AMT (AKA Lyman) Powder measure

[abunaitoo]

Anyone have one of these????
How good/bad are they????
I've always wanted one because it's machanical as oppose to electronic.
I've seen a few listed on e-bay, but always get out bid.

[1hole]

Not sure what "AMT" means but the Lyman 55 measures have given good service for a long time. But, so have others. ????

I prefer the Reddings with dual chambers for pistol and rifle charges.

Purely personal, I wouldn't pay for a digital if they were half the price.

[abunaitoo]

This is the one I'm asking about. Ebay #280157640593. Lyman autoscale. I don't know what the one made by AMT was called.
Anyone used one of these????

[1hole]

Ah, now I remember! Well, I suppose they sold some of those things but they didn't stay in business long. Does that tell us anything? I don't really know but they did start a minor avalance with that thing. It's probably a pretty good device if you can get it cheep enough, Lyman Co. ain't no dummies and they bought the company!

[Handgunr]

AMT originally designed the Autoscale and Lyman eventually bought up the rights to produce them, I believe, after AMT (Arcadia Machine and Tool) got into trouble and was on their way out.

I had the Lyman Autoscale version, and although it was a pretty good machine, it was glitchy. Lyman only produced the autoscale for only a few years prior to coming out with the DPS1200 and to be honest, I highly wonder if they ever saw a return on their money spent on obtaining the rights from AMT anyway.

Although the powder feed was automated, the scale system was based on a marriage of the old style balance beam system, and a photo optical shut off, similar to how a breathylizer works, it's variation was greater than the 1/10th of a grain that they stated.

I bought mine for use with extruded powders like the IMR series, and within months of buying it, Lyman came out with the DPS1200 system. I gave my Autoscale to a good friend, and bought the Lyman DPS.

To be honest, it was the best purchase I've ever made, and the DPS1200 is extremely accurate and consistent. I've heard the RCBS ChargeMaster is very good as well, but it's price is higher.
Lyman has made 2 improvements to the DPS system, and now they offer an upgrade for the owners of the original DPS1200 that increases the powder dispenser speed.
The first improvement (2nd release) of the DPS1200 was an increase in the memory amount, going from a 30 load memory ( I think), to a 100 load memory, as well as a link system to download your loads to computer. The first release had the female jack installed, but no cable or instructions on whether you could download it to your computer or what.

Regardless, I use mine constantly, and it works flawlessly. Initially, the powder feed tube was binding a little on the teflon bushings, and I had to relieve them a little, but this was no big deal and now, works very well.

After my experience, I would never go back to that old Autoscale, and it was nowhere near the powder dispensing system that the DPS is, believe me.

Hope this helps,
Bob