What do people use for dispensing/weighing powder charges?

[44Blam]

I use the little Lee powder measures to get close and weigh/adjust each load on an RCBS beam scale.
It is time consuming, but my charges are pretty accurate.

I've seen the auto dispensers that load into a digital scale - anyone used this? Or do people just trust the dispensers on the turret/progressive presses?

[tazman]

I use the Lee Pro Auto Disk for my handgun cartridges. They hold within .1 grain no problem.
For rifle, I use an RCBS Uniflow and a beam scale.

[sigep1764]

I use a Uniflow measure and the Dillon measures on my 550. I also use the Lee dippers when I'm using my 310 tong tool. I use a digital scale to check accuracy every so often and I've written down what the dippers throw with the powders I use. Its working so far.

[Rcmaveric]

I use the Lee perfect powder measure that drops onto the Lee safety ballance beam. Then trickle to top off if needed

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[modified5]

I use a digital scale and dippers. A trickler is nice for the last top off.

[Walks]

I've used A LYMAN 55 for just about my whole life.
I prefer it over anything else.

I love the RCBS Uni-Flow & the Little DANDY, got one of those the day they came out, got all 28 rotors.

I have the HORNADY L-N-L POWDER Measure with all three different rotor/drums & the previous version too.

I also bought a LYMAN Electronic Powder Measure/scale when they first came out. Bought the #3 upgrade when it came out to speed things up.

And after all that if I had to be reduced to one Powder Measure, it would be a;

LYMAN # 55.

The rotating drum powder measure is more accurate and reliable than any sliding bar measure. You set them, lock them down and don't have to worry about them.
The sliding bar stinks.
I don't trust them. I bought an adjustable bar for my MEC Grabber 12ga Shotgun Loader, it was always going out of wack, almost as bad as a dillon powder measure. I quickly went back to the fixed charge bars with the removable fixed powder bushings.

[roharmon]

Chargemaster

[Thundarstick]

I use the RCBS little dandy rotor for handgun charges, RCBS rotor charger dropper and beam scale for years, but have switched to a digital Hornady scale for rifle loads. Depending on the powder I may, or may not weigh every rifle charge, but usually with about every fifth charge dropped. I've tried a trickle and have one, but I use a tea spoon with a little powder in it to do fine adjustments, if you go over, dip a little out of the pan and start over. I get a very good idea of about how many kernels of a stick powder it takes to bring a charge up to weight with a spoon, heck, I've dipped and weighed a full run many times with a tea spoon.

[Reddirt62]

Dillon powder measure which I check occasionally with a Dillon electronic scale which I check occasionally with a Dillon beam scale.....8)

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[Wayne Smith]

I have multiple powder measures, but the B&M (Belding and Mull) gets the most consistent use. Always checked with either my Lyman M5 scale or my RCBS 1010. I also use a Pacific sliding bar pistol measure frequently. Unless I have my Lyman 55 mounted on my TrueLine Jr I will use the Pacific rotating pistol powder measure there.

[bedbugbilly]

I use a Lee Perfect Powder Measure, a Lyman 55 and just recently got a vintage Redding Micrometer that I'm looking forward to playing with. For scales, I use a RCBS 5-0-5 scale. I have a FA digital scale but it seems to be that it depends on where the powder is in the pan when set on the digital scale as to how accurate it reads. I've found it's just as easy to use the 505 beam scale - in fact, I like that scale so much that I have several tucked away "just in case" as I don' think the 505 is made anymore.

I have found my Lee PPM and the 55s that I have to be accurate - but then again, all depends on the type of powder. For rifle, I usually batch load and just use the beam scale - find a Lee dipper that is close to put the initial about in the pan and then trickle up to desired weight.

On some of my cartridges, I use dippers I've made and with consistent dipping method and checking every few loads on the beam scale, I can dip some pretty accurate loads.

[Texas by God]

I use Lee Dippers, a RCBS scale, a Redding powder measure with two drums, and a neat little Thompson Center priming flask.

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[Kraschenbirn]

I have multiple powder measures, but the B&M (Belding and Mull) gets the most consistent use. Always checked with either my Lyman M5 scale or my RCBS 1010...

Same here. My B&M consistently throws +/- .1 gr with H4895 (and similar) and that covers about 95% of my rifle needs. For most handgun rounds, I just use the factory measures on my Dillon presses.

Bill

[DerekP Houston]

On the turret press I use a lee auto disk, it is accurate enough for my pistol needs and I don't go near max loads. You'll want to use ball powders for best metering. On my LNL AP I use the hornady powder measure, it works well enough and holds charges pretty reasonable. I verify both with my digital frankford scale and if it still looks "off" to my eye with an old rcbs 10-10.

[mattw]

I use a Uniflow for mass production and good accuracy across a range, also for rifle with an old Redding iron trickler. I have a 55 and PPM that are for stubborn tiny charges as well. In the sub 2 grain range they work much better.

[JoeJames]

RCBS standard powder measure, FA digital scale, and a new Hornady trickler. But I filled the cavity in the bottom of the trickler with a mixture of epoxy and about 4 ounces of lead shot; because otherwise it was not very stable.

[one-eyed fat man]

Another vote for the Lyman 55. It's grandfather, the Ideal #5 gets the nod for loading blackpowder cartridges. They have proven themselves over the years.

[Echo]

For pistols, a Pacific/Hornady Pistol Powder measure. 22 standard inserts, and a Dremel or whatever (masking tape, for example) to get exactly what one wishes to throw. Line 'em up in a loading block and have at it. For rifles, an Ohaus Duo-Measure I've had for almost 60 years. Load it with powder, throw 3 loads, dump 'em, throw 3 more into the pan, weigh, make adjustments, and have at it...

[Bent Ramrod]

I have a Chargemaster and used it exclusively for a while. It weighs out even coarse powders to +-0.1 gr. It saves work, but doesn’t save me any time. I can trickle up a load on a scale pan as quickly as the Chargemaster can, and at least I’m doing something and maintaining a skill. With the Chargemaster, I sit watching the machine the same length of time per charge, unable to do anything but wait for the “beep!” that signals the weighing is finished. It’s probably an Attitude thing, but I get so many beeps, chimes, buzzes and other demands for my attention from all the Devices around here that I’m starting to feel like the Meat Adjunct to a bunch of robotic Slave Masters. Filling the thing, calibrating it and setting it up takes enough time so that unless I have to load more than 50 cartridges, getting out the scale and scoops is quicker. So now the RCBS comes out only when I’m feeling neurotic about Weighed Charges, have a bunch of them to do and am feeling lazy.

Once an optimized weight is achieved, I go to a powder measure, which is much faster, and thus saves work and time. In most cases, IME, the exact weight isn’t that critical. I use a B&M measure for most of my smokeless reloading and an Ideal #5 for black powder. The B&M has a sliding chamber that keeps the same head of pressure over the powder chamber, and so keeps the charges from gradually getting lighter as the hopper empties.

But I think Lyman/Ideal got it right in their design. A wide, shallow powder chamber, which is achieved by pulling the slides out on the rotor drum, is intuitively (at least to me) easier to fill consistently, in the absence of baffles, supplemental hoppers or other modifications, than is a narrow, deep one, such as those on most other measures. Once proficiency is attained, judicious use of the “clacker” over the rotor drum can keep the powder charges very close, even as the baffleless hopper empties. Once I set the slide to the proper charge, up to four “clacks” will increase the black powder charge a grain or so, if needed.

I tried a Harrell for a time, which was allegedly superior because the adjustment had “clicks,” and was glad it had a transparent drop tube, because I found it prone to bridging with powders like 3031 and 4198. I could see the short load fall through the tube, then the rest of it, plus the next charge, go through the tube the next time around. Kind of a confidence-buster, that, and having to empty and redo two cases every time it happened made the process slower than with the B&M.

[dondiego]

Lyman 55, Little Dandy with all of the rotors, and a Redding beam scale.