Lyman 55 measue..making it work right

[SASS#23149]

My buddy's Lyman 55 was farily accurate,but we'd read where they were supposed to be more accurate than our experince was showing.
Using most any kind of powder,we were +- up to 1/2 grain...not really 'accurate.
We used the 'flipper' after dumping the powder,but then started to give the handle 2 knocks on the up stroke..VOILA !! accuracy per drop improved dramatically !
We're +- one thenth of a grain very reguilarly now

Just thought I"d pass that along to y'all

 

[FROGO207]

I bought mine used and thought the same thing. I took it apart and polished the chamber and metering rods with 0000 steel wool, covered the chamber walls and metering rods with some powdered graphite and reassembled it works ten times better now. I'll try the knocker trick and see if it improves for me also. I would worry that the two knocks when filling would compress the powder some so would need to do it EVERY time for repeatable accuracy.

 

[Wachtelhund]

When I was 11 years old my hang out was a gunsmith shop. At twelve years old, I purchased a .218 Bee built on an old Winchester lowall and started reloading. The shop owner gave me his used Lyman 55 powder measure. Fifty-seven years later and I'm still using the same measure. I only wish I still had the .218 Bee.

Dave Pepe

 

[Rollis R. Karvellis]

The 55 can be touchy with stick powders, but once you have it dailed in they do a great job. My only complant is that after getting it set, if you stop and then come back a day or two later you will have to recalibrat it again to get it back throwing the right wheight.

 

[Cajun CB]

There is some end play on the cylinder of my 55. This can change the volume of the powder dump slightly. Is there a way to get rid of this?

 

[SASS#23149]

Yep,we do the double-knock EVERY time ..you'd have to for repeatabilty.

we'll also try the steel wool poishing,sounds like a good idea,and I do have some motor mica on hand.

 

[rcmodel]

if you stop and then come back a day or two later you will have to recalibrat it again to get it back throwing the right weight.

If you leave powder in the hopper, the same would be true for any powder measure.
It dries out or draws moisture from the air and that will change the weight.

Best plan is to put the powder back in the can when you get done, instead of letting it set in the unsealed powder measure.

rc

 

[Maj Dad]

Bang A Gong

I gently but surely bang my 55 on the upstroke and downstroke (on the stops) and double tap the clicker & get very consistent charges from ball and sticks, with ball giving a bit more consistency. I also bang my 550B while stroking it and get very acceptable charges - haven't seen more than 2/10 on large throws (45g or so) and 1/10 or less on pistol wts. You have to settle the powder in the chamber, and you have to be consistent in doing it - get a groove & hang with it...

 

[FROGO207]

RC has the right Idea. Putting your propellent away when you are done saves it from problems as well as that " oh yea what was that full of when I used it last time" routine. I practice the one propellent, one primer, one weight bullet on the reloading bench at a time and even if i get suddenly called away (Vol Firefighter) there is no mistake about where I left off.

 

[tjj]

Dang, I thought I discovered the double up tap technique. Well, I did, for me anyway. I set the coarse adjustment as close as possible before using the intermediate slide. I try not to even use the fine slide for stick powders.
For the spherical powders, I only tap once on the up stroke.

 

[GP100man]

double tap all my measures except the lee auto disc.
+1 for rc`s & frogo`s comments
i even go as far as keeping powder & primer cabinet locked .
only one type of component out at the time sure saves headache & $$

GP100man