Which precision powder measure?

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Gtscotty

Gtscotty

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So I've been trying to streamline my rifle cartridge loading lately; I've cut my case prep time down, and now the long pole in the tent is powder measuring. As of right now, I use a lee powder thrower to throw a slightly light charge, then trickle up, but that's kind of a slow process for batches of 50 or 100.

I'm wondering what powder measures people have had the best luck with throwing charges of H4350, Varget and H4831SC in the 40gr to 60gr range. Most of my shooting is with 6.5 Creedmoor and .308 precision rifles, and I'm looking for a measure that can fairly reliably throw short cut extruded powder charges with +-0.1 gr variance.

So far I'm looking at:

Redding Model 3
Redding 3BR
RCBS Uniflow

I'd like to keep the price under $200.

What say you THR?
 
In your short list, Redding 3BR. Period. Hands down.
The others are very good, you can't lose with any of the 3.
For your cartridge list given the charges, the 3BR is excellent.

There are others (much more expensive!!! way over your $200)
but excellent. Harrell's, just as fast as the Redding but even better.
Promethius, hugely more expensive but not faster, just more precise.

And there are a whole boatload of other Lyman, Forster, Hornady etc.
that are also good, you really can't lose with any of the front line
manufacturers.

But of course, the 3BR is made for applications like yours.
After I used mine for a year, I bought another and keep it new in box
because some day I just might need another powder measure
and I'll be perfectly happy with another.
 
Jim has a good suggestion, a good trickler.

Oh, yes. Harrell's is excellent. But their cheapie is over $200 plus shipping.
The better Benchrest model is $240. Plus the stand is $60.


If I could possibly afford it, I would be pleased forever.


By the way, I'm intrigued about their presses. I don't know anyone who has one.
Five different models including a turret (but no progressives).
They also have other tools, accessories, etc. Like scope rings, muzzle brakes, bolt knobs.
 
Digging right now, somewhere I had a link to a test/comparison of powder measures....
No of course since I am looking for it I can't find it....:banghead:
 
I've had the Redding 3BR and I have the Harrell's. I much prefer the Harrell's. It is much more pleasant to use, and it is as accurate or consistent as any of the others. The one feature it has which makes it quite user friendly, is a detente knob that both keeps a setting, and makes it easy to repeat a setting, so as to throw the consistent charges should you load more than one cartridge, or more than one powder.
 
For powders like IMR/H4350 and Varget The Quick Measure is the most consistent measure I have or ever read about. However it starts at $200. It takes several throws to get it adjusted but once it's set it is a +/-.02 over and over again. It does very well with ball and flake powder too but many other PMs costing much less do that as well.

The new Lee Auto Drum work well with shorter extruded powders like IMR/H4895 to but falls short with the powders you mentioned.
 
Technique is important to get any of the measures to throw consistent charges particularly with stick powders.

I do not have either the Redding Model 3 or BR3 but I have a 10-X and like their design.

I've had a Uniflow since about 1980 and the use has gravitated to using it for small rifle cartridges. It works well enough that I never felt compelled to upgrade to one of the bigger Reddings.

I feel I get more consistent charges for handgun with the 10-X than the Uniflow.

Presently, I use the Uniflow and 10-X primarily on progressive presses using the case activated powder drop systems from Hornady.

I bought a Harrell's Precision Custom 90 ($200 http://www.harrellsprec.com) for rifle a few years ago. I use it exclusively for small batches of rifle cartridge reloading.

It is very consistent and repeatable. But, the click adjustment on the measure means you get small, finite changes in charge level, not the potential of 0.1 grain changes with the infinitely variable micrometers on the Reddings and Uniflow (I'd only get the Uniflow with the micrometer upgrade, but that's me).

Upside, is with the Harrell's click adjustment, it is easier to work up loads and easier to return to a known charge level than even the powder measures with the micrometer adjusters.

The Harrell's mount with a c-clamp affair so while their stand has some nice features, the measure is flexible and can be easily mounted to just about anything.

Final note, the micrometer adjusters or the Harrell's click adjustment does not make the powder measure throw more consistently, but it does make it much easier to return to a particular load or make adjustments in a load. This assumes you have recorded the setting.
 
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Any of the three you mentioned will get the job done. However, if you want a high end repeatability (precision) then, as suggested, start looking towards Harrell Powder Measures and similar units. Not at all to see guys on the range loading using a Harrell or similar and only the powder measure, sans a scale. Works just fine. Really a matter of tuning your powder measure wants and needs. Chuck covers it quite well above in post #9.

Ron
 
I use a Harrell a lot of the time (twas a birthday gift), but I still use the Dillon 550 measure about half the time for my shortrange Highpower competition loads (300yds and less). But I know that the load will shoot well enough regardless of which way I go. My loads for the long line (600 and up) are either from the Harrell or weighed.

I'm a big fan of not spending unnecessary time at the bench. So when I developed my loads, the final test was done in the worst brass I have in the bunch (I have 10 cases that are labelled the lightest and heaviest out of the 100 or so I measured). I load the 5 heavy cases with charges that are 0.3grs above nominal charge--these should be higher pressure than nominal. The 5 light cases get 0.3grs under the nominal. I mix them up and shoot them into one target. If they're shoot about a minute and a half or better at 200 off the bench, then I'm done. I'll be able to shoot a clean score with a fair margin when I'm holding hard. So what I'm really looking for is a load that is tolerant of the variances that I have in my process.

It's a different approach to handloading. Most seek to know what may occasionally be obtained under optimum conditions. I think it's more valuable to know what's the worst I can expect.



ETA: I have taken a hard look at both measures, and spent enough weighing charges to be able to maximize my chances of getting a good drop, and have enough data/experience to feel when to expect a bad drop. That means spending some time doing double raps, taps, etc, while writing down the weight of each charge and notes on whether it felt crunchy or whatnot.
 
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Thanks for the reply's thus far, it sounds like the 3BR, and the Harrell measures are the favorites thus far.

Just comparing prices, it looks like the cheapest Harrell is the Custom 90 at $209. Does anyone have experience with this particular measure? Is it as precise as the other Harrell models? Also, the description says that the "metering system is four click only"... What does this mean?

It looks like I can get a 3BR for $165, but I would need a bench mount which brings the total price up to $202, which is a wash with the cheapest Harrell, which comes with a clamp style mount.

I currently weight my charges with a Dillon Determinator, so I don't know if the trickle systems above would work.

Just for some more back ground, I do most of my .308 and 6.5 CM between 300 yds and 700 yds (range max). While I'll shoot a local match every now and then, I'm not a serious competitor, and mostly shoot for fun and to build skill. My Perfect powder measure actually does ok with Varget, throwing dead on or 0.1-0.2 off most of the time, but every now and then it will throw a charge 0.5 off, which I would see further out. It is more erratic with H4350.
 
I was just looking at the Custom on Harrell's site and didn't see "metering system is four click only" in the description. Maybe I missed it.
 
I see it now. I have a Harrell's Shuetzen and have no experience with the Custom. I was just looking at my Shuetzen and it has numbers on the metering dial 1-10. It is 4 clicks between each number on the dial. That may be what they are referring to but I am not sure. You can call Harrell's and talk to them. I have called them. Nice folks to talk to.

I have loaded 24K+ rounds with my Harrell's. It is still as tight, accurate, and smooth as the first day I bought. These are very nice measures. I have the Sinclair stand and highly recommend it.
 
ants said:
By the way, I'm intrigued about their presses. I don't know anyone who has one.
Click to expand...

I have a Harrells Precision next to my LCT. I do all my decap, case sizing, priming, and case mouth flare on the LCT but have my bullet seating die for 9mm in the Harrell's. The one piece main body of the press started out as a 1 1/2" x 2 1/2 piece of aluminum that has been machined to accept the ram on the bottom and threaded on top for your die. It's built like the proverbial brick outhouse.
 
I should have read to the bottom of the Sinclair posting for the Custom 90, as it says that the stand is not included, and that would be another $50.

I've also looked at the RCBS Chargemaster, and Hornady Auto Charge. Are folks having good luck with these? Do they speed up the process much compared to throwing a charge onto a scale and sprinkling an extra .1 to .3 gr (10 - 15 seconds)?

With the mail in rebate, I could have a Chargemaster for $225 or even less dependent on the retailer.
 
Which precision powder measure?
Click to expand...

Depends on the powder!

In my experience, 2400 & Lil Gun work very well with a Lee Pro Auto Disk - not so great in a Dillon PM.
Universal, TiteGroup, Accurate 2, RL15 & Varget work very well in Dillon PM.
Accurate 5 works OK in a Dillon PM

Anyway, that's my 2¢ worth.
 
Gtscotty said:
I should have read to the bottom of the Sinclair posting for the Custom 90, as it says that the stand is not included, and that would be another $50.

I've also looked at the RCBS Chargemaster, and Hornady Auto Charge. Are folks having good luck with these? Do they speed up the process much compared to throwing a charge onto a scale and sprinkling an extra .1 to .3 gr (10 - 15 seconds)?

With the mail in rebate, I could have a Chargemaster for $225 or even less dependent on the retailer.
Click to expand...
I have been using the RCBS ChargeMaster 1500 Powder Scale and Dispenser Combo for a year or two and have no complaints. I have several other scales and the ChargeMaster amounts to throwing a charge and trimming it off with a trickler, something I manually did for years. The ChargeMaster has worked well across the board from crunchy stick powders to ball / spherical powders. When it beeps it's done and the weight is correct. Does the automation do anything magic I could not do manually with my old M5 and a trickler? No, not really. :)

Ron
 
How can any rotary type powder drop be appreciably more or less accurate than any of the other rotary type measures?
 
I have the RCBS chargemaster. It's the only powder measurer I've ever used so I can't really compare it to others. What I can tell you is that it is very accurate and easy to operate. It has a memory so you can pull up the same charge every time. Works great!
 
Dudedog,
I hope you find that measure test , I've been using a old Lyman 55 for decades and always wondered how it stacked up to the others. Would be interesting to see.
I always thought the 55 did a good job .
Gary
 
I use two older Ohaus measures for handguns and a Redding for my rifle drops. Even with Unique the drops seldom vary by as much as .3 grains. Was gifted the first Ohaus when i started reloading, purchased two off eBay for parts to make one and got the Redding for $10.00 at a garage sale. The Redding never varies by more that .1 or .2 grains.

Boox
 
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