Powder measures

R

RedSkyFarm

New member
Hi all,
I am looking for a better powder measure. I have a Lyman Mod. 50 or 55 (can't remember the #). I use mainly extruded powder. Have trouble with it catching on the powder and throwing an inconsistent charge. Any suggestions on a measure that doesn't catch with extruded powder?
 
For a general purpose powder measure I like the RCBS Uniflow or Hornady LNL, even anything similar as they all work the same way. What I dislike is the cheaper versions using plastic for everything including the drum. Extruded or "stick" powders are always a little more difficult to meter. Then if you really want a high measure of precision and repeatability there are the names like Harrel which rapidly get you from a $75 powder measure into a $300 powder measure. While I have a few RCBS Uniflow versions I have had good results using Hornady and Lyman measures as to moderate priced powder measures. Each seem to have their good and not so good features.

Ron
 
Extruded powder is great!

Extruded powder sucks!

These both these things are true. I don't care if you're throwing it or, trickling it by hand, or power trickling, it measures poorly, period.

There isn't a thrower that's much better at it than what you've got. If you're looking for precision set it to underthrow by a grain or two, set it on a beam, and hand trickle to weight. I do the same thing with a power trickler moded with the McDonnald's straw. There's really no fast way to do it accurately that I've yet found.
 
I think I agree that you would not get much improvement over the Lyman 55 for stick powder with other measures. Saying that, I do like my Redding 3BR. With the Lyman, try getting your desired charge using only the large cylinder. The more of the charge delivered by opening the other two slides, the more variation you will have. Then, operate the handle slowly and deliberately when delivering a charge. Use your hand muscle so that if you hit a stick crossways it will not slow your movement but slice right through it. That is, every charge, handle moved with same speed and without a glitch.
 
That "catching" is actually the powder measure cutting powder granules. It's normal. I used a Lyman 55 some years ago and it was OK but now I use a Saeco and an RCBS Uniflow powder measure. They work better for me, especially with stick powders like IMR.
 
RedSkyFarm,

What you are after is the JDS Quick Measure. Absolutely never catches on a grain, by design. My copy has never thrown any stick charge out by more than 0.2 grains, including with the long grain powders like 4064, and it is usually within 0.1 grains, even without special practice. It takes a little getting used to the setup; it is, after all, the brainchild of an engineer letting his imagination pull out all the stops to prevent "grain cutting". And it's not cheap, but it works as advertised.
 
Or put the money into an electronic powder dispenser.

I would not give my up for anything.

RCBS and Lyman have a smaller size out, I have the Lyman, not totally keen on the small touch screen but got around it with a touch pen.

RCBS has two buttons so it may be better key room.

For most work its no more than a tenth off though it will throw an odd one from time to time.

If I am shooting a narrow gap I just set it so it drops a tenth or two low and reach in the tube with a small screw driver and drag out a few kernel until its spot on.
 
RedSkyFarm wrote:
Have trouble with it catching on the powder and throwing an inconsistent charge.
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What you describe as "catching" is, I believe, the measure cutting some grains of powder as the cavity the powder fills is moved from the reservoir. If so, that is not the cause of your inconsistent charges.

Your inconsistent charges are coming from the fact that extruded (i.e. stick) powders have a tendency to not pack an empty space uniformly when allowed to drop merely under the influence of gravity. I have two suggestions:
  1. If you don't already have one, try installing a powder baffle in the powder reservoir. For trial purposes you can make one out of cardboard. Just look on any reloading supply web site to see what one should look like. If it helps, you can decide to make new ones periodically or just buy a metal one.
  2. When you operate the lever on your powder measure to fill the measuring cavity, give the body of the powder measure a sharp slap perpendicular to the direction of the drop. You're not trying to break the measure, just encourage the powder to settle, so the slap doesn't have to be hard, but it needs to be sharp (about like you were slapping your two-year-old's hand away from touching a pot of boiling water).

Doing these two things made my powder measure throw much more accurate charges.
 
But the grain cutting is an indirect cause. Generally, when it happens it shakes the powder hopper and settles the powder a bit. I noticed long ago that my RCBS Uniflow would throw the charge heavier right after one that cut a grain. It would take a couple of more throws to get back to the median value. The Quick Measure never cuts a grain, so it doesn't jostle and resettle the powder that way.

That said, the baffles are a good idea because they reduce the amount and degree of settling by lowering the powder column height above the metering cavity entry. I have a PDF file of baffle templates you can download. The double-baffle system works best, but requires you to replenish the hopper more frequently.
 
It's a Lyman, use the knocker to settle the powder. That's one of the things that makes it such a good powder measure. Experiment with how many times to let the knocker fall for consistent loads with each powder. Also use it when dropping the powder so it all falls out as well.
 
It's the stick powder, not the measure. I use ball or flake straight from the measure once it's set. Stick, I throw short and trickle on a balance scale. I currently use Lee dippers and then trickle on the scale. I don't load stick except in hunting loads so I don't load very many. Gonna try Varget but I think it's small enough to work thru the measure.
 
As those mentioned above, it's the powder more than the measure itself. You can help by developing a method that is repeated exactly the same every powder throw. Whatever method you choose (tap, double tap, bump at each end ot the lever throw, sing "She'll be commin' round the mountain..." etc.) but do it the same every time. I've even read of some guys using a feminine "pleasure wand" taped to their measure to vibrate/settle the powder and one feller used an aquarium air pump to provide vibration for powder settling...
 
Thanks for the suggestions on using the knocker. I do have a baffle already. I'll see what I can do using the knocker to settle the powder. Also pay more attention to my consistency when I throw a charge. Thanks.
 
If you don't already have one, try installing a powder baffle in the powder reservoir. For trial purposes you can make one out of cardboard. Just look on any reloading supply web site to see what one should look like. If it helps, you can decide to make new ones periodically or just buy a metal one.
Click to expand...

I made mine out of a soda can.

I like extruded powder for several of my loads, but when using those powders, I use a glass bowl and baby spoon to get powder to the scale. Saves aggravation with my RCBS Uniflow, and, I’m usually only loading 20 at a time for those cartridges, so it’s really not too big a deal.

If at all possible, I try for ball or flake powders for my loads, but some of my rifles really like extruded, 4064 in particular.
 
I'm actually interested in how well the high dollar Harrell's , Redding BR's, and Quick measures compare to a multi baffle Uniflow.

I have a 2 Uniflow's with micrometer adjuster, and a couple Dillon measures for progressive presses. Also a charge master that I don't use because it's more accurate to throw 0.4 gr light and trickle into an RCBS 5-0-5.

I'm just a bit skeptical because they all use gravity to fill, and are thus subject to the same column stacking issue..and with cheap baffles I can mostly eliminate that on the Uniflow. I polished the powder chamber in both and smoothed out any rough edges. So I wonder how much better a Harrell really is over my refined Uniflow. If I still have to weigh each charge of H-1000 which meters very poorly…then there is no reason to buy one. Because really any decent thrower like a Redding, RCBS, or even Lee will do well with small stick and ball powders.
 
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