Good Powder Measure

[High Plains Drifter]

Looking for a good middle of the line price wise, powder measure. I began shooting Steel Challenge and will be doing a lot of loading and a good reliable powder measure that throws repeatable accurate charge weight would help.

Thanks

 

[mahansm]

If you'll be loading a large number of common semiauto rounds (9mm, .40, .45), you could do a lot worse than a Dillon SDB. The included powder measure works well, even on Unique.

It will allow you to crank out 400 rounds/hour or so and with one caliber you don't have to worry about changeovers.

Biggest drawbacks are that you cannot load rifle or the larger handgun rounds (anything above .45 Colt) and the dies are unique to that particular machine.

 

[Average Joe]

Any of the top brands will work well, but, I prefer the RCBS Uniflow.

 

[Airman Basic]

For handgun rounds, I don't think you can beat the Little Dandy. Rotors are a considerable investment, but over the years I've collected them all. Plus your Christmas and birthday presents are easy Very repeatable for me with just about any suitable powder. Couldn't do without mine.

 

[Load Master]

High Plains Drifter, what equipment are you loading on? What brand and what cal?

For the money it is hard to do better than the Lee Auto Drum.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I'm using a Lee Pro Auto-Disk and W231/HP-38 with very good success. I also have a Lyman #55 that would work extremely well with small charges of powder since it has a 3 stage metering system.

 

[cfullgraf]

Just about any powder measure will serve the OP well. They all have their pluses and minuses.

For handgun, I'm partial to the Redding 10-X but I'm sure it is outside the price range of the OP.

The RCBS Uniflow, Hornady L-N-L, Lyman 55 and Lee Auto Drum would serve the OP well.

More important, the key to consistent powder throws is consistent operation of the powder measure, regardless of the manufacturer. Do it the same way, every time.

Also, I'm partial to having a baffle installed in my powder measures. But some folks do well with out one. Baffles are inexpensive to buy and even cheaper to make so why not try one out.

As far as the RCBS Little Dandy, I reloaded with one for a long time. It works well but rotors can get expensive these days. I've got original rotor boxes marked with $1.95. They are not that cheap these days.

But, I found the fixed cavity rotor to be a disadvantage. The load I wanted seemed to always be between rotors. Yes, some folks modify the rotors for alternate powder charges, but then you have to "un-modify" it to go back the original powder charges, or buy more rotors.

I still have my Little Dandy and have no plans to get rid of it. But, I have not used it in 15 or 20 years.

 

[LiveLife]

Looking for a good middle of the line price wise, powder measure.

I'm using a Lee Pro Auto-Disk and W231/HP-38 with very good success.

How much consistency do you need?

While I use C-H 502 micrometer powder measure for rifle powders (which I also got to use on Dillon 650); for pistol powder load development, I usually use Lee Perfect Powder Measure for throws with less than +/- .1 gr variance.

I began shooting Steel Challenge and will be doing a lot of loading and a good reliable powder measure that throws repeatable accurate charge weight would help.

For my USPSA match loads, I preferred to use several Pro Auto Disks because unlike other powder measures that could drift (and require weighing of charges every 50-100 drops), the fixed volumetric disks cannot drift even after 1000+ round reloading session. With small ball powders like W231/HP-38/WSF and small flake powders like Bullseye/Power Pistol/BE-86, PAD drops with less than .1 gr variance and +/- .1 gr with most other small granule powders.

As to dropping in-between fixed hole charges, I use this mod for .1 gr powder charge increments - http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=741988

For smaller charge drops, the mod will allow drops of W231/HP-38 down to 2.0 gr and Bullseye down to 1.5 gr.

 

[ericuda]

I second the auto disk. Once you mod a disk or find one that charges what you want it is very consistent. Disks are cheap and easy to mod.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Very small charges when using tge PRO Auto-Disk are handled by the micro-disk add-on or adjustable charge bar.

https://www.amazon.com/Lee-Precisio...ascsubtag=3566291c8103-4672-9bec-5b4b96916aa9

https://www.amazon.com/Lee-Precisio...8&qid=1473044148&sr=8-4&keywords=lee+pro+disk

 

[Dudedog]

I have a Lee Pro disk, the Lee Auto drum and the Hornady LNL powder measure (and the Lee Perfect Powder measure which I only use for rifle)
I really think the Lee Autodrum is a great value and would me my choice.
(while not perfect, powder hopper can be easily removed while open if your are used to the pro disk with screws and forget there are no screws hold the hopper on )
I still use the Auto disk as some disks throw the charge I want (of course I already have it) and some I opened up a bit to get the charge I wanted. (.43 throws 4.7gr of HP38 and .46 throws 5, favorite charges for 45 ACP) and as mentioned it does not drift when using fixed disks.
The Hornady looks fancier but I don't think it is any more accurate than the Autodrum or Autodisk.
+ or - .1 with both Lee measures using BE86, Bullseye, CFE-P, HP38, Universal, WSF and others.
The LPD throws Promo + or -.2 and it is a large flake.

I did not care much for the adjustable charge bar for the Autodisk, worked ok for larger charges not as well for smaller ones. (9mm size)

I find the Lee Autodrum hard to beat for the money.
(using Lee powder thru dies for pistol)

 

[FROGO207]

I will go a different route. I use an old Ideal 55 (now Lyman 55) and find that it works well for even the flake type powders in small amounts for handgun ammo. It can be "tuned" for each propellant charge to give good repeatable drops for me, even with small charges. It does take a bunch of experimentation in the beginning to get the three slides to where it is consistent but just return to the settings again and you are GTG with a minor adjustment or two the next session. The little Dandy is a better "fixed cavity will not deviate" device but tends to work with some propellants better than with others with respect to repeatability IMHO. Now, I have not tried the high dollar measures like Harrell and the other high end ones. I am willing to invest some time into adjustments rather than dig into my wallet for this.

 

[Kevin Rohrer]

Check Ebay for a Hollywood. You should pay around $75, but well worth it, as the measure if very accurate.

 

[hdwhit]

I've used an RCBS Uniflow powder measure since the 1980's.

I used it today when loading 100 rounds of 9mm. It took me about ten minutes to dial in a load of 5.0 grains of HP-38. The powder charges where checked on both my 1980's vintage 5-10 scale as well as my new 5-0-5 scale (bought because I didn't trust a scale that sat derelict for 20 years) and from the first load to the last, every load went into the pan and both scales read the same thing.

RCBS is expensive, but something that will last you forever - and be supported by the company forever - has a cost, but it also has a value all its own.