the throws. Only did Trail Boss, since that's one of the main powders I'm planning to use with it, and it's damn accurate. Lee says it's accurate to +/- .1 grains, but it's looking like it's even more accurate with TB, like +/- .05 grains.

Will try it with Accurate #9 next.
 
I have a multitude of measures to use. From Lee to Lyman, to RCBS, Hornady and Herter's and probably something I forgot I even have. The ones that get the most use are the RCBS. I've picked up one here and there with large drums and small drums and both drums. They just work and work well for around 95% of the loading I do. I use the 55 for finer detail and more precision work, but still manage consistent charges and tight groups with the green ones.

I've picked most all of them up for 40 bucks or less regardless of the color. Bottom line with any of them is to be consistent with the motions loading and dumping the powder. Flake might behave better in one or the other but none don't all perfectly. However for bulk loading where your not pushing the limits on pressures they save a ton of time and effort.

Hope you find one that works well for you, or maybe even half a dozen.:D
 
PPM is not a Yugo

"it's damn acccurate."
Yes. The other thing I like is the Volumetric Density Feature that when you know the VMD for your powder you can dial in your intended charge in one or two tries without a lot of trial and error. You can contact powder makers or calculate your own for ones not on the list.
That is not nearly so easy on other measures.
 
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