I would like to hear from reloaders who have had experience with Harrel Powder Dispensers. They are expensive, but seem to be precise and dispense quickly. I think they would be ideal for using to work up trial loads instead of setting up my RCBS Chargemaster which takes awhile. Thoughts? Are their brands that meet these needs that are not as expensive? Thanks for your help. TOM
Harrel Powder Dispensers
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kimbernut
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Precision
Precision is expensive. My Midway USA brand powder dispenser(no longer available) is approx 14 years old but normally is right on the money and at most +-.1 grain off. Since taking apart a few cartridges several years back and finding .3 grain accuracy as the best and up to 2 full grains as the worst accuracy my +-.1 accuracy is much better than required for top notch accuracy. If you feel you need better and can afford it more power to you. Always check behind yourself for powder drop accuracy as a safety procedure regardless how accurate your setup!!!
Precision is expensive. My Midway USA brand powder dispenser(no longer available) is approx 14 years old but normally is right on the money and at most +-.1 grain off. Since taking apart a few cartridges several years back and finding .3 grain accuracy as the best and up to 2 full grains as the worst accuracy my +-.1 accuracy is much better than required for top notch accuracy. If you feel you need better and can afford it more power to you. Always check behind yourself for powder drop accuracy as a safety procedure regardless how accurate your setup!!!
LiveLife
Member
Not always.
This is what The Rifleman's Journal had to say about powder measures - http://riflemansjournal.blogspot.com/2011/11/equipment-sartorius-gd503-evaluation.html
I have a Harrell Premium Culver. If you appreciate fine craftsmanship in tools, it's a great machine. But I have never been able to get the precision it advertises. Other than being faster to set up when switching to a different powder, I don't find it much better than other volume measures I've used - at least net enough better to justify the price. I use a ChargeMaster backed up by a beam scale when working up a series of test loads. I should note that I have fine-tuned the CM by tweaking its programming to make it almost twice as fast.
I have (and use) both their Schutzen and their large Culver. They are as precision as the state of the art allows, and none smoother.
Once set, their error is DNZ (darnearzero) with ball powders, and they cut extruded powders so cleanly that error does not exceed ±0.1gr in my use.
That error is totally dependent on the human factor, however, and the operator repeatability of throw technique.
Mine is:
1. Sharply up
2. Pause 1 second
3. Sharply down
4. One handle 'tap' against the down stop to drop any hung granules
.
Once set, their error is DNZ (darnearzero) with ball powders, and they cut extruded powders so cleanly that error does not exceed ±0.1gr in my use.
That error is totally dependent on the human factor, however, and the operator repeatability of throw technique.
Mine is:
1. Sharply up
2. Pause 1 second
3. Sharply down
4. One handle 'tap' against the down stop to drop any hung granules
.
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jenrob
Member
What takes long to set-up about it. push the on button. I take the pan and platform out so its of the load cells. so i have to put them in 10 seconds gone drop a couple weights in to check. enter weight press enter dispense. hold down enter button to go auto. and your up and running. What really good is working loads make 5 round enter next weight enter dispense under 10 seconds to start another load.
I keep mine in the original box in a closet. So, I have to get it out, take it to my bench in the garage, turn on it to warm up, level it, add powder, calibrate it, then start dispensing. Still not a lot of time, but I saw a guy using his Harrell at the range the other day. It was small and he worked quickly. If I had a Harrell or other comparable dispenser, my set up would allow me to attach the mounting frame to my bench permanently. Thus making it easier to just leave it set up, then whenever I wanted to make few test loads or maybe load one block of ammo; I would add powder, adjust and dispense. But certainly, if I am reloading more than a few, the Chargemaster is a great machine. Thanks for your thoughts.
jcwit
member
Look into a Belding & Mull on E-Bay. Very accurate!
ranger335v
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It sounds as if you may be hoping for more from a manual powder measure than any of them can deliver. There are two factors to your question, "accuracy" and "precision".
The accuracy, or repeatablility of charge weights of any measure is dependant on the operator AND the powder. Once the volume of the powder chamber is set and locked the results depends on the operator and the powder. No manually operated volumetric dispensing device can correct for poor consistancy of the user and any measure made will be quite good if the operator is good. Fine powders measure much better than coarse powders and no operator can change that.
The precison of measure set up simply means how quickly we can repeat the setting to duplicate a previously found charge. All "BR" type measures with click set heads are made to return to any VOLUME setting without fiddling around with tiny differences of adjustment. Once a charge has been established most BR guys only count 'clicks' of the adjustment screw and the precision of the chamber's adjustment screw insures the cavity will be consistant. However, the ability to easily and precisely change a powder measure's cavity has NO effect on how consistant the dispensed charges may be after the cavity's volume is set. Most 100-200 yard BR shooters use fine grained powders so volume changes are as good as they need be, the other shooters weigh their charges so conventional measures are sufficent.
Thing is, no matter how we set them, after the volume of the powder chamber is set we must be very precise in operation to obtain best consistancy - the 'accuracy' you seek - and that varies significantly with the kernel size of the powder. Any measure can be very 'accurate' (consistant) with ball powder but NO measure is highly consistant with coarse tubular powder because there is no way any two consecutive charges will have the individual kernels pack into the chamber exactly the same.
All meaning there is no magic in any of them, if we want high consistancy of dropped charges with coarse rifle powders we gonna have to weigh each charge no matter how much we may spend on the measure. And, at home, we can easily change the volume of a measure at by using our powder scale anyway. That's why so few of us bother with costly BR measures made to be used without a scale when loading on the firing line at a match.
The accuracy, or repeatablility of charge weights of any measure is dependant on the operator AND the powder. Once the volume of the powder chamber is set and locked the results depends on the operator and the powder. No manually operated volumetric dispensing device can correct for poor consistancy of the user and any measure made will be quite good if the operator is good. Fine powders measure much better than coarse powders and no operator can change that.
The precison of measure set up simply means how quickly we can repeat the setting to duplicate a previously found charge. All "BR" type measures with click set heads are made to return to any VOLUME setting without fiddling around with tiny differences of adjustment. Once a charge has been established most BR guys only count 'clicks' of the adjustment screw and the precision of the chamber's adjustment screw insures the cavity will be consistant. However, the ability to easily and precisely change a powder measure's cavity has NO effect on how consistant the dispensed charges may be after the cavity's volume is set. Most 100-200 yard BR shooters use fine grained powders so volume changes are as good as they need be, the other shooters weigh their charges so conventional measures are sufficent.
Thing is, no matter how we set them, after the volume of the powder chamber is set we must be very precise in operation to obtain best consistancy - the 'accuracy' you seek - and that varies significantly with the kernel size of the powder. Any measure can be very 'accurate' (consistant) with ball powder but NO measure is highly consistant with coarse tubular powder because there is no way any two consecutive charges will have the individual kernels pack into the chamber exactly the same.
All meaning there is no magic in any of them, if we want high consistancy of dropped charges with coarse rifle powders we gonna have to weigh each charge no matter how much we may spend on the measure. And, at home, we can easily change the volume of a measure at by using our powder scale anyway. That's why so few of us bother with costly BR measures made to be used without a scale when loading on the firing line at a match.
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Lever up "tap tap" lever down "tap tap". Once I got this rhythm consistent both my Harrell's and my Redding BR3 have been very consistent. The Harrell's is better for long grain powder.
I got this advice from one of the older guys at Redding several years ago. It was good advice and has served me well.
I got this advice from one of the older guys at Redding several years ago. It was good advice and has served me well.
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