Dillion powder measure

[abunaitoo]

Anyone use a Dillion powder measure manually?????
Meaning mounted off the press, with something to move the bar like a powder drop.

[jeepyj]

Although I haven't done a large amount of loading off the press I have learned to use mine manually (without the linkage) to set up for different loads. I think with a bit of work one could come up with an effective method to to do bulk loading off the press.

[jmorris]

I haven't but if I were going to I would use one of the spring return measures I have and weld a handle to the return stop on an early, pre fail safe, linkage.

One in the pliers.

[John J]

Greetings

I think what your looking for is something like the powder measure for the 450 as shown in the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FSYDxkSHcQ

you can install a draw pull on your 550 powder bar and then remove the fale safe system from the measure to make it work smother. add a lyman/rcbs powder stand and you will have a stand alone powder measure.


hope this helps

John J

[Murphy]

Just my 2 cents worth.

I've been using Dillon presses for 30 years now. I've used the manual and automatic powder measures and prefer the older style 450 manual powder measure.

I for one, wish Dillon would offer their manual powder measure as an option when buying a new press, or as an accessory measure sold separately. It may surprise Dillon just how many would of the older measures they would sell in short order.

Murphy

[Petrol & Powder]

I'm sure it could be done but it begs the question, "why"?

By the time you configure a mount off of the press for the Dillon powder measure you're going to be about 80% of the way to making a copy of conventional bench mounted powder measure. The Dillon measure is case activated so you would have to decide if you wanted to keep that feature and rig it in a single stage press OR abandon that feature and operate the slide manually. If you operate the slide manually you will need some type of mount for the powder measure and you will need to fabricate some type of drop tube.

At that point you would be better off just buying a conventional bench mounted powder measure and calling it a day.
I'm all about using what you have on hand but there comes a point when it's impractical to expend time/money/effort to fabricate what you can buy for less money and/or time.

[rogerreloader]

I have one of the rl450 powder measures for sale. It is like new with the correct powder die. 50.00 plus shipping.

[David2011]

I'm sure it could be done but it begs the question, "why"?

While I can't guess the motivation of the OP it's hard to beat the accuracy of a Dillon, especially for the price. Every measure I have handles round and flattened ball powders well so that's not an issue. The Dillons and my old Saeco do pretty well with fluffy oatmeal-like powders if the charge isn't too small. The Dillon and Saeco also handle medium stick powders like H4895 consistently. I find them both more consistent than my Uniflow with stick powders and the Uniflow won't measure fluffy powders well until the charges are upwards of 5-6 grains. Other people seem very happy with the Uniflow so mine may be less accurate than typical.

The Dillon is easy enough to actuate just by pushing the powder measure bar in with a finger. Equipped with the powder measure die it will mount in any 7/8x14 powder measure stand. If dropped into a funnel or other receptacle larger than a cartridge, a drop tube wouldn't be necessary. I would use a .45 cal powder funnel to minimize the risk of bridging stick powders.

Something else I like about the Dillon is that powder charge bars are easily swapped. A separate charge bar can be kept for each commonly used charge to eliminate the tedious adjusting process. Unfortunately the price seems to have gone up significantly since the last one I bought. Adjustment is the worst feature of most powder measures IMO.

[abunaitoo]

I get good results with the Lee disc measure.
Sometimes I just can't get the powder amount I want.
I have the adjustable charge bar, but sometimes it's to small.
Dillion looks to be the closest thing to it.
Looks like it will drop a larger amount, and is adjustable.

[Petrol & Powder]

David2011, I understand what you wrote but I still don't see how it would be an improvement over a conventional bench mounted powder measure.

By the time you make the Dillon measure work off of the Dillon press, or any other progressive press, you're about 80%+ to duplicating a conventional bench mounted power measure. I don't see why keeping the case activated operation would be desirable off the press?
I CAN see wishing to put a Dillon powder measure on a different progressive press. They are good powder measures.

As for the Dillon measure being superior to other stand-alone powder measures? I'm not sure about that. The Dillon is an excellent measure when used on a progressive press but I doubt that it is significantly more consistent than some of the better drum type measures.

[David2011]

I think the Dillon as a bench mounted measure would be cumbersome but they are accurate. I don't believe it is the best solution for a bench measure; was just trying to answer the "why" question based on what I know. It would only be an improvement over a conventional measure that had poor accuracy. I have used several that are not as accurate as a Dillon.

I'm not sure what you're referring to as "better drum type measures." Maybe the Redding 3BR or a Harrell? Those are pretty expensive measures. Just based on the measures I own the "better" measures would be the Lyman 55 (very good) and the Saeco (excellent), both very old measures. The Uniflow is the least accurate and newest of all of my adjustable drum measures with medium to large stick powders with a variation of .1-.3 grains and lots of crunching. It does well with short stick powders and ball powders. The Dillons are as consistent as the Saeco and don't crunch powders.

It's just my opinion based on my experiences.
David

[Petrol & Powder]

My Redding 3BR is in the "better" category. It's very accurate. When loading rifle cartridges I weigh every charge. I set the 3BR to throw the desired charge of powder just a bit shy of the target weight and use a powder trickler to bring it to the exact weight needed. The starting weights are amazingly consistent. I could probably set the powder to throw the final weight and be within .1 grain every time but I prefer not to do that.

I've never been a fan of the Lyman 55 but I know that's blasphemy in some circles. I think the Lyman 55's claim to fame was its availability when there were few measures on the market. In today's market I would take the Redding over a 55 any day. YMMV.

[David2011]

I've never been a fan of the Lyman 55 but I know that's blasphemy in some circles. I think the Lyman 55's claim to fame was its availability when there were few measures on the market. In today's market I would take the Redding over a 55 any day. YMMV.

Well, yeah! Me too. My 55 belonged to one of my closest friends who passed away about 7 years ago. He taught me a great deal about casting, the metallurgy involved, gunsmithing and was an encyclopedia on firearms. The powder tube was missing and some small parts needed to be replaced. I soaked all of the iron and steel parts in Evapo-Rust, got everything working smoothly and put it together choosing to leave the worn paint as it was when he last used it. IMO its forte is flake powders.