Decided to get my own Deluxe PPM. Arrived yesterday and this is my first impression.
On the shelf above my loading bench is a RCBS Uniflow, and under that are a pair of Lee regular PPMs. The Deluxe falls between them. Not as big or robust as the Uniflow, but far above the regular plastic PPM. Should mention that for anything other than very fine pistol powders, I have no complaint with regular PPM. Despite the simple plastic appearance, the littel PPM works and works well. Very accurate and in terms of easy of use, runs circles around the big robust Uniflow.
Now for the good stuff. The Deluxe uses same cone and drum design as base PPM, except both now made out of a cast brass alloy, with mating surfaces machined and lightly polished. If you follow the break in procedure, they polish up even more. Granted has only seen limited break in use, but so far, no leaking of powders. Either thru the drum or from powder retained in drop tube to fall out on it's own.
As with PPM, the Deluxe measure tube has 1/2" diameter and both are calibrated in cubic centimeters to 0.01 cc accuracy, which for most powders equates to 0.1 grain per 0.01 cc, so makes it easy to dial in drops or changes. PPM tops out around 4cc, same as the largest Lee dipper, which in my set is 4.4cc. But while Deluxe is same diameter, it is twice as long, measuring 8cc, which is an obscene amount of powder. So Deluxe as is with brass drum should be as accurate as the regular PPM, and when I set it to go for 5.0 grains of Unique, it did 10 drops in a row that were virtually identical. The also offer a set of optional or supplemental plastic drums......the set comes with 2 small drums and 2 larger ones. More like 2 short drums and 2 longer ones. The hole in those have a smaller diameter of about 7/16" vs. 1/2" on the regulars, so in theory are going to be more accurate with small drops of fine powders. They also allow you to have individual drums dedicated to a particular load, so once calibrated for a favorite load, you don't have to change anything. Swap them in and out as needed. For some reason, the plastic drums have a rougher machining. Actual fine grooves left on the mating surface of the drum vs. the slick surface on the regular PPM. They will require some break in, but perhaps that is also by design? I don't know and Lee's instructions didn't say.
One thing I didn't care for was the powder bottle that ships with the Deluxe. Comes in two parts........a clear plastic screw on bottle and a red plastic base. Fill the bottle, screw it to the base, invert it, install it and twist it to turn powder drop on. Contrary to what you may find on the Internet, the powder hoppers on regular PPM do not fit the Deluxe. The base mount design is different. Having seen both, my preference is the old style red plastic hoppers with lid that you can open, so can drop powder back in the hopper during calibration runs. Can't do that with the bottle the Deluxe ships with. But the red base has same threads used on most 1 pound powder bottles, so in theory you can screw the base onto a bottle of AA#5, or Longshot or Varget or Green Dot, and go to town. The bottle the powder shipped in is now your hopper. Can't see the level, but that may not matter. If this is a deal breaker........there appears to be a fix. While it doesn't ship with one, there is a red plastic hopper that works just like the regular PPM, but will fit on the Deluxe. It has a Lee part number, so can be ordered from a variety of sources, including ebay sellers. It costs about $15 to $20.
The Deluxe doesn't come with a base as the PPM does. It will fit an existing base (like that for the Uniflow or others), or can be fitted out to mount on a press, or they also sell a base to match. The base is something like 3/16 metal, and is heavy, but will still lift off your bench if you snug down the drum. In fact, instructions for the plastic drums say the correct setting for snugness is tight enough the base is on verge of going airborne. I have the base and I'm clamping it down, which makes it solid as a rock and stays where you put it.
So in conclusion........on balance, a much better quality product, but in most cases, the regular little plastic PPM is going to do the same thing for about 20% of the cost of a Deluxe.
