Lyman 55 Powder Measure - Anyone know the drop tube threading?

[Pressman]

Mr. Frog Person, Sir: I recieved news last night that there may be very big news coming shortly regarding the 55 Project. Stay tuned!!!!

Ken

[KCSO]

I simply bored my drop out and glued in a large aluminium arrow shaft, works fine for the last 30 years or so.

[Dimner]

As mentioned above, I went ahead and designed and 3d printed a new drop tube for my lyman 55. No threads, thanks for that suggestion guys. I do not plan (at this time) to mount it on a press, so threads are unnecessary. If I want one with threads, I will just design a new one. For my purposes, I will be mounting to the edge of my bench (office desk) with the lyman built in clamp on the back side of the powder measure.

I designed this drop tube to mimic the MTM funnel I use for my normal hand loading while measuring each lode on an RCBS 10-10 scale. Here is a cross section of the design I came up with:



I need to test the final 3d print with some larger extruded and flake powders, but I think this is going to work very well.



Here's something I thought was interesting. The original lyman drop tube that I have, has the groove for the set screw located. 1/4" too low. So that groove is really doing nothing that I can see. So for my version, I moved the groove up so it would meet the set screw.

[Shawlerbrook]

Wash them in Dove detergent to eliminate static electricity. Are you going to make any for sale ?

[onelight]

Very nice , that should serve you well.

[GONRA]

6+ decades ago, GONRA used to cut these Lyman/Ideal 30 thread/inch's on my boyhood 12 inch Sears metal lathe.
Records are looong gone but standard set of die cast Zamak change gears is all that's needed.......

[Green Frog]

Mr. Frog Person, Sir: I recieved news last night that there may be very big news coming shortly regarding the 55 Project. Stay tuned!!!!

Ken

HIP, HIP, HOORAY! I'll be waiting by the computer in expectation.

Froggie

[Green Frog]

As mentioned above, I went ahead and designed and 3d printed a new drop tube for my lyman 55. No threads, thanks for that suggestion guys. I do not plan (at this time) to mount it on a press, so threads are unnecessary. If I want one with threads, I will just design a new one. For my purposes, I will be mounting to the edge of my bench (office desk) with the lyman built in clamp on the back side of the powder measure.

I designed this drop tube to mimic the MTM funnel I use for my normal hand loading while measuring each lode on an RCBS 10-10 scale. Here is a cross section of the design I came up with:



I need to test the final 3d print with some larger extruded and flake powders, but I think this is going to work very well.



Here's something I thought was interesting. The original lyman drop tube that I have, has the groove for the set screw located. 1/4" too low. So that groove is really doing nothing that I can see. So for my version, I moved the groove up so it would meet the set screw.

Looks like modern technology has struck again! That looks like a winner from here. It's good to see that we can meld 125 year old design with 21st Century technology. The only concern I would have is the "choke point" where the top taper and bottom taper meet in the middle. Be sure and keep a close eye out for bridging, especially if you use any large grain or flake powders. I think for most powders you should be fine, but I would continue with my longstanding practice of using the "knocker" after each throw to insure complete drops.

Froggie

[Three44s]

Wash them in Dove detergent to eliminate static electricity. Are you going to make any for sale ?

I would also be interested as I have a “55” that I bought off the net and it came without drop tubes (seller portrayed it as such).

I also do not need threads because I will “clamp it” to something.

Three44s

[Dimner]

Looks like modern technology has struck again! That looks like a winner from here. It's good to see that we can meld 125 year old design with 21st Century technology. The only concern I would have is the "choke point" where the top taper and bottom taper meet in the middle. Be sure and keep a close eye out for bridging, especially if you use any large grain or flake powders. I think for most powders you should be fine, but I would continue with my longstanding practice of using the "knocker" after each throw to insure complete drops.

Froggie

Yeah, I am using the knocker all the time for sure. Just because I'm a nerd and I want all those 8 extra bits of powder to come out

I do need to make a revision to this. It works great for pistol case filling, but for small caliber rifle, even with ball powder the powder gets backed up at that choke point. When you pull out too early (insert jokes) it makes a mess of powder that wasnt able to get into the case. So I will make a revision that has the upper part of the internal funnel a bit wider and make the choke point a bit longer. I think the revision I have in mind also may work well for extruded and flake powders.

I should mention, as designed, it works well on large caliber rifle cases, since the mouth of the case is further down the bottom portion of the tube.

[Dimner]

HIP, HIP, HOORAY! I'll be waiting by the computer in expectation.

Froggie

What is this mysterious 55 project you speak of? My interested has sparked

[Green Frog]

Over a decade ago several folks of the Antique Reloading Tool Collecting ilk started contributing to a website started by one of their number to explore the history of the #55 Powder Measure as well as subchapters on several other contemporary measures. Unfortunately, Life got in the way for the webmaster, and many pages of super-informative stuff disappeared in a flash of electrons.

Somewhat like the Knights of the Round Table, several of us have been on a quest to retrieve this Holy Grail of Powder Measure History.

Froggie

[mattw]

I turned a small piece of aluminum to hold my #55 in a redding stand. I also made it accept RCBS extended drop tubes. It is held in the stand with 2 small set screws.

I would pay money for that kind of adapter with standard die threads on the outside.

[onelight]

If you cut the groove on both ends you could make 2 sizes on 1 tube

[Green Frog]

Negster, I just noticed the rest of the story... you have a #55, but it has a Culver Conversion on it. Is it an actual Culver-made unit or one of the clones? Regardless, it looks good from here, and I like your solution for a stand/drop tube as well.

Froggie

[Negster]

It is a clone marked "JJ Nagy" but has a nice click action and drops accurate. I went with the RCBS tubes because I like to dump into a pan and I just hold the pan tight to the bottom on the drop tube so no powder jumps out but it still falls free from the measure.

[44magLeo]

The stock drop tubes originally came in two sizes. One small for up to around 27 caliber the other for anything larger.
They are all over Ebay for sale.
I have three 55's. They are all orange. One has a much thicker walls on the powder reservoir. The drop tube in it is much shorter than the other two. It is knurled on the bottom. This one took a bit of work to get it working. On the screw that lock the main slide in place someone brazed it solid. This only let you adjust the two small slides. After drilling out the braze enough to remove the slides I used the threaded section of a Tee nut that had the right threads for a new stop screw. I "glued" it in place with a bit of JB Weld.
A bit of polishing to get the last of the braze out of the way so the slides work it's back in operation. If I painted you couldn't tell it was ever bubba'ed.
The other two, one has a small tube, the other a large.
MTM makes a funnel set that has interchangeable pieces on the bottom. The long drop tube in that set is an almost perfect fit in the 55, just a tiny bit small.
Being transparent and long any bridging is easy to see.
Leo

[44magLeo]

I just wanted to add that on my drop tubes the shorter knurled one has the groove for the set screw. The other two had both drop tubes and all have just a dimple for the set screw.
Leo

[Green Frog]

It is a clone marked "JJ Nagy" but has a nice click action and drops accurate. I went with the RCBS tubes because I like to dump into a pan and I just hold the pan tight to the bottom on the drop tube so no powder jumps out but it still falls free from the measure.

Thanks for the response... that is one of about 4 kinds of clones of the original Homer Culver design that was made a few decades ago primarily for the bench rest fraternity. They were all noted for being very accurately throwing consistent, easily repeatable volumetric charges. Once you have checked it with the scale once, it's probably overkill to drop every charge onto the scale, in fact many bench rest shooters just count clicks and don't use a scale at the range.

BTW, do you have any history on your Nagy conversion? That's one of the clones that I don't have much information about.

Regards,
Froggie

[gwpercle]

I simply bored my drop out and glued in a large aluminium arrow shaft, works fine for the last 30 years or so.

You did that ... without ... a 3-D printer ...That's Amazing !
I Like It !
Gary