Powder measure

[abunaitoo]

Friend is looking for a powder drop that will do .01, or less consistently.
He uses a digital scale to check his loads.
He has a RCBS, with a baffle, right now.
He getting 0.2 to 0.5 variation.
I'm thinking he wants 0.1 or less variation.
He still learning.
.223 or .308 with Win748.
What wold be the most accurate powder measure out there???

I don't think there is anything that will do what he's expecting.
Told him to just drop a light charge, and trickle the rest.
He said it's to slow that way.

He's a good guy, just so excited with his new found hobby of reloading.
Most of the time he's playing with different loads.

[Markopolo]

Actually, there is something that will come close... the Lyman Gen 6.. best of the best, small footprint, 200 bucks.

[Kraschenbirn]

Belding and Mull...if he can find one at a reasonable price.

Bill

[rfd]

HARRELL'S ! i'd spent a small fortune on name brand powder measures and none can compare to a harrell's. mine is the schuetzen 2-25 grain model for handgun loads of 3.7 to 6.3 grains of a variety of smokeless powders and it's accuracy is spot on and rarely off at +/- .01 grains. not cheap, but lots cheaper than wasting dollar$ on rcbs, lyman, redding, etc.

[Mr_Sheesh]

If they really need the best accuracy on charges, cast into a pan then trickle it up to the exact desired weight.

[Ickisrulz]

Belding and Mull...if he can find one at a reasonable price.

Bill

They are available brand new and for not much more than the top Redding's:

http://montanavintagearms.com/reloading/

[slughammer]

If he's getting .2 to .5gr variation with W748 in a RCBS Uniflow I think that is technique variation in how he's operating the handle.

I would recommend he tries a "double bump" at the bottom of the down stroke. This settles the powder and helps with consistency.

[country gent]

The harrels is very good I have 2 a shutzen and standard. Both are very accurate. The lymann 55 can be good, there used to be a conversion done to them called the culiver conversion that made them much easier and consistant to set. The Belding and mull is good and works better with stick powders than most. It is a 2 hand operation though. These are a good measure but they are getting old now. The nice thing with them is you can make measure tubes dedicated to loads and not have to reset them.

Most measures need a couple things to run their best.1) a vibration free area to allow everything to flow and feed as it should. 2) A solid mounting so operation is sure and quick. a wobbly mount or springy will allow the measure to vary. 3) Consistant operation the exact same operation stop to stop every time. speed bumps, pauses. This is very important.

One thing to gain consistency is to have him run 2-3 hoppers of powder thru it measuring and weighing charges. This get the operation in line. Once consistency is determined then change things a little a heavier bump at the fill, at the drop, slow operation of the measure, fast operation, pauses at fill and dump of stroke. see how they all affect the charges.

[Shawlerbrook]

Drop a light charge and trickle.

[lightman]

With that much variation using 748 I would advise him to work on his technique. I can stay within 1/10th with my RCBS measure and a few others over the years. Now, extruded powder is another story! But I've found ball and flake powders meter very consistently in my measure. I've not found my Harrells to be any more accurate but its much smoother. Where they really shine is with the adjustments being repeatable from session to session.

[abunaitoo]

I already told him.
"Told him to just drop a light charge, and trickle the rest.
He said it's to slow that way. "

I have a few B&M, but he said it looks to slow. Two hand s to work.
Hard headed.

I don't know what his technique is, but knowing him, he's trying to do it the same every time.
I've not had very good luck with an RCBS measure. It does it's job, but I also get a variation of .2 to 0.5 sometimes.

[wrench man]

If he's getting .2 to .5gr variation with W748 in a RCBS Uniflow I think that is technique variation in how he's operating the handle.

I would recommend he tries a "double bump" at the bottom of the down stroke. This settles the powder and helps with consistency.

Agreed, W748 should meter on the nut every time, sounds like he's babying it?, he needs to be more aggressive with his operation.

[JBinMN]

"You can lead a horse to water, but ya can't make it drink." comes to mind.

I use both an RCBS without a baffle & a Lee powder measure, and do not have much issue with either. The usually drop on or just a bit light & I do a double tap up & down with both. Rarely, I get one that drops a little high, but rarely is the word.

I also have a "trickler" I made out of some PVC & a cut off piece of arrow shaft & some O-rings that comes in handy to bring up any light drops & it isn't all that hard or time consuming to do.

I also use about 10 different types of powdrs & they all have their own, "peculiarities to them, as many folks know, they are not all easy flowing. One just has to adjust to those "attributes" as well as one can to adapt. No sense in getting uptight about it, IMO.

Maybe try removing the baffle & testing that RCBS without it & see if it doesn't improve using that powder.

The suggestions before mine, so far, have been good ones, but if he isn't gonna listen & try other options suggested & the only thing that will satisfy him is a "perfect every time" measure, then I would just tell him to get out his wallet & start buying & testing them himself, as I think he will not ever be satisfied. He can always resell the ones he is not satisfied with using.

Your attempt to help out another handloader/reloader is great, even if the other fella doesn't want to pay attention to your ( or anyone elses) advice on how to work around the issue...

G'Luck to you & him both.

[country gent]

Its always interesting when working with a new person in any hobby or chore. Heres something to think about, even todays state of the art computer controlled machines still have tolerences on the parts they run. Even their parts arnt dead nuts on every time.

Ive worked with a few new reloaders over the years, and some equipment that gave them problems at the start was fine after a few thousand rounds was loaded.

Throwing a few hoppers of powder ( and making note of the weights in groups o 10) in a charge with the measure. does several things It shows the "mean" charges high and lowest. It shows the average to be expected, It shows where the measure is most accurate with the amount of powder in the hopper, It allows the user to fine tune his technique to the measure, And last it tumes the operator and makes operation more consistant. I have done this with an rcbs uniflow, lyman 55, Beldings and mull ( also experiment with different tube dias and end shapes), Harrels, A lee auto disk and Dillon.

If operation is the issue then one of the press operated measure may work better for him, as the press will smooth out the operation some. Maybe one of the press conversions on a small lee press for his rcbs