Identifying culver type powder measure

[expiper]

Nice! fairly accurate? Just want to set each one up for pistol loads and leave them. They are obviously capable of much more.

good luck with that,,,usually they wont throw "pistol" charges very well,,,if your powder charge is around 10 grains or less they jam up in the cavity because it is so near closed that the powder granules can not drop properly,,,,above 10 grains they are wonderful,,,,this is a measure designed to work with charges of rifle powder above 20 grains,,,try it and see,,,Roger

 

[Outrider27]

As expiper said, the normal Culver Measure was designed to throw charges of rifle powder and they don't work well with small charges of pistol powders - probably work fine for 41 mag and larger; that's why he developed a second version for pistol reloading, and, as I said above, my one regret was that I didn't get one of them, too.

And if all you are going to do is set it up for one load with one pistol cartridge, you aren't using it toward its strengths (assuming the the load is actually large enough to work in a rifle insert Culver Measure); for that, get any cheap measure, get it set for the desired charge with your powder scale, and lock it down. Your Culver Maeasure is for loading various charges of different powders in several different rifle calibers, where you need to get from one charge to another reliably without a lot of tinkering with adjusting the measure.

 

[Webster]

Homer Culver converted Lyman measures with an insert of his own manufacture. They were very popular with benchrest shooters because they had definite ball and spring detents so that settings could be easily and accurately reproduced. Often records were simply listed as per those settings. The numbers were referred to as "clicks" while the marks were referred to as halves. For instance a shooter might be loading 51 1/2 clicks of a particular powder, meaning that the index mark would be on the mark half way between the numbers 51 and 52. There were positive detents like you would have on scope turrets for each of the numbers and half points. As far as I am aware there was no business relationship between Culver and Lyman. The Lyman measures were plentiful and suitable for his purpose.

Did Culver ever make an entire powder measure or were they all conversions of a Lyman? I bought a powder measure that looks like the green body one in the right hand pix. It had a letter "C" stamped on the side plate. I bought it about 1975. Sold it a few years ago for $100. What's it worth? Are they a collector item? I see name brand powder measures for sale on internet for $350.

 

[Deleted member fkimble@charter.net]

The trick with the Lyman 55 is to use the correct slides for the powder charge you are going to use. It has 3 slides in the rotating cavity. Sliding all three open for a small charge is a sure jam! I have 4 set up in a row on my powder bench. Cut a strip of card sock and wrap around the hopper with the powder type and load on it. Tape the ends. When setting up a new(additional) one, I weight out the charge, open up the cavity and dump the power charge in. Then I decide which of the cavities to use. Small charges(pistol) use the shallow top slide, and for a bulkier powder maybe the middle. Keep the slide opening wide enough to not bridge/jamb/clump, but small enough for a minimum top opening to maintain accuracy.

PS, mine are orange. Have couple different knobs on the lever, and a couple different knockers.

Frank

 

[M-61]

3 year old post

 

[STS]

good luck with that,,,usually they wont throw "pistol" charges very well,,,if your powder charge is around 10 grains or less they jam up in the cavity because it is so near closed that the powder granules can not drop properly,,,,above 10 grains they are wonderful,,,,this is a measure designed to work with charges of rifle powder above 20 grains,,,try it and see,,,Roger

^^^^^^^^
Please pay very close attention to this assessment of these measures. They are very good at the commonly used charge weights for benchers cartridges, but can be dangerous at charges below 10 grains. I tried to load some 9mm rounds with mine and found out the hard way that was not a good idea.

 

[Deleted member fkimble@charter.net]

^^^^^^^^
Please pay very close attention to this assessment of these measures. They are very good at the commonly used charge weights for benchers cartridges, but can be dangerous at charges below 10 grains. I tried to load some 9mm rounds with mine and found out the hard way that was not a good idea.

I have 3 of these set up for 9mm,38 Spc, and 45 ACP. See my previous post above. My pistol measures are set up for Bulleye, red dot and 231!

Frank

 

[Outrider27]

Did Culver ever make an entire powder measure or were they all conversions of a Lyman? I bought a powder measure that looks like the green body one in the right hand pix. It had a letter "C" stamped on the side plate. I bought it about 1975. Sold it a few years ago for $100. What's it worth? Are they a collector item? I see name brand powder measures for sale on internet for $350.

Homer's measures were all conversions of the Lyman 55.