what powder measure would you guys recommend?

greyling22 said:

I started life with a lee perfect powder measure. works well, still use it, but it struggles with stick powders.
Then I inherited an old unlflow. It's nicer in every way, but honestly, no more accurate.
I'm in the market for a 3rd measure now. I've been eyeballing the rcbs quick change and the hornady lock-n-load measures. does anybody here have any strong recommendations or suggestions or preferences?

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I’m Eyeballing the RCBS Chargmaster light... right at $230. looks good, and would be good for testing loads

It seems to me that the Uniflow is typical of mainstream powder measures. It works well and should last forever. Going to the Quick Change or the Lock-n-Load strikes me as kind of a lateral move, unless you really need the flexibility of tiny charges and huge charges from the same measure. (I've charged everything from .32 Long to .416 Rigby on an ancient old Lyman and never felt handicapped by it).

For my money, the next step up from the mainstream offerings is something top quality, like Harrell's.

I use the Lyman brass smith powder measure for stick powders. It's all steel no plastic parts like the lee ones.

I had the Hornady but mine struggled with light pistol loads. Constantly went over on loads below 12 grains. Switched over to the Frankfort Arsenal Intellidropper and have been happy ever since.

If looking at electronic I would consider the RCBS Charge Master Lite . I have one and have been very happy with it , after it is warmed up for awhile it holds zero very well and does not drift . I also have a Frankford Intellidropper , they operate in the same manner but I find the Intellidropper does drift some and I need to re-zero at times . This is a side by side comparison verified with a beam scale . Just one small example, could be a fluke . If you are not shooting benchrest I doubt it would matter .

I had the Hornady with the large and small drum. Sold it to buy the Quick Change for the drain feature.

I miss the Hornady. It was more consistent and had tighter tolerances.

With stick powders, I'll use just about any measure, throw a slightly light load and trickle the rest.

Nothing seems to work all that great with 'stick' powders. I was loading fairly heavy 7mm mag loads the other day, and weighed several, and they were +/- a good half grain... so a total swing of a full grain. I didn't trust that with the max loads, so I dialed back the charge a tad and topped them off on the scale. 61.0 grains of 4350 behind a 162 grain Hornady Interlock going into a Browning BAR. (for a buddy of mine)

With ball/flake powders, especially conservative loads... no problem not weighing them... but stick powders don't meter as well as the others, regardless of powder measure.

.38 Special said:

It seems to me that the Uniflow is typical of mainstream powder measures. It works well and should last forever. Going to the Quick Change or the Lock-n-Load strikes me as kind of a lateral move, unless you really need the flexibility of tiny charges and huge charges from the same measure. (I've charged everything from .32 Long to .416 Rigby on an ancient old Lyman and never felt handicapped by it).

For my money, the next step up from the mainstream offerings is something top quality, like Harrell's.

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you have a .416 rigby? nice

is this the same as the regular Charge Master

I have been using RCBS Uniflow and RCBS Lil' Dandy for many years. Good quality and great customer service. I do not load for bench rest or serious match competitions.

Mark_Mark said:

is this the same as the regular Charge Master

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No, that is not the same as the Charge master . The regular charge master is about twice the price of the lite . I am not sure what the actual differences are between the two . I have the lite and have never seen the regular in person .

Dale Alan said:

No, that is not the same as the Charge master . The regular charge master is about twice the price of the lite . I am not sure what the actual differences are between the two . I have the lite and have never seen the regular in person .

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I’m just going to buy it. price is just right

Mark_Mark said:

I’m just going to buy it. price is just right

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I am very happy with mine , for the price I think it's a great unit . I set my beam scale up right next to it everytime to check the calibration with test weights . After it is warmed up and throws a few charges it is spot on and I never check it again . Makes fast work of loading, especially loading tests.

Dale Alan said:

I am very happy with mine , for the price I think it's a great unit . I set my beam scale up right next to it everytime to check the calibration with test weights . After it is warmed up and throws a few charges it is spot on and I never check it again . Makes fast work of loading, especially loading tests.

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thanks man! I was looking for something to do test loads. and I figure the powder drop auto would make life easy.

OP... I use the RCBS uniflow drop and it’s been really good! it’s all taped up from dropping but solid like a bar of gold

With most drum style powder measures with stick powders you have to find a process that works for you. Knocking the measure, charge on the up stroke or the down stroke, position of a baffle or not using the baffle and so forth.

I use a Uniflow with Varget and H4895 for 30-06 and get consistent charges. Maybe not bench rest quality but adequate for service rifle with a Garand.

I use a Redding 10-X for my pistol loads.

I have a Uniflow and a chargemaster lite. For stick powders I always use the CM Lite, once warmed up it's very accurate. I use it for ladders with any type of powder, and all my loading with stick powders. I never really had much luck with consistent charge weights with stick powders in the Uniflow. Ball and flake powders run great in the Uniflow though.

Mark_Mark said:

thanks man! I was looking for something to do test loads. and I figure the powder drop auto would make life easy.

OP... I use the RCBS uniflow drop and it’s been really good! it’s all taped up from dropping but solid like a bar of gold

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You will like it for test loads , so easy just punching in a new number instead of moving the weights on a beam scale and adjusting a thrower and trickling up . I loaded for a 200 yard benchrest competition last fall with mine as an experiment , I saw no difference in my score compared to meticulous trickling . Have fun with it .

IALoder said:

I have a Uniflow and a chargemaster lite. For stick powders I always use the CM Lite, once warmed up it's very accurate. I use it for ladders with any type of powder, and all my loading with stick powders. I never really had much luck with consistent charge weights with stick powders in the Uniflow. Ball and flake powders run great in the Uniflow though.

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Good point, I find the same . The lite really shines with stick powder.

Lee Dippers. I've never had to worry about metering.

entropy said:

Lee Dippers. I've never had to worry about metering.

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I have a set! $12, have not used it yet.

My Dillon has a few Lee Auto Drum measures on different caliber conversion heads...work great for me...I did use a Uniflow for years, liked it, it served me well, passed it along to a younger lad who needed a good powder measure.

Gary Gill said:

I have been using RCBS Uniflow and RCBS Lil' Dandy for many years. Good quality and great customer service. I do not load for bench rest or serious match competitions.

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I use the same 2. I use the Lil Dandy for my pistol loads.

Like many have already posted, I, too, use an RCBS ChargeMaster for developing test loads and certain/specific precision loads.
Most of the time though, I use a Redding 3BRK checked against the calibrated ChargeMaster.
Once it’s set, it seems to hold pretty well, even with stick powder. Ball powder stays dead on the money once it’s set.
That razor-sharp edge on the rotor cavity hole apparently helps a lot.