[Racinbob]

I'm using this powder measure and getting pretty good results. Still somewhat of a reloading newbie I weigh most every charge. In the Lee reloading manual they mention that even better results will be obtained if you carefully remove the handle stop so the tube can be moved fully vertical instead of stopping at an angle. Has anyone tried this?

[FlyinBryan]

i use it too for rifle cartridges.

i also saw that in the book (i assume your talking about the big book, modern reloading, second edition, by richard lee)

i didnt bother because it works so well, especially with small grain extruded powder, like benchmark and h322.

i did notice however, that the measure starts working better the more you use it, especially after about 1000 rounds.

when new, i would see about 3-4 tenths of a grain in variation.

now its usually 1-2 tenths, and more often than not, dead nuts accurate.

just make sure you set it up for full actuation in both directions.

if you do the mod, let me know how it works, because as far as im concerned, theres always room for improvement.

[Racinbob]

Mine has just seen a few hundred rounds so far. I couldn't tolerate 4-5 tenths variation loading 9mm and .38. I'm not that far off, usually about a tenth. Based on your experience, I'll give it a few hundred more before I try the mod. I'm probably just being too finicky.

[ants]

Want to accelerate that 'break in' period? Smokeless powder is covered with powdered graphite to make it flow better and help prevent excessive static charge. As the powdered graphite coats your equipment (powder measure and charging die) it benefits from the coating and your charges become more and more consistent.

To make this happen faster, buy powdered graphite and coat everything liberally. I mean liberally! Since graphite is already an inert component of smokeless powder, it doesn't hurt anything. You can get a small tube of it at the hardware store in the lock and key section (5 or 6 bucks for 1/10 ounce) or you can get twice as much for $1.99 at the auto parts store. Or you can buy bulk quantities at industrial supply houses.

[Galil5.56]

Go to a farm supply store and look for seed lubricant...

http://www.tractorsupply.com/wcsstore/ConsumerDirectStorefrontAssetStore/images/products/150/0806309.jpg

Nothing but powdered graphite for $2.99/lb. Still working of my 10x lifetime supply, but find tons of uses for it.

[FlyinBryan]

galil, thats a very good find for that price. thanx.

racin bob, i started using the autodisc for pistol, not the pro model, just the regular one.

its WAY more accurate for smaller charges like that, especially really light ones like 5-7 grains.

its right on the money everytime, never out even 2 tenths.

and at less than 20 bux, its a steal too.

you also dont have to mess with the return chain with it.

[ants]

Good tip, Galil. We have no farm supply where we live (we have no farms) but I wish we did.

[Racinbob]

Some great ideas! I'm going to try the graphite first. I just use mine manually but hesitated to do that modification because, per the book, I would not be able to use it on the press afterwards. I was thinking about the auto disk as well. Is the pro version worth the extra fes bucks? I'm loading between 3.8 and 5.2 grains of 231 and Bullseye, depending on what I'm loading. I havn't loaded any .357 yet but will soon. Thanks everyone!

[Dave P]

The Perfect measure is also good for coarse grains like IMR4064; the plastic wiper never can cut a granule. And these are so cheap, you can keep one set up for each powder type if you want to.

[qajaq59]

Cleaning and lubing some the older powder measures with graphite does a lot for their accuracy as well. I was having problems with Unique in mine and after a clean and lube it straightened right out.

[GP100man]

go to the auto parts & ask for dry lock cyl lube .
i put it on a small piece of towel & shake it around , then store in a ziploc .
use a little at first then add as needed.
oh yeah & get some dissposable gloves !!!!!

GP100man