Problems with the Lyman 55 powder measure...

[SunnySlopes]

...and 4350 cylindrical powder.

The handle will go to the halfway mark and stop. It stops until I manage to cut a cylindrical flake of powder in two. Then it dumps the charge.

But it takes significant effort to cut the powder.

It this what Lyman means when they print the caveat, "..measures almost any powder with ease...?"

 

[FROGO207]

You will find that this is going to happen with extruded propellant. After a while you come to expect it and just slice on through the sticks. Measure your drops for a bit. I think you will see how accurately it measures. BTW other brands of measure (my Pacific) does this as well. Using ball propellants will not be cut like that.

 

[edwardware]

Sounds normal. Powder as short as H4831SC can be gently jiggled/pushed past, but IMR3031 needs to be cut.

This is why anyone uses ball powders in rifle.

 

[Skgreen]

I'm currently experimenting w/the tension on a recently acquired Lee 'Deluxe Perfect' drop.

Bought it w/ the intention of only using it on ~hard to meter~ powders and run everything else through my red or green drops.

Initial results on Universal (small-medium flake powder) are that I'll still need to throw short and trickle up, but,,,,, It can be done with a lot less effort than powering through the snags I sometimes encounter w/ red or green.

 

[jmorris]

What is the powder charge you are throwing and are you using all 3 slides or are you using all of 1 or 2?

There will be less chance of cutting if you use all 3 and minimize the exposed area. Conversely if you have the first one all the way open, that would maximize the area that has to be cut.

 

[SunnySlopes]

What is the powder charge you are throwing and are you using all 3 slides or are you using all of 1 or 2?

55 grains. And, I'm using 2 slides. But I've asked this same question on Glocktalk and The Firing Line and the majority of answers is that no matter what, others get the same issue with extruded powders regardless the equipment.

Thanks for the response. I'm simply going to hand measure the 4350 load onto an electronic Dillion scale and trickle the difference. Sort of like my college days with my ball peen hammer and Lee kit.

 

[jmorris]

Pretty much everyone that uses extruded powders knows they don’t meter as well but lots of folks haven’t even used the 55 measure or realize there are ways to mitigate cutting kernels.

If you are throwing 55 grains with just two slides you likely have them both almost all the way open (if you can even throw 55gn with just the first two). This will maximize the surface area that has to meet the cutting edge of the measure.



The 3rd slide is the deep one and will allow you to keep the “window” in the drum as narrow as possible, while throwing the same volume.





If you do decide to trickle with a digital scale, I would trickle up to your charge weight, then remove the charge completely and once the scale is back to zero, remeasure the charge and confirm the charge is indeed what you were looking for. Some electronic scales don’t measure trickled charges very well at all, that’s what you are checking for. If it can’t give you the same number “all at once” that it does “a little at a time”, I wouldn’t trust it.

 

[SunnySlopes]

The 3rd slide is the deep one and will allow you to keep the “window” in the drum as narrow as possible, while throwing the same volume.

Thanks for the pictures jmorris. I had read the description/procedure elsewhere and could not understand what they were saying. My third slide was almost immovable. I had to use a woodworker's vise to get it out.

And that did lessen the difficulty of cutting the 4350 granules. However, I think once I'm through with that bottle, I'll go to something more accommodating.

Thanks again.

I'm kind of disappointed, though, that I don't "need" that RCBS Chargemaster 1500 now.

 

[FROGO207]

It's not about "need" but about trying a different way to see if it's easier/faster don't cha know.

 

[jmorris]

Thanks for the pictures jmorris. I had read the description/procedure elsewhere and could not understand what they were saying. My third slide was almost immovable. I had to use a woodworker's vise to get it out.

And that did lessen the difficulty of cutting the 4350 granules. However, I think once I'm through with that bottle, I'll go to something more accommodating.

Thanks again.

I'm kind of disappointed, though, that I don't "need" that RCBS Chargemaster 1500 now.

You are welcome, they say a picture is worth a thousand words and now you know more about your measure than the majority of folks on the other forums.

I have a couple chargemasters and they are good for what they are.



My beam balance auto trickler has a better resolution though. The cheap electric scales can’t detect such small changes in weight.

 

[Offfhand]

The problem described by the OP is quite typical of the difficulty of measuring thick, long grained powders with most manual measures, not just the Lyman 55. The situation was largely resolved by the design and manufacture of the Bruno measure, widely used by benchrest shooters and other seekers of precision performance. Attached photos show interior of a Bruno measure, showing how the interior configuration directs flow of powder and creates an angular slicing action rather than a blunt chopping cut..

 

[Old Stumpy]

I own a Redding Competition powder measure which uses the typical micrometer tube powder chamber. I wanted top quality so I paid for it.
I also own a vintage Lyman 55 that was made in the 50s or 60s I would guess.
It came to me somewhat used and but still stored in it's factory box.
Both slice powder granules and hesitate a bit with some powders, and both are very precise and consistently accurate.