Lyman 55 Powder Measures

[Mark Daiute]

I've been using an RCBS uniflow for about 8 years now with no problems.

Stick powder is what it is. It's not as nice as ball powders but the Uniflow handles it. I started in with some 5010 tonight.

Recently, I picked up two Lyman 55's. I tried the 5010, a stick powder in one of the 55's I'd picked up alongside the Uniflow and found that I could not get it (the 55) adjusted. It was either way below or way over the 50 grains I was trying to measure.

Anyone else using Lyman 55's? What sort of results do you get?

Thanks,

Mark

[Mk42gunner]

Mark,

I am kind of in the same boat as you. I have had an RCBS Uniflow for over a decade and used it with no complaints, until I started loading the .32 S&W Long for a Model of 1903 hand ejector. The large drum of my Uniflow did not like dispensing 2½ grains of Red Dot, so I tried the Lyman 55 that I got at an auction.

I have to say the 55 does better with miniscule charges of flake powder than the Uniflow, but I have not tried any stick powder through it.

I was thinking of getting rid of one of the measures; but now I think I will keep both of them. Some tools do certain jobs better than other tools.

Robert

[CastingFool]

I have no experience with any powder measure except my Redding no. 3. It works so well with ball powder that I hate to use any other type of powder, but I do use 4064 and 3031. then I break out my powder trickler.

[btroj]

I use my Lyman strictly for small charges. I have a Harrell's that handles the bigger stuff.

Big stick powder are notorious for being difficult to get to measure well. I tend to throw light and trickle up.

[220swiftfn]

The trick with the 55 and stick powder is to have the cavity opening as small as possible. The more kernels getting sheared, the more "jerky" the operation is, the more inconsistant the throw will be. Use the drum for the main volume, with BOTH the slides together for the fine adjustment (NEVER just the top slide alone). I use mine as a pre-throw and trickle up, but on my 505 scale, where I have the 55 set at usually winds up being two ticks under weight with an occasional drop right at weight. In other words, within 2 tenths of a 50ish grain throw across the board, which isn't bad at all with IMR4064......

Also, doing things the same for each throw CANNOT be overstated, if you use the knocker, use it for every throw (I don't, but I do thump the handle stops.)


Dan

[Maven]

Mark, I also tried IMR 5010 in the Ly. #55 and got the same results as you. I.e., +-5grs. for a 48gr. charge. The old Ohaus Du-O-Measure was a bit better, but by no means perfect. As a last resort I tried the Lee Dippers and by trial & error found one that was quite close to the desired charge. (I used a powder trickler + scale to get exactly 48grs.) Btw, those dippers were faster and more convenient than fiddling with a powder measure.

[Larry Gibson]

The trick with the 55 and stick powder is to have the cavity opening as small as possible. The more kernels getting sheared, the more "jerky" the operation is, the more inconsistant the throw will be. Use the drum for the main volume, with BOTH the slides together for the fine adjustment (NEVER just the top slide alone). I use mine as a pre-throw and trickle up, but on my 505 scale, where I have the 55 set at usually winds up being two ticks under weight with an occasional drop right at weight. In other words, within 2 tenths of a 50ish grain throw across the board, which isn't bad at all with IMR4064......

Also, doing things the same for each throw CANNOT be overstated, if you use the knocker, use it for every throw (I don't, but I do thump the handle stops.)Dan

This is 100% correct. Be especially consistent with the knocker.

However, having said that I find the Lee powder measure to be the most consistent to use with long stick extruded powders. Even then I consistently tap the side of the drum 2 times when filling and 2 times when emptying into the case.

Larry Gibson

[captaint]

The Uniflow must have the small drum installed for pistol size charges. Then, it works very well with almost any pistol powder. I'm still not happy with throwing charges of Unique. Mike

[462]

I have a Lyman 55 and a Lee Imperfect Powder Measure. While the Lyman can be adjusted to minimize the cutting of stick powder kernels, the Lee works much better with almost zero cutting.