powder measure suggestions

[BullRunBear]

I have used Lee dippers and the Lee auto-disk measure for decades with decent results. But now I want to work up loads for my mil-surp rifles, mostly reduced loads with cast bullets and would like more precision in dispensing powder. I load for about seven different calibers and use a lot of Unique and 4759. My rifle reloading is all single stage and use the rifles as single shots. I am not in a hurry now that I'm retired.

Any suggestions for a good, stand alone powder measure? Preferably one capable of .1 grain increments?

Thanks for any help.

Jeff

PS: the latest issue of Backwoodsman magazine has a nice little article about Unique powder.

 

[jwrowland77]

I use a Hornady Auto Charge and love it. Folks seem to like the RCBS Chargemaster as well.

 

[BluewaterLa]

The two that I have are hornady, one press mounted and case activated while the other is a stand alone. Both are capable of .1gr increments repetitively.
At first they gave me fits and were not accurate at all ! Until I finally did Enough digging and found all the hints and tricks by highboy76' on the lnl.
Good dose of powder graphite of the plastic hopper and housing and I was in business couldn't be happier, I cannot give other opinions as I haven't owned any other brand cause I used to hand weigh all charges. Good luck and be safe.

 

[Matt Dillon]

I have been very pleased with an old Redding Master powder measure. Unique is the only powder that gives me less than great results, but I use it for several calibers successfully.

 

[jcwit]

Any of the powder measures from any of the major makers sold today will be more than adequate, if they were not they would have disappeared from the market years ago.

 

[cfullgraf]

Any of the powder measures from any of the major makers sold today will be more than adequate, if they were not they would have disappeared from the market years ago.

That is good advice.

To add, I like powder measures to have a micrometer adjusters. The micrometer adjusters do not make the measure any more accurate, but it is easier to return to a particular setting and easier to make adjustments to dial the charge weight in.

Also, I like a baffle in my powder measures. But some folks do have good success without one.

Most powder measures will include, or have as an accessory, two different size measuring cavities. Generally, the small one is for handgun, the large one is for rifle. If you load both you need both. I take this to an extreme as I have a Redding 10-X for handgun, RCBS Uniflow for small rifle (223 Remingon size) and a Midway Indispensable (discontinued) for large rifle (308 Win or 30-06 size). Each has an appropriate sized metering cavity installed and I do not have to replace the drums.

Harrell Precision powder measures are excellent but expensive.

Hope this helps.

 

[Jesse Heywood]

If you search this site, you will find the RCBS Uniflow has a good reputation for accurate measuring of the "difficult" powders, Alliant's Dot line, Unique, 700-x & 800-x.

Whatever measure you get, get a baffle or two. They relieve the pressure of the powder on the rotor, giving better accuracy in measurements.

 

[kostner]

Have Dillons and Lee's but the best and most accurate is a Hornady. easy to use have seen them on ebay from time to time.

 

[Rico567]

Apart from press-mounted measures*, had an old Lyman #55 back in the day, great measure, can't remember why I got rid of it. Then, for about 30 years I used an Ohaus Du-O-Measure someone gave me, again, a great measure. The hopper finally broke on it and no replacement was available, so I got a used RCBS Uniflow on eBay. A good measure, as "Jesse Heywood" notes, made better by a baffle. I found the price of the RCBS baffle ridiculous, so I cut one out from a beer can. Makes the measure very accurate.

*I have used both the Lee Auto-Disk and the Dillon, and both will throw charges within ± .1 gr. with most pistol powders.

 

[Lj1941]

RCBS Uni-flow

I have had mine for +30 years. I keep the small cavity in mine because handgun loads are 95% of my loads 223 are the 4% and the small amount of larger rifle cases are only small amounts so I just trickle and weigh for them.I use Red Dot,W231,Titegroup and Power Pistol and find as long as I keep the hopper over half full it is accurate enough. I check every 5th charge for the 1st 20 and after that every 10 or 15 charges for weight. I would highly recomend it although the price is out of sight compared to when I bought mine around 1980.But what isn't out of sight now?

 

[JRH6856]

Or, since you already have a Lee AutoDisk, you could get the Lee Adjustible charge bar.

 

[oneounceload]

RCBS Uni-flow
I have had mine for +30 years.

Same here; added a powder baffle and the drops are even more consistent than before

 

[hartcreek]

Rico already told you but you would be hard pressed to beat a Lyman 55. I have been using one for rifles and pistol loading for twenty years. You will need two powder cylinders. It comes with a short one but the long one makes it much easyer when reloading a thousand pistol cases or a few hundred rifle cases.

The advantage of the Lyman 55 is that it is a micrometer style with three slides and the slides are parelell and built into the powder dispensing valve instead of perpendicular like the RCBS so the slot that your powder drops into fills easily.

I load two dozen calibers with pistol cases down as small as .32 ACP and .32 S&W and the 55 easily adjusts down to throw tiny sub grain charges so it would work for .25ACP even.

ANY powder measure that uses charge cyllinders that you must choose one that is approximate simply will not work if you want to taylor your loads.

I use a Lee Load All for shotgun loading bushings works but not for fine tuning like you want for rifles and pistols.

 

[jcwit]

What is a very "accurate" powder measure?

Results from another forum

http://www.sniperforums.com/forum/cartridges-calibers/35463-powder-measure-accuracy-thread.html

 

[John3921]

I use a hornady. The standard inserts are cheap so i keep one set up for any of the more common loads I use. I have 3 rotors for mine - the stock pistol rotor, the rifle rotor, and a pistol rotor I bored out to double the capacity of the pistol rotor so it works for my .223.

I have an old RCBS uniflow that I made the powder actuated upper assembly for so I can use it on my LNL, but I have not had a chance to use it. After making one, the $60 it costs to just buy one sounds like a deal.

 

[BYJO4]

I have both RCBS and Hornady powder measures and they work fine and are consistent in metering the powder.

 

[FROGO207]

I also like the Lyman 55 as it seems better able to be "tuned" to make repeatable drops with any propellant I have used. I also have a Lee PPM, an old Pacific(now Hornaday), a Little Dandy, and a Herters. The 55 is the best that I use IMHO but it takes a while to get it set up for a particular charge. I do wright down the settings and propellant used to get a particular charge in a notebook to go back easily when needed.

 

[km101]

I have two Hornady measures, and two RCBS Uniflow measures. They are all accurate if used properly. Get a baffle and use the same technique when cycling the measure each time. The key to accuracy is consistency!

Hint: Unique is one of the hardest powders to dispense uniformly. Watch it carefully!

 

[James2]

I am with the gang that suggested the Lyman 55. It is the only measure I have had, but I load for a good variety of both pistol and rifle. It does well on any powder I have ever put into it. With 3 different slides, you can adjust for a good cut with any powder. It has a large capacity too for the large rifle loads.

 

[BullRunBear]

Guys,
Thanks for all the suggestions and the good operating tips and the links. Now I know what to look for. My lovely bride of over thirty years said my birthday gift can be a good powder measure (with a strong hint that I get ALL the accessories and that it should last a long time). Didn't know where to start as the retailer reviews are all over the place.

I really appreciate your replies and the care you put into them. This is a great site!

Jeff

 

[fiftybmg]

All the volumetric measures will have the same repeatability with the same powder.

You won't get it more accurate than your Lee Auto-Disk does, but you can get something that dispenses more powder at once, equally well.

You can pick up a Lyman 55 on Ebay for cheap, otherwise the Hornady powder measure is very convenient with it's powder measure inserts that can each be set to a different measure, and changed in a couple of seconds.