Good powder measure?

[Archangel14]

Gents, I use a basic Lee single setup, but got rid of the scale in favor of a digital scale (never trusted the Lee scale). I'm looking to replace my "Perfect Powder" measure for something more substantial. The Lee measure leaks like a hose and I don't trust it's accuracy. What's a good, quality measure that won't break the bank? I want a quality measure without having to pay Redding prices. Thanks

 

[cfullgraf]

I have an RCBS Uniflow, Redding 10-X, Hornady L-N-L, and a discontinued Midway Indispensable. All are drum style measures and all work well.

I have found that the size of a cavity is important for consistent charges. One designed for rifle does not work well for handgun. The Midway has a huge cavity and I use it for 30-06 sized cases. I use the Uniflow for medium sized rifle cases and the 10-X for handgun.

The Uniflow and Hornady have options for different sized metering drums. the Hornady's pistol drum's cavity is larger than it needs to be in my opinion for consistent small powder chargers. I recently modified a Redding 10-X to use on my Hornady progressive in place of the Hornady measure.

I am also a big fan of baffles in my powder measures. The peak of the baffle should be perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the drum for good operations. But there are lots of difference of opinions here.

There is a big following for the Lyman 55.

Look for used and you can save some bucks.

Hope this helps.

 

[Lost Sheep]

I'm serious

Don't laugh.

Lee's Dippers don't leak. Won't break the bank, either. They are also pretty darned accurate if you put in the practice to develop a consistent technique.

Please don't flame this post. If you don't agree, just ignore it.

It is a waste of bandwidth to tell me how wrong I am. I will not argue that dippers (either Lee's or ones you make yourself) are better than any other. All I am saying is that a dipper is an option. And cheap enough to serve until the O.P. finds a replacement for his unsatisfactory current tool.

Thanks for reading and thanks for asking our advice

Lost Sheep

 

[T Bran]

Not laughing Lostsheep,
I use dippers for my plinking stuff and dip and trickle up for my more critical loads.

 

[GLOOB]

The PPM is an easy fix, ArchAngel14. Unscrew it and lap the cone to the body with some rubbing compound. Unless your PPM is really buggered, this should stop the leaking, even with fine ball powders.

If you're still unhappy with the accuracy, try changing your technique. There are some weird things people do with a thrower with good intentions, but which actually make the precision worse.

1. Tapping the measure between each throw. Also banging the thrower arm to the stops, forcefully.

This is detrimental to accuracy. When the powder falls in "loosely," it's as accurate as it's going to get. As the powder falls in free air, it arranges in a relatively random pattern. Thousands of flakes of powder arranged at random is going to end up fairly consistent. If you tap it so it packs in there "tightly," the throw is going to vary by how much pressure there is packing it in. I.e., as your powder reservoir goes lower, the charge weight will decrease. An analogy would be measuring a cup of snow. Sure, you can pile a huge column of snow over a cup and keep on tapping until you get a cup of ice. But your pressure and vibration are going to vary. So cut your losses and stick with what drops, naturally. This is actually covered in the PPM manual.

2. Leaving the arm up between throws.

People think this is better, because it gives the powder more time to settle in the measure. Well, for the same reasons as #1, you shouldn't do this. In addition to how high the hopper is filled, you're also now packing each charge more or less, depending on how much vibration you are exposing it to, everytime you bump your bench or whatnot.

Leave the arm down between throws. Move it up, smoothly. Move it back down to drop the charge. You don't have to sit there and wait a few seconds for the measure to fill. It only takes a split second. Leaving the arm down provides a second benefit. If part of the throw got stuck in the measure (maybe just a few lingering flakes, or maybe worse), you might actually see it fall while you're getting your next case. If you immediately raise the arm after you drop the charge, you are destroying the evidence.

If you can't get the accuracy you want from the Lee PPM, then pony up for a Chargemaster, or the like. Cuz it doesn't get any better.

 

[kingmt]

I like my Pro Disk better then the Uniflo & LNL. these are the only ones I have owned.

 

[Galil5.56]

I was in similar shoes at one time... Tried the Lee PPM almost 20 years ago head to head with my Uniflow, and after giving it a very fair shake found it's performance not up to the job at all. I continue to enjoy using my RCBS Uniflow, and it remains leak free, precise, and feels of hefty quality. Was loading .30 Carbine yesterday with WW296, and checks on dropped charges were consistently dead on for the 15 grain load spec.

Sure, it crunches larger extruded propellants, but even then it's cast iron components do it easily, and accuracy is still very good. Smaller extruded propellants meter very well, and any ball propellant meters super smooth w/o any grittiness, grinding, leaking, or feeling like a wet sandy PVC pipe turning within another... So my recommendation is the RCBS Uniflow to meet your stated criteria based on my own hands-on experience. Good luck.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

My vote is on the Uni-Flow. I have a pro disk, Uni-flow, and LNL all three. The Pro-Disk worked well for years then I started getting squibs from it, may have been my fault, but I quit using the pro1000 press it came on due to timing problems on the press.

The Uni-Flow was my first measure and I've had it for probably 20years. I have never had any complaints with it. I never fill it more than half full because they didn't come with a baffle then. Maybe they still don't.

When I bought my LNLAp press recently, I tried the baffle out of the lock n load measure in the uni-flow and it fits fine. I will order a spare baffle from Hornady for my uni-flow.
Honestly, I have not used the LNL measure long enough to give an honest accessment.
I have been trying to get it to throw an load that is more than 1/10 gr off with my favorite pistol powders (not Unique) and after 3 days of playing with it on and off and weighing on my digitol scales, it seems to be as accurate as my Uni-flow. May prove to be more accurate until I get a baffle for in it.

 

[jack44]

Lee perfect powder messure.

 

[rikman]

Redding prices equal redding quality imho...but if you don't want to break the bank....check out the Lee auto disk. I use it on my turret press as a solution to my beloved Unique and it's lousy metering qualities ....

 

[TonyT]

I use an older Hollywood and a RCBS Uniflow powder measures.

 

[xfyrfiter]

I use my Lee PPM and measure at least 10 charges before loading, and every 10th charge after and I have yet to be more than .05 of a grain off. The key is doing everything as close to identical every time as is possible. Be consistent, no radio, no tv, no interruptions. Reloading with distractions is a recipe for a kaboom.

 

[beatledog7]

I use dippers if I'm only going to load a handful--saves time filling and clearing the measure. But I weigh the charges to be sure.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I have a RCBS Uniflow and Hornady L-N-L. If I could only have one, it would be the L-N-L. I like the design better. However, either of them will throw 9 out of 10 charges spot on with fine powder like Power Pistol.

 

[Nick93]

My RCBS Uniflow has an extreme spread of 0.05 grains using W-231 and with a consistent movement of the handle most of the time is 0.00 or 0.02 away from my target after I added a powder waffle... my scale has an accuracy and resolution of 0.02 grains ...

 

[sjc]

Hi:
Over the years I have used RCBS, Hornady, Redding, CH and Belding & Mull powder measures. The Belding & Mull is by far the most accurate powder measure I have ever used. They are not made any longer but used ones are easy to find. If you purchase one make sure it has the graduated tube with it and that the glass window is present.

 

[GLOOB]

The best I can measure, my PPM throws an extreme spread of ~0.1 grain with 23 grain charges of H335 (that's plus or minus ~0.05gr, max). Extreme spread of around 0.3gr with pistol charges of Unique. Around 0.4 extreme spread with 25gr charges of Varget. Which incidentally seems to compare well to a Chargemaster, according to another recent thread reporting a 0.3gr spread with that powder with 44 grain charges.

grittiness, grinding, leaking, or feeling like a wet sandy PVC pipe turning within another

This used to describe my PPM, but it was easily fixed in 20 minutes. It's smooth and it doesn't leak, at all, with any of my powders. The PPM design works well, but the molded plastic joint halves don't necessarily fit as good as they could, right out of the box. Fortunately, the joint is designed to handle wear. Despite being plastic, the thing should last practically forever. If you don't hand fit it when you get it, it can eventually break itself in.

 

[Taroman]

I have owned and used RCBS, Lee Perfect, Lee Disk Pro and the old Pacific/Hornady pistol (bushing) measure.
All had their plusses and minuses.
Finally got a Redding #3 with both metering assemblies and the baffle.
This is as consistent or more so, than anything else and the micrometer makes setting a snap.
Made up a spreadsheet using powder VMDs and the initial setting is usually + - .2 gr or less.
Once I have the exact setting for a given charge, going back to it is a snap. Set the number, check on the scale (usually spot on) and start charging cases.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

Archangel,
If you do want a Redding Powder measure but don't want to pay their high price, there are about four of them on Ebay right now.

3 of them look like new and have the mic. adjustments on them.

 

[StandingTall]

I have a Lee Perfect Powder Measure, and while it works great with spherical powders (specifically HP-38 and H335), it doesn't measure consistently with extruded powders (Varget).

 

[sugarmaker]

I own the following and have the following opinions:

1975 Uniflow with 1995 micrometer, - Good culver type measure, no leaks, can write down settings and return, as accurate as any measure, using a baffle (mine is home made) helps.

Hornady LNL on an AP press: Seems good, measures well, no leaks, comes with baffle, but a real PIA to adjust for case mouth expansion on pistol cases and not all that easy to adjust for anything else on the progressive. It's set up and gets used for .223 only, works wonderfully for that role. As far as a measure only I'd rate it with the uniflow. Haven't made much use of the quick change inserts, i have a few but the measure is pretty much used for 25 grains varget and that's it.

Lee pro disks on LNL-AP: I own 3 of these, set up for .357, .44mag, .500SW. Cheap enough for one per caliber ($33 from Nachez). They do leak a little as the slide chamber is open at the top, but not too bad. Accuracy has been good.

Lee dippers - I take these to the range, very handy for development. I still weigh max loads and accuracy loads but the dippers get very close, save time, and pack easily.

 

[Kingcreek]

I bought my Pacific/Hornady with large and small(pistol) micrometer inserts over 25 years ago and it's been consistently accurate and reliable throughout. I don't recall the initial cost but averaged over 25 years and it's value used make it a heck of a bargain IMO.

 

[BullfrogKen]

I've had success with both the RCBS Uniflow and Lyman #55 for single stage loading.


I've used both of Lee's AutoDisk measures on progressives for pistol calibers. I normally use Lee's Pro Disk because it changes disks easier, but it will spill very tiny amounts of ball powder. I only notice it after about 300 rounds, though.

 

[fguffey]

I have 2 Ohaus and a few Herters.

F. Guffey

 

[biogenic]

I've had success with both the RCBS Uniflow and Lyman #55 for single stage loading.


I've used both of Lee's AutoDisk measures on progressives for pistol calibers. I normally use Lee's Pro Disk because it changes disks easier, but it will spill very tiny amounts of ball powder. I only notice it after about 300 rounds, though.

I use the same as above with great success. I weight my powder on an old Hornady Pacific Mechanical scale. Love that scale ! I am not sure why a lot of people don't like the LEE safety scales, I think they are pretty accurate but harder to adjust and read than the Rcbs or Hornady Pacific scales.