How accurate is Dillon Measure?

[engineer401]

I’ve used the Dillon measures on my 550 with great reliability.

[Oldbrowngun]

I've used 650's and 1050's and actually prefer the 550 over the 650.

Can you elaborate on the reasons why? I originally wanted the 650, but decided on the 550 for two reasons. I load a lot of calibers, and 2, I see a lot of complaints from auto indexing presses throwing powder out of the case on index.

[Oldbrowngun]

As I said, im fine with .1/.2, but my measure was throwing up to a full grain off on pistol rounds, which I find way too inconsistent. I am not using stick powders, I load mostly unique and 2400. All i need the measure to do is consistantly be within a couple of grains.

[Smoke4320]

I have 7 Dillon measures .. Polish the cast metal funnel at the bottom of the measure tube, Treat cylinder with anti static dryer sheet. Keep linkage clean and ball powders will be nearly dead on. large stick is a little harder as it is with most measures

[jmorris]

With powders they like I am inside a tenth or all the charges read the same to the .X, thrown 10 charges and you can see if you are on average high or low inside that tenth.

Extruded powders don’t meter very well in any measure but I have never had any powders that were as far apart in charges as +/- .5 grain or an entire grain apart.

[Smk SHoe]

I have two 650's set up and use them a lot. Yes, the powder measure might be off .1 grn plus or minus. Volume beats that unless I'm loading for the bench. Yes the 650 will throw powder out of a straight wall case that is almost full during indexing. Pick up a bearing plate and a roller index wheel along with a couple upgrades and it rolls smooth as silk. As others have stated, the 1/10 of a grain is minuscule compared to all the other variables that affect a shot group.

[Papercidal]

My Dillon is up to.1 off one way or the other with something like unique otherwise it's pretty close to dead on .556 loaded using the Dillon measure where more consistent than the same charge weight trickled on a scale by hand.

[glockfan]

My Dillon 650 has been spot on with throwing 4.8 gr HP38 for 9mm. From full to 1/4 full. I check about every 50 rounds or so and it stays on that 4.8, have the powder alarm on it and some times it gives a chirp and ill check weight and its right on. Did install a wheel to adjust amount but hardly ever touch it. This is with the small powder bar installed for throwing small amounts.

this.

my 650 pm is NOW super accurate and drops the exact amount of powder asked....BUT ,i had to tighten the adjusting screw who was kind of '''spinning''' a little after couple hundreds drops. my fix is a simple strip of maskin tape running over the screw sticked on the powder bar.it isn't moving at all now. the fact the drops can be erratic on some units depends more on the adjusting screw moving a little or not. i did bought a micrometric screw for it, but the same phenom may apply if the screw isn't snug enough in relation to the powder bar .

of course some powders meter better ,the sticks ,well,this form of powder doesn't meter very well in any powder bars . i'm using vitahuori powders, and of course most of their powders meters very well in any kind of powder dispensers.

[wrench man]

Ball powders meter VERY well, only flake I've used is Trail Boss, it meters very well also, stick powders, IMR4064, meter at about +/- .2grns
Don't baby the press while operating it and it will meter very well!

[L Erie Caster]

All 7 of my Dillon measures are the older spring type. I use one for 38 spl on my Rockchucker and it drops 3.8g of Bullseye every time. 10 charges will weigh 38.0g. I have not adjusted it for years. Believe it or not.

[GT1]

All powder measures that operate on volume have the exact same tolerance of 0.2(two tenths of a grain), it does not matter if it is the 20 dollar Lee Perfect, or a 300 dollar harrell. You are welcome to convince yourself that a redding or harrell is better, it isn't in truth, though. A lot of BR shooters have sworn by the LPP over the years for that reason, and the fact that it handles extruded powder better(It doesn't crunch it up).
The real difference is in the powder. Some extruded powders aren't going to throw well, Unique sucks as well.
The dillons use the same mechanism as the lee auto disks, which are proven accurate mechanisms, if I recall Mike Dillon paid Richard Lee so he could use the patented idea.

[lightman]

I've owned several powder measures over the years. A Herters, RCBS, Lyman, Dillon, Harrells, maybe a few others. Their accuracy was all pretty equal. A few operated kind of rough until I polished on them. The difference in the Harrells is the adjustment. Its just much easier to return to a previous setting. The others, not so much. Plus its smoother.

[EddieZoom]

The dillons use the same mechanism as the lee auto disks, which are proven accurate mechanisms, if I recall Mike Dillon paid Richard Lee so he could use the patented idea.

Interesting bit of history.

[Smk SHoe]

Harrell's are much smother and better made than Lee. Where Harrell's shine is the repeatability of changing settings and returning to them and knowing that it will be the same.

[jmorris]

All powder measures that operate on volume have the exact same tolerance of .2...

This is false from my experience. They just are not built the same, that’s why they work differently as well as why they work differently with different powders.

Set a Lee autodisk, a uniflow and a Lyman 55 side by side then get a fine ball powder and a long extruded powder, then start throwing some charges. It won’t take long to see the differences, in results between them.

FWIW the results out of the 55 can change in the way you set it, thick slide, thin slide, both. So you can get different results even with the same measure, much less different styles.

Not to mention I too get charges identical to the tenth from volume measures, with their preferred powders.

[Oldbrowngun]

All powder measures that operate on volume have the exact same tolerance of 0.2(two tenths of a grain), it does not matter if it is the 20 dollar Lee Perfect, or a 300 dollar harrell. You are welcome to convince yourself that a redding or harrell is better, it isn't in truth, though. A lot of BR shooters have sworn by the LPP over the years for that reason, and the fact that it handles extruded powder better(It doesn't crunch it up).
The real difference is in the powder. Some extruded powders aren't going to throw well, Unique sucks as well.
The dillons use the same mechanism as the lee auto disks, which are proven accurate mechanisms, if I recall Mike Dillon paid Richard Lee so he could use the patented idea.

I refuse to believe that all powder measures are equal after my experience with my lee measure. (Which i bought after reading all the stories of guys forsaking their more expensive measures in favor of this plastic piece of junk.) All cars perform the same function but not every brand performs it the same. Sorry if I sound a bit jaded but im currently unable to reload because my lee measure is unsafe and frankly im tired of sending red products back to the factory. They aren't that much cheaper then the competition once you factor in shipping back to lee to get them made right.

[Petrol & Powder]

Can you elaborate on the reasons why? I originally wanted the 650, but decided on the 550 for two reasons. I load a lot of calibers, and 2, I see a lot of complaints from auto indexing presses throwing powder out of the case on index.

I'm sorry, I just saw this

Yes, I prefer the simplicity of manual indexing. It gives you more control over the process and with practice it can be very fast.
The initial cost of the 550 is also a bit less.

My technique for using the 550 involves reaching for a bullet with my left hand while I'm operating the handle with my right hand. I hold the bullet between my left thumb and forefinger as I rotate the shell plate and place the bullet on the casing at station 3 as soon as I advance the shell plate. With that technique and pre-loaded primer tubes, production rates of over 300 rounds per hour are easily obtained.

[dogdoc]

I am not convinced a tenth is relevant even on low volume pistol rounds. Too many variables and a tenth variation cannot be eliminated due to accuracy of the common reloading scales. Just like people worrying if their load is a tenth over maximum published loads. Ridiculous . Many competitive rifle target shooters measure their loads rather than weigh each one. It just is not that precise



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[JeepHammer]

For me, Dillon charge throwers are as good as any other shuttle thrower.

It's often dependent on the powder you are using.
TightGroup in particular is a pain, so I had to pull out all the tricks.

Dillon NEEDS a baffle.
For PITA powder, washers taped together that fit into the bin will keep pressure on the powder column more consistent.
'Sticky' powders I use a cell phone vibrator taped to the side of the bin.
For some powders I use a common SHORT funnel in the top of the powder bin, something with about a 1/2" or 5/8" hole, fill bin through funnel, then fill funnel.
The funnel will keep consistent pressure on the powder column.

Baffles, weights, funnel work on all throwers, these aren't unique to Dillon.

KEEP SLIDER RAILS LUBRICATED!
Polishing the bar up a little helps.

Use the older style return spring on the newer powder throwers, this helps 'Snap' the bar fully back into place and even out charge drops.

I can *Usually* get powder drop vairation down to +/- 0.1 grain (1/10).

The powder isn't going to drop into the charge bar exactly the same way each & every time, so the charge isn't going to be 'Exact', but you can get real close.
As close as any other charge bar thrower.

There are die adapters that will let you use the 'Micrometer' type throwers, they just don't have a lock out and will drop powder without case present.

A couple things I do to my Dillons,
I change out the bolt for a knurled knob, and there is one particular knurled knob that works best for me simply because the threads are cut so precisely.

There is a spring (curved washer) under the bolt head, this thing weakens over time and needs replaced (free from Dillon) or you need to put a little more 'Curve' into it.
Other than a little square plastic piece on the slider (that I loose) the washer is the only parts I've had to replace in 20 years.

Just some things that worked for me, your mileage may be different!

[biffj]

A high polish on your measure can be a bad thing. Sometimes thing stick better when its smoother. More contact area creates static charges more readily. On the other hand a rough as cast surface isn't great either.

I've found the measure on my 650 works very well for most flake, ball and fine grained extruded powders. 8208XBR, 2400, Bullseye, and the like work very well and charges are pretty consistent. The larger extruded powders like 4895 aren't so hot but that is the case with every measure I've used. I don't tend to load a lot of the extruded stuff on the 650 so it hasn't been a problem. 9mm, 223, 300 blackout, 6.5 Grendel and 338BR all use powders that throw well with the charge bar measure so I've been happy. I admit I'm not a OCD Engineer but I do like consistency and for what we're doing its been pretty good.

Frank