Powder measure recommendations

[Makeitsojlm]

Hi everyone,

The tittle says it all. I’m wondering what you all recommend and use to measure powder with. I’ve been using a Lee perfect powder measure I got free. I noticed it is leaking. Maybe that’s why it was free.

I’m willing to spend up to around $150 if I have to. I would prefer manually operated.

Any suggestions are welcome. If anyone has any ideas about fixing the leaky Lee measure, that would work too.

Thanks, Jack

[Grendel Guy]

How about an RCBS balance beam scale?

[Makeitsojlm]

How about an RCBS balance beam scale?

Thanks for the reply. I really ment for this to be dispensers not scales. I have an RCBS balance beam scale. It works great.

Jack

[bigbossman]

RCBS UniFlo

[Makeitsojlm]

RCBS UniFlo

Thanks, I’ve had my eye on that one. Do you own one? Can it do rifle and pistol out of the box? I specifically looking to reload 30-06, 7.7x58 Jap and 9mm.

Thanks, Jack

[foxtrotuniformlima]

Well , I have them all from the Lee to the RCBS to the Redding to the Harrell.

I find that for ball powders like H335 any of them work and pretty much all the same. For the stick powders, the Harrells is the best but quite pricey. It is a very nicely made measure for sure. The Redding is a great measure that works as well as any and is very easy to adjust. The trick is how repeatable are you with the rhythm and feel of the movement? Get in a nice rhythm and the throws will be very consistent.


There are a couple of good videos on YouTube on how to fix the leak in the Lee you might want to investigate. Here is one - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbDgN8eE8dc

[rhodesengr]

My Lee Perfect deluxe leaked some when I first got it. It was suggested to take it apart, put graphite on the drum, and tighten up the tension on the main screw. This stopped the leaking on mine. When i loooked into this kind of powder measure, it seemed like it was between the Lee and the Redding which is a lot more expensive. A lot of this type of measure don't work well for small drops of 3-5 grains. The Lee does OK in that range.

[Makeitsojlm]

I guess I’m going to try to get the Lee to stop leaking. I will watch some videos, apply some graphite to it and see what happens.

Thanks you guys for the suggestions, Jack

[Grendel Guy]

Good luck!

[Makeitsojlm]

So I went out in the garage and took apart the powder measure. I wiped it off with a clean cloth, then put some graphite on both surfaces. after I put it back together, it seems to work better. I didn’t notice it leaking anyway.

Thank you all for the help. I still have my eye on the RCBS Uniflow.

Thanks, Jack

[Fjold]

I've been using a Uniflow for over 40 years and trust it completely. They used to come with two different size drum assemblies for pistol and rifle loads but I don't know if they still do. Like it was said above the best consistency is determined by the operator on the uniformity operating the lever on each drop.

[bigbossman]

Thanks, I’ve had my eye on that one. Do you own one? Can it do rifle and pistol out of the box? I specifically looking to reload 30-06, 7.7x58 Jap and 9mm.

Thanks, Jack

I own 4 or 5 of them, and two are in active use. Yes, you can use for both pistol and rifle.

However, here's an interesting tidbit..... Gunwerks in Cody Wyoming is a custom shop, specializing in making high end rifles for long range use. They offer a turnkey system, and provide both custom rifles and ammunition tailored to that rifle for their client base. I recently toured their facility, and saw the whole operation from the machine shop to the reloading bench. They use the Lee Perfect Powder measure for all their custom loading.

[operavoice]

I've been using a Hornady powder measure for years. With rifle ball powders, once I confirm 3 good throws, I just run it for target loads. Pretty much the same with medium stick powder like Varget.
Precision loads, I verify every single load, but I'm anal retentive.
Long powder like IMR 4064, I check every throw if I'm loading .308 for M1A,, but not so much for my bolt rifle. The Hornady measure doesn't like long stick (but truly, do any measures really like long stick powder?). It's more forgiving with .308 load than .223. Long stick powder didn't meter well through the smaller throat.
I load .223, 6.5 Carcano, 30-40 Krag, .7.62x39, .7.65x53 Arg, and .308 Win with this set up. Used to load .22 K hornet.
I don't have much experience with pistol powders, but what I do know is that you definitely need the small throw adapter. Ball powders seem to work fine with that, flake powder, not so much.
I load 9mm & 22 K hornet with the pistol adapter.
It's dead on for K hornet with Lil Gun, I literally don't have to check anymore if I am using the same bullet. If I change bullets, 3 confirmed throws, no need to check.

That being said. . . one important point, you must have a consistent, "throw rhythm"

[bigbossman]

RCBS has smaller unit they call the “Little Dandy”. They’re about $40-$50 without a stand. They’re designed/intended for pistol loading, but I’ve read posts where guys have used it for smaller rifle charges, but used two (2) throws to reach the charge they needed. As I understand it, they use interchangeable rotary inserts that throw different volumes of powder. The rotary inserts are not inexpensive. It’s obviously not a system where you can make small adjustments in the powder charge. The function Sounds similar in design to the old Mec shotgun reloading charge bars that use different size interchangeable bushings for powder charges. I’ve no experience with the Little Dandy.

I have a Lil' Dandy and it works very well for pistol. Yes - the drums are interchangeable, and cost about $10 each. I don't know if they still make them or not, but they are available on the secondary market.