What's so great about a Lyman 55 measure?

[Martin Luber]

I'm waiting for some parts for mine but I usually use a few RCBS jobs for rifle and a Lee disc for pistol
Thanks for your thoughts

[Winger Ed.]

I don't know about great, but it works and is just another way to do a rotating volume measure/dropper.

[farmbif]

they throw very consistent loads with quite a few powders. for me it was a big step up from lee scoops to a 55. if you take care of it and dont bugger up the pins on the slides and prevent the slides from getting corroded or sticking. it will last forever. ive resurrected old ones and still have and use 2 of them, a very old orange one and a newer grey one. not as accurate for troublesome powders as a belding and mull but pretty close.
oh yeah, I need to add that it can be used mounted on a table or in a turret press or in a press on top of a powder through expander die.
for me it is a very versatile powder measure that just plain works.

[Maven]

If you keep a notebook of settings for the propellants you use, the #55 is fairly easy to set up and then throw accurate charges.

[abunaitoo]

To me, the knocker is the key.
Haven't seen it on any other powder measure.

[jonp]

No power needed and with the right powder are pretty good. Take to the hunting camp, clamp to the edge of the table and start reloading. It's why I have one and a set of dippers at my camp including Lee Whack A Moles for the calibers I reload most and a beam scale. Other than that I've found mine kinda finicky with the powders it will run on a consistent basis. Flakes will get a bunch of crunch, ball flows like water.

[recumbent]

I've had mine since 1982 still works great. Once a year or so I take it apart and clean it good.

[atr]

it throws consistent loads and is easy to adjust, also the setting/charge tables that come with it are pretty accurate so you can zero in on a load pretty quickly and without a lot of adjusting

[john.k]

Its like having a steam lawnmower......you dont need one,but its nice to have one.

[metricmonkeywrench]

It’s in my regular rotation for dispensing needs, drops constantly and accurately for me. As others stated the knocker I’d the key to settle the charge in the hopper. I kind of get the same effect in the clink-clink of the RCBS. I also find it way faster to tune in to a load than my other measures.

The only downside is that the drop tubes that I have are too small for a good fit for .45acp use and I am not really a fan of the clamp system it has. I do have the threaded drop tube and the die sized bushing and may someday mount it to one of the standard bench mount dispenser arms.

[Willbird]

If you keep a notebook of settings for the propellants you use, the #55 is fairly easy to set up and then throw accurate charges.

As early as I can remember my dad one and I still have it. I have a uniflow as well and I use either or and do really see either as clearly superior in any way. There is ONE thing to watch out with the 55, just make sure you never accidentally adjust the smaller slides so that they overhang the larger ones.

[megasupermagnum]

I honestly have no idea. I think they are the most rinky dink, rube goldberg nonsense I ever saw. They put numbers on there to make you feel good, but they don't really mean anything since there are two adjustments. If you adjust one, it changes the number scale so it is no longer accurate.

It works, that's about the best thing I can say about it. It is fairly accurate. It is the worst with stick rifle powders, almost unusable with IMR 3031. It also hates ball powders which get in the barrel and make it hard to move. The knocker sure didn't help mine at all.

Forget the Lyman 55. Maybe they were good in the far past, but today you would just be throwing your money away. The RCBS Uniflow is nicer in almost every way. I don't own a Harrell's, but there's a reason they are popular for extreme accuracy. I don't own a Hornady either, they don't have a great reputation for accuracy, but they should at least be as good as a Lyman 55, and they are way nicer to use. They even offer replacement inserts so you don't have to adjust them constantly when switching calibers. I do own the Lee deluxe PPM and I think it's the best out there today for non-benchrest level stuff. The drums are cheap and quick to change. They are so incredibly smooth. Even IMR 3031 goes through a Lee PPM like butter. The best part is the accuracy. I have yet to see anything more accurate than the Lee. Not that the Lyman 55 is horrible, but you are looking at plus or minus .4 grains with most flake powders like Unique with one. The Lee brings that down to about .2 grains max, and most charges are within .1 grain.

[414gates]

It can dispense well over 100 grains of powder at a time. Good for Ultra Mags.

The powder hopper is a standard size of perspex, so I replaced both mine with 12 inch tubes.

I have two orange ones, one with a cast iron knocker. I still occasionally scan eBay for another one like that.

[HWooldridge]

I got a #55 for cheap, so I set it up next to my RCBS measure. The #55 is very consistent with certain powders, like Reloder 7, 2400 and 231. Since I commonly use those powders, it was a no-brainer for me to set up the Lyman for some loads and use the other one as necessary.

[GregLaROCHE]

They just work well most of the time, even with BP, but don’t leave any in when you are done.

[jetinteriorguy]

I have two of them and never use them. My favorite is the Lee deluxe PPM. It’s simple, accurate, reasonably priced, and the fact it takes the cheap plastic drums is great. I just work up loads with the standard drum, then match that load in a plastic drum and never have to mess with it for your favorite load again.

[richhodg66]

I got a little Iver Johnson .32 top break a few years ago and wanted to load for it, had all the stuff. Inquired on here and everybody told me I'd need to make a dipper for charges that small, but I figured I'd try first. Just FYI, a Lyman 55 will throw a 1.1 charge of Bullseye dead on accurate all day long.

It's the best all around powder measure out there, as far as I'm concerned. Seems some are too dense to figure one out and that's OK, I suppose scoops are for guys like that.

[Char-Gar]

Bought my first one in 1959 and now have 11. They are set and forget measures for my most used pistol powder charges. They throw very accurate charges and last forever. Small powder drop tubes are worthless. I open them up with the lathe. I have a weight that goes in them and provides slight compression to the powder column. Really helps with consistency.

At one time Lyman furnished a chart of setting for various weights of powders. This chart really is quite accurate but should be checked on a scale and might need small tweaking. Lyman no longer furnishes this chart for good reason I suppose. i.e. Todays reloaders do some really stupid things.

[papajim]

To me, the knocker is the key.
Haven't seen it on any other powder measure.

Agree! Measuring knockers is a good thing.

[jaguarxk120]

How often do you see someone asking about the Lyman 55 not doing what it is designed to do?
Leaking powder, cutting powder grains, not setting right?
They do what they do charge after charge, and have been doing it for many years.