50 drops - Lee Deluxe Perfect Powder Measure

LiveLife

LiveLife

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Joined
Jan 10, 2010
Messages
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Location
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Disclosure: Lee offered 50% discount off MSRP

Due to standard threaded drop tube, powder measure can mount on any press.

DLXPPM1.jpg

Seemingly brass looking cone showing micrometer plunger end

DLXPPM2.jpg

Close-up of plunger dropped below cone surface

DLXPPM3.jpg

I noticed elastomer wiper that contacts the cone surface

DLXPPM4.jpg

Close-up of wiper

DLXPPM5.jpg

Close-up of micrometer. Pushing lever down allows brass drum with indentations on the bottom to turn (Releasing lever locks the drum from turning)

DLXPPM1b.jpg

DLXPPM6.jpg

Lever in the "up" position allows plunger end to fill with powder from hopper

DLXPPM7.jpg

Lever in the "down" position drops the powder charge into the standard threaded drop tube

DLXPPM8.jpg

Due to standard threaded drop tube, powder measure can mount on any press

DLXPPM1a.jpg

Cleaning and assembly - As outlined in the "1. Remove Residual Oil" instructions, I wiped the inside of drop tube with paper towel and also wiped the inside of powder measure along with cone surface.

Set up and break-in - I used station #3 of 2023 Breech Lock Pro 1000 to set up the powder measure and lightly tightened the cone wing nut until I felt light resistance to lever operation. Full hopper of W231/HP-38 was run through to break-in the powder measure and cone wing nut tightened a bit more after refilling the hopper with W231/HP-38.

Preparation for 50 drops - I usually do 10 powder charge drops to see how well powder measures meter - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/powder-measure-reccomendations.863943/#post-11398909

But larger sample size is better, right? So the charge drops were increased to continuous sample size of 50 using W231/HP-38. Refilled hopper was ran down half way before dropping 50 charges with target of 5.0 gr:
  1. 5.00 gr
  2. 4.98 gr
  3. 5.02 gr
  4. 5.04 gr
  5. 4.98 gr
  6. 5.02 gr
  7. 4.96 gr
  8. 5.02 gr
  9. 5.00 gr
  10. 4.98 gr
  11. 5.04 gr
  12. 5.02 gr
  13. 4.94 gr
  14. 4.98 gr
  15. 4.98 gr
  16. 4.98 gr
  17. 5.02 gr
  18. 4.98 gr
  19. 5.02 gr
  20. 5.00 gr
  21. 4.98 gr
  22. 4.96 gr
  23. 4.98 gr
  24. 4.98 gr
  25. 5.00 gr
  26. 5.02 gr
  27. 5.02 gr
  28. 4.98 gr
  29. 5.00 gr
  30. 4.98 gr
  31. 4.96 gr
  32. 5.00 gr
  33. 5.04 gr
  34. 4.94 gr
  35. 5.02 gr
  36. 4.94 gr
  37. 5.00 gr
  38. 4.96 gr
  39. 4.98 gr
  40. 5.04 gr
  41. 5.06 gr
  42. 5.00 gr
  43. 4.98 gr
  44. 4.98 gr
  45. 5.02 gr
  46. 5.00 gr
  47. 5.00 gr
  48. 4.96 gr
  49. 4.98 gr
  50. 4.96 gr
ETA: Breakdown of charges:
  • 10 charges of 5.0 gr (On target)
  • 26 charges of 4.98/5.02 gr (.02 gr from target)
  • 10 charges of 4.96/5.04 gr (.04 gr from target)
  • 3 charges of 4.94 gr (.06 gr from target)
  • 1 charge of 5.06 gr (.06 gr from target)
46/50 drops were within 0.08 gr spread and 4/50 drops were within 0.12 gr spread.
 
Last edited:
dh1633pm said:
What was the average of 50?
Click to expand...
Here's the breakdown:
  • 10 charges of 5.0 gr (On target)
  • 26 charges of 4.98/5.02 gr (.02 gr from target)
  • 10 charges of 4.96/5.04 gr (.04 gr from target)
  • 3 charges of 4.94 gr (.06 gr from target)
  • 1 charge of 5.06 gr (.06 gr from target)
46/50 drops were within 0.08 gr spread and 4/50 drops were within 0.12 gr spread.
 
If measured on a beam scale to 0.0 level accuracy, wouldn't those appear to be more or less all the same? In other words, in a traditional sense as relates to reloading, very accurate?
 
Howa 9700 said:
If measured on a beam scale to 0.0 level accuracy, wouldn't those appear to be more or less all the same? In other words, in a traditional sense as relates to reloading, very accurate?
Click to expand...
Yes.

Unless you have the beam scale's zero line and pointer magnified, much of 50 drops' readings would seem to appear around the zero line.
 
My similarly designed auto drum measures leak fine ball powders because of the ill fitting polymer cone-shaped "drum". Perhaps the brass one fits with closer precision and tolerances.
LiveLife said:
I have No. 2 and H335 that I was planning to test along with Titegroup next.

I think the use of elastomer wiper was to help with leaking very fine granule powders.
Click to expand...
 
LiveLife said:
Here's the breakdown:
  • 10 charges of 5.0 gr (On target)
  • 26 charges of 4.98/5.02 gr (.02 gr from target)
  • 10 charges of 4.96/5.04 gr (.04 gr from target)
  • 3 charges of 4.94 gr (.06 gr from target)
  • 1 charge of 5.06 gr (.06 gr from target)
46/50 drops were within 0.08 gr spread and 4/50 drops were within 0.12 gr spread.
Click to expand...

Every time I check one of my measures (three Dillon's, 2 Uniflows, and a couple misc. others) the accuracy range always comes up around +/- 1% of the target weight with pistol through rifle sized charges. 46/50 of @LiveLife throws were within 0.05 gn. of the target 5.0. That is good accuracy and pretty typical for a good measure. If a loader can't live with +/- 1% they need to find another way to dispense their powder.
 
I did about 10 or so drops with my D ppm the other day, using AA# 7. Put some white paper towels below to look for leaks. At the end, in direct contrast to the regular PPM prior to lapping the drum, with the D ppm there were very few visible granules, and I think those dropped out the tube.......as near as I could tell, none from the drum half. And that wasn't cranked down so tight it was stiff to operate.

As for statistics, a good measure for something like this would be standard deviation. From this 50 drop data set, there appears to be very little. The coefficient of correlation very high.
 
That is not much deviation at all. I am using an older Lee Auto Disk and Hodgdon Universal for handgun calibers. I average plus/minus 0.1 grain with it. This is fine since I am not loading at max on any caliber. I will have to setup my Auto Disk with the adjustable charge bar again to see how much deviation it has with Hodgdon Universal. I have used it with H355 for loading 223 ammo and it averaged the same as the auto disks with Universal.
 
Last edited:
sparkyv said:
My similarly designed auto drum measures leak fine ball powders because of the ill fitting polymer cone-shaped "drum". Perhaps the brass one fits with closer precision and tolerances.
Click to expand...

Yup. My auto with the polymer drums will leak fine powder like True Blue after a dozen or so throws, put the polymer drum in the deluxe it leaks but leaks less. Get a little more than what you pay for with the deluxe. you get exactly what you pay for on the auto drum model :p
 
LiveLife said:
planning to test ... Titegroup next.
Click to expand...
Powder measure was reassembled with light pressure on the wing nut so there was almost no resistance to lever movement. Brand new factory 1 lb container of Titegroup was screwed to the red bottle adapter directly and 20 charges were dropped before starting 50 charge drops with target of 4.0 gr (NOTE: For W231/HP-38, lever up-down-up was used but for Titegroup, lever down-up-down was used with slight pause around 1 second in up position to fill powder):
  1. 4.00 gr
  2. 3.96 gr
  3. 4.00 gr
  4. 4.02 gr
  5. 4.02 gr
  6. 4.02 gr
  7. 4.02 gr
  8. 3.96 gr
  9. 4.00 gr
  10. 4.02 gr
  11. 4.02 gr
  12. 3.96 gr
  13. 4.04 gr
  14. 4.02 gr
  15. 4.00 gr
  16. 4.02 gr
  17. 4.04 gr
  18. 4.00 gr
  19. 3.98 gr
  20. 3.96 gr
  21. 3.98 gr
  22. 3.98 gr
  23. 4.00 gr
  24. 4.00 gr
  25. 4.00 gr
  26. 4.00 gr
  27. 4.00 gr
  28. 3.98 gr
  29. 4.02 gr
  30. 4.00 gr
  31. 4.04 gr
  32. 4.00 gr
  33. 4.04 gr
  34. 4.02 gr
  35. 4.00 gr
  36. 4.04 gr
  37. 4.02 gr
  38. 4.04 gr
  39. 4.06 gr
  40. 4.04 gr
  41. 4.02 gr
  42. 4.02 gr
  43. 4.02 gr
  44. 4.06 gr
  45. 4.04 gr
  46. 4.04 gr
  47. 4.02 gr
  48. 4.04 gr
  49. 4.00 gr
  50. 4.04 gr
Breakdown of charges:
  • 14 charges of 4.0 gr (On target)
  • 19 charges of 3.98/4.02 gr (.02 gr from target)
  • 15 charges of 3.96/4.04 gr (.04 gr from target)
  • 2 charges of 4.06 gr (.06 gr from target)
33/50 drops were within 0.04 gr spread and 15/50 drops were within 0.08 gr spread
 
Last edited:
Click_Here said:
I would think marketing at Lee would take a note on reports like these.
Click to expand...
My primary contact with Lee Precision is Calvin Katzfey who reached out to me to beta test products (Starting with bullet feed die and rotary magazine) after I pre-ordered Six Pack Pro/Pro 6000 kit. When I spoke to Calvin on the phone, I immediately took the opportunity to request Lee Precision consider doing R&D for stepped "M" style powder through expander and Calvin took the request directly to John Lee who immediately agreed to start the R&D and now decision has been made to replace all powder through expanders with "square seating" expander which I beta tested also (Official announcement is forthcoming) - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...epped-m-style-powder-through-expander.916523/

I emailed my first 50 drop W231/HP-38 findings to Calvin last night and got this reply this morning indicating consistency of drops will improve as the drum "seasons":

Good morning,​
​
... Not too bad, good feedback and useful information ... I would not be surprised to see the results get better as the drum continues to be conditioned and break in. We often see the best results after a pound has been ran through any powder measure ...​
​
Calvin Katzfey​
Lee Precision​
​
Based on the Titegroup results, looks like the drum/wiper is indeed being conditioned and breaking in. I plan on testing other powders (No 2, H335, etc.) and will repeat W231/HP-38 to see if conditioned/broken-in drum improves metering.
 
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