powder measure

shoff14

Whats the best way to go?
Electronic or mechcanical?

shoff14

Hornady Lock-N-Load Auto Charge Powder Scale and Dispenser 110 Volt. Has anyone had experience with this piece of equipment? I've always liked Hornady products and I'm looking to upgrade my loading operation.

shoff14

I have an old powder measure scale (Webster) that is oil dampened. I need to replace the oil and cannot find any information on what type of oil to use. Can anyone give me a suggestion?????

Thanks
Terry

shoff14

It would seem that powder measure that I was given is not all that accurate. Its a Herter's, that gives you some sense of age to the thing. Its in good shape though. I am using 700x, which is a flake powder.

How much does the accuracy of measurer depend on the powder? As far as mechanical, the powder measure that I have is fine. Should I look at getting another one?

ChetStafford

Shoff14,

Mine works great with ball powder but with stick powder it will be as much as.5 gr off. they work off of volume and not wieght.

Try taping on the dispenser when you have the handle in the up position to settle the powder in the tube before you drop it.

Hawk Carse

700X is a pretty large flake powder, I like it for 12 gauge and it is a good pistol powder but does not meter very precisely in any measure I have tried. How much variation are you getting?

shoff14

about .2 under usually.

bpost

When loading flake powders I use the "handle knock-knock" settling method. By that I mean I cycle the handle and give it a door knock type tap-tap at the bottom of the cycle to settle the powder in the chamber of the measure. This will give more consistent results over just cycling the handle.

Pearyw

To improve accuracy, I put a weight on top of the powder in the measure. It keeps downward pressure on the powder and the column doesn't vary as much from full to near empty.

amamnn

A HERTER's???!!! Some museum will want to buy that. J/K-- Bridging problems that hurt accuracy in volumetric measures are caused by the weight of the powder pressing in at the constriction of the mouth. You want to relieve the weight, not increase it. If you don't already have one, you might buy a baffle from RCBS and see if it helps. I did that with a couple measures before I threw them all out and went with the PACT scale/dispenser system......

glabray

Years ago when ball powders for reloading were just becoming readily available, we did a study comparing the charge variability of six different measures using ball and stick powders in each. All six measures had a much lower standard deviation with ball powders than with stick powders. As I recall, the least variable measure for stick powder was an inexpensive Lee measure.

jonk

I can't comment on Herters but will relate this-

I have 3 powder measures on my bench. RCBS for ball. Lee perfect powder measure for stick. See the RCBS binds and crunches stick powders; the lee doesn't. Whereas the Lee leaks fine ball powder and the RCBS doesn't. Finally a Lee auto disc for my progressive, though I do sometimes take it off and use it with stick or flake. Ball- it leaks that.

So you might want to try another powder measure.

shoff14

Thanks for the replys.

I think the Herter's would also crushes stick powder. I did the tap tap tap thing, and was able to get the variation to a minimum. Its not the way I like to do it though. I think from the design, this would work well with ball powder, there is no way for it to leak out due to the design.

Its good to know the Lee works well with stick powder. I have thought about buying one and will need something for my rifles.

I should have checked the type of powders my grandpa used, but at the time that didn't cross my mind at the time. I was still going through all the inventory of stuff I received a couple weeks after the fact.

amamnn

We might want to do a reality check here--other than throwing off the volume of powder, and not always that, broken grains don't really affect anything. Most everyone who is serious about handloading has ended up buying a trickler to fix that-- unless they are smart newbies who started out with the digital dispenser systems. There IS another way to ensure that you have accurate powder charges without breaking grains. You can use dippers. This method will also require trickling up to the desired charge weight unless your charge just happens to fit one or a combination of two dippers, which is not all that rare. Dippers are cheaper than measures, too.

A lot of people repeat silly stories about dippers being dangerous without realizing how old and ridiculous those stories are. They came about from idiots trying to dipper the same charge of smokeless powder into their black powder loads back in the days when everyone used dippers. Anyone who is interested can find a description of the technique required to get accurate and uniform loads of powder from dippers, in Richard Lee's book "Modern Reloading." I learned dipping from the gentleman he talks about and it works. Still, the new technology is better/faster.

shooterone

To Amamnn: I have been using Lee powder dippers and a RCBS trickler since I cant remember when. Accuracy is great and so is my speed if I want speed. On occasion I will use a old RCBS powder measure when I am doing some Win.231. I personnely, have no reason to go to a powder measure ever. My dippers are the original Lee when the company was called Lee Custom Engineering, Inc. of 1966. Still in the box with the instruction manual. One of my most prized reloading possesions. Gus.

WayneShaw

All powder measures work the same, in one way or another. They meter volume, with an adjustable "cavity" that fills with powder. Any measure is going to have a more difficult time with the big stick powder, as opposed to ball powder. Cutting the sticks as you rotate the measure does no harm to the powder. The key to throwing consistent weights is technique, and a consistent technique. As said here, some like to tap the handle either at the top or bottom, or both. Some measure have baffles to keep the powder "weight" the same. Each has pros and cons. It's consistency that matters. If you want perfect weights, try the throw then trickle to weight method. Most times throwing a powder charge is close enough. Plus or minus .2 grains is pretty good. I have two, one is an original Culver, and a Harrell's Culver type. The desirable thing about these measures is the repeatability of settings. They go back to the "clicks" the same each time. Makes for easy work from one powder/cartridge to another.

cattle buyer

I have not reloaded in 30 years but as much as I love to shoot and with todays ammo prices Ive decided to dig out the old Bonanza Co Ax and get back in it,a reloading pal I was talking with says this thing is the best thing since pockets on a t shirt. http://quick-measure.com/ very best[:)]

jonk

Well just to weigh back in here, the Lee auto disc with the double disc kit will generally get +/-.1 grains with even stick powder for me. The only downside is even the largest discs limit out below some of my desired loads. It really is more of a pistol powder measure. About 46 grains is its tops give or take, which is ideal for M1 garand loads and 4895.

The Lee perfect powder measure usually does to .3 gr, plus or minus. It looks and feels chinsy but hey, for the money its hard to beat.

I will hand weigh and trickle charges for matches but for punching paper at 100 yards, .3 grains plus or minus out of anything less than a target rifle isn't going to matter much.

Radar

Still use my Lee dippers alot. If they dip a little to much i take a candle and let it drop a drop of wax in the dipper,more if needed or scrap out a little to get it just right.I have some dippers that have wax in them from 30 years ago.

grizzclaw

I'm still using an old Lyman, and my Belding and Mull, and checking my weights all the time.