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Powder Measure - Which One? |
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SVT_Tactical
MODERATOR Chief Sackscratch Joined: December/17/2009 Location: NorthCackalacky Status: Offline Points: 31233 |
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Posted: April/20/2012 at 16:14 |
Been looking over several. Forster Benchrest, Redding BR, Lyman 55, and others.... all very similar and will probably all do the exact same thing. Anyone use a measure like this (volume) and have a suggestion as to the best one as far as user friendlyness? |
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"Most folks are about as happy as they make their minds up to be" - Abraham Lincoln
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Roy Finn
MODERATOR Steiner Junkie Joined: April/05/2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 4856 |
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Redding BR.
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SVT_Tactical
MODERATOR Chief Sackscratch Joined: December/17/2009 Location: NorthCackalacky Status: Offline Points: 31233 |
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I was leaning towards that one but then found the Forsters and it has an equal following but I've never used any of their stuff.
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"Most folks are about as happy as they make their minds up to be" - Abraham Lincoln
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jselsor
Optics Journeyman Joined: August/01/2011 Location: MO Status: Offline Points: 328 |
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I cant complain about my hornady. It is very consistent
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Dont take yourself to seriously
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Mike McDonald
Optics Journeyman Joined: September/01/2004 Status: Offline Points: 739 |
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Had all of them.
In order of performance ( for me );
RCBS
Hornady ...very close second
Forster
Lyman...ball powders only, kinda niche market but a nice conversation piece for the loading bench.
Redding.
RCBS seems most consistant, Redding to my surprise had the widest swings in charge weight and inconsistancy.
Hornady right after RCBS, but with a bit more slop in the mechanics.
Lyman, a cool, old school sliding scale unit that loves spherical powders.
One not mentioned is the Harrells. Lynnwood has been making the premier volumetric charge dispenser for decades. Worth whatever you have to pay for one. It's like trading your yugo for a Rolls Royce.
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tahqua
MODERATOR Have You Driven A Ford Lately? Joined: March/27/2006 Location: Michigan, USA Status: Online Points: 9044 |
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I have only used the RCBS. I have had it for thirty years and it throws charges of H4831 reliably. I still weigh every fifth round of the long cut powders, regardless.
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Doug
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RifleDude
MODERATOR EVIL OPPRESSOR Joined: October/13/2006 Location: Texas Status: Offline Points: 16337 |
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I have RCBS, Hornady, and Redding. All get the job done. Don't know which is my favorite, and haven't seen any noticeable difference in charge consistency between brands. All seem to provide about +/- 0.2 gr fluctuation between charges with ball and short cut powders measuring the most consistently. A friend of mine has the Lyman measure Mike refers to, and I've used it
during mass loading sessions for pd shooting trips. It seems to work
about as well as the others I've used.
Just recently bought the Hornady "Lock-N-Load" auto charge measure a couple weeks ago, but haven't even opened the box yet. |
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Ted
Money can't buy happiness... but it's much more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than on a bicycle. |
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SVT_Tactical
MODERATOR Chief Sackscratch Joined: December/17/2009 Location: NorthCackalacky Status: Offline Points: 31233 |
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Thanks for the info all. Ted, why do you have so many? Different uses?
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"Most folks are about as happy as they make their minds up to be" - Abraham Lincoln
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RifleDude
MODERATOR EVIL OPPRESSOR Joined: October/13/2006 Location: Texas Status: Offline Points: 16337 |
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Because I've broken/lost parts on a couple of them during moves, my father-in-law gave me one, I inherited one from my dad's reloading gear, and I bought the L-N-L auto charge because I usually load up 2000 - 4000 rounds every time I go shoot pd's. I've got multiples of half my reloading tools -- presses, scales, dies, measures, calipers...
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Ted
Money can't buy happiness... but it's much more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than on a bicycle. |
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jonoMT
Optics Master Extraordinaire Joined: November/13/2008 Location: Montana Status: Offline Points: 4853 |
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If I had a bunch of money to spare on one I'd get one of those fancy ones, but have found my RCBS works fine, esp. after adding one of those powder baffles.
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Reaction time is a factor...
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Alan Robertson
Optics Master Joined: October/31/2009 Location: Oklahoma Status: Offline Points: 1763 |
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Some expensive models will thread right onto a factory powder canister (like a 1 lb container of IMR4831) which is handy and repeatable micro adjusters can also be handy, but all measures seem to throw with about the same amount of precision, if they have a powder baffle.
A powder baffle effectively re- creates the old B&M 2nd powder chamber and isolates a consistent volume of powder from the varying weight of the column of powder in the hopper, making for precise, consistent throws. Whatever you get, make sure to get a baffle with it, or make your own. A plastic flip- up lid from a Kraft Mayo jar is a perfect drop- in fit on a Lee Pro Auto Disc measure, for instance. My old beaten RCBS Uniflow is almost 40 yrs old and with baffle in place, it never varies as much as 1/10th grain and most throws are exact, once it settles in after a few throws... provided I don't let the hopper get too empty. |
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"Garg'n uair dhuisgear"
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Alan Robertson
Optics Master Joined: October/31/2009 Location: Oklahoma Status: Offline Points: 1763 |
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If you want to get something trick, find an old Belding & Mull that's in good shape... they can be spendy, but not as much as many benchrest models.
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"Garg'n uair dhuisgear"
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Crosswire
Optics Apprentice Joined: November/04/2008 Location: West NC Status: Offline Points: 67 |
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"...all very similar and will probably all do the exact same thing."
I think that's true, there's very little practical difference in application, IMHO. They all do well with ball powder, all are squirrely with stick powder, all tend to bind on flake powder; just the nature of a rotary volume dispensing tool with different powder forms. I have an old Redding Master, forerunner to today's Redding models, and have used most others. I really fell there is no marked advantage to any one of them after the user develops a 'feel' for operating with the powder he's using; that takes experimentation for the best method and practice for highest consistancy of operation.
That said, the Lyman 55 is potentially the most versatile because of it's three sliding chamber adjustments. Adjust the slides to make a small chamber for light charges and a big one for large charges, etc. The 'knocker' device works for some but doesn't for others; we each have to learn what technique we need to obtain the most consistant drops for ourselves.
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Sam Colt did more to make men equal than any politician ever did.
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RifleDude
MODERATOR EVIL OPPRESSOR Joined: October/13/2006 Location: Texas Status: Offline Points: 16337 |
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I agree. I've adopted my own technique that I believe has improved charge consistency with all powders, especially the more problematic stick powders. On the "up" (fill) stroke of the handle, I bump the handle a couple times against the stop to "jolt" the powder down into the fill chamber, then again on the down (dispense) stroke, I tap the handle against the stop again a couple times to ensure all grains exit. I'm essentially duplicating (or attempting to duplicate) the same function that Lyman's "knocker" is intended to perform. After 1000's of repetitions of this, I've managed to do the same thing pretty consistently, and get essentially the same results regardless of which manual measure I'm using at the time. |
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Ted
Money can't buy happiness... but it's much more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than on a bicycle. |
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DANNY-L
Optics GrassHopper Joined: April/26/2012 Location: Russell,NY Status: Offline Points: 11 |
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I started reloading about 10yrs ago and bought the rcbs and have had no complaint with it. |
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