Most accurate powder measurer??

[DanConzo]

I still use the old Belding & Mull Powder Measure. I modified them w/ a ball bearing on the handles and one w/ a straight handle and home made brass baffles in the hopper. Also w/ longer home made drop tubes for bigger cases. I also have a old Lyman 55 w/ a Homer Culver conversion for small grain and ball powder. The B& M's are very consistent w/ large grain stick powders. I'll have to try the Lee.

 

[Brians356]

I've now played with my new (to me) BR-30. I don't think it have ever been cleaned from the factory, as it still had what I believe was the original internal preservative lube on the drum. Also, it had been long owned by a heavy cigarette smoker - ugh.

It throws CFE 223 to within +-0.05 grain, but usually misses in the same direction when it does, and will throw several dead on in a row. Still, to be sure, I would weigh every charge, unless I was loading a lot of rounds for a prairie dog hunt or something. It saves a lot of time if you only have to reject one out of every 4 or 5 throws.

Surprisingly, I feel it cutting kernels often, sometimes with a fair amount of resistance, even though CFE is a fine-grain spherical powder. I dressed up the cutting edges a bit with a good jeweler's file, and it seemed to improve the repeatability a little.

I also tried H-322, and it is not good - +-0.2 grains, and swinging both up and down often.

 

[Patch700]

Brian , I had and still have an old Hornady that is in effect the exact same as the rcbs thrower and in many ways similar to the redding.

What I did to that model that made it slightly smoother and more user friendly was to polish all the cast iron interior cavities to a smooth finish and then follow up with several coats of aerosol graphite and also sprayed the powder column as well , by doing this it also virtually eliminated any static electricity that you sometimes get.

I have also done this to my Harrells with the exception of smoothing the powder drum as it is finished to a polished state out of the box.

 

[Brians356]

Brian , I had and still have an old Hornady that is in effect the exact same as the rcbs thrower and in many ways similar to the redding.

What I did to that model that made it slightly smoother and more user friendly was to polish all the cast iron interior cavities to a smooth finish and then follow up with several coats of aerosol graphite and also sprayed the powder column as well , by doing this it also virtually eliminated any static electricity that you sometimes get.

I have also done this to my Harrells with the exception of smoothing the powder drum as it is finished to a polished state out of the box.

The BR-30 drum has what looks like a hard chrome plating, and is very smooth. The inside of the body is cast iron with a fine crosshatch honed finish not unlike a brake cylinder. It should hold graphite well, so I'll think about that, although I wonder how smoothing out the rotation of the drum would improve metering (and mine's not sticking). The anti-static effect is another matter. Thanks!

 

[BoydAllen]

For my Harrell measure, that uses the larger powder bottle, I do all my serious throwing from bottles that have the greatest accumulation of residue on their interiors. Working with a good scale, I could tell the difference. I ran into the same thing one plexiglass reservoirs. The new shiny ones that are as clear as glass do not give results that are as good as the old ones that have a lot of dark residue. I have several measures that take the same threaded reservoirs, so I can swap them around.

 

[xswanted]

I've got a Harrels.

I throw all my charges in both my F-Class loads and hunting loads.

After some practice it will throw to the tenth as long as I do my part, being consistent with your operation is the bigges component in my eyes.

 

[MQ1]

+1 on the BR-30

Clean it up once a year and it will treat you very well.

For big loads of stick powder, the BR-3 and a trickle charger is the only way for me.

For Ball Powder I recall seeing a fairly unique loader called a Quick Load if I recall correctly. For ball powder I doubt you could find a speedier loader, I almost bought one to test, but I'm very happy with the BR-30

MQ1

 

[Brians356]

+1 on the BR-30
Clean it up once a year and it will treat you very well.

Echoes of the WW II British staff sergeant, on the Lee-Enfield: "She's your wife. Keep her clean, bright, and slightly oiled, and she'll give you full satisfaction."

 

[JamesnTN]

Ok so between the Harrells and the Neil Jones which of the two is most consistent? And why?

Anyone?

 

[Brians356]

Ok so between the Harrells and the Neil Jones which of the two is most consistent? And why?

Anyone?

I have a hunch they're close enough to be within the noise of operator technique apart, and there is no way to know or prove one is demonstrably better than the other. If 6 people said 'A' was better, and 5 said 'B', what would that indicate?

 

[BoydAllen]

Given the costs and similarities, think that most of us would have one or the other, but probably not both. One thing that I like about my Harrell measure is that it has six divisions between numbers that amount to around .1 grain per division, depending on the density of the powder being measured. What powders do you plan on throwing? If you are going to throw light and trickle, it wouldn't make much difference, but if you are going to throw directly into cases, I would think that the finer divisions would be an advantage. I also like the roller bearings of the pricier models.

 

[JamesnTN]

Main powders to throw will be H322 LT32 vv133 135 and possibly 140, these will go straight to the case no weighing and trickling.

I currently have Harrells Classic culver and it throws consistent to me for short range. I was just curious if anyone has had both which of the two the liked and found to be most consistent.
I think there's like 170.00 price difference between Neil's and The Harrells so I was questioning is the Neil jones that much better?

 

[JRS]

I have owned and used both James. I still have a couple of the Harrell's. Sold the Jones. The most consistent I have ever used, was the no longer available jewel that Lester Bruno use to sell.

 

[Patch700]

For my Harrell measure, that uses the larger powder bottle, I do all my serious throwing from bottles that have the greatest accumulation of residue on their interiors. Working with a good scale, I could tell the difference. I ran into the same thing one plexiglass reservoirs. The new shiny ones that are as clear as glass do not give results that are as good as the old ones that have a lot of dark residue. I have several measures that take the same threaded reservoirs, so I can swap them around.

Give this a try when you have time Boyd , it stinks to high heaven when being applied so be sure to do it outdoors or in a well ventilated place (Brake clean mixed with graphite comes to mind so I don't have to tell you how messy and potent that'd be lol) It does dry extremely fast not unlike the evaporation of brake clean etc. I apply it to both the interior of the bottle and also the cavity area on the measure.

 

[BoydAllen]

Thanks for the tip. Does it stick to the inside of powder bottles like the one that I use for my Harrell measure?

 

[Patch700]

Thanks for the tip. Does it stick to the inside of powder bottles like the one that I use for my Harrell measure?

It does indeed , ( in the picture there is actually one of the Nalgene bottles I use that has been coated and you can see the bottle now appears to be dark grey in color) several light coats will prevent fish eyes if you will but in the event you do lay it on thick you can merely roll the bottle around so as to let the product coat all the surfaces evenly.. As I said it's consistency is not unlike brake clean and it drys as fast..

I conducted a test using this product to ensure it wouldn't remain tacky and therefore hinder any performance gain that the graphite content might have and it dries very uniform with no left over residue .

Once applied you can feel a slight increase in lubricity and as stated the static problems have gone away.. I will say it is messy to apply but it does clean up with brake clean whether it is still wet or even if the product has been on for years.

 

[JRS]

That is just another use for hBN 8)

 

[Brians356]

That is just another use for hBN 8)

Nope. Moly is better.