Buckshot
02-06-2017, 02:15 AM
...........I have a RCBS drum measure from years ago. Also many years ago I bought one of the (then) new Lee plastic drum measure based on an article in Precision Shooting mag. They tested several kinds/brands including those with accuracy reps like the Harrel. The new all plastic Lee was right in there with the best of'em. Pretty much the first ever problem I had with that Lee was when loading with surplus WC820. This powder has TINY, teeny weeny :-) grains, and eventually rendered the Lee almost frozen solid. Ditto it's use in the RCBS rotary drum measure.
I got the Lee cleaned up and back in service and have used it for many years. However I wanted a new scale and had been looking at the Lee Classic measure with it's cast iron body and brass drum. I got won from Graf & Son. It seemed to be well done, but I don't like the powder hopper just sitting loosely atop the body. However, that aside I began doing some testing with it. I tried a couple flake powders, some extruded numbers and then a couple ball powders.
As would be expected, the ball powders metered the best. I tried WC860, & W748. I threw 20 charges of each at 60.0, 30.0, & 10.0 grs. These 3 delivered the majority 18/860, 17/748, @ 60.0 grs. The 'Off' charges were 0.1 grain :-) At 30.0 grs they were all 'On'. Ditto the 10.0gr charges.
The flake powders tried were Red Dot, 700X, and Unique. I tried 30.0gr, 15.0gr, and 6.0gr charges. To make it short, the 30.0gr charge had the most variation with most at 30.0, a couple were 30.1 and one was 30.2. All were fairly equal in their accuracy, but for some reason 700x produced a couple where the drum hesitated a bit as it cleared the wiper. Of the 6.0gr charges it was almost 100% on. Again the 700x produced a few that were off, but they were 0.1gr Light, not over.
The extruded powders tried were IMR4350, IMR3031, and IMR4198. There were a few hesitations in rotating past the wiper, but no stoppages like I'd experienced with the RCBS rotary drum. Charges were same as the ball powders @ 60.0, 30.0, and 10.0 grs. The 2 heavier charges ran about equally, with more then half being exact, 3-4 would be a tenth over and 1 or 2 being 0.2 over. The lightest was the most problematic as about 1/3 being 'On' about the same 0.1 under or 0.1 over.
The instructions say to run the drum up and down smoothly without 'Tapping' at the stops. This tried to do, but in the process of running all these charges sometimes it happened. Don't know if it accounted for any of the discrepancies. However bottom line I think this is overall a nice piece of equipment, and I'm glad I bought it. Before I used it, I recalled Lee's admonition for the all plastic rotary measure to run a pound of powder through it first. With this new scale I took the brass drum out (wanted to look at it anyway :-)), and used a cotton swab to dust on some powdered graphite on the tapered face of the brass drum.
Once reassembled I operated the lever up and down for several minutes, then removed the drum to inspect the surfaces. There were a couple spots with less then perfect contact, but overall I was impressed with the fit, which will undoubtedly improve over time. Perfectly mating 2 round tapered flat surfaces is a tough nut, and like will eventually happen here, perfection is achieved by lapping them together. I believe for the money, that this powder measure is well worth the money.
BTW, using Lee's volumetric measurement figures (VMD) for various powders, they are close. The ones I tried usually required you to increase the charge slightly, which is very simple to do on this scale. Obviously their chart didn't show surplus powders, so following their instructions to find a specific VMD, I did so for WC860 and then also tried surplus IMR4198. After doing so and then setting the measure to throw a specific charge, it was very close and required only a minor adjustment or two to hit the weight. I'd never paid much attention to this (Lee shows the VMD for charges in their reloading manual). So I spent an hour or so for a couple days to figure the VMD for the surplus numbers I have, and to write them on the containers, and also those for the common canister powders Lee DOES list.
................Buckshot
I got the Lee cleaned up and back in service and have used it for many years. However I wanted a new scale and had been looking at the Lee Classic measure with it's cast iron body and brass drum. I got won from Graf & Son. It seemed to be well done, but I don't like the powder hopper just sitting loosely atop the body. However, that aside I began doing some testing with it. I tried a couple flake powders, some extruded numbers and then a couple ball powders.
As would be expected, the ball powders metered the best. I tried WC860, & W748. I threw 20 charges of each at 60.0, 30.0, & 10.0 grs. These 3 delivered the majority 18/860, 17/748, @ 60.0 grs. The 'Off' charges were 0.1 grain :-) At 30.0 grs they were all 'On'. Ditto the 10.0gr charges.
The flake powders tried were Red Dot, 700X, and Unique. I tried 30.0gr, 15.0gr, and 6.0gr charges. To make it short, the 30.0gr charge had the most variation with most at 30.0, a couple were 30.1 and one was 30.2. All were fairly equal in their accuracy, but for some reason 700x produced a couple where the drum hesitated a bit as it cleared the wiper. Of the 6.0gr charges it was almost 100% on. Again the 700x produced a few that were off, but they were 0.1gr Light, not over.
The extruded powders tried were IMR4350, IMR3031, and IMR4198. There were a few hesitations in rotating past the wiper, but no stoppages like I'd experienced with the RCBS rotary drum. Charges were same as the ball powders @ 60.0, 30.0, and 10.0 grs. The 2 heavier charges ran about equally, with more then half being exact, 3-4 would be a tenth over and 1 or 2 being 0.2 over. The lightest was the most problematic as about 1/3 being 'On' about the same 0.1 under or 0.1 over.
The instructions say to run the drum up and down smoothly without 'Tapping' at the stops. This tried to do, but in the process of running all these charges sometimes it happened. Don't know if it accounted for any of the discrepancies. However bottom line I think this is overall a nice piece of equipment, and I'm glad I bought it. Before I used it, I recalled Lee's admonition for the all plastic rotary measure to run a pound of powder through it first. With this new scale I took the brass drum out (wanted to look at it anyway :-)), and used a cotton swab to dust on some powdered graphite on the tapered face of the brass drum.
Once reassembled I operated the lever up and down for several minutes, then removed the drum to inspect the surfaces. There were a couple spots with less then perfect contact, but overall I was impressed with the fit, which will undoubtedly improve over time. Perfectly mating 2 round tapered flat surfaces is a tough nut, and like will eventually happen here, perfection is achieved by lapping them together. I believe for the money, that this powder measure is well worth the money.
BTW, using Lee's volumetric measurement figures (VMD) for various powders, they are close. The ones I tried usually required you to increase the charge slightly, which is very simple to do on this scale. Obviously their chart didn't show surplus powders, so following their instructions to find a specific VMD, I did so for WC860 and then also tried surplus IMR4198. After doing so and then setting the measure to throw a specific charge, it was very close and required only a minor adjustment or two to hit the weight. I'd never paid much attention to this (Lee shows the VMD for charges in their reloading manual). So I spent an hour or so for a couple days to figure the VMD for the surplus numbers I have, and to write them on the containers, and also those for the common canister powders Lee DOES list.
................Buckshot