Who makes a good powder measure?
- Thread starter viking499
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ol' scratch
Member
Hornady or RCBS. I have used other peoples RCBS powder measures and they are great. I now own a Hornady and it is on par, if not a little better than the RCBS I used.
I don't care for the Lee. In the instructions they say it is inconsitant until it 'breaks in.' Measuring all of my loads for the first 500 rounds before it settled was a pain. It could have been because I use Unique and it doesn't like to work with that powder, but it was annoying. It is also tough to clean. They mention that the graphite in the powder must lubricate it before it smoothes out, but mine never really did. It also seems to crush a lot of powder.
Don't get me wrong. It does work, but it took a long time to break in. I do own a lot of Lee equipment, but they can keep their powder measure.
I don't care for the Lee. In the instructions they say it is inconsitant until it 'breaks in.' Measuring all of my loads for the first 500 rounds before it settled was a pain. It could have been because I use Unique and it doesn't like to work with that powder, but it was annoying. It is also tough to clean. They mention that the graphite in the powder must lubricate it before it smoothes out, but mine never really did. It also seems to crush a lot of powder.
Don't get me wrong. It does work, but it took a long time to break in. I do own a lot of Lee equipment, but they can keep their powder measure.
juniustaylor
Member
Well, I just loaded up 100 rounds of 9mm Luger ammo. I had my Lee Perfect measure set to do 5.5 grains of Power Pistol. I measured over 15 - 20 of them and all were 5.5 - 5.6 grains with the majority being 5.5. It's just important that you operate the measure the same time with each throw. I extremely like the the CC idea. It's so simple, you can't screw it up. I put the micrometer on 2 and got 21.8 grains on my scale. Divide the 2 by 21.8 and you get some long decimal, multiply that by the 5.5 and it came out to some number. 0.504 I believe. Set the micrometer on .5 and a smidgen over, perfectly 5.5 grains dispensed. That is why I like the Lee Perfect measure. I set the screw a bit tighter but below 4# from best I could guess. With Power Pistol I had no leakage from the drum.
I don't think I've used it with Unique yet. I would think it would still work well as it works good with Power Pistol and that stuff is real fine. I had done as another said and dumped powdered graphite like you put in automotive locks to lube them. Must have worked pretty good. I haven't chopped one granule of H4895 or IMR 4350 yet. The elastomer wiper does a good job, it's rubbery composition might help that problem. I don't think it's too hard to clean, you take once screw out and it falls apart. Wipe it out lightly, hold the parts together, and put the screw back in. Not very hard IMO. I think I'd like to buy another some day just as a spare for the future.
I don't think I've used it with Unique yet. I would think it would still work well as it works good with Power Pistol and that stuff is real fine. I had done as another said and dumped powdered graphite like you put in automotive locks to lube them. Must have worked pretty good. I haven't chopped one granule of H4895 or IMR 4350 yet. The elastomer wiper does a good job, it's rubbery composition might help that problem. I don't think it's too hard to clean, you take once screw out and it falls apart. Wipe it out lightly, hold the parts together, and put the screw back in. Not very hard IMO. I think I'd like to buy another some day just as a spare for the future.
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Sport45
Member
I gave up on that and never bought another can of 700X.
700X was good, but not good enough for me to put up with the way it meters.
I think any reloading company you can name makes a good measure. I have Redding, Lee, Lyman, and Dillon measures. They each have their own "niche" for me.
alfack
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dodge
Member
I have one of the Belding & Mull powder measures and a RCBS Uniflow. You can find a B&M at gunshows but you need to make sure that they have the measuring tube that goes with it. There is a chart that tells you what setting to use for what how many grains of powder that your using. This chart seems to get lost over time but if anybody needs one I can copy mine and send it to you. Just pm me and I'll give you my address and we'll make arrangements for you to get one.
sniper5
Member
What color do you like?
Seriously, they all have pros and cons. And people who have one they like think theirs is the only one that's any good and the others are crap. Personally, I like Lee and have 3 Pro Disks and 1 Perfect. The 3 Pro Disks are pre-set on pistol die turrets for my turret press, and the Perfect is on a pop on mount so I can move it from turret to turret for the rifle dies. I can either load rifle by weight or volume on the turret press depending how I want it set up.
So economy is a factor along with accuracy, because that way I can have everything set up and just pop on a handgun die turret and go with no fiddling. That's why I go that route.
But that means I don't do that much adjustment with the measure, I just set it up and leave it alone. If I had one that I wanted to change loads on a lot or I was shooting matches with, or I was turning out massive amounts of ammo on a progressive, I would have different criteria. All brands will be adequate, but some will meet YOUR needs better than others. Think hard and look at the things that are important to YOU and make your selection with those things in mind.
Seriously, they all have pros and cons. And people who have one they like think theirs is the only one that's any good and the others are crap. Personally, I like Lee and have 3 Pro Disks and 1 Perfect. The 3 Pro Disks are pre-set on pistol die turrets for my turret press, and the Perfect is on a pop on mount so I can move it from turret to turret for the rifle dies. I can either load rifle by weight or volume on the turret press depending how I want it set up.
So economy is a factor along with accuracy, because that way I can have everything set up and just pop on a handgun die turret and go with no fiddling. That's why I go that route.
But that means I don't do that much adjustment with the measure, I just set it up and leave it alone. If I had one that I wanted to change loads on a lot or I was shooting matches with, or I was turning out massive amounts of ammo on a progressive, I would have different criteria. All brands will be adequate, but some will meet YOUR needs better than others. Think hard and look at the things that are important to YOU and make your selection with those things in mind.
For a manual powder measure used as described (with single-stage reloading), I relied for years on an Ohaus Du-O-Measure that someone gave me. Then the powder hopper broke, with no way to replace it, since the Ohaus reloading side went to RCBS a long time ago, and the measure wasn't continued in production. I bought a RCBS measure (pictured in a previous post) on eBay used for around $35, and am very pleased with it. Even with stick powders, accurate ± .2 grain.
As a previous poster noted, what I actually use now for my rifle (single-stage) reloading is an RCBS electronic scale / measure separate combo that communcate via an infrared port. This equipment was made by PACT, and RCBS has superseded this unit with a different all-in-one model, I don't know who makes it. I get completely accurate powder measurement automatically......so there's seldom any reason to take the manual measure off the shelf.
As a previous poster noted, what I actually use now for my rifle (single-stage) reloading is an RCBS electronic scale / measure separate combo that communcate via an infrared port. This equipment was made by PACT, and RCBS has superseded this unit with a different all-in-one model, I don't know who makes it. I get completely accurate powder measurement automatically......so there's seldom any reason to take the manual measure off the shelf.
ReloaderEd
Member
Redding micrometer adjust works well for me and I can reset exact charge.
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