Is The Lee Perfect Powder Measure Accurate?

[Crawdaddy]

I own one and like it. It gets me within two tenths or so with most powders. For my plinking ammo it is close enough. For my hunting ammo I use it but weigh it afterwards to get it perfect.

[Chicken Thief]

I have had mine for 20yrs+ and soon found out that the charges would wary (a lot) from full to empty, so i made a powder baffle. Now it will throw within .1gr from start to finish.
About 15yrs ago i replaced the handle, apart from that it's still going strong.
I have found that light charges tend to/can cling in the meter tube so i knock a couple of times on the handle when throwing the charge.

The paint is there so i can place the hopper correct without trying and i can determine if the hopper is open or closed (scatterbrain as i am!)

It has done more than 175lbs, and will continue to do so in the future.

[Recluse]

I bought one in 1990 and it has seen two Lymans, an RCBS and a Hornady come and go on the bench--it's still there and they ain't.

I've lapped nothing, replaced nothing, adjusted nothing.

No telling how many THOUSANDS of rounds I've pulled the little charging handle for--and once broken in, per the instructions, it was consistently more accurate, steady and consistent than the above mentioned brands. Doesn't leak, either, even with the fine powders--and I use a lot of AA#2, tons of AA#5 and W231.

I only use a progressive for a few calibers--.38 Special, 9mm, .380ACP. Everything else is single-stage, so the Lee measure gets quite the workout.

Now, I use it as a stand-alone device rather than mounted on a progressive or turret press, so I can't speak as to how well it works or doesn't work on those. But as a device permanently mounted on my reloading bench, it is THE best twenty-bucks I've spent on anything gun or reloading related ever.

[izzyjoe]

i've had one for a few years now, since i got a breach lock kit in '08. it's has been nothing but fantastic, i even amazed a friend with it. he has a uniflo, and say's it the best one ever made. he said the lee measure would be the first thing to go. i told him that it worked very accuratelly, and he said prove it! so one day after work i drove to his house and clamped it on his bench with a c-clamp, and filled it with powder, and went to crankin' out charges. it never varied more than 2 tenth's from start to finish, well towards the end it started going light. but there's no baffle. but he was shocked, and guess what, he now has two of them. but the trick is to be consistant with them, do the same thing everytime. get in the groove, and you can't loose!

[SkookumJeff]

Add me to the list of satisfied Lee PPM owners. I've had mine since they came on the market, some time ago now. Mine has served me well. I also have a Lyman 55. The Lyman is an interesting piece of equipment. The measuring ram is made in three pieces and how I use it to throw a charge varies depending on what powder type I use and the size of the charge. By powder type I mean flake, stick or ball. After I figured that out my Lyman works as well as my Lee (ha).

But all that said, after nearly 30 years of reloading, I recently bought myself a set of Lee powder dippers. Always wanted a set. Having used them to load several batches of test ammo, I LOVE THEM. They are easy to use, accurate (I measure each charge with a scale) and fast. I bought them as kind of a novelty and because I like old tools and methods. My powder measures get much less use now, I only use them when I setup for a large production run using my Lee Classic Turret press (another great Lee tool). I now prefer using my powder dippers for most of the reloading I do.

[1hole]

I strongly suspect the vast majority of 'complaints' about any of Lee's tools are from mechanical klutzes that simply don't understand "complicated machinery" like powder measures, presses, dies, etc. Others simply equate the tool's quality on factors other than the results. And it's clear that quite a few only know what they read on the web but like to leap on any loud bandwagon so they can feel like part of the 'knowledgeable' inner circle.

I have no such silly concepts. I select my tools based on the features I want and for the job I have to do. I don't buy expensive professional machinest calipers for reloading because I don't need that quality. I do buy expensive rifle dies for my more precise rifles but not for handguns or less accurate rifles because any slight imporvements would be invisible for them. I bought one cast iron press because I like to reform large cases into smaller ones (like 30-06 into 22-250, etc) but I love my light alloy auto-indexing Lee turret press for handgun ammo. Etc.

Lee's inexpensive little PPM has proven to be the most consistant measure I've ever tried when working with coarse tubular powders like 4831 and, adjusted correctly, it works fine with ball powders too. ???

[pistolman44]

If your on a budget buy it. I have one and it works but mine leaks fine powder out of the drum where the handle is attached. If you tighten up here too much to stop the leaking then the handle is hard to turn.

[Char-Gar]

[QUOTE=1hole;1440197]I strongly suspect the vast majority of 'complaints' about any of Lee's tools are from mechanical klutzes that simply don't understand "complicated machinery" like powder measures, presses, dies, etc. Others simply equate the tool's quality on factors other than the results. And it's clear that quite a few only know what they read on the web but like to leap on any loud bandwagon so they can feel like part of the 'knowledgeable' inner circle.



That is a very easy way to dismiss the experiences of some very veteran handloaders, whose enthusiam for Lee stuff is not that much. In fact, it is down right insulting.

[fryboy]

considering some of those same so called veterans dismiss some of lee's products only because of price it's not surprising ..after all there is no status quo in what simply works , i'll still hold to my original comment on this thread - alot of the variation we find in powder measure use translates to operator error ..perhaps i jerked the handle more this time than last or hit the top/bottom harder etc perhaps the operator just doesnt know ....perhaps i'm just the lucky one - even with the finest of ball powders mine doesnt leak like the so called sieve so many ummm more experienced reloaders state they have the problem of , my lee perfect while perhaps not perfect even beats my redding for repeatability - and that's what counts not the price nor the status quo nor the "mine is better than yours " , everyone will not have the same outlook nor the same mechanical ability but i bet a monkey could be trained to pull a powder measure with consistency ( after all we trained them to fly space ships didnt we ? ) and consistency is what counts and would you feel better if you spent $200 + on a measure and found that it worked no better than the $20 lee ? ( albeit you'd have bragging rights as to how easily you dont mind throwing money away .....) i havent worked on mine except to adjust the tightness of it when i first washed it .... better than 20 years ago and i like it so much that i bought a spare when money wasnt so tite and it was on sale , while i still check random charge weights , for ball powder it's basically set and forget it ( never a bad thing , adding to that one thing that money cant buy - time )

[Char-Gar]

OK.. The insult stands! So be it!

[Pigslayer]

there is no better than the Lyman 55 there is trick to make it work SMOOTH and it will with any powder But by far the best, I have 6 and and looking at 2 more on feebay

I have two Lyman #55's and love 'em!! Looking on ebay for another.

[Pitchnit]

Mine throws 4.1gr bullseye to +/- 0.05 gr. Just checked last nite. I was looking to use it for Red Dot for the 45 acp but since its a different kind of powder the variance was +/-0.10. The sample size was 10 . The SD on the bull was outstanding but i dont remember the actual. I got the 4#'s of the Red Dot for free but I think sell it to a shot gun buddy and buy Bullseye.

[bkbville]

The only problem I have with mine is Unique - but I've yet to find a measure that works well with unique.

Everything else +/- 0.1

I keep it loose with some graphite spray every couple of years.

I put in a tin baffle, but I don't think it made a difference.

[1hole]

'Just how accurate is the Lee Perfect Powder Measure? Is it worth purchasing? '

Thousands seem to believe it's fine but it seems not everyone can deal with such complicated machinery. Accuracy with any measure is more dependant on the user than the tool. Assemble Lee's measure improperly, then use it inconsistantly and it will vary as much as any other measure. Assemble it properly, use it consistantly and it's as good as any, maybe a bit better than others with tubular powders.

[ubetcha]

The thing I don't like about it is the wobbly stand.The whole thing flexes.Other than that,I like it along with most of all the LEE line.
Chicken Thief, what did you make the powder baffle out of?The stand in Chicken Thief's pictures look like a plastic stand.Mine it a thin metal stand that screws to the back of the body.My have to come up with an idea for a new stand

[jimkim]

I was trying to throw some 1.4gr BE charges. I tried my Lee Auto Disk, RCBS Uniflow, and Hornady LNL. None of them would do it. I was about to order an RCBS Little Dandy, when I talked to my buddy Glenn(sirgknight). He said he just loaded some using his PPM. I set it to it;s lowest setting and threw then weighed fifty charges. Checking the weight with both an RCBS 505 and Lyman D5 there was LESS than one tenth of a grain variance. I wish my powder measures went down to hundredths of a grain now. I'd really like to know just how close this thing is. So far, it's better with flake, extruded, and extremely small charges than any thing else I own. I didn't do anything to mine except run two pounds of ball powder though it. Mine doesn't leak. Once again, I appear to be really lucky and have another Lee product that works.

[Chicken Thief]

The thing I don't like about it is the wobbly stand.The whole thing flexes.Other than that,I like it along with most of all the LEE line.
Chicken Thief, what did you make the powder baffle out of?The stand in Chicken Thief's pictures look like a plastic stand.Mine it a thin metal stand that screws to the back of the body.My have to come up with an idea for a new stand

Powderbaffle is made of a bit of lexan, but i dont see why something as simple as cardboard cant be used!

The stand is the original metal one.
I have my press mounted on a piece of alu and have threaded a hole in it for easy mounting. Steady as a rock.

[ubetcha]

Yes your stand is like mine.I did have it screwed to the bench and it did flex,but could be the "nature of the beast" as the saying goes. I was maybe thinking about using an old license plate for the baffle material.Thanks CT

[Longwood]

Yes your stand is like mine.I did have it screwed to the bench and it did flex,but could be the "nature of the beast" as the saying goes. I was maybe thinking about using an old license plate for the baffle material.Thanks CT

A piece of soda can may be a lot easier to work with.
I made one from the stiff clear plastic that a cake came in.

[ubetcha]

That worth a try too! I'll give them both a try. Thanks